Diversity Now!

Diversity Now!

Would seeing a more diverse range of bodies in the media improve your self-esteem?

There is not enough 'Diversity' at this present moment in the media.  Diverse people are used with 'Ethnicity' for instance, like the model 'Jourdin Dunn', but she is typically beautiful.  When it comes down to self-esteem, it is more on a personal level.  Some people have major body issues, where as others are comfortable in their own skin whatever their body is like.  It is  definitely important to show a more diverse range of bodies, but more for society and the way people perceive the 'ideal body' than self-esteem.  Self-esteem will begin to grow when people realise that you don't have to look like Barbie to be beautiful.  There are lots of areas of diversity and equality areas  that need to be brought to the front line of advertising in media.  There has definitely been a progression in what is used for advertising over the last 30 years but there is plenty more room for improvement.  Companies like 'United Colours of Bennetton' give great messages in their campaigns about equality its just a shame that other brands are still so caught up with everyone looking a certain way.  Photoshop has caused plenty of controversy and makes anybody look flawless, sometimes even un-human.  If all these issues were looked at and even models were shown in their natural form, pre-editing then self-esteem could definitely be improved and restored. 

Diversity Campaign - Final Image

B-Anka final shot

Diversity Campaign

Diversity Campaign

For my third and final look I decided to pull one of the models from my poster and play a little more with her ethnicity.  I felt this was important to show as I didn't fully show everyone's background in the poster.  I decided to pull my black model B-Anka and still keep her with the same flow as the poster but show her hair in its natural form and I am a big fan of afro hair anyway.  I chose this model as it was the easiest one to bring the full ethnicity across in a photo yet still keep her sitting comfortably against the other photos.  I have put below a collection of photos that inspired me to work with a natural afro.

Little girls afro

Vintage original 70's afro

Jourdan Dunn afro

Slight afro with more texture

I took several shots of my model B-Anka there were two that I really liked but I eventually chose one for final picture, I love this other photo so I still wanted to show it on my blog.

B-Anka test shot

Diversity Poster Campaign - Final Image

Diversity Poster Campaign

Diversity Poster Campaign

For my second picture i  have decided to be quite adventurous and feature seven models in one shoot .  I want to try and show as much as I can about 'Diversity'.  I've been looking at different campaigns by united colours of bennetton i like how they capture their images with a strong message but still with a kind of innocence about them.  I also like the dove campaigns where they show a multitude of women from all walks of life.  

Bennetton Advert

Bennetton Advert 

Bennetton advert

Bennetton advert

Bennetton Advert 

Dove campaign

Dove campaign 

Dove campaign 

I want every person in my picture to look the same in the way I style them.  I decided that  hair off the face in a low pony tail would keep it really simple, also it was the only style where everyone can look the same as one of my models is a man (his hair has just been gelled back).  The reason i've chosen to keep everyone the same is to show equality.  The message i'm trying to get across is that it doesn't matter what you look like, your skin colour/weight/hair colour/ or sexual preference etc we are all the same and I feel i've portrayed this message well in my final result.  I have tried to cover as much as I can within my image, I have two girls together touching on sexuality, an asian girl, a red-head girl, a cuban girl who is a little over-weight, a black girl and a gothic guy.  I chose this particular male as people who dress in a gothic way have been targets to bullying in recent news and one girl was even beaten to death.  I was originally going to use a gay guy but I felt i had already covered sexuality with my two girls.  Another reason I chose to use the ponytail is to still keep an element of fashion in there, its quite on trend on current catwalk shows to have low pony with a definite parting.

Low ponytail centre part

Different variations of low ponytails

I  have decided I want to use pink as my colour for the lips.  On my male model I  have used a blue/black but this is because he is a gothic guy and it symbolises what he stands for. I looked into the meaning of colour and I was drawn to the symbolic meaning of the colour 'pink'.  

"The color pink is a symbol of love and nurturing. It is known to tone down the passion associated with red and favors gentle and loving energies. Pink also represents calmness and a sense of respect".

I feel that this completely emulates the message I'm trying to get across within my campaign it about love,nurturing and a sense of respect towards equality and diversity.

Pink lipstick

Pink blossom

Breast cancer awareness

Pink lips

Pink flowers

To make my poster I have had to shoot every person/persons separate then put them altogether in photoshop.  This was a task in its itself and I did encounter some technical issues during the process.  I shot 3 girls on 1 day and 4 on another, the first shoot i took the pictures from a distance and the next shoot I did them really close up.  It wasn't until I went to edit my photos the other day that I realised the spacing was wrong.  I managed to rectify the situation in the end but I would definitely know where to improve if I was to do something like this again. I would try to shoot all the models on the same day and if that wasn't possible then I would make sure i worked more closely with continuity.  Below are the individual pictures from the shoots.

Asian

Black

Cuban plus size

Gothic guy

Sexuality

Flame haired beauty

I sketched a design for my overall look as I was carrying the same look on everyone i used the same sketch.  For my guy i just changed the lip colour to black.

Sketch for diversity poster

 

Decadence Final Images

Meg Decadence

Meg Decadence

Decadent Diversity

Decadent Diversity

For one of my looks I decided to take inspiration from the 1920/30's.  At the beginning of the project we read the book 'Goodbye to Berlin',  I loved the book and I had a certain vision for how I portrayed the characters.  I wanted to get my vision across in a shoot.  I love this particular era anyway it was a time of great diversity there were massive changes around the world in everything.  People were becoming much more liberal and adventurous it was like a 'new age' compared to the victorian times.  After watching 'Great Gatsby' recently, I decided I wanted to capture the glamour of the characters in the film.  The film really shadows what I had envisioned the characters to look like from the book we read.  The diversity comes from the over styled glamour.   Although nowadays it isn't really that different at all, back then it was very fashion forward to wear these short very sculptured hairstyles.  The glitz of the jewellery and head pieces were beautiful.  I like the darkness of the characters within the book but I chose to do a wealthy looking lady more like the American 1920's.  

Great Gatsby

Roaring 20's

Roaring 20's

Great Gatsby

Great Gatsby

Roaring 20's

My model Meg has quite long hair which I wanted to create and put into a wavy, short bob.  To start i had brickwork tong and pin curl all the hair.

Hair set in pin-curls

Hair set in pin-curls

Hair set in pin-curls

For the make-up I gained a little inspiration from Anita Berber but mostly again from 'Great Gatsby'.  I wanted a palish porcelain look with red lips and a sparkly multi-toned eye.

Pale face with contour

Pale face with contour & pink blusher

Translucent powder to protect the face from eyeshadow

Red undertone eyeshadow with blue sparkle over the top

Red matt lips

Red matt lips

Once the make-up had been applied I took out the pin-curls and brushed out to create a wave throughout the hair.

Curls

Waves throughout

Waves

Once the waves were in I needed to give the hair a 1920's feel so i pinned it all underneath to create a short finger-waved bob.  I finalised the look with a headband and jewelled butterfly.

Hair pinned to create a short wavy bob

Headband and butterfly

Headband and butterfly

I drew a sketch template below so I could use it as a guide/chart for my final look :

Sketch for make-up for Decadence