FASHION AS AN IDENTITY
By Benjamin Turgel
By Benjamin Turgel
(Text taken from publication http://www.gossipdrip.com/fashion-as-an-identity.html)
Have you ever thought about how fashion represents identity? Stereotypically, fashion can represent all genres of people; dark, Gothic clothes automatically subject a person to a mysterious and reserved persona, and a tracksuit and baseball cap brands you as a ‘chav’.
Benjamin Turgel defies this idea through photography. Surely the beauty of fashion is that it is ever changing, and not something that can be set in stone?
Fashion is random; it’s uncertain. How boring would the world be if we all looked and acted the same?
By using pre-production photography skills* whereby the outcome of the shot is random, alongside some fantastic subjects styled by Renaissance Hairdressers and Smink Makeup to showcase his ideas, Benjamin has highlighted that fashion, as an identity, is fluid.
Have you ever thought about how fashion represents identity? Stereotypically, fashion can represent all genres of people; dark, Gothic clothes automatically subject a person to a mysterious and reserved persona, and a tracksuit and baseball cap brands you as a ‘chav’.
Benjamin Turgel defies this idea through photography. Surely the beauty of fashion is that it is ever changing, and not something that can be set in stone?
Fashion is random; it’s uncertain. How boring would the world be if we all looked and acted the same?
By using pre-production photography skills* whereby the outcome of the shot is random, alongside some fantastic subjects styled by Renaissance Hairdressers and Smink Makeup to showcase his ideas, Benjamin has highlighted that fashion, as an identity, is fluid.
Using pre production skills, a double exposure has been created as part of a fashion editorial. In the image, Adam’s extreme personas are captured through combining different exposures. Pose, dress, hairstyles, and make-up are selected for emphasis. Adam has a very androgynous look, so I wanted to play on the idea of masculine v feminine, whilst showing his sophistication which is incorporated in both sides of his identity. Exposing the film twice creates an excitement of not knowing what the final negative will be.
Anthony’s identity is also ambiguous. Benjamin has used a double exposure to capture the two sides of his sexuality, reinforced by Anthony’s androgynous appearance. Again, Anthony’s persona is blurred and not fixed; Benjamin’s photographic skill is being used to convey the notion that fashion and sexuality can work alongside each other in proving that in fashion, there are no rules, and that you have the freedom to dress according to your individual taste.
Take Matthew. Around his family, Matthew is a relatively reserved person. On a night out, friends would describe him as confident. Different personality traits are within him, despite his supposed ‘reserved’ appearance to outsiders. Concentrate on Matthew’s hologram, an effect of Benjamin’s photographic skill; we don’t know whether Matthew is taking on the reserved or confident persona, but the beauty of fashion is that it doesn’t matter- uncertainty and instability is key.
