Continuing my explorations of the Lomo – behold some more images.

These I have dubbed The Fashion Shoot – taken on a trip to London when I checked out Nick Knight’s Show Studio exhibition / event at Somerset House.

FOUND MOUSTACHE NUMBER 1

WHAT DO WE THINK OF THE MODERN MOUSTACHE THEN?

Well, views anyone?  I must confess – it rests uneasily with me.  I am a massive fan of the beard.  I am a massive fan of the massive beard in fact.  I am also a massive fan of massive hair in most formats BUT…I am NOT a massive fan of the tache (massive or otherwise) as a solo piece of facial hair.

In recent months, I have noticed that young men’s top lips are starting to become adorned with an array of different moustache types.  At first, it was simply the odd dandy partaking in this new wave facial hair – but now, its hit the general public and men the length and breadth of the country are hanging up their razors to champion a tache.

Personally I say no.  You do not wear a moustache on its own.  Wear a full beard and tache combination.  If you must, wear a designer beard alongside a moustache, but surely, you should never, ever, consider going solo.  Just check out the 70’s and 80’s for proof.

The question therefore is who is right?  Me and the don’t fly it solo gang, or them, who wear one with pride.  Shall we do some proper research?

BRING ON THE MOUSTACHIOD MEN…

Example #1 - random man with classic tache. NO	Example #2 - the more modern pencil thin street tache - NO
Example # 3 - The ever hansom Mr Pitt with tache - NO, you look like a fool	Example # 4 - Burt Reynolds with a smokin' tache - MAYBE...alright, so this one is quite good and I am a bit jealous
Example # 5 - Hitler sans his infamous tache...HMMMM - he looks much more friendly and approachable	THE HARD FACTS… So look, lets talk serious here.  It is plain to see from these samples, that, generally speaking – its a bad idea! NUMBER 1 – he looks like an 80’s stockbroker…and not in a good way. NUMBER 2 – No words can describe what a bad fashion choice this moustache was NUMBER 3 – No, No, No.  You look like a joke man – pull yourself together. NUMBER 4 – I accept this as firm evidence that some men, can unquestionably pull off a moustache. BUT, my caveat is that its Burt Reynolds.  We are not all Burt Reynolds – one man in a million is.  So, unless your that man – don’t consider it. NUMBER 5 – This is like my wild card.  Hitler is famous for his tache…remover it and what do you got? A slightly evil looking maths teacher, that’s who.  If Hitler hadn’t worn a moustache, imagine how different the world could have been.

WHAT DO STREET STYLE BLOGS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THE MOUSTACHE?

So, I wonder if you are convinced yet?  Please don’t get me wrong – I am a fashion fan, but I am not a dedicated follower of fashion.  Sometimes a new trend comes in and I think it looks a bit stupid – then, over time, come around and join in (skinny jeans on bandy legged men like myself par example).  BUT…I am quite, quite confident in knowing that I shall never, ever, come round to the idea of wearing a moustache as a solo project.

Moustached Dandy from copenhagenstreetstyle.dk

I thought I would check out a few of the street style blogs to see what living samples I could find.

I was surprised at the turn out I got…I thought they would be littered with fine samples to prove my point – but those street style snappers were not playing ball.

THE STYLE SCOUT (stylescout.blogspot.com/) – NO TACHE

HEL LOOKS (www.hel-looks.com/) – NO TACHE

THE SARTORIALIST (www.thesartorialist.blogspot.com/) – NO TACHE

FACEHUNTER (facehunter.blogspot.com/) – NO TACHE

I thought I was going mad – I knew the tache had made a come back, I knew I had seen many samples in the fair city of Brighton – but this was not represented on the fashion blogs.  Had I got it all wrong?

But then, as I was about to abandon my post in shame, I checked out Copenhagen Street Style (copenhagenstreetstyle.dk) and YES, my patience was rewarded with this little beauty to my left.

They are a dapper couple – the lad looks interestingly turned out – nice boots, nice bow tie, nice scarf and shirt combination.  But that moustache – NO.  It was all going so well until that point, it just looks bad.

THE MOUSTACHE IS SIMPLY A COMEDY ACCESSORY

I think I have more than proved my point now.  The Moustache can be a comedy item, to be worn to a party, festival or perhaps for charity – but as a stand alone fashion item, its a bad show.  UNLESS you are Burt Reynolds – in which case, you can just about pull it off.

The main benefit of the moustache is as a comedy item, and that is how it should be.  Take Moustache Me (http://moustacheme.com/) for example, who comically apply moustaches to adverts, famous people and other such media.

It just so happened that as I was pondering the heady world of facial hair, I came across the two fine drawings which you can see in this post – which have been neatly illustrated with a stick on moustache.

Whilst I would love to claim them as my own work, sadly they were just something that I found and seemed to be rather appropriate.

Obviously, if one can grow a moustache such as the one to the right here, then we are entering into a whole new conversation about acceptance.  Once the realm of the cool tache has been passed – and the wearer is firmly and securely deposited into the realm of the comedy tache, then everything is acceptable.

As a final thought for you – take heed of the note scribbled under this moustache:

“I want to look rich because that is what my character wants to be”

I ask you – would that moustache make anyone look rich?

Show Studio 1 (2009)

SHOWSTUDIO – FASHION REVOLUTION – REVIEW

I made a posting on this before ‘SHOWSTUDIO – FASHION REVOLUTION – COMEDY CASTING’ – a brief one of me doing a video casting at the exhibition.  Thought this should be followed up by a more in-depth look at this show.

I must confess to not being the biggest knowledge on fashion photography.  I love some of it, but in the past have found a lot of the images out there quite bland, obvious and purely about commercial selling without having much creative flair to boot.  In recent years, I have tried to look at it with more open eyes and analyse exactly what is going on in this very creative side of Photography.  I do like fashion and when a photographer applies an original mind to this genre – the results are amazing.

Nick Knight is one of those fashion photographers that I guess everyone has heard of and quite rightly so.  He is no doubt a genius at what he does – his images are punchy, original and beautiful.  What is more, he actually manages to capture the essence of fashion and the clothing yet retain a creative approach to his images.  (And, incidentally, his non-fashion personal work is lovely – check out his work ‘Flora’).

Show Studio 2 (2009)

Not surprising then, when his SHOWstudio project took over the bottom floor of Somerset House for the Fashion Revolution show – it was an amazing and interactive place to visit.  Described by themselves as:

…a retrospective of nine years of online innovation, invention and creation.

This seems to give a good account of what you could see.  Following in the footsteps of the SHOWstudio website, the exhibition attempted to throw the usual expectations of fashion, art, photography and video on its head.  More like a full on assault of the senses with images, video, instillations and a whole host of interactive elements.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF SHOWSTUDIO

Established by Nick Knight in 2000, SHOWstudio was created as an online organisation, aimed at pushing the boundaries of how fashion is communicated.  It has pioneered fashion film and is one of the leading lights in this new medium and collaborates with some of the most influential and acclaimed figures of contemporary fashion, including John Galliano, Kate Moss, Maison Martin Margiela, Comme des Garçons and Alexander McQueen.  It has blurred the lines between fashion, photography, film and art.

For a full idea of what they do, check out the site at: www.showstudio.com

FASHION REVOLUTION

For me, there were a few stand out elements to the show which, for me, were the clear highlights and made this exhibition so unique…

NAOMI

Show Studio 3

As you first entered the exhibition, you were confronted by three huge monolithic sculptures of supermodel Naomi Campbell, created from a 3-D rendered image captured during Nick Knight’s Spring 2007 Naomi shoot.  A touch sensitive computer panel let you graffiti over these white body casts, creating anything from clothing to abstract shapes.  Naturally a high percentage of the contributions seemed to involve rude dawbings!!!  The figures could also be drawn onto via an online interface, so anyone in the world, provided they had internet connection, could graffiti Naomi and the results appear ont he figures in real time.

Check it here: http://www.showstudio.com/project/fashionrevolutionnaomi/

Show Studio 3 (2009)

CASTINGS

Show Studio 6 (2009)

You may have already seen my comedy casting in the previous post, before that, I recorded a “normal” one, before realising exactly what the casting was:

A small room contained a video camera where visitors were encouraged to do a casting to appear in one of Nick Knight’s photoshoots.  The set up was simple, with a computer asking basic questions and the sitter answering to camera.  These films were then captured and put onto the website for the world to view.  Obviously the results depend on the sitter and they range from interesting to dull and funny to shit!  I suspect my own effort is both dull and shit!  It’s worth looking through the films on the site, if for nothing else, just to see how people react in front of a camera in this situation.

Check it here: http://www.showstudio.com/project/fashionrevolutioncasting/

PERFORMANCE

Show Studio 7 (2009)

Perhaps the most inspiring and revolutionary piece at the exhibition was the opportunity to watch fashion shoots live.  The basic set up was a medium sized studio space, kitted out with all the expected equipment and at one end, floor to ceiling – wall to wall,  one way glass.  This meant you could see the photo shoot happening but they could not see you.  I was lucky enough to go near the end of the exhibition and see Nick Knight himself doing 100 portraits for ID magazine.  It was addictive viewing – like Big Brother but with substance!  Getting to see Knight’s working method, how his assistants worked with him and the general set up and feel of a top level photo shoot was amazing.

I was particularly suprised to see how calm the whole thing was.  From film and media – I kind of expected to see an Austin Powers type shoot, or like a scene from Blow up.  I guess the media stereoptype wins through as we are so unused to seeing fashion shoots live.  That’s where this part of the show really wins through and fills the brief of SHOWStudio so well.  It allows viewers to witness a true behind the scenes aspect of the world of fashion photography  readdress their stereotypes and perhaps start looking at this genre as a genuine form of art in its own right.

Show Studio 8 (2009)

All to often fashion photography is written off (as is fashion itself) as a true form of artistic expression.  For me, the live studio totally cemented my view that fashion photography is increadibly diverse, sersious and creative and deserves upmost respect.  Knight was a pleasure to watch work and a great inspiration I’m sure for anyone interested in getting into this field.

FURTHER READING

Sadly, this show has now stopped.  I kind of wish they could find a permanant venue and always offer people the opportunity to see the full range of SHOWstudio’s creations, as well as benefit from aspects like the ‘Performance’ Live Studio.

In the meantime, however, I urge you to check their website and see the full range of joy that is on there:

http://www.showstudio.com/project/fashionrevolution/ – Fashion Revolution site

http://www.showstudio.com/ – Show Studio site

Show Studio 10 (2009)

Show Studio 9 (2009)

Just a quick one to get you in the mood.

Went to London yesterday and had another gander at Nick Knight’s SHOWstudio exhibition @ Somerset House.  A whole host of photos and a review coming soon.

Been there a few weeks ago and they have a casting instillation, where a camera records you answering some questions – then, the most beautiful get called up to a photo shoot.

It happens that I turned 30 last week and so had a number of cardboard masks of my face lying around (again, images and story to follow!).  So, I thought my under 30 face should do a casting rather than my actual over 30 face.

Behold the results below.

To see the video on the SHOWstudio website and see more casting videos, visit http://www.showstudio.com/project/fashionrevolutioncasting/