Art Direction & Image-Making
in Fashion
Kegham is back to Photopia for the third year in a row. His past two art direction/fashion styling workshops were a life changing experience for many artists who joined.
The contemporary fashion industry cannot function without the image, and the process of creating the image which turns commodities into objects of fashion.
It is through image-making that the ‘symbolic’ goods of fashion are created (rather than material goods). Those symbolic goods give way to the consumption of material goods; a photographic campaign of a collection is what allow this collection to be commercialized and accessible to the customer. In fashion, we consume an image before we consume a product.
Image-making does not exclusively address the photographic material but expands to visual identity, branding, storytelling, narrative building and concept generating.
Image-making in any line of practice, like the ones mentioned above, primarily entails applying strategies of art direction before employing specialized skills for the corresponding field. Art direction is a global process of creating a story or a concept for a fashion brand, collection, magazine, photo-shoot, film or even visual merchandising.
The approach of this workshop addresses the global methodology of art direction and image-making which can be applied to a variety of specific practices in fashion.
Through practical projects (individual and in teams), theoretical lectures and presentations this workshop will immerse the workshop participants in the creative process, skills and methods of image-making and art direction.
This workshop is designed for highly motivated students or professionals in the creative fields (visual artists, performing artists, designers, stylists, photographers, makeup/hair artists, editors, film-makers, art directors, marketeers…).
Content and Topics Covered:
•Understanding the fashion system
•Introduction to fashion media, representation, image & photography
•Principles of art direction
•Moodboard construction techniques
•Creative styling for a shoot
•Concept development and storytelling
Profile of the workshop participants:
•Professionals or students who have had professional or academic experience working in the creative industries and communication even as amateurs.
•No absolute beginners as they may not benefit from the workshop.
•The participant must be at ease with working manually, experimenting and altering garments / accessories / materials (no fashion design experience required!).
•Participants should be highly motivated and fully committed for the entire period of the workshop.
•It is preferable to have a working knowledge of InDesign and Photoshop but it is not mandatory.
•It is very important to have a laptop and camera (DSLR, point-and-shoot or even a good mobile camera).
Before the first day of the workshop the confirmed participants should prepare a developed concept of a photoshoot, collection, magazine, campaign, event etc… related to fashion.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
Kegham Djeghalian is a Paris-based multidisciplinary visual artist, art director and image designer in fashion. He has studied Image Design in Fashion at the French Institute of Fashion (IFM), Visual Arts at the American University of Cairo, Visual Culture and Design at Goldsmiths College University of London, and Fashion Studies at Central Saint Martins and London College of Fashion.
Djeghalian’s work was internationally exhibited in group and solo shows, and his shoots and articles were published in diverse online and print magazines. Four of his shoots have won international awards. He has collaborated with many fashion houses and designers the likes of Kenzo, Louboutin, Hermès, Okhtein, MajaS on campaigns and advertorials.
In 2014, his short film ‘To Schiap With Love’ was selected to be part of Diane Pernet’s ‘A Shaded View On Fashion Film7 ‘ at the Centre Pompidou.
Djeghalian is curently a professor at Paris College of Art (PCA) and was one of the faculty members who premiered the Masters Program in Fashion Film and Photography in 2016. His current visual art and fashion work revolves around the problematics of representation in fashion, embodiments, inhabitance and identity politics.