Photoshoot Preview: New East London Embroiderers
It was a busy first week back in the FAD office, with remnants of the festive fabric sale making way for something altogether more glamorous – a photoshoot!
The shoot took place over two days in the historic nooks of Shoreditch and Old Street. It featured hand embroidered garments created by 14-19 year olds who took part in our New East London Embroiderers project, and was the creative vision of FAD Leadership Academy member and photography student Kat Drury.
Kat directed the shoot, working in partnership with another young photographer Yassin Yassin. The creative team behind the shoot also included FAD stylist Varsha Odedra; MAC make-up artist Rachel Beynon and hair stylist Tara Burgin.
We were lucky enough to secure some amazing models – Melissa, Katerina, Odette and Tristan – who bravely braced the wintry temperatures and curious glances from passers-by to capture some fantastic images for the FAD magazine and blog.
Shooting on the Streets of East London
We can’t reveal the final pictures until the FAD magazine is published next month, but here are some sneaky previews of what to expect, introduced by Creative Director Kat.
“This shoot was really my first experience of taking more of a directing approach, rather than being behind the camera. We really wanted to mix these beautifully embroidered pieces that were influenced by Kensington Palace, with East London backdrops, representing the root of where these young embroiderers come from.
I wanted to create quite cinematic, still images with cool tones. I didn’t want to just shoot models in the lovely clothing against really stereo-typically urban backgrounds, as I felt this is overdone and wouldn’t represent the garments well.
We needed to find a location that would complement the clothing’s regal feel, yet still represent East London. With this idea we spent a day around Old Street and Shoreditch scouting locations that would fit.
After walking around and taking pictures and addresses of many possible locations we found the perfect block of streets that had lots of different colours and backdrops to play about with on the shoot day.”