OUGD602: Harrison France (Marshlands Collaboration)

After the success of the first shoot, Harrison asked me to do more styling on his upcoming shoot, which will hopefully end up as an editorial piece. We were in communication a lot as Harrison had a very clear idea in his head for how the shoot should look. We decided together that each look should be either purely black or purely white, reflecting the location we both chose together. We shot on Saddleworth Moore, allowing vast open spaces and a variation of different locations (all within a short-ish distance, easy parking and no permission required to shoot). The concept behind the styling was to represent good/evil, truth/lies, honesty/deception, highlighting the history of the moors murders.

Learning from the last shoot, I took more items which could be interchanged (yet this was actually a bigger hinderance than benefit- too much choice = too confusing). I have now learnt not to do this in the future. I also decided to do an inventory of stock taken for this shoot. As I work part time in a jewellers I asked to borrow some pieces (totalling over £1000) so felt this was a necessary precaution. I felt doing this made me more organised as I could see physical lists of what was there/on the model, and what was remaining. I will continue to do this for future shoots.

This time I also felt like a small cogg in a much larger team, all brought together by Harrison. The model Gabi has been signed to J'adore models in Manchester for a few years, and was alot friendlier than I expected, which was a pleasant surprise. I also had the benefit of working with Leeds based Kat Von D makeup artist Abi Hylton- we all switched details and said we should definitely collaborate again in the future. I realised from this that I am really good at working in small teams, as this allows you to bounce ideas off eachother and i'm not so 'in my own head' as much. This is definitely something I want to continue professionally. 

OUGD602: Harrison France Collaboration 01

After seeing a post on Instagram requiring a stylist for an upcoming shoot (3 days notice), I decided to respond and get involved. Harrison France (@hazfrance), 2017 photography graduate posted the request. Harrison specialises in fashion photography and throughout the third year I really admired his work, yet didn't have the confidence to ask to collab. As my employment background is in personal shopping for Topshop, I knew this is a role I could execute effectively within the timeframe, as well as a way to work with someone I really looked up to.

The went really well and was a first test shoot for 'Louise', a newly signed model to milk model management (London based). Prior to the shoot Harrison sent me over all her measurements/sizes, it was then my responsibility to source and compose the looks, taking into consideration props and making the model feel comfortable. I was really worried that the clothes wouldn't fit/look right on her frame, yet after putting her in the first outfit the clothes came alive and the worry went away. I now know I need to trust myself and my skill in sizing and what will look good on other people.

I learnt lots of styling tips from Harrison, including ways to protect footwear in order to return to stores/not damage in any way, which is useful when considering any future shoots.

Harrison, Louise and MiLK were all really happy with my work on the shoot and asked me if i'd want to do more work with them in the future, to which I definitely accepted! I had so much fun and feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders as this is a fashion centred role (what I always dreamed of doing), i'm good at it AND theres a demand! Result. 

After posting the images to Instagram and sending them on to MiLK, they were picked up and featured by Knots Magazine, appearing in their Sept 2017 printed edition and on their Insta!

(A few of the images ...)