This year, my most surrealistic, incongrous & creative styling job was for a music video for Manoto TV, owners of Wimbledon Film and TV Studios and one of Middle East’s largest TV channels with over 50 million viewers worldwide.
The result is a bit like an insertion in my head, a joyful colourful explosion with bonkers flamboyant characters.
When Edgy London club kids meets traditionial Iranian music & culture.
picture by Reza Hadian
I was asked to style the opening scene to one of our biggest in house productions this year; a show similar to Strictly Come Dancing with a big difference, our show includes live performances as well as a number of VTs and segments.
They wanted to use some of my creations for the opening scene about the Iranian New Year, Norouz, that takes place in Sping, as they were looking to create a very quirky and animated feel.
picture by Reza Hadian
It was a luxury of abondance to style my piece among a couple of avant garde & trendy London designer like Lydia Smith, Maddie, williams,Victim fashion, Jessica Purdie…
picture by Reza Hadian
5 days of prep, 3 days of shooting at Wimbeldon studio, about 30 people to dress or acessorize, I realise the job of a stylist is mainly managing wardrobe, make sure everything is TIDY which is against my inner nature.
picture by Reza Hadian
Iranian are know for rather conservative & classical beauty standards so I was quite pleasantly surprised to see they choosed me for my aesthetic, giving a proper edgy & london style to a promo video targeting a Middle East audience.
picture by Reza Hadian
I had to style TV presenters & personnalities from the channel, some were big celebrities back in Iran, I was casually asking people to try different outfits and then realised they had more than a millions followers on instagram!
Some people at first felt a bit uncomfortable to try some very quirky and "out there" costumes when they are use to prestigious brand or very "classy" outfit,
I felt a bit frustrated at first when people coud go for the more "safe" and quiet option. But I realised they needed a adaptation period for them to deal with there inscecurities. For them it was like going to a boring michael Kors black dress to the wildest stage costume that Lady Gaga could wear without a decompression dive.
picture by Reza Hadian
picture by Reza Hadian
picture by Reza Hadian
wearing sequins dress with hand stitched big colourful har bands.
picture by Reza Hadian
picture by Reza Hadian
picture by Reza Hadian
As they were short of actors, I also had to step in in front of the camera, here wearing an amazing Maddie Williams statement piece.
You can see on this article how a concept can be declined in mulitple design, how a creation is derived from another and get a different meaning according to the person that wears it.
I got this colourful shows lace from a charity shop where they didn't know what to do with, so I got them for a little donation. I cut to different lenght the lace and burent the edge, and stitched each string to a bright pink lycra base, from a tropical avant garde fringy dress that have an amazing floaty movement.
I found a couple of unicorn cuddly toys in Poundland and felt the texture and colours were perfect to create a pattern. Also I like the fact they were not a brand and quite generic so would not refer to any specific famous toy. Then, because I work generally with lot, the hunt for more unicorns cuddly tous begun and I had to go around several Poundland accross London to find about 20 copies.
Being a freak is freaking awesome 🌈Psychedelic soft toys clown costume made from a base from an @unattendeditems project covered with unicorn woolly toys ✨
Karl Lagarfeld has Choupette and I have Bonnie 😻💖 when we do a photoshoot she now automatically jumps on the background as she thinks she will get chicken as a treat ✨ she is a poser and a diva 💁 adding the perfect accessory to my cuddly toy unicorn 🦄 jacket
Bonnie is also a whimsical cat and love stick her little pinkish ongue out to the camera which match with the whole outfitby Anthony Lycett
by Anthony Lycett The unicorn cuddly toys jacket look even better on Sara Streule because of matching with her pink hair. She came straight from Switzerland to take part in Self.Styled project and I took advantage of the shoothing to style her woth my accessories.
"We did as well a few extra pictures, playing with the jewellery and costumes of artist Sophie Cochevelou. You see those below. How in love I am with that pony jacket! I am aware that many people would feel disguised wearing something like this, but I am the opposite: Less is not more, but just less me, so give me all the ponies, bury me in jewels and crown me with the Barbies to reveal my true self!"see more on her blog here
The idea was to get our work discovered by a new clientele, inviting influential special guests like artists, gallery curator, PR managers…etc
So great to see gorgeous elegant women wearing my creations. They are very different than the extravagant festival people but it just works.
We decorated the traditional east London Victorian time building with its brick veneer with our designs, reconstituting an artist studio.
Mei hui and her team cooked some dumpling to die for.
Great food, great art and great company, what more to ask?
Seing the fresh enthousiasm of a whole new groupe of people gave me a new impulse to go back to my actual studio and make more, sometimes you just need a little boost.
A tree of dinosaurs earrings
It seems that our designs have the power to create this "colour walk vibe" in any context bringing joy
In front of my favourite mosaic of Colombia road by Maryam Eisler
I find this dress turned out really well. I had this printed neoprenne type fabric with the classical figure of the king of heart in the traditional game of cards.
For a very "Alice in Wonderland Tim Burton style, I embelished the masculine king figure with sequins, ruffles rinhstones for a baroque vision with a twist of a drag king or a drag queen of heart.
I find the mirrored double face really interesting as the drag king is playing a double identity game, with a ambigious gender identity.
Like a Shakespearian character when a actor plays a feminine part (as it was forbidden for women to go on stage in the 15e century), but like for example when in the Tempest,
type where actor embody feminine character, who for example in Twelfth Night, Or What You Will Viola is disguised in Cesario , so where a man play the part of a woman disguised in a man carrying away the audience in the vertigo of gender identity.
by Tea time with Alice
I am always happy to collaborate with different artists and lend my costume to people who have helped me in the past. I feel my costumes are not made to sit in my closet but are design to have a life outside the studio, spreading joy and inspiration. So I didn't hesitated when Alice asked to borrow my white wire serpentin dress which fit perfectly with the brief creating a symbolic futirisitc foam in the bath.
"A woman has a bath in her bathroom and keeps being disturbed by the phone
ringing.
Synopsis : Technology enables you to communicate wherever and whenever, but what
if it was a poison to your private life, where relaxing moment –like taking a bath – are
mindless and stressful"
Alice Beuzard-Edwards – sound designer – director of photography
art director assistant - photographer
Emily Jones – production designer
Anne-Sophie Cochevelou – costume and jewellery designer
Emily Noble- Performer
Eve Wang – photography assistant
New month come with its new batch of stunning Self.Styled portrait, a priviledge for me as my work get worn by iconic and unique people who are recognised in their field for what they do.
the amazing @eva_vortexshoot for @self.styledby Anthony Lycett
looking like a retro futuristic metropolis goddess wearing tribal African barbie dolls neckpiece
wearing my bling baroque hello kitty necklace & earrings
Editorial corner:
Love collaborating with stylists that do their won intereptation of my design and mak up their own story.
I like to see my designs as gender fluid and I think boys just rocks them too 💖💖 club kids fashion editorial inspired by NYC Indergrounds clubs in 1980 featuring by colourful shoes laces fringy dress 👗 and frida Kahlo inspired necklace
Boys just look so pretty in pink 💖 and glitters 🌈 don’t think colours or design should be stuck with one gender ✨ club kids fashion editorial inspired by NYC underground club kids in the 80s featuring my #mylittlepony 🦄skirt & necklace & unicorns headpiece
