Styling, Creative Director and Hair – Ethel Manalo (me)
Photographer – Yunn Chin
Hair and Make Up Artist – Sheila Tsakalidis
Model #1 – Bettina Banks
Model #2 – Kelsey Hudson
BTS Photographer and Assistant – Tiffany Han
VW Buggy – Bhathiya Welaratne
The last two weeks I had planned and organised a sixties inspired photo shoot for my Raffles application. When I read the requirements of what needed to be in the portfolio, right from the start, I was excited about the idea of styling and directing my own shoot. I had styled and directed shoots before, but they were never based on my own concept or ideas.
Initially I had no idea what to shoot, obviously it would be about fashion, but I had to narrow it down to shoes, jewellery or clothes. If it was clothes, what type of clothes? What style would it be? What colours would I use? What theme should I go with? ARGH! It was enough to make my mind explode. After some good advice from my lovely roommate, I decided to base my shoot on a sixties concept. Why the sixties you ask? Well, if I was to describe my style (street, hipster, grunge, preppy or urban) I honestly wouldn’t be able to pick one. That’s because all these styles influence my own. However, there is one era that strongly influences my choices when I go shopping. You guessed it! The sixties!!!
I love the playfulness that’s expressed through the alluring sex appeal in the women during the sixties. I also love how the pin up women of the sixties styled their hair artistically with such elegance and femininity.
For the shoot I wanted to express the ambience of the ‘girl next door’, whether it be naughty or nice. I wanted to style the clothes/accessories to be filled with plenty of bright colours, girly prints and cute oversized bows. I wanted to bring out the youthful, fun and energetic feel from the sixties.
The vision was already embedded in my mind, all I needed to do was to bring the idea to life by styling the models and directing the shoot. I researched sixties themes (make-up, hairstyles, photographs, advertisements etc.) for inspiration and direction. Once I knew exactly what I wanted, I then went on the search for models, photographers and make-up artists.
Once I had sent out the invitations for the shoot, I was fortunate enough to have gathered such an amazing and talented group of people.
As promised, here are the finished photos… Enjoy!
Fashiondiction 