Dream Angels and Scarlett Noir shoot

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In this post I am going to discuss the shoot for Dream angels and Scarlett Noir, which is winter’s limited edition theme. I chose Laura as my model for this shoot. Laura is an amazing model who I have worked with before. I chose Laura because she has a beautiful face that fits the Victoria’s Secret brand image and she takes direction really well. Laura is also familiar with the Victoria’s Secret brand, this is something I have asked all my models before shooting them, because I feel if the models are familiar with the brand it really helps when shooting as they know the sort of look/poses I am going for. Laura is a red head; this is something that made me apprehensive about shooting her because there is not any red head models that model for Victoria’s Secret. However, as this beauty collection is exclusive to the London stores and there are many fair, red headed people in England, I feel that it will be appropriate and will also appeal to the target market.

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As this shoot took place on a Sunday I was not able to use the studios at Uni, so I booked the space RE-SO to shoot in. I chose RE-SO to shoot in because it is a wide-open space with plan walls and great natural light that comes in from the window. I wanted to have a space with a blank backdrop because it is how I have shot all my other looks. I made this decision because I all the looks to focus on the makeup, the bra’s feature in the shot as an extra and are used to relate the images back to the Victoria’s Secret brand. I felt that if I were do location shoots it would just be too much in the shot and take the focus away from the makeup. I also felt that the skirting boards going around the space added a romantic, vintage feel to the space. This is something I felt worked for the themes I was shooting, Dream Angels and Scarlett Noir, both have an element of romance in them. 

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As well as Laura as my model I felt I had a strong team for this shoot. I worked with Besiana as my photographer as also shot the second look for my Grecian Goddess theme. I like working with the same photographers throughout this project because I feel that they become familiar with the brand and my vision for the images. I also had a hairstylist who I met on another shoot I worked on as part of the team. I decided to ask a hairstylist for this shoot because I know hair is my weak point and has been throughout this whole project. I wanted to try some different hair styles out for these looks which I knew I wouldn’t be able to do myself and I knew Laura has very long, thick hair so felt it was better to get someone who is talented at hair to style it. In reflection, I felt this was a really good decision and made a big difference to the images. It also took some pressure of myself, as I was able to focus more on the makeup.

Dream Angels

-->Below shows the storyboard made to use as reference on the shoot for my team and myself. Dream Angel’s is line of lingerie and perfume that is currently part of the Victoria’s Secret brand, so this gave me clear guidelines and a strong vision for the theme. I kept with the pretty and romantic feel of this theme by keeping with pastel colours, loosely curled flowing hair and soft and feminine poses. I was very happy with the result of this shoot, however I feel I could of added slightly new element to the theme to introduce a different and innovative take on the theme. 

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For the Dream Angel’s shoot I applied the look that I had previously tested. I kept in mind the criticism from the last Dream Angels shoot of making it look dated by bringing the colour up to the brow bone, so I was sure to only put the colour on the eyelid. I used a brown liner across the upper lash line rather than black, I felt that this worked really well to soften the eyes. Using the same colour blush, eye shadow and lipstick really worked for this look. I feel that all elements such as the hair, makeup and bra complemented each other and worked harmoniously together in the images. I love the poses in these images I have chosen. I like they way each of them are shot a slightly different angles, given a different view on each image. They poses are very soft, feminine and romantic but, without looking timid. The model still eludes confidence and sex appeal however in a more subtle way in comparison to the Very Sexy theme. I love this about these images because the image still commands attention but in a different way and I feel that this image will evoke different emotions and reactions in viewers than the Very Sexy theme.

 

Scarlett Noir

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The second theme I shot for was Scarlett Noir, which is winters limited edition theme and I created two different looks for this theme. Below shows the storyboard of inspiration I created for this look. 

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The first is clean and fresh look with a red/black glossy coloured lip, I wanted the lip to have a gloss over it to make the colour look patent. I wanted this look to have a whimsical and romantic feel to it so I asked the hairstylist to create a large thick plait going across the head with wispy bits of hair coming down. When I finished this look I loved it, it had the whimsical and romantic feel I wanted with a gothic edge. I knew it was slightly more edgy look than Victoria’s Secret would usually do but I felt it would work because it still had sexiness to it when paired with the bra. My aim for this project was to offer a new element to their beauty line by introducing these collections, as well as to keep with the brand image. However, when I started to shoot this image I found that the bra and the dark lips did not go together well at all and were communicating two completely different thing. The dark lips are communicating a slightly gothic look whilst the brightness of colours on the bra is communicating a much more feminine and playful look. With this in mind I expressed the problem to my team and asked the photographer to shoot head shots for this look. Immediately I saw a change in the image and they worked really well with this crop, I feel that this headshot is both elegant and sexy and portray the theme. Whilst the hair adds a softer element and balances out the harshness of the lips.

--> After discussing this look with my tutor she said that the lips were too dark and harsh for Victoria’s Secret and it is not something that their customers would wear. After hearing this opinion and having a second look at the image I agreed with this view and decided to change the lips in post-production to a more pink toned lip. I feel that this works well as it doesn’t stray to far from the theme but ties in much better with the Victoria’s Secret brand. I chose this image because I love the way Laura is looking over her shoulder at the camera. It is sexy and elegant an she is still looking at the camera and therefore will engage with the viewer. This is also not a pose that has been done throughout my shoots. I also chose it because the straps are in the image, which, suggests a bra and in turn relates back to Victoria’s Secret. I have also changed the colour of the straps to match the lips, as it was previously too bright

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The second look for this theme is all about the eyes. I have kept the skin the same with nude lips and a brown/beige smoky eye. I decided to do the smoky eye in brown shades because I felt a black smoky eye would be too obvious for a gothic inspired look and I had also used a black smoky eye in previous looks for the project. I was inspired for this by makeup at Valentino A/W 2012-2013 show that featured a sculptured eye using taupe shades. My storyboard for this look is shown below.

For this look I asked the hair stylist to keep the hair down in loose waves with a weave style plait either side. I chose this hairstyle to offer the viewer an alternative to having the hair up but kept the plaited element to ensure the looks still relate to each over. I like the angel of Laura’s body in this image and the way she is touching her hair. I think that the brown shadow contrast really well against the blue in her eyes, so they really engage with the viewer. However I feel that I should of blended the shadow more into the eye sockets.  I like the motion of her hair in the shot but I think that it would of looked better if it was curled more at the ends and if the plaits were pulled away from her face so much. Overall I am very happy with how this shot has come out and am pleased that I was able to include the bra in the shot, but I would of made these small changes to the eye makeup and hair if I were to do it again.