CONTEXTUAL RESEARCH.pptx

CONTEXTUAL RESEARCH
By Jessica Crosland

Telfar Clemens
Liberian-American Fashion Designer
• Telfar Clemens is a fashion designer born in January 1985 (age 37)
, and founder of the latest brand ‘TELFAR’. He was born to
Liberian parents in Queens, New York in 2002, Clemens moved to
New York to pursue a career in modelling and in 2003 he began to
create his own collection of deconstructed and reconstructed
vintage clothes which he sold in boutiques on the Lower East Side
of New York City.
• In 2004 he launched his own fashion label entitled TELFAR
collection which incorporates unisex designs which are
comfortable sportswear and ‘simplexity’.
• Telfar Clemens has had critical success within his brand winning
the CFDA/Vogue fashion Fund Prize. He studied business
management at Pace.

TELFAR Shopping Bag
‘The designer may have been snubbed for Accessory Designer of the Year, but this simple shopper is
fashion history in the making’
Telfar, the label founded by designer Telfar Clemens, is not an out –of- nowhere Instagram accessories
brand; the fashion line has been around for well over a decade. But what about the bag? A faux leather,
tote bag with handles and shoulder straps which is available in three sizes, with prices raging from $140
for a mini to $240 for a large. “This is practical and functional while being graphically interesting with the
embossed logo at an accessible price point” – Brigitte Chartrand, Ssense's Senior Director of
Womenswear. The bag captures the fluidity of a crowd who are not really interested in what the fashion
magazines are saying, they make and break their own trends. The bag is the most visible symbol of the
shifts that have transformed fashion over the last decade – thanks to social media, power,
representation, and influence. The bag has been thrust into the mainstream. Thanks to a rise of activism
and social awareness due to protests happening around the country, black businesses have been
experiencing an uptick sales. Which was originally released in 2014 six years later it’s the hottest most
talked about accessory in the market.
July 23, twitter was set ablaze when a restock of the shopping bag crashed the brands website for the
first time which some users compared this drop to Supreme and Nikes release, Telfar trended on twitter
that same day after this the accessory was found on resale sites like eBay and Grailed for up to $700.All
of the shopping bags are currently sold out on the website but Telfar realises drops throughout the year.
An UGG x Telfar collaboration was also made on June the 21st with things such as clothes, boots and
shopping bags “we wanted to combine the ubiquity of our bag with the ubiquity of UGG boots. "pieces
in the line-up include something for everyone, there are a host of furry bags, shearling lined slippers,
and boots stamped with the Telfar logo at the top fans can also expect a new grey, sweatpants fleece
with loungewear staples.

Telfar Clemens
Is Teaching The Fashion Industry How To Be Inclusive
• Before unisex clothing was a thing, Telfar did it as he has been deigning nongendered clothes since 2002 before see-now-
buy-now was a thing Telfar did it.in 2011 he held mobile pop-up shows throughout New York Fashion Week and et guests
purchase pieces from the spring 2012 collection on the spot. The designer has spent the past decade showing collections
that embody many ideas currently whirling through the zeitgeist: inclusivity, accessibility, equality, diversity and fluidity he's
creating clothes and a business based on removing walls instead of building them the tagline for his collection is “its not for
you, its for everybody". Clemens has spent his career evading formula, he stamps them with his logo which is made up of his
initials but also resembles they symbol of his teacher who used this in a English course meant to temper his Liberian accent.
People usually stratify Telfar as streetwear, but Clemens prefers you just call it clothing as he wants to speak to a broader
audience, he also mentioned on more than one occasion that he wants to be Michael Kors. While living in Maryland,
Clemens gained an affinity for mall culture- and for mixing clothes that were traditionally made for women into his wardrobe
as his mother would refuse to buy him a crop top, so he began piecing together his own garments at 15. he stated “I wasn’t
comfortable enough to say I'm wearing a girls shirt so I would just make it myself and say this is intended to be for
everyone”.
• His first wholesale client was Funky Lala a now-closed boutique that was located on the East Village it sold out of his T-shirts
and he used the earrings to pay for school ad put money back into his line, which is still independently run. He recalled “I
went to school at six in the morning and I would work on the line at noon and then I would DJ from midnight to 4 a.m. and
do it all over again”. Clemens has always believed firmly in the fashion show that’s more than a fashion show: he's put on
more than 20 of them and collaborated with artists and corporations to help fund his vision.

Giampaolo Sgura
Italian Fashion Photographer
• Giampaolo Sgura was born on the 7th of August he works with
magazines including international editions such as VOGUE, Teen
VOGUE, Allure, Hercules, GQ Style.
• He is from Apulia, Italy and completed Architecture in Milan
which he had studied, he began his career in photography after
producing a reportage for Glamour he was born into a agricultural
family that produce olive oil he keenly remembers being
fascinated by fashion but had no idea how to enter the elusive
world as there wasn’t no career blue print. One of todays most
sought-after fashion photographers Giampaolo Sgura has spent
nearly two decades as one of fashions lens men. His archive spans
industry trends, celebrity portraiture, cultural references and
captures society's prevailing winds.
• One of his main inspirations is photographer Irving Penn.
• One of the most richest photographers and listed on most popular
his net worth is approximately $1.5 million.

Collection Of His Work
Brands-Labelled
SWAROVSKI DSQUARED2 HOLT RENFREW GO GIRL- STYLE MAGAZINE

Sgura originally studied architecture at university but soon returned to his childhood passion for fashion design that evolved
into fashion photography,10 years later the photographer now also a creative director is based in New York he has shot a
roster of luxury and high street brands including Topshop, Mango and beauty brands like Revlon. Today, Sgura cites his
knowledge of architecture as a guide to establishing the composition of his shots, as he sketches every set feature in his
photoshoots . In 2019 he had shot for both editorials and other advertisements for VOGUE and the Sunday Times Style
magazine. He did state he is unable to work until he's felt the clothes, selected the accessories and seen the model with her
hair and makeup done and dressed.” I cant walk into a studio, set the lighting and then ask the model to arrive I'm just not
that sort of photographer, I need to build the scene and everyone is different” Sgura says. In keeping with his Italian
heritage he sees his work as part of the family , so much so that when asked if he has a favourite image he replies “they all
mean a lot to me, I'm proud of them all”
I found an extra interview which involved Sgura
The most visually inspiring place for himself was the Milan STUDIO 54 photo studio but he does love to travel on location.
His first job was in a Luna park in Milano for Italian Glamour and he photographed a couple of models pretending they were
enjoying the park however he didn’t like this shoot at all. He seems like a very trusty worthy person and only wants people
beside him who will help him within his work and support him as he always takes his own team of (stylists, makeup artists
and assistants etc. because he thinks it is very important to create images with people that he trusts and at the same time
understands his own vision of work, he does like people that always bring new creativity on set. He likes to create classic
beauty and real beauty so each time he develops different concepts to express his fashion point of view ,fashion aways
needs a fresh vision he wants to tell stories with clothes designed every season by designers.
Extra Info…

Cristobal Balenciaga
Fashion Designer
• He was born on the 21st of January 1895 and died 23rd March
1972 and was a Spanish fashion designer and the founder of
the Balenciaga fashion house, he had a reputation as a
couturier of uncompromising standards and was referred to
as ‘the master of us all’. Since 2011 the purpose-built Museo
Balenciaga has exhibited examples of his work in his birth
town which was Getaria many of the 1,200 pieces in the
collection were supplied by his pupil Hubert de Givenchy and
many others.
• He was known as the King Of Fashion and was one of the
great masterminds of the period, he was born and raised in
Spain where he worked for the Spanish Royalty but because
of the Spanish Civil War he moved to Paris where he became
King of Fashion.
• He learnt to sew at the age of 11.
• He maintained a private life to an extent that he only ever
spoke to the press once, throughout his time as a celebrated
couturier.

Balenciaga's Life
• Balenciaga was born in Getaria, province of Gipuzkoa, Spain his father was a fisherman who
died when he was a boy and his mother a seamstress as a child he often spent time with his
mother as she worked and by the age of 12 he began work as the apprentice of a tailor.
Balenciaga is notable as one of the few couturiers in fashion history who could not only use his
own hands to create but pattern, cut and sew the designs which symbolized the heigh of his
artistry. He closed his house in 1968 at the age of 74 after working in Paris for 30 years, he
decided to retire and closed his fashion house in Paris, Barcelona and Madrid and died on 23
March. Today the Balenciaga fashion house continues under the direction of Demna Gvasalia
and under the ownership of the Kering group.
• The most eye-catching designer of this period was himself because of his structural designs,
which had never before been seen in the fashion world he was a master of tailoring, and he was
able to translate his illustrations from paper to real life. His advanced tailoring skills gave him an
advantage over designers all over the world making him a major target for customers. He was
gay, although he kept his sexuality private throughout his life the love of his life and his long
time partner who had helped fund and setting him up died in 1948 he was so broken that he
considered closing the business, his next collection after the death was designed entirely in
black to mourn his loss.
• He had an huge impact on the fashion industry and radically altered the fashionable silhouette
of women in the mid-twentieth century and was respected throughout the fashion world for
both his knowledge of technique and construction and his unflinching perfectionism.by 1939 he
was being praised I the French press as a revolutionizing force in fashion with buyers and
customers fighting to gain access to his collection during world war II clients risked travel to
Europe for Balenciaga designs.

What was fashion to him?
• To him fashion was art, and the fashion designer was exactly like an artist, very jealous of his creations
Cristobal Balenciaga obliged his workers to empty their pockets every evening because he feared that they
could steal his sketches, because he drew images and created forms always new that is how important and
how big of an impact his business and fashion life had on him and he didn’t love journalists and preferred to
invite buyers and clients to his runway shows. He was an obsessive his garments were not designed to
please his customers but to please himself as nothing left the premises without his approval he never sprang
surprises as other couturiers did with new ideas every season. Balenciaga's earliest influences began as a
child in the Marchioness of Casa Torres home and he bough clothes from Chane, Vionnet and Lelong to
examine the techniques of the great designers he admired. After moving Balenciaga's Spanish heritage was
an inspiration to his design as religion influenced the minimalistic designs of his garments as he was a
devoted catholic and went to church often which it was there that he was inspired by the religious theme
paintings and sculptures.as mentioned before, Balenciaga's Spanish culture played a tremendous role in his
designs he made many references to the Spanish carnation in his collection as well as toreadors and
flamenco dancers. He was truly influenced by the world he lived in from his mother, his heritage, designers
before him and during his time, his religion, and his travels.
• He is a fashion icon because he did what he loved and he mastered it, he was quite, extremely shy and kept
to himself he was known for his meticulous attention to detail cut and construction and chose to ignore
trends and use his own ideas and experiments instead.

Tom Ford
fashion Designer
• Thomas Carlyle Ford (born August 27, 1961) is an American
fashion designer and filmmaker. He launched his eponymous
luxury brand in 2005, having previously served as the creative
director at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent.
• In 1988, Ford moved to Perry Ellis, where he knew both
Robert McDonald, the company's president, and Marc Jacobs,
its designer, socially. He worked at the company for two years,
but grew tired of working in American fashion. In a later
interview with The New York Times, he commented, "If I was
ever going to become a good designer, I had to leave America.
My own culture was inhibiting me. Too much style in America
is tacky. It's looked down upon to be too stylish. Europeans,
however, appreciate style.“
• Ford married Richard Buckley in 2014, a journalist and former
editor in chief of Vogue Hommes International; they had
been in a relationship since meeting in 1986. The couple have
a son, Alexander John "Jack" Buckley Ford, born in September
2012 via gestational surrogate. The family lived in Italy, where
Ford moved from New York in 1990,and in London for 17
years. They lived in his residences in New York, Los Angeles,
Santa Fe, and London.

Tom Fords
Childhood/life
• Tom ford is best known for turning Gucci into a brand worth billions of dollars, before leaving the business to
launch his own highly successful brand.
• His parents, Tom Ford, Sr. and Shirley Bunton, both worked as real estate agents, and Ford spent much of his
childhood at his grandparents' ranch in the dusty town of Brownwood, Texas. His favourite childhood
pastimes included lying out by his grandparents' pool and visiting Ralph the Swimming Pig — a popular
tourist attraction in nearby Aquarena Springs.
• Born to realtors in Austin, Texas Ford spent his childhood in Texas and New Mexico, before decamping for
New York to attend the University. Which he majored in Art History, yet he quit after one year and acted in
television commercials before moving onto Parsons, were he studied architecture.
• Ford became creative director at Gucci in 1994. Back then, the brand was nearly bankrupt and deeply
unfashionable. He brought a sexiness and glamour to the brand, bringing on photographer Mario Testino and
stylist Carine Roitfeld to shoot campaigns. He and Gucci’s then president, Domenico de Sole, took the
company public and — in a bid to avoid a takeover by LVMH — joined forces with PPR (now Kering). By 2004,
Gucci was valued at over $10 billion.
• In 2006, Ford returned to fashion with his own label, initially with cosmetics and menswear before returning
to the high-octane glamour of womenswear that had become his signature and trademark. De Sole also
returned as chief executive of his label. Tom Ford Beauty is set to turn over $1 billion in sales by 2020.
• Ford also took an early interest in art and painting. "I was always very visual, always interested in design," he
recalls. "I don't mean that I sat around at age 5 sketching clothes. But if my parents went out to dinner and
left me alone, I would rearrange all the living room furniture before they came back home." Ford says that his
parents "encouraged me to do anything. If I wanted art lessons, they found paint and a teacher."

Achievements…
Appointed Creative Director of Gucci in 1994,
when the brand was going through a particularly
difficult phase, Ford earned the reputation of
fashion’s greatest provocateur as sales
continued to soar under his reign.
After parting ways with Gucci, Ford launched his menswear, beauty,
and accessories label – Tom Ford. The brand went on to reach great
success and is notorious for it’s sleek, well-tailored men’s suits.
In addition to menswear, Tom Ford the
label also specified in fragrance. Launched
in 2006, Black Orchid is a unisex scent
admired for its woody, blackcurrant, and
effervescent notes.
2006
Black Orchid Launch
2006
Launched Tom Ford label
1994
Appointed Creative Director at Gucci

Nick Knight
Fashion Photographer
• Nick Knight was born in 1958, and studied at Bournemouth
and Poole College of Art and Design. He is one of the most
hunted fashion photographer in the world.
• Born in London in 1958, Knight studied photography at
Bournemouth & Poole College of Art and Design. He graduated
with a distinction in 1982.
• In 1982, he published Skinheads, his first photography book,
while studying at Bournemouth. At the time, he was
commissioned by Terry Jones, I-D magazine’s editor, to produce
100 portraits for the fifth anniversary issue of the magazine. As
a result, Marc Ascoli, an art director commissioned Nick Knight
to collaborate with Peter Saville (graphic designer) to shoot for
the 1986 catalogue for Yohji Yamamoto (Japanese designer).
• Knight has worked on both commercial and editorial projects
for customers, such as Audi, Christian Dior, Calvin Klein, Yves
Saint Lauren, Levi Strauss, Mercedes Benz, Royal Opera House,
Swarovski and a few more.
• Nick Knights fashion photos are exquisite, conceptual, high
quality and pose as a challenge to conventional thoughts about
beauty.

An interview with Nick Knight…
I found an interview with Nick and picked a few parts to what he had to say and his own
thoughts within the whole fashion & photography side of the industry and also his advice.
A journey into filmmaking
• “I started filming my photoshoot sessions in the 1980s, after a friend of mine recommended
it. I would set up a tripod and point the film camera in the direction of the model for the
eight to ten hours I was shooting. I would then put the film in a box, thinking it might come of
use one day. Over time, I would look back at them, to see what the lighting did and how the
set was working, and I quickly realised that the same lighting that worked for stills worked for
film.
• I began thinking I could make films as easily as I created pictures. This was the mid-’80s and it
took another ten years until the internet arrived, so I didn’t yet see any platform for these
films. Television, for some reason, never managed to catch onto [showcasing fashion film] –
there wasn’t a serious understanding of it.
• In the ’90s I realised the power of fashion film and had the first inspiration for SHOWstudio.
Originally I was going to use VHS cassette to send out as a compilation of films. However,
when the internet came along, there was a distribution model already set up.

• SHOWstudio was started [in 2000] as a platform for fashion film, which I saw very firmly as an
emerging medium that hadn’t yet had a dedicated platform. Many great fashion photographers have
dabbled to some degree in moving image – whether it’s Richard Avedon or Guy Bourdin – but the
parameters of the medium are still being defined. For example, there are no rules on length; you can
watch it on your phone, laptop,TV, at the cinema.
• I feel that fashion film is the most exciting medium out there at the moment. I see a lot of young
image-makers moving towards fashion film. Partly because, in essence, it’s the best way to show what
the fashion designer intended – no designer ever intended clothes to be seen just as a still image; they
imagine them in movement. So it’s hard to argue that the best way to show fashion is through
photography.”
• “The best way to understand something is to do it, rather than sit on sidelines and ask questions.”
• I really think the best way to understand something is to do it, rather than sit on sidelines and ask
questions. It’s really a way to allow people to consider how you work with a model, what clothes do in
certain lighting and all the problems and joys of making a fashion film.
• [In terms of SHOWstudio Fashion Film Awards entries] I’m impressed by people who understand and
want to express fashion – and fashion takes many different forms, from gang culture to haute couture
to sportswear. I’m not impressed by just technique or people who want to emulate something that’s
been done before. The sole purpose of a fashion film is to show a piece of clothing; the narrative will
only ever come from that. Any other narrative is superfluous.”

The “gaze” is a term that describes how viewers engage with visual media. Originating in film theory and
criticism in the 1970s, the gaze refers to how we look at visual representations. These include
advertisements, television programs and cinema.
• When film critics talk about the gaze, they are often referring to the “male gaze”
The “male gaze” invokes the sexual politics of the gaze and suggests a sexualised way of looking that
empowers men and objectifies women. In the male gaze, woman is visually positioned as an “object” of
heterosexual male desire. Her feelings, thoughts and her own sexual drives are less important than her being
“framed” by male desire.
A key idea of feminist theory, the concept of the male gaze was introduced by scholar and filmmaker Laura
mulvery in her now famous 1975 essay, visual pleasure
Although sometimes described as the “male gaze”, Mulvey’s concept is more accurately
described as a heterosexual, masculine gaze.
Visual media that respond to masculine voyeurism tends to sexualise women for a male
viewer. As Mulvey wrote, women are characterised by their “to-be-looked-at-ness” in cinema.
Woman is “spectacle”, and man is “the bearer of the look”.
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) offers a famous example of the male gaze. In the
scene below, the audience is introduced to Cora Smith, the film’s lead female character. Using
close-ups, the camera forces the viewer to stare at Cora’s body. It creates a mode of looking
that is sexual, voyeuristic, and associated with the male protagonist’s point-of-view.
THE MALE GAZE THEORY
linked to Essay

THE MALE GAZE THEORY
linked to Essay
• The male gaze theory describes a way of portraying and looking at women that empowers men while
sexualizing and diminishing women. We are driven to look at and evaluate each other as potential mates, the
male gaze twists this natural urge, turning the women into passive items to possess and use as props.
• The term ‘male gaze’ was first popularized in relation to the depiction of female characters in film as inactive,
often overly sexualized objects of male desire. However, the influence of the male gaze theory is not limited to
how women and girls are featured in the movie. It extends to the experience of being seen in this way, both for
the female figures on screen, the viewers, and by extension, to all girls.
• The male gaze discourages female empowerment and self advocacy while encouraging self-objectification and
deference to men and the patriarchy at large.
• Despite the fact that women make up over the 50% of the population, the male gaze relegates women and girls
to the position of other-and really to have.
• From a feminist perspective, the male gaze limits and defines women in ways that are harmful and demeaning.
• Studies show that increasing incidences of depression, anxiety, loneliness, low self-esteem are related o female
objectification. For my essays and the topic I have chosen to talk about is male gaze theory and included in my
FMP which is print I will reflect on fashion and magazines etc how women are portrayed through this and I have
chosen this because this is something I am interested in and would love to find out more information. I will also
look into 4 sources relating to the male gaze to find out more into this specific topic.

Bibliography
• Clemens, Telfar. (2022) . SHOW STUDIO. [online] Available at:
https://www.showstudio.com/contributors/telfar_clemens#:~:text=Telfar%20Clemens%20is%20a%20fashion,war%20(1999%2D2
003) [Accessed 9 Feb. 2022]
• Allwood, Emma. (2019). DAZED. [online] Available at: https://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/45485/1/telfar-shopping-bag-
it-bag-trend-identity-luxury-cfdas [Accessed 9 Feb. 2022]
• Mowatt, Robyn. (2021). OKAYPLAYER. [online] Available at: https://www.okayplayer.com/culture/how-the-telfar-bag-became-the-
most-popular-black-owned-accessory.html [Accessed 9 Feb. 2022]
• Hyde, Shelby. (2021) BAZAAR. [online] Available at: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/trends/a38254091/ugg-and-telfar-
fall-2021/ [Accessed 9 Feb 2022
• Hughes, Aria. (2018) WWD. [online] Available at: https://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-features/telfar-clemens-teaching-
fashion-industry-to-be-inclusive-11136734/ [Accessed 10 Feb 2022]
• Olsen, Kerry. GIAMPAOLOSGURA. [online] Available at: http://www.giampaolosgura.com/about/ [Accessed 10 Feb 2022]
• Sgura, Giampaolo.(2018) FASHIONGTON POST. [online] Available at: https://fashiongtonpost.com/giampaolo-sgura/ [Accessed
10 Feb 2022]
• Charleston, Beth. (2004). METMUSEUM. [online] Available at: https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/bale/hd_bale.htm [Accessed
11 Feb 2022]
• Shilling, Jane.(2017). PROSPECT.[online] Available at: https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/cristobal-balenciaga-a-
master-of-fashion [Accessed 16 Feb 2022]
• Loreck, Janice.(2016). What does the male gaze mean, and what about the female gaze?.[online] Available at:
https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-does-the-male-gaze-mean-and-what-about-a-female-gaze-52486 [Accessed 16 Feb 2022]

Bibliography
• Wikipedia Contributors (2019). Tom Ford. [online] Wikipedia. Available at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Ford.
• Ford, T. (2019). Tom Ford is part of the BoF 500. [online] The Business of Fashion. Available at:
https://www.businessoffashion.com/community/people/tom-ford.
• Vogue Arabia. (2020). 7 Major Moments from Tom Ford’s Iconic Career. [online] Available at:
https://en.vogue.me/fashion/tom-ford-career-moments/.
• Anon, (n.d.). Nick Knight | Photography and Biography. [online] Available at:
https://www.famousphotographers.net/nick-
knight#:~:text=Nick%20Knight%20was%20born%20in.
• https://www.creativelivesinprogress.com/article/nick-knight

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