Finally, it’s here and I can share it! Earlier this year, I put out a model call to create an entry for PhotoVogue’s Next Great Fashion Image Maker competition.
If you’ve never heard of it, PhotoVogue is a platform created by Vogue Italia to help “champion talent” and improve visual literacy to encourage a more ethical and inclusive visual media landscape.
I’ve been following Vogue Italia for many, many years and I’ve been waiting for the right time and project to contribute a submission. When they released a global open call this year, around the same time as my creative team and I were looking for a project to collaborate on, the stars aligned!
If you’re a regular follower you might remember seeing the model call, and perhaps you even applied. Together with two incredible creatives Paula Jacobsen and Pip Grundy we came up with an idea to use this opportunity to help tell the stories of those half seen in the world.
The Brief
The brief for the PhotoVogue Global Open call was to create something that pushed the boundaries of the current fashion landscape and that tackled social issues in powerful vibrant images. With this in mind, we put together our particular creative vision for the shoot:
“Half seen”
A fashion editorial telling the story about those ‘half seen’ in the world.
With the rise of a concept of ‘inclusiveness’; and with many businesses and brands looking to position themselves as such, there are many people in the world who, while applauding the entrance of a new era, still feel unseen and unrepresented.
Perhaps not quite being the ideal face of inclusivity, or perhaps being too “diverse” to fit within a sanitised version of what inclusivity is as it’s presented to the public.
We aim to produce 5 creative portraits exploring “half seen” as a concept and 5 beauty portraits showcasing the diverse beauty in the models photographed in a traditional beauty portrait style.
The Shoot
We had a huge response to the model call and we spent several late nights making very hard decisions about whose stories we could tell – and to be honest, if we could have styled and photographed everyone who applied, we would have!
Initially, we wanted to tell 5 mini stories, but with time ticking onwards to the entry deadline and managing our own workloads, we had to settle on just three.
Our models, Audrey, Naomi and Kylee each had such touching stories about why they wanted to participate in the shoot and based on their stories, we put together style personas to represent them.
Their gowns were each live-styled (meaning we pinned and draped their looks live, at the shoot) and designed each look to fit each model and their style persona. Paula did the makeup and created the live fashion draping and styling, and Pip created the hair looks, styled specifically for each model and assisted during the shoot.
Our first model, Audrey applied because in her words:
“ Being a woman of colour and plus size I think we have often been underrepresented. Many markets in NZ are very limited in how they cater to our uniqueness be it clothing, makeup even hair products or hair care. I think it will be interesting and exciting to explore that more to bring attention to those conversations for future generations.”
We created her fresh bright look to represent optimism, hopefulness and confidence.
These are the images from her look:
Our second model, Naomi, felt called to apply because:
I was born with a rare musculoskeletal abnormality, called Chondrodysplasia Punctata. I have undergone many operations throughout my life to both save my life and maintain as much mobility as possible. This has obviously placed an emotional and physical toll on me, but I’m still here and intend to keep going. Despite my disability, I do my best to give everything a go, within my limitations. I know I still have operations to have ahead of me, but I’ll face them when needed.
Growing up was not normal for me because of the above, and I was also struggling with gender identity. I had not told anybody how I felt and feared possible rejection from family and friends. I was nearly 23 years old when I told my mum. I told her, “I don’t know where to go from here”. She hugged me and said, “Me neither, but I’ll hold your hand and we’ll navigate this path together”. That was 5 years ago and now I am happy to be transgender (male to female). I have grown in confidence since.
I feel that I have flown under the radar for so long. I was hiding a huge part of who I am from people. Well now it’s time to show people who I am – it’s time to be seen.
Her glamorous look was designed to represent resilience, adaptation and growth.
These are the final images from her look:
Our final model, Kylee, so passionately wanted to take part because:
“I have a huge heart and passion for this space, to help show that fashion is for everyone, that accessibility is possible and that it makes sense! We are a huge minority as disabled persons but have so much to give and contribute and huge buying power too. I’ve been working on making events accessible, and creating and showing that accessibility should be for all – helping to show that fashion is also accessible will change the landscape for us all. I have severe chronic health and disability. I have a feeding tube to my stomach and small bowel, an ostomy, a central line to my heart for home IV cares, and catheterise. I have regular admissions to hospital, and use a power chair or manual chair. I use leg braces, and various bracing and tools. I wear a feeding pump to help me live my life. I don’t see people with these things and would love to see them further normalised and see the stigma for these reduced by being proud of differences. But also they give me a huge QOL[quality of life], and allow me to do things that I couldn’t otherwise do. I am proud of what I can do and the life I can live because of them and that having an incredible supportive medical team behind me allows me to do what I couldn’t if I didn’t have a team focusing on helping me live my best life.”
And the bold look that we created for her represents strength, courage and determination.
The Results
In shooting this series it was really important to us as a team to not only enter a competition and push our creativity, but to also shine a light and bring visibility to more than just the “half-seen” -ness of our wonderful models, anyone who relates to being half-seen, and to celebrate the people that they are.
We entered a massive worldwide competition standing up with more than 3000 other artistic teams judged by vogue editors and creatives from around the world. We didn’t win. We didn’t even place. But it’s not a loss – not at all.
What matters most to all of us was giving a platform to our amazing models, being allies and affirming that EVERYONE deserves to exist, be seen and celebrated in fashion media (and beyond!) .
And hopefully, we’ve opened some conversations among the judging panel, as well as everyone who views these images.
Hearing this feedback from Kylee after the shoot meant so much to us:
Wow. Kate. Absolutely and honestly so blown away from today and the incredible experience from the beginning to end with you, Pip and Paula! I had a lot of fun and loved being involved!
Thank you SO MUCH for what you all did today – which was way more than just putting together the photoshoot end to end and taking the photos. I’ve never seen myself through a lens of showing all of me, and how even disability is not linear – not just as a group of people, but it’s not linear even in the same perso…. I have honestly never seen myself seen through the lens you opened to me today. I mean we see some disability now in media… But NOT and NOTHING like what you did guys did today with the way you styled the whole shoot end to end.
Something fundamentally changed in me today seeing those photos – from make up and hair, to the way you dressed us, the way you saw us through the lens of your camera and the photos you took – and just the experience end to end. I was absolutely blown away & so moved by seeing how you captured all of us quite like you did!
Thank you so much for choosing to enter the competition for “unseen” and “unrepresented”. Thank you for giving me a chance and saying yes. I’m truly honoured + grateful for the opportunity you gave me
For anyone who wants to learn more about Kylee’s passion for inclusivity and representation, I highly recommend checking out her business Kylee and Co
Credits:
Models: Audrey, Naomi and Kylee
Hair Styling: Pip Grundy @Zibido Hair
Makeup and Garment Styling: Paula Jacobsen
Behind the Scenes clips and photos: Kylee Black
Photography: Kate Ryan
Studio Space: Wintec
