Additional Ideas

Victoria Secrets


I remembered that I was watching Victoria Secrets the other day, and remembered that back in 2005. They did a concept of candy themed underwear, and I thought that this is exactly the concept I was going for. Not the underwear part, but it does relate back to Katy Perry's 'California Gurls' video and the whole barbie-like flawless women which is what 'Angels' are. They've created this wonderland of sugar and sweets, where these strong confident women live... They are almost, untouchable? But after watching it again, I really liked it and thought that I could add the idea of sweets and candy like lollipops, candy canes, jelly beans and other sweets like that into the magazine to give the pictures more colour and detail, and with the added Andy Warhol effects, I think that it could really work.

Magazine Research

I started to research magazines that I am interested in, I found magazines such as 'LOVE', 'V MAGAZINE' and 'NYLON'. When I saw the covers for these magazine, I didn't love everything about them, but I loved some elements in them.

LOVE

'LOVE' is a magazine which comes out twice a year, it is not like the normal ones that come out monthly. For each issue they release, they create multiple covers to grab different audiences by using different models and celebrities and see which 2 is the best, and the 2 that has been chosen are the 2 that are printed on the cover for the magazine. Currently, there has only been 4 issues published and the fourth issue has had 8 covers, celebrities and models like Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Alessandra Ambrosio, Gisele Bundchen, Agyness Deyn, Lauren Hutton and Buela Barbie. But the two that were chosen were the covers with Kelly Brook and Sienna Miller. For the Kelly Brook cover, a shot of her from behind showing her bottom. Although you could see one of her breast, it was covered up by a scarf draping down the front of her body. She gives the camera aN 'Invitional' and 'Sexual' face, inviting the audience to want to open the magazine. The other cover with Sienne Miller, she poses with a navy blue leotard showing a lot of skin, although its not as much as what Kelly was showing, its is still considered as sexy. Her body has also been oiled, to give the illusion of a sheen to her. The shots for both of the covers use the 'Male-gaze' theory which is how men look at women. When men see the Kelly Brook cover, they see this vulnerable, sexy woman. But because she is shot from the back and turned away, it also suggests that you can't have her. But for the Sienna cover, it is totally the opposite, she is portrayed as this sexy, powerful, strong, woman with her hands on her hips which tells you she is in control, and she is the one in charge. I also really like how minimal it is, it isn't too busy. I also liked the font for the masthead, its clean and clear to read.

V MAGAZINE

'V MAGAZINE' is mainly a fashion focused magazine, but there may be some celebrity gossip from time to time. I browsed through the covers, the ones that I really liked were the ones with Gisele Bundchen and Lady Gaga. The Gisele cover again draws to the idea of the 'MaleGaze'. Her pose looks slightly vulnerable, but she still has her hands on her hips which could suggest that she is confident with her sexuality and body, but her face is turned away, which could also mean that she is shy. When a man sees this cover, he could have the feeling of power over her, she doesn't look like she is in control of the situation, more like someone else it telling her what to do which is what models do, but compared to the Sienna one, she looks vulnerable. The Lady Gaga cover, it has a very high saturation of colour and if it were to be seen on a stand with the other magazines, it would definitely pop to the audience. She gives them an 'Invitional' look, but a slight hint of 'Sexual' with her plumped lips and eyes. I really do like the colour of it, it goes with the concept of my magazine, there are two main colours that have been used, yellow and pink. Those two colours definitely contrast each other, and with the platinum blonde hair, it makes the cover stand out even more.

   

Artists

The artists that I would like to have in my magazine are people like Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry, Rihanna and Lady Gaga. Even though they wouldn't actually be in my magazine, I would like the model who is going to be featured as the artist in the magazine to have the same music taste. 

Katy Perry 

I started to look at Pop Artists, then I remembered Katy Perry's 'California Gurls' video and thought how that resembled so much to the concept of my magazine. I started to research her on the internet and found out that only this year, when she came out with her album 'Teenage Dreams' that her image has totally changed compared to her first album 'One of the Boys'. I really loved the video of 'California Gurls' because it portrayed this make believe world of candy and sweets. Everything was shiny and perfect, even the 'gurls' were styled as these perfect flawless beings that lived in this magical land. She is portrayed as the perfect girl next door as in her lyrics 'We're unforgettable, Daisy dukes, bikinis on top. Sun-kissed skin, so hot, we'll melt your popsicle' that everyone dreams of living next to.

Rihanna 
Another Artist who I really like, I really love the way she has evolved through her career, the older she got, the more we find out about her and through her music. I really liked her video for 'Rude Boy' directed by Melina Matsoukas. It had lots of colour blocking and explosions of colours. I loved this because it again goes with my idea for the magazine, it was really bright and bold. Especially this year, she has changed her hairstyle so many time I can't keep count, and that's what music is about. Reinventing yourself and creating something new, something everyone would like. Thats what Rihanna has done, she has reinvented herself in many ways, by changing the colour of her hair, her style, image and her music. She started off as the semi-girl next door type with long brown hair with her 'S.O.S' and 'Pon De Replay'. Comparing those songs to the ones currently from her album 'LOUD' and the one before that ''Rated R'. It is truly a magnificent change, that is why I like her and her music. It never gets boring, which is why I want my magazine to be like that, I want lots of things to be going on.

Ideas

I thought about a couple of names for my magazine but the one that stuck in my mind was 'MODE', I thought that this would be a good name because it stands out like 'VOGUE' or 'GQ'. 'MODE' is actually a magazine from the fictional television program called 'Ugly Betty', the magazine mainly focuses on Fashion. Even though the magazine that I will be creating is going to be a Music magazine, I wanted to add in style. Style makes the pictures complete when I look through the pages of any magazine, whether its Fashion, Music or Health. There will always  styling to make the picture whole, and that means choosing the right clothes, accessories, hair and make-up etc.

I started looking on the internet for artists and their work for inspiration,
I found artists like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichentstein who kept in the theme of 'Pop Art'. I really liked the colour blocking, I thought that this would be a really good idea for the concept of the cover and the double page spread. Then the idea came to me of 'Pop' music, relating it to 'Pop Art'. I really liked Andy Warhol's Marilyn Manroe portrait, I looked at the different versions of it that he had created. I also looked at examples of Litchensteins work, it was quite different from Warhol's work but it had some of the same elements combined.

Then I remembered the Music Video 'Rude Boy' By Rihanna, and saw that she had used colour blocking and some elements of Warhol in there. For example she used bold colours and adding effects to the picture. The video is directed by 'Melina Matsoukas'. There was quite a buzz about her copying the video by M.I.A 'Boyz' which did looked a little but similiar but comapred to 'Rude Boy' the visual effects are much better. Other artists such as 'Katy Perry' and 'Nicki Minaj' have started to wear bright bold colours which goes with the whole colour blocking concept.

I also came up with the idea of bringing 'Barbie' into it, I thought that it would go well with the concept because of its bold and girly idea as I am going to doing the double spread on a female pop artist. Styled as barbie posing with barbie dolls, only the barbie dolls would be life sized as the her. Karl Lagerfeld came up with the same idea but the opposite, he decided to use 'Barbie' dolls and use real male models. The french model featured is 'Baptiste Giabiconi'.

So hopefully, my magazine will consist of features from the Artists Warhol and Litchenstein, bright colours and colour blocking, a pop artist and elements of barbie.