Juergen Teller

"Juergen Teller (born January 28, 1964) is a German artist and fine-art and fashion photographer. Teller’s work, in books, magazines or exhibitions, is marked by his refusal to separate the commercial fashion pictures and his mostly autobiographical un-commissioned images. He employs a raw, overexposed style and he uses a Contax G2 camera with an onboard flash.^[3] He prefers to work in color,^[4] and regularly includes himself in his photographs. His fashion photographs have been featured in The Face, Vogue, W Magazine etc.." - Wikipedia

My seminar group got given Teller's editorial called "New Nomad" which captures the essence of the model Saskia De Braw exploring a wild landscape in bright printed pieces as she explores the Greek island of Hydra. 

Louis Vuitton Film

We watched "Spirit of Travel" a film made by Louis Vuitton in our seminar. It see's actresses Michelle Williams and Alicia Vikander travelling seperately and as a pair to a joint destination. The film incorporates it's herritage as a luggage maker to draw inspiration for its cruise collection communications. What is most prominent in this film is infact the consumer journey. The video conjures up idea's of this in a more real-world setting outside of shopping to demonstrate that there are smaller steps in between two destination points. 

Patrick Demarchilier who filmed the "Spirit of Travel" manages to seduce the audience by empasising the luxuruous life of these women who travel with the affluential Louis Vuitton bag.

The True Cost

After doing research of 'The Big Idea', we watched the film 'The True Cost' in our seminar. This was massively influential as it hi lighted the severity of how unfairly people are treated in third world countries, e.g - Bangladesh who make clothes in large, over-populated factories. "This is a story about clothing. It’s about the clothes we wear, the people who make them, and the impact the industry is having on our world. The price of clothing has been decreasing for decades, while the human and environmental costs have grown dramatically. The True Cost is a groundbreaking documentary film that pulls back the curtain on the untold story and asks us to consider, who really pays the price for our clothing? Filmed in countries all over the world, from the brightest runways to the darkest slums, and featuring interviews with the world’s leading influencers including Stella McCartney, Livia Firth and Vandana Shiva, The True Cost is an unprecedented project that invites us on an eye opening journey around the world and into the lives of the many people and places behind our clothes".


"The True Cost, is a fashion documentary that goes there and then some – it unravels the grim, gritty, global supply chain of fast fashion: a system that has injected the type of speed, disposability and price deflation that has directly led to the worst casualties in the industrial age" - Lucy Siege.

The Big Idea

Moving from the trend brief, we've started a new brief called "The Big Idea" which is a timely idea that disrupts and creates impact to achieve the stated aim. In this case, I'm looking at raising awareness of the environmental and ethical problems caused by the global fashion industry targeting NTU students, in which I will be making a campaign. 

From this, I've done some research in which I've collected some intriguing data which I would not have known before this brief and went onto http://www.ethicalfashionforum.com. Ethical fashion represents an approach to the design, sourcing and manufacture of clothing which maximises benefits to people and communities while minimising impact on the environment. For the EFF, the meaning of ethical goes beyond doing no harm, representing an approach which strives to take an active role in poverty reduction, sustainable livelihood creation, minimising and counteracting environmental concerns.

The Ethical Fashion Forum has drawn up a set of 10 criteria for ethical fashion, to inform the fashion industry's official ethical fashion awards, the RE; Fashion awards:
1.) Countering fast, cheap fashion and damaging patterns of fashion consumption.
2.) Defending fair wages, working conditions and workers' rights.
3.) Supporting sustainable livelihoods.
4.) Addressing toxic pesticide and chemical use.
5.) Using and/or developing eco-friendly fabrics and components.
6.) Minimising water use.
7.) Recylcing and adressing energy efficiency and waste.
8.) Developing or promoting sustainability standards for fashion.
9.) Resources, training and / or awareness raising initiatives.
10.) Animal rights.