Lego Editorial Shoot

One whole month has already gone since I started my course at London College of Style. It has been a very busy period in my life with other personal things going on in the background, causing me to stretch my time and  abilities to the maximum. In spite of this I delivered assignment after assignment with great enthusiasm and eagerness: the weekly blog, different customized items for the History of Art class i.e.  1920’s inspired shoes, 1940’s inspired hat, several different mood boards and last but not least my  first editorial styling. 

These are my 1920’s customised shoes: a Cuban heel pair from a charity shop which I revived by spraying on some black swede spray to bring back the colour. You can find swede spray for about £5 £ in any shoe repair shops or specialised  shoe shops ie. Russell & Bromley.

The theme for the shoot- Urban Decay- was given to all the students three weeks in advance to allow sufficient time to put together a strong, original look.  Everyone envisioned the theme in their individual way so it wasn't a surprise when, on the day of the shoot, the final product was extremely different from one student to another. Among the looks that I admired the most was the ‘fallen angel’ look- think biker boots and black studded leather jacket teamed with ivory lacy dress and silver make-up and the 90’s street style look, beautifully accessorized  with customized  trainers (they had cassette tapes for laces) and an oversized ‘necklace’ ( messy tape hanging down from an old tire which was spray-painted in neon colours). Well done girls!

Students at work :)

As weeks went by, everyone become more and more competitive. There was more at stake and somehow we all felt more pressure after our tutor informed us that Time and Leisure magazine was to select their favourite look and print it on the cover of their November Issue. I was quite relaxed about it all as I knew straight away that my look will be about colour and, with my tutor’s help, I  fine-tuned the details in the weeks prior to the big day. Having a team of experienced professionals to support us in the process made things less stressful and, of course, more manageable. Our teachers’ invaluable advice was vital for the smooth  running of this project.  

After picking up pair of white shoes from a charity shop  and a  black, shiny PVC pair of trousers from Rihanna’s new collection for River Island (which I felt were my strongest item) I had to find a way to bring some colour in and apply it to my look without blurring the urban decay accents. I knew my quirky designer friend, Anne- Sophie had amazing, eccentric pieces and accessories that she customized herself and they were just the thing I needed . Sophie graduated last year from Central St Martins and she has a very creative mind, using toys as her main customizing elements. Think  car embellished jumpers and jackets, lego coated dresses, doll legs earings and all sorts of other unthinkable toy-garment combinations. If you want to check Anne- Sophie’ s ‘toy  shop’- and I strongly recommend you do for some original fashion at its best-  have a look at her blog and be ready to be dazzled. http://cycleinheels.blogspot.co.uk/search?updated-min=2013-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2014-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=28.

After selecting some of Sophie’s Lego jewelry: two  bangles, a necklace  and some earrings and trying everything on  I realized the splash of colour was only concentrated on the top half  somehow clashing with the rest of the outfit.  So thinking on my feet and not wanting to ruin a pristine white pair of wedges, I decided to stick some of Anne- Sophie’s Legos onto the wedge with double sided tape. And this is the result:  

Although the legos aren’t glued onto the shoes permanently, they still look the part. The only downfall was that on the day of the shoot I was running around collecting the Legos that kept coming off  as my model  was moving  J.

The Legos were spot on for my 'urban decay' theme considering they are building blocks, which  represent the basic element of the city, but in a decayed way, as they are nothing more but toys.

In fashion, legos have been around  for a while. We saw the LEGO trend emerge in 2007 with pops of primary color block-like footwear on the Balenciaga runway, which kicked off the inspiration for designers like Marc Jacobs, Joy Han, Brian Reyes and Jean-Charles de Castelbajac who showed LEGO-inspired collections in 2008 and 2009. 

                     Balenciaga heels from an Elle editorial (left), cover of Vogue Russia June 2008

And it didn't stop there. In 2008, artist Jum Naoko created angular hairstyles reminiscent of the ones on the little plastic LEGO figures for a paper fashion exhibit in Antwerp,

and Fergie took the trend viral when she donned a LEGO-made dress by Michael Schmidt at the Kids' Choice Awards in 2011.

 I wanted a bit more of my own input into the look since the Lego jewelry was borrowed from Sophie, so I  set out to make a head piece which also served to complete and balance out the look. I already had a comb and a tiny black fascinator base and I sew the two together, adding some garden mesh  which I crumpled and stitched on top,  turning it into a modern ‘40’s hat. Some more tiny legos went onto the mesh randomly just to finish it all off  and add extra colour and dimension.  You can find garden mesh in garden and tools stores, I got mine in Homebase , 2x4 meters for £5. I even inspired Anne-Sophie to make her own mesh hat with the pieces I had left over and she, of course,  added her twist to it, by sticking a baby doll on top.

So, on Wednesday morning, teachers, students, stylists and models all met up at the location set for the shoot, the lovely  restaurant, Beach Blanket Babylon in Shoredich. This is an amazing place, with great design and detail, therefore some of the shots were taken inside, in the restaurant/bar area, for a more glamorous effect and some were taken outside, to maximize the street style accent of the outfits.

Although we initially had a slight set back with one model cancelling at the last minute and one turning up late, it all soon went back to normal as the make-up and hair team as well as  the photographer were very professional and knew exactly what to do in order to get the most of the look that each student was trying to achieve.   I was very pleased that I got the model that I wanted, Ava from Nevs Models, as my head piece stood out brilliantly  against her short hair.

I am really grateful for the tremendous amount of feed-back I got from my co-coordinators while preparing for the  shoot; their guidance made all the difference.I am now looking forward to receiving the photographs and sharing them with you. In the mean time you can check out the pictures I took on the day with my phone. They aren't very good but at least you will get an idea of what my look was all about.