Manchester
Whilst in Manchester for the Design Manchester event, I took the opportunity to wonder around the city and look into the kinds of editorials and lookbooks found in various clothing retail stores. This research stemmed from the idea that I want to produce some sort of editorial this year as part of the Extended Practice module. When deciding what subject I would want the editorial to focus on, I brainstormed all of my personal interests and came up with the idea of producing some sort of fashion publication. The next step was to decide what type of editorial to produce.
Being unsure of this, I thought to leave it undecided until I saw something that inspired me. Walking around achieved exactly this. I noticed that almost every store we walked into, there would be some sort of lookbook along side the clothes that gave the viewer an insight into the clothing line and designer.
I thought to first get a dictionary definition of the term Lookbook. It gave the definition to mean...
"a set of photographs displaying a fashion designer's new collection, assembled for marketing purposes"
Examples I found:
This Our Legacy lookbook I found in a trendy clothes store that had a whole variety of different styles and labels. The lookbook was placed almost hidden beneath a rack of Our Legacy garments, it would have been easy to miss had the silver cover not caught my eye. The lookbook was incredibly simple in terms of layout as each double page spread was simply two imgaes centrally aligned, some larger than others. As well as the clothes of the Spring/Summer range, the book also included various images of things like urban scenes and nature. I think these images are used to further convey the message behind the clothing line.
This further inspired my decision to produce something similar as I believe I would be able to reproduce my own lookbook professionally and successfully.
I have also included a screenshot of the Our Legacy website as it shares similarities with the lookbook. This made me realise that not only does the book communicate the message of the new clothing line, it also carries the identity of the clothing label itself.
Our Legacy
Lookbook
The next lookbook I found in the Carhartt store I don't know much about other than the title and the way it is designed. From a distance the book immediately caught my attention through the use of a vibrant red colour matched with a light grey. On closer inspection, the title of the book read 'There is happiness even in Syria'. This gave me an idea as to the designer of the book being Syrian. Opening the book I realised that this was correct as each body of text was written in a different language as well as an english translation.
In comparison to the previous lookbook shown above, the design and layout was a lot more playful and eye catching through the use of warped text and colour.
Shown below, the lookbook was placed on a shelf amongst a whole range of garments and accessories that all came together as a collection using the same colour red as well as typeface and setting. This is an example of how a Lookbook can be used to further enhance the aesthetics of a clothing range as well as engaging the audience by giving them something to pick up and look through.
Further exploring the world of fashion lookbooks has shown me that they are a great opportunity to produce an editorial and have fun and be creative with the design, layout and overall aesthetic. With other editorial briefs, there is often limitations concerning creativity etc but with a lookbook, the opportunities are far more free to play with. The lookbook is predominantly based on aesthetics of both the clothing line and also the editorial in which the images are shown. The both come together to convey the intended message.
The next step in my research will be to head into Leeds town centre and document the fashion branding and its surrounding environment by taking photographs and walking around retail stores. There are plenty of stores that will suit my research in terms of fashion branding as well as environments and interesting retail spaces. This primary research will then inform the content of my own lookbook.
The idea thus far is to produce a lookbook, not specifically for one brand or one clothing line, but for the overall fashion branding of Leeds city centre. The lookbook will be a good insight into the branding, identity and retail environments of the city; things that can often be overlooked or ignored by many.
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