DRESS ME UP,
DRESS ME DOWN
INTRODUCTION
Hundreds of SHOWstudio viewers participated in an interactive photo shoot starring Liberty Ross on Tuesday 28, Wednesday 29 and Thursday 30 June 2005. Competing for slots in a live chatroom where they posted their ideas for potential outfits, forty 'virtual stylists' earned the opportunity to dress the model, live on SHOWstudio.
Stylist Jonathan Kaye chose clothing from the Autumn/Winter '05-6 collections in advance of the shoot, from which viewers could make their selections. These can be viewed in the Wardrobe below, which is organized into the nine core themes of BIKER, ECCLESIASTICAL, VEILED, VOLUME, FRINGED, SILHOUETTED, TOMBOY and VICTORIAN highlighted in the Looks section further down. Once a good selection of viewer's looks were achieved for each theme, a winning outfit was then selected to be 'visually deconstructed' as Nick Knight photographed Liberty as she undressed on a rotating turntable.
Footage of these nine final stages has been developed by multimedia artist Daniel Brown into nine striking interactives that allow a multi-layered deconstruction of the outfit and image.
Last Updated 17/10/2005
A winning guest stylist was selected for each of the nine key themes that comprised the Bring & Buy live shoot. The nine chosen looks were reassembled and then filmed 'on the round', as Liberty gradually deconstructed the outfit on a rotating turntable. This footage has been developed by Daniel Brown into nine beautiful interactives that encourage you to direct the striptease performance. The first three are available here. Move your mouse to peel each layer off as she turns, creating a series of decorative graphic treatments as a result.
Click to view Silhouetted >
Click to view Biker >
Click to view Volume >
Click to view Military >
Click to view Tomboy >
Click to view Ecclesiastical >
[NEW] Click to view Fringed >
[NEW] Click to view Victorian >
[NEW] Click to view Veiled >
*Requires latest versions of Shockwave Player to view
Last Updated 15/9/2005
Over the course of the three-day shoot in June, a live chatroom provided a platform for viewers to style Liberty Ross virtually, posting their ideas for garments, drawn from the Wardrobe, in a lively, ongoing conversation. Participating directly in the live chat, Liberty selected her favourite wannabe stylists and forty different SHOWstudio viewers were given the chance to dress her up. Read the transcript of each session of the nine core themes and see Nick Knight's shots of the results.
Click to view Live Event >
> Wardrobe
Last Updated 15/9/2005
View the actual garments available to 'virtual stylists' to dress Liberty in the live shoot, drawn from the nine core themes of 'biker', 'ecclesiastical', 'fringed', 'military', 'silhouetted', 'tomboy', 'veiled', 'Victorian' and 'volume', outlined in the Looks section below.
Click to view Wardrobe >
> Prize
Last Updated 15/9/2005
Liberty offered a special incentive for the overall winner of the virtual styling challenge: an unique, contact print or her naked body! The lucky recipient, Landon - AKA 'JamesSan' in the chatroom - triumphed with his Biker chic. See his prize in situ, photographed in his Vancouver flat.
Click to view Prize >
> Design Download: Junya Watanabe
Last Updated 12/8/2005
Download, print out and make-up a garment pattern of this beautiful dress from Junya Watanabe's glorious Autumn/Winter '05-6 collection before it even hits the shops. Take up our challenge to style and photograph your version of the dress for our viewer's gallery and see how it compares to the Watanabe designs shot during the live styling event on 28, 29 & 30 June.
Click to Download Pattern* >
Click to view Submissions Gallery >
*Requires latest Adobe Reader to view
Last Updated 13/7/2005
New York art dealer Jeffrey Deitch comes to Julie Verhoeven's London studio to art direct a performative shoot which involves Julie engaging physically and expressively with her artwork, with other bodies attendant.
These three brief shorts capture some of the energy on set, whilst unpacking the nature of control in photography, via voiceovers from the Model/Illustrator (Julie), the Art Director (Jeffrey) and Commissioning Editor (Self Service's Ezra Petronio).
Click to view on-set movies >
Last Updated 2/6/2005
SHOWstudio editorial team Penny Martin and Christabel Stewart will picture-message the event live from the studio, while establishing Jeffrey Deitch's art directional approach to this slightly unusual artistic shoot.
Click to view on-set images >
Last Updated 28/6/2005
The oft-mentioned relationship between fashion, art and pornography has endured surprisingly little written analysis. Here the subject is considered from radically different perspectives (ranging from that of producer and consumer to the critic and man-blaming separatist), via six short, personal statements, accompanied by images of the author's choice.
The Pornographer: Richard Kern >
The Connoisseur: Peter Saville >
The Sceptical Fashion Photographer: Jonathan de Villiers >
The Militant Second Wave Feminist: Andrea Dworkin >
Last Updated 28/6/2005
Read fashion writer Susannah Frankel's interviews with Liberty Ross and Nick Knight on the origins and themes of the Dress Me UP, Dress Me Down project, questions of control in the photographer/model relationship and the specific character of their ongoing working partnership.
Read interview with Liberty Ross >
Read interview with Nick Knight >
> Looks
Last Updated 6/6/2005
Initial mood boards indicating the different thematic headings to comprise the eventual live styling event in June.
> Movies
Last Updated 9/6/2005
Access a vast repository of clips documenting Liberty Ross on the set of one of her most provocative and explicit shoots for British Vogue. Arranged in a simple directory of links, the archive allows you to furtively browse and find your preferred moment from an array of intimate contortions, poses and performances.
Click to view Movies >
*Requires latest QuickTime Player to view
> Interactive: Fragments of Me
Last Updated 6/5/2005
Watch what happens when a model that is used to being directed takes control of her representation. Each day, Liberty Ross sends in three video clips of the three sections of her body that make up a full-length portrait, which will be fed into this random generator. Using the arrows, flick through the layers to discover the myriad of self-authored looks beneath and see what models get up to when there are no stylists, creative directors or photographers around to intervene!
*Requires latest versions of QuickTime Player and Shockwave to view
Click to view Interactive: Fragments of Me >
Click to view Interactive: Fragments of Me, with sound >
*Individual clips are larger and take longer to load >
Last Updated 28/4/2005
Watch a video stream of the initial pre-production meeting with Liberty Ross, Nick Knight, Penny Martin & Paul Hetherington to follow the ebb and flow of ideas develop into a concrete rationale.
*Requires latest QuickTime Player to view
Click to view Pre-production Meeting >
> Q&A
Last Updated 31/5/2005
During the run up to her live event Liberty answered your questions about herself and her involvement with the project.
Latest Question (31/5/2005)
maria, mwy_lau@yahoo.co.uk, in w.yorks blessed w sunshine today : Hello Liberty, when u were workin to a hectic schedule at the peak of modelling, how did u manage to still have time to yourself when you're constantly surrounded by people and movement? Did u ever find that it was ever too much ? (Sorry - so many q's!!) Thanks!
Liberty: To be honest I had very little time to myself – only this past year when I decided to have a baby did I really have time for me and my family and friends. It’s been amazing and good for me to have a breather and reflect on the past few years of madness. As a model there is so little planning in ones life – not like a photographer or stylist who have weeks to prep a job – girls can be confirmed literally at the last minute. There have been numerous times when my agents call and say “tonight you are flying to NY for a 9am shoot tomorrow” and it’s the first you have heard of it. Plus you may have only just got back from there, you ping pong back and forth over the Atlantic the whole time, it’s a pretty crazy way of life. You need very understanding friends as you are constantly blowing people out! And yes, being poked and prodded every day by hair, make up, stylists and photographers, as you say, can also be exhausting – I find that particularly during the shows. Tiring yet fun to see so many yous and transform into so many different characters.
Click to read Q&A archive >
Interactives III
The third and final instalment of Daniel Brown's beautiful interactives for DRESS ME UP, DRESS ME DOWN have been posted. This week's looks are Veiled, Victorian and Fringed including exquisite pieces by Yohji Yamamoto, Christian Louboutin and Ann Sofie Back.
By Paul Bruty, 18:18 Monday, 17 October
Click to read Blog archive >
> Credits
Last Updated 5/9/2006
Concept: Nick Knight
Performance and Direction: Liberty Ross
Editorial and Creative Direction: Penny Martin and Paul Hetherington
Styling: Jonathan Kaye
Research and Development: Christabel Stewart
Project Design: Paul Bruty and Sanderson Bob
Technical Development: Dorian Moore and Ross Phillips
Studio Assistant: Jez Tozer
Live Shoot
Photography: Nick Knight
Model: Liberty Ross at Storm
Stylist: Jonathan Kaye at Katy Barker
Hair: Sam McKnight at Premier
Make up: Sharon Dowsett at CLM
Nail Technition: Marion Newman at Streeters
Photographer’s Assistant 1: Jez Tozer
Photographer’s Assistant 2: Simon Thistleton
Photographer’s Assistant 3: Ruth
Photographer’s Assistant 3: Eisuke
Styling Assistant: Sarah Young
Hair Assistant: Eamon
SHOWstudio Team: Penny Martin, Paul Hetherington, Dorian Moore, Ross Phillips, Paul Bruty, Charlotte Thomsen, Rhea Thierstein
Sound Technician: Ian Sands
Studio: Big Sky Studio, London N7
Picture Diary (Images)
Art Direction: Julie Verhoeven and Jeffrey Deitch
Performance and Artwork: Julie Verhoeven, Rachel Garrard, Emma Gale, Ro Hudson, Rowenna Harrison
Photography: Leon Chew
Photographic Assistant: Tom Oxley
Picture Message: Penny Martin and Christabel Stewart
Picture Diary (Movies)
Editorial and Creative Direction: Paul Hetherington and Penny Martin
Cinematography: Jez Tozer and Stephanie Noble
Film Editing: Stephanie Noble
Thanks to: Leon Chew, CLM, Self Service Magazine, Howard Tangye, Stephanie Noble
> Contributor Biographies
Liberty Ross
Liberty Ross is among the fashion industry's foremost models. Born in 1978, her background claims both meritocratic and aristocratic features as her father is Ian Ross, co-founder of the 1960s pirate station Radio...
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Jonathan Kaye
Jonathan Kaye is a stylist who lives and works in London. Since graduating from his MA at St. Martin's College of Art and Design in 1998, he has collaborated with photographers including Nick...
Read Full Biography >
Nick Knight
Nick Knight, Director of SHOWstudio.com, is among the world’s most influential and visionary photographers. As a fashion photographer, he has consistently challenged conventional notions of beauty and is fêted for his groundbreaking creative...
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Peter Saville
Peter Saville is a designer whose twenty-five year practice spans the fields of graphics, creative direction and art. Born in Manchester, England in 1955, he studied graphic design at Manchester Polytechnic from 1975-1978....
Read Full Biography >