Catwalk Inspiration

A few of these Images touch upon some of the ideas I have floating around my head:

The white eyelashes representing frosted eyelashes and the frizzy wind-swept hair are both Ideas I've been toying with and want to go on to experiment with. I also think the sequins on the lips top of the frosty look perfectly.

"The collection is by Carlotta Actis Barone. She took her inspiration from cruelty against animals, particularily the slaughter for fur, and with special focus on seals. The colour palette is navy blue, beige and white and reflects the climate these animals live in". - http://superstarmagazine.com. I also want to use a colour palette that reflects the environment that Inuit tribes come from. Using paint I made a very quick little colour palette idea image. 

This is only a rough Idea of what I'd like to do.

I'm not particularly blown away by this look but the white "fluffy" bits in her hair are along the lines of the sort of thing I'm thinking of doing for my catwalk look.

Once again I'm seeing the same sort of colour palette that I'm thinking of using; Ice blues, white and then bright red. The hair is also fluffy and frizzy like the collection by Carlotta Actis Barone. This is Chanel A/W 2010.

Last but definitely not least:

Vivienne Westwood's men's collection A/W 2012. I can't quite believe that she has created this look because it's almost EXACTLY what I had in mind for the hair in my catwalk look, maybe using some glass clear beads braided into the hair instead of creating something that looks exactly like an icicle. I'm thinking of using a wig for my model instead of my model's actual hair because it may take a lot of preparation. I'm yet to experiment!  

Practical Lesson work so far...

So far we have looked at tattooing the skin free hand, transferring from magazines and imitating scarification:

Research so far...

Here is a quick little story board summing up a few of the things I have researched so far. 

I'm going to move onto developing my colour palette for both looks.

BBC Arctic Life clips and Inuit Diet

(There are several graphic images in this post, please don't read if this may make you feel uncomfortable)

"It is one of the most extreme and barren environments on earth, but four million humans have learned how to live here thanks to a deep understanding of the landscape and wildlife. Narwhal, beluga whales, auks, seal and reindeer are just some of the animals that Arctic people depend on for their survival, not to mention Arctic man's best friend - the indomitable husy"

QUOTE FROM BBC.CO.UKK - CLIPS ON THE ARCTIC

Both images from the BBC. I love the colours of the landscape.

Inuit consume a diet of foods that are fished, hunted and gathered locally. This may include walrus, Ringed Seal, Bearded Seal, beluga whale, caribou polar bear, muskoxen, birds (including their eggs) and fish. While it is not possible to cultivate plants for food in the Arctic the Inuit have traditionally gathered those that are naturally available. According to Edmund Searles in his article "Food and the Making of Modern Inuit Identities," they consume this type of diet because a mostly meat diet is "effective in keeping the body strong,  keeping the body fit, and even making that body healthy". Searles defines Inuit food as mostly "eaten frozen, raw, or boiled, with very little mixture of ingredients and with very few spices added." 

(Information sourced from Wikipedia)

I wanted to look at the idea of the tribes consuming raw meat. One of my looks may include the hint of a bloody lip where they could have just eaten an animal they've killed.

I also find the rich, bright and intense colour of blood against the cool colours of the ice and snow quite interesting.

(images from Wikipedia)

More tribal inspired fashion

Behind The Scenes Numero # 124 Daphne Groeneveld from Greg Kadel Studios on Vimeo.

I'm really blown away by many of the tribal inspired shoots I've come across.

This particular shoot featuring Daphne Groeneveld is probably my favourite, although there may not be a great deal of inspiration taken from Arctic tribes I want to include this in my research because I love the shoot.

The "candy floss" like hair reminds me a great deal of the hoarfrost on this man's beard:

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This image is from an incredibly stunning shoot by Rene Habermacher. It is a captivating look at Tribal wear with a modern and very dark twist. I'm reminded by the image of this Inuit when looking at the fashion image

Here some more images that I'm including simply because I think they're fantastic

I'm so in love with the grittiness of these images and would really like my final images to hold an element of grittiness like these images do.  

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Another image with antlers and fur, which is also very dark:

I definitely feel that in one of my final images, possibly my Fashion Editorial image, it must include some antlers and lots of fur. I'm going to move on to look at an Inuit's religion and their diet. I feel that the fact that the Inuit's main source of food is meat (vegetables are difficult to find and grow in such a cold environment), it must be communicated through one of my final images. An Inuit wouldn't just use the fur and antlers as warmth or decoration, it would have eaten the animal, I'm thinking of showing this in my final look by maybe making the lips look very bloody but I need to go onto experiment with this.

Tribal Scribblings

Here are some images where I've done some quick scribbles of tattooing in the traditional style of an Inuit

The final image is my favourite, I think the red is very striking. Even though black would be the traditional colour used I wanted to experiment with just a couple of colours and red is by far the most interesting in my opinion. 

Inuit Tattooing

"Archaeological evidence in the form of a carved human figurine demonstrates that tattooing was practised as early as 3,500 years ago in the Arctic. Remains of several mummies discovered in Bering Strait and Greenland indicate that tattooing was an element basic to ancient traditions"- http://www.larskrutak.com/articles/Arctic/

Asiatic Eskimos "Stitching the skin" at indian Point Chukotka 1901

As a general rule, expert tattoo artists were respected elderly women. Their extensive training as skin seamstresses (Parkas, pants, boots, hide boat covers, etc) facilitated the need for precision when "Stitching the human skin" with tattoos.

There seems to have been no widely distributed tattoo design among Eskimo women, although chin patterns or "stripes" were more commonly found than any other. Chin stripes served multiple purposes in social contexts. Most notably, they were tattooed on the chin as part of the ritual of a social maturity, a signal to men that a woman has reached puberty. They  also served as protection during enemy raids, as women's lives would be spared because their skills were valuable; tattooed chins/faces would make them more recognisable as women.

It was believed that a girl who smiled and laughed too much would cause the lines to spread and get thick. A girl with a full set of lines on the chin, all of them thin, was considered to be a good prespect as a wife, for she was clearly serious and hard working.

There are many other reasons for tattooing, for example:

 a man may be tattooed after his first kill

body parts would be tattooed to avoid supernatural possession

certain tattoos may signify status

I really love the thin tattoos on the chin. Many other tribes over the world would use large shapes and bold lines, which is why I really love the more delicate tattoos. I think these tattoos are very individual to these types of tribes.  

Authentic style facial tattoos on Sylvia Iyalu (playing "Atuat") from the Inuit-produced film Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner)

Very simple but I think they are stunning.

"Queen of the Snow"

Vogue Korea January 2012

"Queen of the Snow"

An absolutely STUNNING shoot by Hong Jyan Huan, clearly very heavily inspired by Inuits 

The Make-up isn't over-the-top, it has a very frost bitten, sunburnt look to it, as though their skin has been exposed to the elements. 

"Arctic Survivor"

The desolate land tells a story

A ragged rhapsody of post-disaster winter

Through the haze she emerges

Harsh winds Berate her

She is an Arctic survivor.

A film for Jacquelyn Wellington's 2010 graduate collection

I really enjoy the white eyelashes and white on the eyelids, it's a very polished imitation of frosty eyelashes.

I also came across this breath-taking editorial: 

"Inverno" 

featured in Flair Magazine by Jean-François Campos:

Her hair is so wild, it looks like the fur she is wearing. Her eyebrows could also be strands of hair/fur or feathers, I think it is very interesting. In the last image her lips almost look chapped and frost bitten.