Flowers and Fabric - purchased!!

Me and Steph went on Friday afternoon (after meeting with the models) to Secret Garden a florist near the Univeristy Library and to Abakhan, the large fabric store based towards the city centre. I purchased a variety of fabrics and materials which we believe will work well within the shoot.

In an earlier post, I mentioned about buying fresh flowers/blooms to accesorise within the models hair or in the composition of the photos. I have purchased a faux hydrangea flower similar to the one pictured below (the flower looks very realistic - I would not have bought it if it looks faux/cheap!).


I also bought a stalk with 4 lily buds on it, this is staying in Steph's house in water and the flower buds should be open for the shoot on Wednesday! One of the lily flowers could be placed on a model's cheek, or in their hair...we will see how the flower blooms and adapt our styling to suit! Another idea is to spray parts of the lily gold, to give the flowers a futuristic shimmer...and then place either in the models hair or one of their cheeks...?

These are the fabrics and materials that I bought in Abakhan:

These 2 shimmery fabrics are to construct Jen's headpiece, as she is referencing the 15th Century, one of the main 'trends' of this period was to wear a fabric headpiece over hair which is hidden underneath. As Jen has lovely red hair, Me, Jade and Steph decided that a green and bronze colour pallete would complement the red well. The gold fabric is to be placed underneath while the green fabric is to be over, leaving a space at the front to see the gold layer.

I have left this fabric at Steph's house to save me bringing it home to just travel with it back to Preston. Steph has kindly offered to iron the fabric as well. Due to us shooting in the studio, the attention to detail is paramount. No creases/marks/loose ends/fraying can be shown as there is a lack of a distracting background all the viewers attention will be on the fabric, make-up detail and the jewellery (this is a priority to remember on the day!)

These are some ribbons that I have also bought in Abakhan. I think the colours interpret the look that we want to achieve in our images - rich, rustic, elegant, exquisite while also being quite rustic and natural. These could be used to drape arroind the shoulders of a model or even used to construct a backround...? The options are endless with ribbons and lengths of fabric, its just about having them purchased and available in the studio to hand for when experimentation strikes.

I love the textures and gold shimmer of this material,
it naturally kinks and curls so it may be effective to
drape around the models shoulders or place as a kind of headpiece.

This material reminded me of historial eras, with its
ruffling effect and visible stitching.

The colour and texture of this length of braid is luxurious and I believe it could look
elegant when used in the right way and on the right model.


These are some ribbons that I already own. I think the bronze/brown ribbon could be used on Jen's headdress in some way, whether to use as a border to cover the edges of the two fabrics merging on her head or in some other way... Whereas, the purple and green are colours usually associated with richness, wealth, optimism and being regal - exactly the aethetic we want to portray in our images!

We still need to purchase false eyelashes and some lace - to create the lace make-up stencil effect, to be featured on parts of selected model's faces, influenced by research that Steph has posted on her blog and Jade's creative ideas!

This is a reel of lace that I already own. However, the width is only about 1cm and therefore we need to purchase some more which is larger and in a different style. This lace will enable Jade to create lace patterns on selected models faces using eyeshadow dabbed over the lace and when the lace is removed it leaves a lovely shimmery pattern on the face. This is a technique which could be used widely in the future within fashion and beauty? It's all about being imaginative and pushing the ideas and boundaries...! Exciting!