In the lead up to RAFW 2011, I was lucky enough to see some sneaky ‘unseen’ pics of the Hair and Makeup for Subfusco’s ‘Elements’ Look Book shoot shot here in Sydney by Thom Kerr. Wowsers Trousers….
Subfusco had their RAFW show this Monday. I was in the crowd and have to say… what a standout. I think a very unfashionable ‘YEW!’ was released from my lips as Josh made his thankyou walk down the runway.
Amongst all the chaos that is part and parcel of any Fashion Week for all designers… Josh was generous enough to spare some time for TSAB before his show to speak about the creative process of creating a look for a group show as well as the direction behind the impressive ‘Elements’ Look Book.
Congratulations on your upcoming show at RAFW! This is the second time you are showing at RAFW with the first time being in New Gen show in ’07 and this year Ready To Wear!
Creatively and in business evolving your work and exposing it on a world stage is exciting but can also bring up all sorts of emotions. How are you feeling about showing this year?
I think the emotions are all bottled up until the last few seconds of me walking out on the runway; I try and keep it cool and collective to the public. People who know me well can see a slight nervousness in my body language, but that’s ok because nerves are a good emotion.
A common theme for your makeup looks in your campaigns could be interpreted as futuristic, sleek, androgynous, even icy. How would you describe your hair and makeup direction for Subfusco as a brand?
Exactly what you said, sleek and polished with a futuristic element to it. I have always be fascinated with the universe and what’s beyond our knowledge in terms of the future, so I guess my hair and makeup reflect those inspirations which tie back with our collections. Fashion is all about what’s next, so I guess Subfusco is always sketching a future look through our clothes and hair/makeup.
Texture is so important in your designs and is always something I know you consider in your Makeup concepts for Subfusco. I especially loved the silverly luminous skin you had Napoleon create for ‘Collective Species’ show at Serafini Chains Factory.
What has been the experience for you in communicating what you want your Makeup artists to achieve for Subfusco?
We like to work with like minded people; a perfect fit is always beneficial for both parties, so when we are researching whom we would like to work with, it’s one of the major factors in deciding who we will collaborate with. Napoleon was just that, we briefed them on our vision and they came up with the goods.
For your latest ‘Elements’ campaign you worked with Sydney makeup artist Amelia Axton. What was the creative process you both went through to achieve your look on your model Jemma?
Amelia is fantastic, we have worked with her before so we knew that reference images and footage would be enough for her to understand what we wanted. Along with Thom Kerr our photographer and Stylist Tanja Mrnjaus input, we came up with a beautiful strong look that was not too over the top, clean and simple and had the Subfusco signature feel.
During a group show the models are shared between designers and therefore also share the same hair and makeup. How do designers as a collective come up with a look that will reflect and represent all of your brand visions? Is this hard?
It’s not hard; it’s a little frustrating I guess yet totally understandable. All the designers put in their references and then the creative teams put together a fusion of all that. We were lucky this year that we were the only label to have boys in our show, so we had 100% creative direction with them. Our feel and look was focused on clean and polished, we wanted to keep the boys masculine looking so that it would appeal to a broader market. James Dykes our runway stylist did a great job in briefing the Redken & MAC teams
Finally my traditional Twosixandbrush.com final question.
If there was a machine that made robot makeup artists, what features would you include as standard?
To have an in built espresso machine so on shoots I could drink heaps of coffee and maybe an airbrush tool that printed digital images on the face, that would be great.
Ha ha ha that’s awesome Josh.
Congratulations again and I look forward to seeing your show!
Poor poor Amelia Axton. The strains of a busy schedule has played havoc on her body and when we caught up recently she was freshly home from the physio who has hopefully started healing her back. Amelia had a lot to say about back care especially as her injury is as a result of leaning forward to do makeup. Mucho Paino. After a discussion with mumma Becca… She told me she is about to purchase a light aluminium chair that brings her clients up to her level when working and is easy to carry around. I could not live without mine. Her injury has resulted in her having to clear her diary for a week including Body Painting with myself for Miss Unkon at RAFW yesterday.. After our chat about our precious backs… I asked her about her experience on the Subfusco shoot and how she achieved the look.
What have you been up to since we spoke last?
I have been super busy lately, which has been great. I have just shot an awesome beauty shoot that is all about the lips with Henryk. A shoot with fashion designer Brooke Daniels, Triumph lingerie, lots of exciting tests, work with the ABC, and a little shoot with Grazia.
Well done… can’t wait to see the latest pics! You recently also worked with Thom Kerr for the Subfusco ‘Elements’ Campaign. What was the creative process for you in coming up with the look?
The Subfusco shoot was such a great campaign to be apart of. The range was amazing and Thom always has great ideas and pushes boundaries. Thom sent through a few pictures with images of painted hair so I researched through my folders of inspiration and looked through all the latest runway looks to come up with our own interpretation.
How did you achieve the look for the hair? Was this something you had played with before?
I had never painted anyone’s hair before but it was something I had always wanted to do. I had to call around to find out what was safe to use in the hair. I really wanted to have the hair quite sleek and shiny with still the powdery effect of the paint. There were so many options of what to use. Of course I ended up the night before with white paint and baby powder all through my hair, eyebrows and eyelashes.
I am sure you looked a treat. What’s next for you Amelia?
Hmm… Shooting for Vogue might be nice…
Behind the Scenes pics by Amelia
I bumped into Thom Kerr just before Subfuscos show at RAFW on Monday… always a pleasure to see Mr Kerr… the kind of person you can never feel bad around. We had a wee catch up and also chatted about Subfusco…
What have you been up to since we last caught up?
The business has expanded a lot over the last three months – so I’ve been setting up new strategies with my business partner Jovita Lee to creatively problem solve during this busy period. We’ve taken on a role of consulting for brands which has extended outside of our photographic services. It’s all new territory but we’re learning every day. We’ve also been working closely with some amazing new designers coming out into the market in the lead up to fashion week. So many things to do, such little time! Regardless of the drama, we absolutely love what we do.
My experience of working with you is that you seem to have such a strong creative vision of the overall look of any shoot including hair and makeup. What‘s awesome about that is you also have an amazing talent in communicating to hair and makeup artists exactly what you have envisaged also giving room for creative interpretation. It’s really clear that you have taken time to understand what our job entails and you know how to get across to us what we need to hear to do our work.
I think all photographers should take an active role in conceptualising with their creative’s. It’s the little details that make the picture! I’ve learnt so much just from listening to my team mates, instead of blindly shooting whatever is in front of me.
What part did you play in conceptualising the hair and makeup look for Subfusco and what were some of your ‘descriptive words’ you used when chatting with Amelia?
I told her I wanted uniformity in the hair and makeup looks between both models – so that there was an obvious connection between them – like twins from the future. That said I still wanted a definite female and male role in the two models we cast. Also, I wanted it to feel a little older and more expensive because Subfusco has some very elegant pieces in this collection, so it was important that Jemma (our girl) looked womanly in her makeup – not too young & street wear-esque. A strong darker lip would help mature the beauty look.
I also wanted to create the feeling they were both mannequins in this show room – statuesque and cold. I knew there were some amazing prints in the collection so I thought we could whiten out the hair to make the colour of the clothes really pop – but leave that feminine wave in the length of Jemma’s hair so it’s not too minimalist or androgynous. It still has to fabulous and womanly! Cooper our male model has such striking features that once we created that white look on him not much more was needed to be done – just keeping it slick and not too girly to reinforce a male energy in the final look.
I think the collection is great and I’m excited to see the brand continue to grow and strengthen! Loving Subfusco!
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