A bit of Tina Turner!

Alo T.T!

Who know Tina Tuner and Tribal?! I guess thats what a day with your parents does to you! Her styling in this video is so tribal!! I adore her over sized shoulder pads! Her earrings are huge, and we all know how much tribal women love their jewellery! Even her hair is styled brilliantly with the white blonde colour and the back combed style! Love love love <3

Tribal Summer Shoot!

oh the benefits of personal shoots...

In may this year I was asked to design and apply the make-up for my friend who is studying fashion styling. The theme was like 'urban tribe' which included clothes from current trends, mixed in with bright and 'tribal' like make-up!

There were two models so I had to design the looks slightly differently, but at the same time have some sort of link. The colour scheme was bright and contrasting to the skin, I decided to use blue, yellow, green, red and white. These colour's are common within cultures who are tribal as they are basic. The bright colours also add the element of it being basic yet eye catching, giving the it the raw edge that tribes are renowned for.

The hair was rough and not too over the top, it was simply ruffled. One of the models had her hair put up messily in a bun. The other had her long hair down and had light dreadlocks created to clump up the hair yet keep it simple.

The shoot had a fantastic outcome and I believe it was the bright streak throughout the make-up, styling and setting.

Wigs! The next big thing! Seema Chopra!

Wig wig wiggle...

A little while ago we had a guest into the uni, Seema Chopra! She is a well known wig specialist/stylist who has created wigs for adverts such as the puppet diet coke advert! She gave us tips on using fake hair, which I will go into detail more later.

In part of her visit she taught us how to prep and put the wigs onto people. The hair has to be done so it is as flat and close to the head as possible. To do this you section the hair into three parts, side's and top middle. To get all the hair from around the face tucked away you do a french plait, making sure its quite tight and close to the head. Clip the top middle section out of the way for now. Once both the plaits on each side have been completed (shown in the image above) you follow the plait round onto the opposite side of the head and clip it into the other french plait on the head.

To flatten the hair on the top middle part of the head you pull the hair into one long line and wrap it round in a circular motion to make a flat ball on top of the head. Pin the hair as you go to ensure maximum flatness. 

Once the hair is flat you need a cap to cover the hair, here I used a circular hat with the material you use for tights. Ensuring you're coving every section of hair on the head you are then ready for wig application!

I added a completely different coloured wig to the original colour hair my model had, the result was astonishing! As long as you make sure the wig is set on the head properly you can make any wig look real!

Seema Chopra also gave us helpful tips on the difference between Human and Acrylic hair pieces:

Human Hair:
-More natural
-Better for films and close ups!
-Can do heat styling
-Harder to structure
-Restricted on colour but can be dyed!

Acrylic Hair:
-Can create to be more striking
-Only steam heat style
-Easy to structure to any shape!
-Dye it ANY colour

Tattoo Prints!

Is that a REAL tattoo?.. no.

A real tattoo isn't textured, it is flat and smooth like your skin. A perfect way to create this it to use any picture from a magazine (paper magazine NOT shiny), hold the selected image down onto the part of the skin you choose and dab a cotton pad soaked in nail varnish remover over the back of the image. Once every part of the image is wet slowly peal back the image, and there will be the printed version on the skin. As you can see I have two versions above, the first image is purely the printed outcome, the second is where i enhanced the print with screen face cream palette. Sticking to the same colours as the print I literally enhanced the brightness and boldness of the image. The outcome is very realistic!

Here is another way to print patterns onto the skin, specific wallpaper has it's patterns enhanced and raised. Use any cream based make-up to paint over the top of the pattern you wish to print. The only flaw with this technique is it is easily smudged, therefore you must be extra careful and when it's drying also! 

BRAIDING!!

Nothing like a good bit of old braidy braidy...

Rodarte's Spring/Summer collection in 2010 was extremely tribal inspired, this included body art (tattoo designs) and a lot of hair braiding! 

The hair stylist for the Rodarte collection was Odile Gilbert, many articles describing this collection mentioned that Odile Gilbert prepped the hair with styling foam and then scrunched the hair to add volume this added stiffness. Here are two of my own experiments for hair styling. For the first image instead of the typical simple braids, I sectioned the top part of the hair from the bottom and did some serious back-combing to add volume to the crown of the head. I did small and big twists in the hair, fish plaits, and even weaved through a separate green piece of crimped hair. I sectioned the parts of the hair surrounding the forehead to be pulled over the back combed hair to start my thick braid. I then pulled each plait, twist and piece of material and plaited the hair to become one big braid. The different textures gave it thickness and made it more interesting, to add even more length and volume I am definitely considering using hair extensions, maybe even a contrasting natural colour such as blonde.the style a fixed shape. The second image is a lot more simple, but I added a random makeup design, literally whatever came to my head, I then styled the hair. To get that long sausage shape on the head I used a filler which i made by stuffing tissue into a leg of tights and tying it up! Then as my models hair is so long i wrapped the hair around it and pinned it! Below is an image of a crazy hair design I found when searching on the web, whoever did this a truely well done is needed! This just shows how extreme you can go with shapes in the hair!

Bridgewater Carnival!

Brigdewater carnival, what do you have in store for us this year?

Not long ago I went to visit my family in Somerset to go to the Bridgewater Carnival! This Carnival consists of chains of floats made by the locals in teams. It is a competition for the best float and it is amazing what they come up with! Many of the floats had a jungle/tribal theme, also many of them expressing the life of other cultures around the world! I managed to get some shots of one I thought best represented 'Wild Kingdom'. This one included many animals and tribal patterns, it reminded me of the the famous tribals statue's you see within the islands of Polynesia, and the ever famous 'gum gum' statue you see in the film 'Night at the Museum'.
Despite the fact that these floats were quite typically designed, you did get the image they were trying to portray and the hard work that went into them was more than obvious!


At the end of the carnival they perform an act called 'squibbing', it consists of people stood in a long line on either side of the road holding a 'squib' each, squibs are hand held fireworks. At the same time they light their squibs and like a huge sparkler they all come alight and shoot sparks out. The people hold their squibs above their head and perform a huge finale! It reminds me of a 'fire celebration' and i've noticed many tribes celebrate with fire, so maybe this is the British way? Anyway decide that for yourself and incase my description was rubbish here is a video!!!

Focus on the eyes!

 Drawn to the eyes...


One major makeup factor I have noticed whilst researching tribal makeup is the fascination with the eyes! May this be because of the camouflage they need within the wild? or maybe to people within those communities eyes are the most attractive, thus more decoration of the eyes is essential? Who knows, regardless it is indefinitely the most popular area made up with makeup in tribal communities.
And not only the focus of where the makeup is placed but red seems to be the most popular and dominant colour! I have a few images here from tumblr, catwalk photo's from magazines..etc. Each with a different design for makeup around the eyes. This one the the right brings focus straight away to the eyes and lips, showing me that placing colour on the face is actually very important and is definitely something to consider when doing my face charts!



This image for anyone who is into fashion is obviously from a catwalk. If its their flawless and beaming skin which doesn't give it away its the simple orange and red on the eyes which has been smoked out to the edge of the face. Classic smokey eye for couture shows! This also represents how a simple bright splash of colour anywhere on the face, if designed right, will give off the tribal look and feel to any viewers! AGAIN the red is used here?!

 This image is slightly different but it does have the same effect as the others in terms of focusing on the eyes. In fact this design brings out the eyes differently, instead of putting the makeup on the eyes it frames them! The dots surround the eyes which outlines them even more, especially with this males skin tone that it contrasts so well with! The white is a great colour to use, as it happens it stands out brilliantly on any skin tone! Note to self: USE THIS TECHNIQUE!



This final image is more subtle and detailed, used in a photo shoot. To me her eyes look like a bird of some kind and with the white flicks (again the white being very affective) it gives her eyes a feathered look. Relating this to animals again, it only shows the importance of how an animals appearance influences the idea of 'tribal' and 'wild kingdom'. Linking all these photo's together I have come to the conclusion that I am liking the idea of the red, the focus of makeup on the eyes and most of all linking an animal aspect to my design!

Catwalk Inspiration!

Who doesn't love a little catwalk.. Literally..

Here are images from the Alexander McQueen Fall 2000-2001 collection. To focus on the styling I found looking at previous catwalks gives me great inspiration and a different outlook onto how others perceive the 'tribal' theme. There are so many patterns and styles to take in it's insane! I feel his work brings the natural theme of tribal to a more contemporary glamorous look. His models makeup are more simple and plain and I LOVE it! Suppose he doesn't want all the attention away from his clothes!

John Paul Gaultier created a fabulous spring/summer collection in 2005 theming Africa. The simple makeup designs and the hair styles captured the cultured life of africa.

 The braids, twists and up-do hair styles gave the whole show an edgy look. Personally these hair styles reminded me of the unique plantation in Africa; their tree's covered in vines and branches.This gave the whole outcome a very raw, natural vibe, quite literally going to the 'root' of African life.

Jewellery Fascination!

You're not a normal girl if you don't love accessories...

It is common within African tribes for women to be topless and wear a lot of jewellery. The jewellery is normally hand made with beads, string, shells and even teeth! As you can see in the image here even animal skin is attached! I get the impression that jewellery means quite a lot to tribes like this, especially when clothing is minimal and it is the jewellery that attracts the attention of others! I love the bright colours included, and I guess for them the bright colours is a form of having something artificial rather than just having original pieces. 

 As I am a POOR student I went round Southampton town looking for bargains to get my accessory options available. I went to Primark as I know they do good cheap beads etc! And here is what I found... Too add to my jewellery hunt I also bought some rustic string from a little corner shop in bags, brown and green, I thought these were quite a raw material, something many tribes would use in the jungle!
Primark had some good chunky beads, they were great colour's too and not unrealistic! Dark and light browns, with some shimmery golds and some dark greens! Perfect for tribal with those 'earthy' colours! Another necklace I bought had pink plate in it, which I really didn't like at all but I took a great liking to the gold circular plates in-between. So however long winded I thought this would be I took apart the necklace and removed all the pink plates, I then put all the gold circles back on which to make matters worse were different sizes! Despite the effort it took to edit this necklace I loved the outcome, the gold plates looked good on their own, I was even thinking of using them on the face maybe...? It doesn't have to be a necklace after all! Here are a few images below for you to appreciate the effort, with a bit of help from my house mate of course haha!

Happy Halloween!

My random fascination for Mexican Sugar Skulls..

As I was previously looking at skulls, and the Halloween holiday has just been around the mexican sugar skull came to my attention. The 'day of the dead' is celebrated by Mexican's on the 1st and 2nd of November. On these days it is believed that the gates of heaven are open to all the dead child spirits to reunite with their family's for 24 hours.

Here is an image of my housemate on halloween, this showed me that such cultures can take something so simple (a skull) and turn it into something completely different. Using this example imparticular it definitely shows contrast between the violence some tribes go through to gain their look compared to this where something not pleasant like a skull is transformed into something beautiful (LIKE THE DAMIEN HIRST SKULL SCULPTURE!!) I believe that tribal communities celebrate life and death so much, they really embrace the circle of life which others do not! Including me!!

Contemporary Native American

Lets get things up to date..

To get some inspiration I looked at other peoples interpretation of a more contemporary outlook on 'Native American'. Here is an image uploaded by themillicent on tumlbr. I love how the model here is obviously not Native American, I think this brings an 'urban' outlook onto this particular tribe. Her dark eyes and lips add an edge to her pale skin and fair hair, bringing her back down to the 'raw' tribal community.

Here is another image from Tumblr uploaded by salepetitepute, I absolutely love this image as it brings tribal against materialism. The sunglasses and cigarette give the image a boost into society today, the mixture of tradition and fashion in this image adds a more in depth meaning! I have seen images before of men from actual tribes with cigarette's in their mouth parading down a street! Look's like some tribes are getting to grips with the more modern way of life!

Again, from Tumblr uploaded by crazy802. The natural setting and the simplicity of the body gives all the focus to the head gear and black make-up onto the eyes. This gives me the confidence to play around with simple ideas, and bring the focus to a certain point.

Contemporary Tribal Art

Who love's art? Me! Me! Me!

Damien Hirst is an english artist renowned for his artistic sculptures, one in particular caught my eye; this skull covered in diamonds called 'For the Love of God'. After looking at my market research I found this skull sculpture to be intriguing, as this is yet another example of tribalism being designed to fit into today's trends. This piece reminds me of poverty which occurs daily within tribes, and the bodies left to rot in the wild. It also reminds me of the human sacrifices which seem to be so crucial within the religion of tribes. This is why the skull is controversial as something so raw is covered in diamonds. The diamonds themselves represent the contrast of the rich and poor, death and life, yet at the same time combines the contemporary fashion, to the original trends which still remain in tribes today.



Here is a image I found on Tumblr posted by beauty-of-africa, straight away after researching Damien Hirst it brought me straight back to the idea of controversy between the glamorous life of today and the raw way of life for a typical person in a tribe. Obviously this image isn't as extreme as Damien Hirst's piece but the fact that this young girl has diamonte pieces stuck to her face proves that tribes today are crossing paths with the rich and westernised world. As the emotional person I am, it is also quite a sad concept to see, as the difference between rich and poor in this world is quite large.



Here is a video by Caroline Saulnier, the first model completely represents what i've researched from the Damien Hirst Sculpture; bringing the raw basics from tribes today to the western world. Again this back's up my concept of the ever growing popular skull pattern, common in today's high street shops! I absolutely adore the quirkiness of this video! It adds a new raw edge to my perception of tribalism!

Market Research

This collage of images contains what I found on a day trip out to the main shopping area of southampton. The 'tribal' sense of fashion is becoming more and more popular within high street stores today, whether it be an ornament or a pattern on a piece of clothing. Skulls have become  a major fashion trend, especially with the patterned bone structure, these patterns reminding me of Maori tattooing with the swirls.
Tribal patterns on tops, jumpers etc are even becoming embroided rather than printed. The idea of embroidery patterns gives me the sense that tribal markings are not only there to be seen but felt too. This is me is an obvious representation of contemporary tribal design in today's society. It seems that the skulls are providing an out look on the circle of life which a lot of our cultures don't pay attention to.
The common colour palette of this research consisted of black, white, grey and red! I LOVE this range of colour's, it really emphasises what I have been researching and red is a common colour within every tribe I have looked at!