Adventures in the land of Otilee

All things bright and beautiful

I was recently contacted by the team at Liz Davenport to put together some images to promote the label’s upcoming 35th anniversary fashion fundraiser at St. Georges Cathedral this Wednesday falling on the first day of the Perth Fashion Festival. The four garments I chose for the shoot were hand picked from a selection of Liz’s current and previous collections including Salinity Bride (pictured above), retrospective and Kaleidoscope (inspired by stained glass windows) to compliment the colours of the stained glass and contrast in form and texture to the interior. Styled with fine jewels courtesy of Linneys and shot on location in Perth’s St. Georges Cathedral – a fitting and gorgeous location for both the collection and celebration of a successful 35 years in Australian Fashion. Congratulations Liz!

IMAGE CREDITS

Art Direction + Hair + Photography + Post | Otilee
Makeup | Joanne La Pegna
Model | Pia Kuhnert

Location | St. Georges Cathedral, Perth WA

let them eat cake!

Pastel pretties and sugary treats feature in the latest X-Press Fashion magazine’s Spring fashion editorial brought to you by yours truly, Miss Emma Bergmeier, Samantha Enticknap, Head Studio and the beauts from Scene. Transforming and re-arranging an all white showroom of stunning baroque inspired furniture and furnishings at Queen of Theme in North Perth -  into a pastel wonderland with coloured gels on an off camera flash, a sweet selection of spring stock from local designers and retailers, two heads full of frothy curls on perfectly painted porcelain full-cream-dauphines! Without further ado… and  a face full of macarons we say ‘Let them eat cake!’

X-Press Fashion, Spring 2010 – Let them eat cake.
AVAILABLE NOW! or go HERE to read online.

IMAGE CREDITS

Photography + Post | Otilee
Styling | Emma Bergmeier with assistance from Autilia
Hair Styling | Rachel and Lacey @ Head Studio
Make Up | Sam Enticknap
Model | Ashley Head + Lucy Ashforth @ Scene

Location | Queen of Theme, North Perth

The number of the Feast!

REVAMP – REUSE – RECYCLE! This was the theme for the second Feast Your Eyes exhibition Brendan and I were asked to contribute to. Deciding once again to collaborate instead of exhibiting individually we set out to find otherwise unusable / undesirable (i.e. shit!) opshop finds and redesign / repurpose / hack up and frankenstein them into something else. The ’something else’ being a feature garment and 5 plushies.

The first Op-shopping expedition produced a bunch of random shit including tablecloths and bedsheets we intended to use for fabric to make some plushies along with a brown / gunmetal grey tarten kilt, then the second trip unearthing and truly hideous orange skirt suit which would end up being the basis for the main garment.

THE ORIGINAL HIDEOUS SKIRT SUIT

I forgot to take a ‘before’ picture of the tarten kilt… but its a kilt I’m sure you can picture it!

SKETCH FOR THE RE-DESIGN + PARTIALLY TRANSFORMED

The original idea was to put the bustle on the back of skirt (above left) – but after finding out the zip was at the back I scrapped the idea because I suck big ones at sewing zips and didn’t have a lot of time to put this thing together so it instead became and interpretive ‘bustle’ as a coattail feature on the back of the jacket.

Its a bit hard to see on the design sketch but we’ve got two faces over the boobies with long tongues coming out of each to tie the front of the jacket together. Brendan’s male / female faces below as initial shapes and after painting.

FACES!

The mannequin we used to display the garment for the exhibition was significantly smaller then the dressmakers mannequin I was using to make it so it didn’t really look the way we had hoped on the night – not enough happening in the boob compartment to fill it out! Garment is size 8-10 – my kneeling mannequin must be a 4 or something equally as terrifying but it was a bit of fun so we weren’t too precious about this one.

THE FINAL PIECES – FREMANTLE ARTS CENTRE

Yes, I know the face on Brendans slug looks suspect… he’s a strange boy.

Thanks for everyone that made it down to the exhibition opening last night and to Sarah and Sophie for putting it on and asking us to be a part of it. Well done girls – it was an awesome turn out and you both did a fabulous job with pulling it all together! Everyone’s work was awesome!

Plushies and garment are available for purchase – if interested hit me up with an email.

Tags: art, beard, Brendan Ninness, exhibition, fashion, Feast Your Eyes, Fremantle, illustration, otilee
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Well, colour me happy! There’s fabric texta’s included too!

I was the colouring book kid – I pretty much rocked at staying inside the lines and mostly remembered to put the lids back on my textas – that giant yellow plastic temple to crayola was the shit!… those twist up crayons were the best – lasted longer then textas and you could gradient the colours. Aside from the books though – I remember doing this project in year 3 where we had to make our own paisley pattern inside a giant snail shell and individually colour each part. I spent far too much time on that damn snail – pretty sure I even brought it home to finish it off even though the project was over, think mum also got happy with the laminator

Needless to say I freakin LOVE colouring-in so when I stumbled upon the Colour-In Dress by Berber Soepboer & Michiel Schuurman via Just Another Agency’s blog my eyes lit up like it was xmas morning 1989. One of the coolest things I’ve seen in a while – Soepboer and Schuurman definitely deserve to get five gold stars AND a scratch and smell for this puppy.

Designed and developed as part of a collection for an exhibition, the Colour-In Dress came about as collaboration between Dutch designer Soepboer and graphic designer Schuurman conceptualizing a dress that could “partly be designed by the person who wears it”.

You can get yourself come colouring in action by hitting up their website for full ordering details and shooting the dudes an email.  It even comes packaged with the fabric textas! <3

IPA (International Photography Awards) 2010

2010 International Photography Awards Announced Winners of the Competition

I’ve just been notified that I was awarded 2nd place in Advertising – Fashion Pro category for the winning entry, editorial series “Altitude” and an Honorable Mention in Advertising – Beauty Pro category for “Wire Me In”.

This is the first year I’ve been in the ‘Pro’ category and really didn’t expect to get a look in at all -  I’m gobsmacked to say the least and feel supremely honoured to be positioned alongside The Wade Brothers with their campaign series for Fly 53 and Gustavo Marx’s campaign image for Adidas.

My winning entries below – click image for link to the website page!

ADVERTISING: FASHION PRO  |  2ND PLACE

ADVERTISING: BEAUTY PRO   |  HONORABLE MENTION

ABOUT THE AWARDS

The 2010 International Photography Awards received nearly 15,000 submissions from 103 countries across the globe. IPA is a sister-effort of the Lucie Foundation, where the top three winners are announced at the annual Lucie Awards gala ceremony. The Foundation’s mission is to honor master photographers, to discover new and emerging talent and to promote the appreciation of photography. Since 2003, IPA has had the privilege and opportunity to acknowledge and recognize contemporary photographers’ accomplishments in this specialized and highly visible competition.

Check out the IPA website to see the other category winners!

Beyond Garment

Opening at the beginning of next month and until the end of November, Beyond Garment is an exhibition of local designer work that is sans frock. This being; a selection of exhibited work inclusive of wearable art, millinery and accessories from some of the most exciting names in emerging WA fashion.

The exhibition is free and is running from Fri 3 Sep 2010 – Sun 28 Nov 2010 – Open daily from 9.30am – 5.00pm, excluding Wednesdays at the Western Australian Museum — Maritime – Victoria Quay, Fremantle Western Australia!

While I’ve not been directly involved with Beyond Garment I did have the pleasure of hooking up exhibiting label Martini +Coz with some images to use for their included work titled ‘Alice’s Wonder World‘.

I directed the three images to reflect a modern day Alice with that slight wift of vintage flavor that the Martini + Coz label are all about. I wanted to again steer away from traditional ‘Alicey’ imagery and be a bit more subtle with the art direction. Casting a Brunette model (Holly Doherty, Scene Models) and modernizing her as ‘Alice’ with neo-70’s sparkle-arkly eye-makeup applied as tiny pieces of silver leaf with perfection (as always) by Constance Bowles. Then going for a slice of the story as opposed to trying to reference the whole she-bang with the scene most relevant to the labels target market…. eat me / drink me. Further reinforcing the ‘grown up Alice’ image for the series as well as the brand identity through the use of the martini glass as vessel for the elixir of all things big and small. This is why in the three images of the series I’ve kept the martini glass as standard dimensions and made ‘Alice’ appear tiny in comparison to the bag and key in the other two images. To do this I got Holly to hold a rolled up piece of cardboard as if she was holding a large key and shot the key separately (perspex key was approximately 5 inches big) then manipulated the two images together – likewise with the checkerboard bag; I had Holly hold up a large plastic rubbish bag to get the size and hand positioning right, shooting the bag in its actual size separately and then manipulating the two images together.

IMAGE CREDITS

Art direction + Photography + Hair + Post | Otilee
Makeup | Constance Bowles
Model | Holly Doherty @ Scene Models
Featured Jacket, Bag and Jewellery by Martini + Coz

4th Annual Photography Masters Cup

I’ve just been notified that my image ‘Plastik’ was a nominee in the 4th Annual Photography Masters Cup in the fashion category.

This was an image I did around the middle of last year as a part of a creative collaboration with an insane and amazing makeup artist who made those eyelashes out of black straws! It was an incredibly fun project – something I wish I had more time these days to do! Liza, the model was such a trooper – sitting in a chair for hours as sam stuck straws on her eyes and I tugged on her hair and greased up her melon with Vaseline super sleazy style

IMAGE CREDITS
Photography + Hair + Styling + Post | Otilee
Makeup + Styling | Sam Enticknap
Model | Liza Shulyayeva

A BIT ABOUT THE MASTERS CUP
(from the press release)

“International Colour Awards Photography Masters Cup is the leading international award honoring excellence in color photography. This celebrated event shines a spotlight on the best professional and amateur photographers worldwide and honors the finest images with the highest achievements in color photography.

The prestigious Nomination & Winners Photo Show attended by over 40,000 online viewers who logged on live from 154 countries to see the climax of the industry’s most important event for color photography. The awards international Jury included captains of the industry ranging from Christie’s in New York, National Geographic Channel, Fox Broadcasting Company, Amsterdam Worldwide, Kodak USA to Esquire in London who honored Color Masters with 235 coveted title awards in 31 categories. The judges reviewed thousands of images submitted from every corner of the globe online for eight weeks before making their final nominations and Otilee’s “Plastik,” an exceptional image entered in the Fashion category, received a high percentage of votes overall.”

Plastik will be published in the “Best of Nominees” featured in Issue 3 of  The PHOTO Paper Photography Masters Cup edition out this December.

To check out the 4th Annual Winners & other Nominees go HERE.

Tags: fashion, Masters Cup, nominee, Photography
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Mercedes-Benz Fashion Awards

Just a quick post to give a big shout out and congrats to ma homies nominated in this years Mercedes-Benz Fashion Awards announced last night at Style Circle; the talented girls at Martini + Coz and uni-buddy Alister Yiap for Fine Details: Accessory Design;  X-Press Mag arts + fashion editor & Dropstitch blogger Emma Bergmeier for the Creative Edge: Industry Professional category and the lovely leggy lasses from Scene Elle Gray and Melissa Melbourne for the model category ‘Hot New Talent’.

You cats rock my socks and all deserve to win!
Needless to say, you’ve got my votes!

Style Aid 2010

This year I had the great pleasure of being involved with fashion fundraiser event STYLEAID in producing the editorial images for the Student designers’ Finale. The designer brief (put together by STYLEAID stylist and parade coordinator extraordinaire Aly May) invited each of the 21 industry selected student designers to consider the ‘tribe’ theme when designing their pieces with the other two main criteria being that it had to be orange and it had to make noise! Other then that, they had free reign – and reign they did. Everything from elaborate beaded bodices with matching headgear and bikini inspired menswear to a GIANT pokemon hooped skirt with bunny ears.

Wanting to reinforce Aly’s designer brief through the images as well as being conscious that I had 21 individual images to bust out – I set out to put a concept / look together that would communicate the effects of ‘noise’ visually through models styling / hair / pose / expression etc – as if they’d been blasted by a massive amp (not shown in the image / amp as the reader). I dug out my industrial floor fan to blow the hair / garments backward and directed the models to be either leaning into the frame or falling back and off balance. So either falling forward or backward etc like they’ve been knocked off their feet by the sound waves – blown over by the sound / noise. AND …To ensure that the orange and the garments remained the focus – I set out to source a location that either had a black dominant or white dominant interior – with either a black or white reflective / glossy textured floor / walls to get some great light bouncing around to add to the drama of the movement and further reinforce the sound wave thing. My first thoughts to find such a place were possibly a local nightclub / bar that might have a dance floor that looks like this – after a couple of days of calling around and having no luck I eventually got put onto a fantastic new photographic studio space that had a white glossy tiled area that fit the look I was after and the lovely folk that run it were kind enough to let me and my troops use it for the whole day. Thanks heaps Mira Studios!  A BIG shout out and thanks also to my amazing team on the day, all the student designers, Betts shoes, Scene Models and of course Aly May!

STYLEAID 2010 Student Designers
StyleAid Magazine, p49-59

IMAGE CREDITS

Art direction + Photography | Otilee Lamb
Makeup | Sam Enticknap
Hair | Jody Fiannaca
Assistant | Daniel Njegich
Models | Courtney James and Chris de Boer @ Scene Models
Studio | Mira Studios

Tags: Chris de Boer, Courtney James, designer, fashion, Jody Fiannaca, otilee, Perth, publication, Sam Enticknap, Scene models, STYLEAID, Tribe
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Bloom’in Winter

Oh, Mr Galliano. Firstly,  Love.  Love, love.  Love, love, love.

In these here odd times we find ourselves in – what, with snap frozen fruit and vegetables of varying varieties available to us (albeit at varying prices) pretty much all year round… gone are the days of ’seasonal’ menus. We can pretty much have what we want, when we want. No need to wait until next spring to devour your next delicious strawberry for example – you can get one now! Yes, it is frozen in a bag with bits of ice encrusted onto it (it is also probably mooshed into the neighboring raspberry too), BUT! you can still get one…

Seasonal schmeasonal… and the lines are getting increasingly blurred, even with fashion. I’ve had the misfortune of witnessing slinky summer dresses worn (generally without coats) in the dead of winter (admittedly, this was in North Yorkshire so perhaps we can strike that example from the record), and in general, it seems a non-traditional winter palette creeping into Winter collections. Global warming? The dawning of the age of Aquarius? (those damn hippies and their astrological predictions of shifts in global consciousness!) What ever is going on, you can bet that of all the members included in the ‘Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture’ - Dior is going to bust out with it first.

Enter Couture Fall / Winter 2010/11 stage…. erm, right. And continue down that runway in front of a wall that looks suspiciously like the walls in one of those wholesale florists cold rooms with a spectacular giant tangerine floral sculptural piece in front of it. This collection is nothing short of petals on parade and its blooming spectacular!!

What we’ve got is Winter fabrics, fashioned with all the fabulous flavor of spring.  Makeup is a mix of tangerine, electric blue and teal swishes and blocks of eye shadow pared with a bold deep aubergine lip. Hair is styled in what reminds me of sleek ceramic vases as well as cellophane cone wraps in what can only be described as an upside down model flower arrangement. A perfect conceptual compliment to an upside down seasonal collection. Bravo Dior, bravo.

I hate to have to draw these parallels also but I’ve also got a sneaking suspicion that we should perhaps be asking Mr. Galliano the question: “Just what species or, shall we say, genus *cough* genius are you?  Lets face it – even those of us that didn’t rush out and see Burton’s version earlier this year, I’ll bet you pretty much everyone revisited the 50’s Disney animation.

Since there doesn’t appear to be many runway images available on the net from the Paris show at the beginning of this month – I’ve screen shot all the below images from a video I found on you tube of the show… quality images will no doubt surface in the coming weeks. In the meantime, I’ve got shit quality images to compare with some lovely pictures of flowers I grabbed off a google image search (if any of these flower images are yours please contact me and I’ll credit appropriately) but, you get the idea….

Lets take a look at a couple and compare, shall we!

*rubs hands together, excitedly*

MARIGOLD

LILAC

CHRYSANTHEMUM

IRIS

TULIP

“Just look at those stems!” …. “I think she’s pretty”

Oh and p.s. I anticipate Tangerine and Aubergine to be massive for Winter 11… even if only as an accent colour along with black.

p.p.s. did I mention I love Galliano?