BRICOLAGE. is a project that I completed as my BFA thesis as the capstone of my studies at Cornish College of the Arts. It was an endeavor to showcase four years of formal education through a large scale project and subsequent public exhibition. The project was entirely self-managed, self-budgeted, and completed on a four month timeline.
"BRICOLAGE." is a fashion subculture magazine and lookbook about expressing yourself through clothing and the benefits of buying garments second-hand rather than new. The intent of this is to show that clothing does not have to be expensive in order to look magazine-ready, to give people an alternative way of shopping that decreases fashion waste, and to show that putting in effort to make your clothes fit you exactly can improve your self-image exponentially. So who do you want to be?"
I wanted this project to be something I'm passionate about so that I could focus my full attention on it for the duration. I was aiming to design something that combined my love of typography, fashion, sewing, and photography. (And shopping.) The idea was to have several moving parts so that if I hit a block at one junction, I could work on another aspect while considering my next steps.
I landed on the idea of encapsulating the process of the project in a coffee table book that the audience could take their time to peruse. I had multiple copies of the book available for the exhibition and designed large-scale magazine covers for the display.
I recruited some friends to be my models. I interviewed each of them to gain a better understanding of their personal style and what they wanted for themselves. I then assigned each model an archetype and delved into fashion research for each genre. I researched legacy fashion brands, up and coming designers, and current and historical fashion trends. From there, I would source secondhand clothing and fabrics to create a budget-friendly and unique ensemble.
I wanted to find a style for this book that landed somewhere between a kitschy magazine and a sophisticated coffee table book. The narrative layout design needed to tell the story of the project with consistency across the whole book but with variation between the chapters.
I landed on a high-contrast serif typeface that read as friendly and chic, as well as utilizing variable template formats to keep consistency across the entire book.
Each model is a friend of mine and not a professional model. After getting past the initial awkwardness, I was able to direct them into editorial style poses that came out fantastically. I later retouched the final photos for presentation at large-scale.
I posed each and every article of clothing against a white backdrop and photographed them just as I did the models. This way I could go in-depth about each piece and why it was chosen.
I recorded the process of myself making the bikini top, t-shirt, and leggings.
I aimed to capture each of the models in a (free) environment that matched the vibe of their outfit. Justin and Laura, in their own homes. Liza, at a public staircase near my my apartment at the time. And Tyler's were taken in a parking garage below his workplace.
I tried to compile the book into a cohesive narrative that was easy to follow for an audience quickly flipping through the 100+ page book, factoring in decisions such as: pacing, chapter length, and brevity.
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