My presentation revolves around music in fashion and the importance of music sculpting the foundation of the fashion industry throughout culture and time. I chose this because I take interest in both fields of art and wanted to show how they are both integrated within each other though it doesn't look like it from the surface. My presentation on this topic panned out really well as I think I covered the basis underlying the theme of the subject and enjoyed discussing with the room about the topic in small detail of each part.
I looked into the importance of music in fashion shows and explained how music is conveyed during shows and the reason for it, explaining the tempo directors choose their runway tracks at and why. Here's an article explaining the importance of tempo in music
Here it shows that tempo affects human’s emotional processes which is implicated into modern runway shows to reinforce an idealogy around the theme.
My examples evolving around the basis of choice of music that drives an emphasis on the theme, put a spotlight on the clothes and markets it better involves the young artist, Tyler the Creator. Founder of streetwear, Golf Wang, redefining the fashion industry while simultaneously making music substaining a perfectly catergorised audience who would listen to his music as well as buy his clothes. This goes hand to hand at his fashion shows.
GOLF WANG 2016 SUMMER
GOLF WANG 2019 SPRING SUMMER
He uses George Benson in his 2019 spring summer collection which compliments each other in style and theme of his collection.
This secondary research topic was important to demonstrate the importance of how music is deeply intergrated during fashion shows, I delve into finer detail in my presentation on the video posted below where I explained how Tyler's own music playing in the background of his ebullient show accompanied by the location and setting of the stage works incredibly well with each other and each detail within his show had been thought out and planned and his and his teams choices aren't random, they're very well prepared.
This topic then lead to how it inspired both the fashion industry and music industry to move onto their own perception of both forms of art together, we have Rihanna creating her own fashion and beauty line, Fenty which grew to a massive success over the years.
My next research went onto other artists doing collaborations with major fashion lines as stated in the presentation.
KANYE WEST X ADIDAS
TYLER THE CREATOR X CONVERSE
RIHANNA X PUMA
The biggest influencial designer to bring music into fashion was Gianni Versace who took pride in his work and had many celebrity friends. He was one of the first designers to do that
My first initial focus of research primarily involves French Composer, SebastiAn.
Producer, engineer, mixer and electro house DJ producing music since 2005 composing runway instrumental tracks specifically for major fashion houses like Yves Saint Laurent. As to reasons why I have conducted research on Sébastien Akchoté-Bozović is due to his work majorly partaking on the main focus, inspiration and ideology for my project. I believe SebastiAn has paved a way for many electro house musicians throughout the years with his talent and particular take in the industry which has grown to a large following over the years.
SebastiAn created the soundtrack for the Yves Saint Laurent Winter, Summer, and Spring 17, 18,19 and 2020 Collection campaign, which was held in Paris, France.
'17 COLLECTION WITH SEBASTIANS WORK
18' COLLECTION
19' COLLECTION
2020 COLLECTION
His compositions holds a certain pose of serenity and warmth within the progression of the tracks while also building sharp anticipations towards accessions of the track giving the songs a suspenseful yet thrilling touch. Some vary in different tones while others vary in different moods but all carry out an incredible representation of the collection of the clothes as well as creating an eerie yet beautiful tone and mood for the models, scenery and atmosphere.
Here are some of his work.
Unreleased runway tracks
The Saint Laurent Mix
French Electro House mixtape before any of his soundtracks at YSL
Remixes [French house Full Album]
I decided to make my own fashion show soundtrack inspired by SebastiAn as he played a big role in my presentation, I composed it on Logic where I used multiple arpeggiators in experimentation of my track all in the scale of Fminor until I found the correct sounding one correlating to SebastiAn's work.
Here's a better understanding of an arpeggiator and why it was important in my work.
I then created a drum beat followed by other elements of instruments that gave it a stage feel. I used reverb in the drums as well as the arpeggiators to intensify the depth of the song giving the track a roomy feel as this track is meant for a fashion runway where the space is large and echoey. Here's Fender explaining what reverb is and the importance of it in music.
Finally, I constructed and reconstructed the structure of the song placing each element of specific designed tracks in different places until it fit the theme I wanted it to be in. I think it came out pretty well as it sounds heavily inspired by SebastiAn, I've showed it in the video below at the minute mark 19:11
My performance at Club Tabu was unrelated to my workshop as I thought I'd go acoustic for the performance and play 'He can only hold her' By Amy Whinehouse. One night I was listening to artists on Youtube and then came across a soft rendition of Amy's song performed by Clairo. This soft take on the song inspired me to perform it just like that but with small licks at the end of each chord and then a solo riff at the end of the whole song to add weight to my take on the song.
Here is Claire Cottrill also known as Clairo performing the song a couple years ago.
Here's the actual song which is more upbeat and produced and mastered in a studio
During rehearsals, I played it a couple 6-7 times as just the chords and notes by itself so I could get used to the way I was performing it acoustically, each plucking pattern and strumming pattern mattered as it built the stages of the song. I then performed it another few times with vocals, some with the lyrics and some without so it would look professional when actually performing the song without lyrics and it would look well prepared. However, during the show I did forget some of the lyrics, even though this was not prominent during the performance I do think I could have more practise learning the lyrics beforehand so I wouldn't mess up but overall I happy about the way it went as well as the solo riff as there was only one mess up that happened due to nerves which I cleaned up pretty quickly.
SKILLS AUDIT:
Skills I have obtained during this project is my skill on webdesign on PowerPoint. I've learnt how to make a well articulated PowerPoint showcasing many points that divide into many other points, this extends the subject discussion duration and dives into numerous ideas and logistics of the subject matter. In five years time, I'd like to think this skills will help me to bring across ideas onto the fashion world through PowerPoint. Another skill I have is my knowledge in music theory, specifically my scales. I think I have learnt how to compose music better through this important factor in music. In five years time, I believe this skill will help me to keep composing music in the future as it will guide me through with better song writing techniques. Another skill that will benefit me in five years time is my knowledge in music software like Logic, things like automation, EQ channel and the sounds of multiple effects and how it can affect the tone of the piece will help me to compose music in the future.
I believe I have a numerous amount of strengths and weaknesses among the project, one of my strengths for the workshop presentation is the efficiency of the work produced in the time it could be done and the presentation of the work in such short given time. Another for task 2 would also be the short time of rehearsal planning and organising of the song and music composition I gave myself and I think it went well for the time I had planning it. The performance was a given motive to show that though with small time given for projects, quality work can be produced but with a longer duration of time given can always make it better so in the future I will utilise the full time given for projects. A weakness that fundamentally effected my performance at Club Tabu was the lyrics I had to learn. I messed up on the second verse but picked it up to fit the style and tone of the song so it did not look like a mess up. In the future I hope I can learn my lyrics better and not be unconfident with what I have when performing. Another weakness for my Club Tabu performance was the nerves that got the best of me when playing the solo riff I made a couple days prior to the performance, sometimes performing in front of very well guitar-playing people, professional and talented musicians can be quite off-putting and intimidating so I did mess up on a note but I tried to keep it together at the end of it. In the future, lemon or any citric juice can help with nerves and I should try practise a lot more with small details and breathe when performing. Lastly, a strength I believe was profound within my performance was the tranposition of an up-beat, pop song to an acoustic song which some people thought it would be hard to pull off however I prefer the acoustic sound to the song and tried it out myself and think it went quite well. In the future, I will definitely be experimenting a lot more as I know it can lead to wonderful end results.
In conclusion, I am happy with the research that has gone towards the fundamental scheme of my work including my presentation workshop, my logic composition and my Club Tabu performance and the development of it all alligning together in some sort of way. This will all most definitely go towards my future as I want to go into the fashion industry but bring more music culture with it too as my tracks for fashion runways will still carry on in the future as I'm also proudly composing for the college fashion show which will premier at the end of the year. The performance also helped with my experience, confidence and skill in playing solo which I thouroughly enjoyed. I want to thank Martin for his help with my Logic project and Pete for my Presentation Workshop. I hope my project had also shown others the significant importance of music in fashion and how both have evolved beautifully throughout the years and should still do with the years coming.