Art in Merchandising Exhibition

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So, for four years now I have been working toward my final Fine Art Degree. I can finally and proudly now say that the emotional turmoil is now over, and despite the doubts of many lecturers  over the years, I have passed! Second class BA Honours degree, yay!

The tricky part for me was using visual merchandising as my form of media, I was met with much confusion and doubt but, I was persistent in trying to prove it so! My final piece, after a whole convoluted meaning behind it (for the sake of fine art) I created a piece, using Moschino as inspiration. Moschino because as a fashion designer he took the p*ss and who, like me was a fine art student! Plus I love Moschino! My work was a non site specific tool. In an art gallery it would be displayed as art and in a shop window it could be viewed as a selling tool. Me just kind of mocking the art world rules a little with this!

Any way, the work was a combination of styling (leotard hand picked in Italy) photography, drawing and digital imagery. backgroubd

This is a ‘set’ drew on paper with sharpies, and made to look 3D, afterwards  I scanned this into a computer and edited a sassy photo over the top. today final

Afterwards I used digital editing, like for my social media job, to apply layers and masks over the image. Fake lighting has been added to make the drawing appear to be a set and even a few subliminal messages over the top, again to mock today’s advertisement methods. Using sexual related words, and even a reference to Moschino.

This was the projected around 2m by 2m onto a wall. There you have it, sounds easy but this took many many hours of planning and designing and its safe to say I wont miss the challenge of trying to convince fine artists that just because something isn’t always deep and contextual, it doesn’t mean that its not ‘art’! Farewell, Sheffield Hallam! X

Flower Child

Photography and Styling

Another work collaboration here, however I am much more pleased with these images! Plantology is a brilliant florist with a very talented team of botanical stylists, so I asked them to put something together which shown their talents as a shop off, more than the last shoot did!

Plantology did not fail! I was nervous about this shoot, a lot of time and money had gone into it and photographing flowers is a little out of my comfort zone, so I began with a quick glass of wine to take then edge off, and then began! Here are a couple of the images…

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Flowers flowers flowers! The head piece was amazing! A lot of florists will be able to create the standard flower head band which is why I wasn’t fully happy with the last shoot. These are beautiful, intricate and very high fashion looking! The clothes – although not very prominent – are from Mooch! I did try to get some focus on the clothes with this but it took attention away from the head piece. All in all, a lovely shoot and some lovely images!

Valentines Day Collab

Photography and Styling

Since Valentines day is upon us, I thought that was a great excuse to join my two jobs together to create some dreamy romantic shoots! Using my styling for Mooch and different Bouquets from Plantology to do some media promotion for the two independant businesses. Flowers and vintage fashion, that’s a combo that cant go wrong! I have really enjoyed mixing things up today and I am also over the mooch with the end results! of course, I used my AMAZING model Lauren Gallimore again!

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The Dress

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The Dress

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Classy Mooch Styling

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Flower Child

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Classy Mooch Styling

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Classy Mooch Styling

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Classy Mooch Styling

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Romance and a Gramophone

I loved the Outfit choices for this shoot, as a huge fan of classic vintage dresses and faux fur, I was totally in my element here! The use of romantic reds really cmplimented the flowers and vise versa! What a fab day at the office! Huge thank you to Lauren Gallimore!

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My Job Roll and More Styling

About Dani, Photography and Styling

Recently, my job roll has changed quite a lot. My main focus of work now is marketing and expanding the brand. I have been working on this via ways of social media. My next step is to take the vintage brand of Mooch to festivals and fairs. As a brand, Mooch is already more than a shop. Working on several vintage fairs a week all over the country, but my goal is to push this further!

We are currently working on new kinds of events such as vintage weigh and pays, where customers buy clothes at wholesale prices. This is exciting and I’m glad to be apart of the mooch team and to be able to help it grow is an  honour.

I create outfits styled in shop about 3 tines a week and then on one day I will conduct a photo shoot, often showing off the many different styles and eras we have in store.

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This week’s in store styling I have used a lot of smart casual women’s wear. Aiming at students and not so much true vintage pieces. I have been using magazines such as vogue to get an understanding of current trends to piece together these. Bold patterns and jackets are things that vogue used frequently.

Over the next couple of weeks, I will be hitting the 90’s era hard on the photo shoot front. My aim of this is to get student attention, Mooch is based in a very student heavy area, so I think this will be a good audience. I will promote  various 90’s outfits across the mooch social media platforms and lay a discount of some sort on the 90’s clothing for a period of time! I want to the social media to come across and friendly with a fairly personal touch, Mooch is very well known for its friendly staff and often many customers just pop on for a chat, which I think is lovely!

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These are a few starting images. As you can see I’ve gone for sports wear, bold patterns and a more casual background of graffiti. I shall look forward to the Mooch 90’s marketing!
Thank you for reading x

Mooch Skinhead Styling

Photography and Styling

This week I have been taking my styling for Mooch from a very new angle. Mooch deals in many styles of vintage clothing. Starting from as early as the 20’s. This photo shoot for me, was all about showing the diversity for Mooch. The theme was 1980’s, playing on the This is England and Skinhead elements of the 80’s. I have to say, I absolutely loved this! Classic vintage is more my style, so this shoot was a real test for me. It helped that I have two fantastic models too! Many thanks to Lauren Gallimore and Giovanni Tornese!

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This is England Couple

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Ralph Lauren

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Fred Perry

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Couple

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Skinhead Style

Lauren Gallimore has been dressed in some Levi jeans, Fred Perry polo and Dr. Martens. I left her hair straight and down with dark eye makeup and a dark purple lip, for the typical skinhead girl style.

Giovanni Tornese, dressed also in levis and Dr. Martens, but with a Ralph Lauren shirt. Buttoned to the top and sleeves rolled up. Braces are Moochs’ own. Luckily Giovanni already has the shaved head and the ideal Tash!

I had chosen a fairly dark urban setting, using concrete stairs and a brick wall a the background. Keeping it simple and edgy.

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Head in the cluds set display, digital edit.

Head in the Clouds

Creative Displays, Uncategorized

I have been working on creative window displays as part of my fine art course, playing on an interesting quote from a fashion blogger, ‘I like the world in image and artistic forms more than I love the life in reality’. Commenting on what it is about fashion that people find so interesting. How shops create the emotion of desire and entice people in. The fashion industry is absolutely huge and I’m interested in why? Fashion is one of the art forms in which you live your life in, it is different to say a painting or a poem, not everybody shares the same interest in all kinds of art forms except fashion, it can represent ones emotions and it give a person a different way of self expressing. I see fashion as a non verbal communication. Brands become empires and sell an almost fantasy, to the consumers. Peoples desire to look and feel good has essentially stemmed from these giant empires, which is a really fascinating concept.

I have been working on a series of displays to try and capture this fantasy land in art forms and capture the human response to particular art. My first piece is called ‘Head in the Clouds’.

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This was my first shot of the display. I played around with various coloured jackets but the red one stood out the most and I really liked how it worked with the blue in the flowers. These displays are for an exhibition I will be a part of mid next year. So at the moment I am just playing around with the ideas of how to exhibit them. A couple of test ideas led me to editing them digitally to see how they look…

Head in the cluds set display, digital edit.

I really love this edit and angle. Its fun and eye catching, I never thought about presenting them digitally but after making the edits it is now an option I am going to consider.

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Here is a digital edit of my first image. The colours aren’t as attention grabbing as the previous on, which Is something that is very important in terms of VM, but I do like the angle of my model, Lauren.

Thanks for helping me out, Lauren you’ve been great! x

Mooch Christmas Display

Creative Displays

This week I have had the absolute pleasure to have been asked to create the mooch Christmas shop and windows! As I am very familiar with the Mooch as soon as I was asked I had many ideas on what the owner would like so after I create the mood board, took it into the store and then a classy but fun, Vintage winter wonderland was decided on. I had then promised Wayne, the owner, a rather special Christmas tree, so that is what I delivered! Wayne’s initial idea was a suspended Christmas tree, but I could picture it in the shop so I suggested a Christmas tree dress instead!

We took off buying for the store, Wayne wanted butterflies and birds, so we got 120 of each! Then I gathered my tools for the dress and then began…

I stated off by making a corset out of chicken wire and fastening it together with another piece of wire a the back. Wire is amazing because you can bend it into any shape you need, after quite some perseverance, but it does work! I then tore apart the leaved of many, many garlands!

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I tested a few strands of garlands around the bust a first, just to see if it worked or not. Once I knew it did I moved to the bottom to begin there.

After about 6 hours of threading hundreds of leaves through chicken wire, it finally started to come together! I took it into the middle of the shop so it could be seen easier and to rearrange the trail.

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Gold butterflies and birds were peppered throughout the dress and into the trail. I then added a gold bow to finish the dress. Once the dress was done  I then made a crown/birds nest using the same method as the dress.

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Large full garlands were then laid out in the shop window to continue the wonder land forest theme. The mannequins were dressed in a 1950’s tux and prom dress. (The prom dress reminds me of a fairy, so cute!) Gold butterflies were attached to all outfits and bags to tie in our theme.

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The mushrooms and moss went in last of all, they weren’t originally part of the plan but they were too perfect to pass up! They added to the wonderland theme so well! They are also glow in the dark which made us happy!

Mooch winter wonderland

So there you have our Mooch Vintage Winter Wonderland! xoxo

 

Sheffield Charity shop

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So on Sunday the 1st of November I walked into the charity shop to be greeted by a very upset store manager on the phone, saying all of her volunteers were 16 and couldn’t serve on the till and she had no store merchandiser. When she hung up, I introduced myself by saying, ‘I am your 21 year old visual merchandiser’, and then so it began! The manager had been there for only a 2 days and thee had not been a previous manager for quite some time, so the store was very un-kept, messy and out of date! As if merchandising in a charity shop wasn’t already a challenge! So I began my quest of organisation and bringing the store up to date a little bit and here is what I made…

Rustic autumn colours of green, cream and rust.

Rustic autumn colours of green, cream and rust.

The thing with charity shops is, that they tend to have open back windows, which means you can see into the shop off the street, which also means, its difficult to create a window display that looks tidy that focuses the eye of the people walking by. But I took what I could from this fact and what I took from it was these flowers. There is a flower tier behind the window which has to stay there, so I chose three flowers and a colour scheme. I went with a rustic autumn theme, you know, since its autumn and that was the base of my display!

Outfit

This out fit was chosen based on the colours I had picked. I want for an over size mens shirt in green and belted it in using a cream scarf with burnt orange polka dots, added a very cool cream leather jacket to give it that little stylish edge then finished off by loading the mannequin up with necklaces. 6     5mirrorHere is some photos of little elements of the display:

  • write on some rustic slats featuring my flowers
  • A antique curly framed mirror in gold to reflect my colour theme
  • The hand bag to match the shoes
  • The hat to match the jacket

Window display

Here is my final display. I was aiming for a homely, stylish display aimed at women between the ages of 20 – 30, because the charity shop is situated in a very student heavy area and it also sells home supplies. The theme was rustic/vintage to fit in with the month and current trends.

Photo Shoot for Mooch

Photography and Styling

Today I have been working with a dear friend of mine, Lauren. For my job I have to promote the mooch brand so today I styled a photo shoot with some of my favourite mooch pieces!

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This wacky 70’s suit and fluffy hat had to be used in my shoot! The pattern and colours are outstanding and I knew they would make for a lovely photo!

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This shoot came about by looking at the colours in this jumper! It just reminded me of a Simpson donut! So I got some and me and Lauren had a great time with these shots! I like the smart and unusual suit and then the more casual student style jumper. It shows the range of what mooch has in store and I am over the moon with these photos! Thanks for being a fab model Lauren! Can’t wait to create more work like these!

 

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jump suite and blue suede jacket

Here is a shot I of a jumpsuit paired with a long blue suede jacket with tassels, used as a prop. I love the outfit but this image was mostly taken for the purpose of colour use! These colours are so vibrant and lovely I had to do a quick shoot for them!

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Preperation for Merchandising

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I have been asked to come back to create the Mooch Vintage shop Christmas displays and interior, which I am over the moon about! This is a huge job, involving an entire shop and window turn around! So I just thought I’d write down a few pointers on how I have prepared for this and what I need to think about whilst preparing and making!

First of all, I start off with a good old mood board, just sticking images down that are eye catching to me, things that are inspiring. I searched things like, home made decorations, vintage Christmas and looked at some of the most famous Christmas window displays.

mood board for mooch christmas Here is a little example of my findings (apologies for the poor image quality, I’m yet to learn how to use a scanner.)

By making one of these, ideas kind of spring into your mind,  from here you get an understanding on what direction you want to take your display in. For me I like the quirky little decorations and the vintage black and white Christmas photos!

Things to consider:

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You need to plan your window to include these three tiers, Background, Mid ground and Foreground.

The purpose of a back ground is to focus you eye on the display rather than the busy environment of the shop behind.

The mid ground is the main opportunity to promote the products or message

The foreground is generally the glass. This can be used to create depth and perspective to your display.

Then there is different ways of grouping you products in the mid ground, are you going to use a triangular grouping,  where the centre piece is higher, or are they all going to be on the same plane?

Once you have decided, the best thing for me to do it totally empty the window and give it a good clean down, this gives you  a nice blank canvas and a clutter free space!

Select your product, keep it simple. Try not to tell too many stories and over crowd with stock.

Use your selecting grouping to position your products.

Show the best merchandise! Obvious tip but an important one.

Dress a bit then go out side to assess

Never over fill the window! Less is more, as they say!

 

Mooch Vintage Mens Clothing

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Today at mooch, Wayne had me dressing male mannequins, to put me out of my comfort zone a little bit. Which I am glad he did, I have dressed many female mannequins previously, but not many males. Also it comes easier dressing women, firstly because I am a woman and secondly, I can see myself wearing the clothes I put together! Dressing the male mannequins was a good experience and I really enjoyed creating the looks. I had a simple brief, one smart, one casual.

Firstly I went to work on the smart look, I had dressed to ladies mannequins previously in fairly smart clothes, so I thought it would look good to place my smart guy with those! Also, I had a jacket in mind that I just had to display. I do love the tweed jackets, but being a vintage store, a tweed jacket was too much of an obvious look, I wanted Mooch to stand out from competitors! Sheffield has a LOT of vintage shops! So here is my first men’s look…

                             mens smart clothing mooch                       mooch mens clothes smarter

I went for this great mustard jacket, not only because I loved its uniqueness, but also because it would look fab next to my winter 60’s style lady! I dressed it with a pink denim shirt and a green silken (ladies) scarf, and used it as a pocket square. The colours are bright and they really stand well together ( I do love some clashing colours). I kept the jeans simple and smart, and finished the look off with a simple tan belt and loafers. The loafers were actually purchased before the mannequin went on display, which is fab but it left me short of some shoes!

mooch mannequins on display

Here are my final mannequins on display. Looking fabulously stylish! I kind of feel like, if these were real people I would want to be friend with them! Each mannequin is a full, finished outfit from top to toe, showcasing a lot of mooch stock without looking over crowded.

Next I worked on the casual mannequin. As I am a student and Sheffield is a very student heavy city, this mannequin was much easier to dress!             jeff jeff 3 mens casual clothing

I went for the classic sheep skin coat! Mooch has many of these in store as they are very popular. However, I haven’t came across many grey ones before! So instantly I went for this coat, again to show off Mooch’s diversity! Some simple, wearable black jeans- nothing too crazy and then a flannel shirt under the coat. Flannel shirts are hugely popular with student and they sell like wild fire in Mooch! So I went for a blue shirt to compliment the grey coat. Adding a hat and a scarf, winter essential but things that weren’t previously on display, to give it a more casual feel .Finally  finishing off with some dark bluey grey Doc. Martins! A vey stylish, winter ready and wearable out fit! Showing that not everything you find in a vintage shop has to be outrageous!

I loved dressing these mannequins and its nice too see the shop window looking full!