FIGURE 1- MASKS
FIGURE2-LADY WITH HORSE
FIGURE 3-LITTLE GIRL IN NEST
FIGURE4-MY OWN INTERPRETATION OF ALICE AND WONDERLAND
FIGURE5/6-GRACE CODDINGTONS FOR VOGUE'S INTERPRETATION OF ALICE AND WONDERLAND

An analysis of Fashion editorial photography with reference to Narrative theories.

Fashion illustration can be thought of in terms of photography as well as traditional media such as graphite and watercolour drawings. Fashion magazines develop a narrative around the clothes they are showcasing which directs the viewer/consumer's attention to the garments and holds their attention often via the setting up of a visual narrative within the photograph or series of photographs.

Such devices allow the creator/maker to target more directly specific demographic sectors within society and also to encode the visual images in a way that is relevant for a specific audience. This essay seeks to examine contrasting ways in which designers target their audience, encode the visual narratives they present. An examination of contrasting Fashion periodicals will enable a comparative analysis that will explore the various narratives being used. It will also draw upon the work of Roland Barthes for his understanding of the cultural codes being used within the encoding of visual images, semiotics of fashion and his work on narrative theories.

The main case studies will be fashion editorials from Vogue and Harper's Bazarre as representative of more high end mainstream fashion narratives contrasted with fashion editorials from ID magazine, Dazed and Confused and Pop magazine as examples of more avant-garde, cutting edge fashion narratives. The target audiences are very different for these publications so will show the variety of narrative devices being utilised. I will also make reference to my own work in creating visual narratives around a styling photography project will also be discussed.

The more abstract editorials such as I.D, Dazed and Confused, believe themselves to be more than fashion photography and more image makers, using more abstract photographers, some being fine art based pushing new and varied stylistic approaches as to what most high end photographers would use. Stylists have their own language and identity in which they bring to the shoot or campaign. For example, in figure one (Dazed and Confused), this image denotes two females, one on each page on a double page spread in Dazed and Confused magazine, although each female is on separate page this is still a strong connection and relationship between them when being presented along side one another to the viewer. This is because all, if not most of their face is masked. Black and white is only used in the entire shoot, one model being styled in black and the other styled in white. This idea, a conscious metaphor, is put into place perhaps to provoke the idea of good and bad. This in itself provokes a narrtive theme as such conventions are always found in narrative as a whole. There is always a good character and an evil charcter. Not only this but we tend to associate the ‘good’ as being white and angelic as opposed to the ‘evil’ whom we’d normally associate with blacks or reds, colours that typically connote bad things or danger.

The codes and conventions of this image strongly suggest an art-based focus, we can tell this by the ‘off the wall’, avant guard, spontaneous styling of the photo shoot. Another reason to suggest it is an art-based photo- shoot, is that only heads and torsos in both models are shown, there is no promotion of product or clothing, the image is merely an expression of creativity provoking thought to an audience. So much so, that one of the models only appears to be wearing a mask and the other is fully covered only revealing one eye. The lack of clothing and masking of these representations of female form connotes loss of identity transforming the females from pure beings to sexual objects suggesting vulnerability especially in the image on the right. This brings me to talk about the ‘Hermeneutic Code’ by theorist, Roland Bartes. The ‘Hermeneutic Code’ refers to ‘any element of the story that is not fully explained and hence becomes a mystery to the reader’ (Changing Minds, 2002); this can be depicted in the image in the way that people would interpret the images differently and generate a unique understanding from them. This leads me to explore critical theory such as the ‘Male Gaze Theory’, developed by Laura Mulvey this has been developed to depict the imbalance between men and women. The theory analyses the way women view themselves and other women, and also how men see women. The ‘Male Gaze Theory’ also suggests that women are denied human status; therefore they are looked upon as merely objects. In this instance male gaze theory applies but not only through the sexualisation of the female form but that the women featured are oddly beautiful, and this is an example of how women in society today aspire to be.

In Figure 2, the creators have completely different intentions; it is there for the sole purpose to advertise. Vogue can be, for the most part, recognised as a magazine which promotes wealthy lifestyles and costly top designer products, therefore this image in particular is a fine example of a wealthy, powerful female adorned in expensive fur, garments and standing with a horse in tow. In contrast to Figure 1, the codes and conventions of this image strongly suggest a fashion-based focus. Figure 2 highlights the ‘Semantic Code’ by Roland Barthes, the code refers to ‘connotation within the story that gives additional meaning over the basic denotative meaning of the word’. Whilst the image itself is relatively basic, horse and lady, the meaning of the image can be greatly explored and extended. The posture of the model denotes a strong sense of power, the stance of her raised chin displays confidence and her separated legs pushes a military pose. The body of the model is mostly exposed in a sexual manor, this could also relate to another issue Laura Mulvey considers to occur in the way text the text is read and sexualised. The theory argues that in examples such as advertising, the women’s body is sexualised and people are encouraged to gaze at this text even when the women’s actual body is unrelated to the product being advertised (Chandler, 2000).