Photography and Text by Alexis Masino, Copyright 2017
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FASHION IS GENDERLESS
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I chose to focus this editorial on something vital to the fashion industry which is often not used as a focal point: makeup. Makeup has traditionally been associated with femininity and up until recently, branded exclusively for women. Even now, most makeup advertising is geared toward women. The specific styles I crafted on the models (Phil Tedros, Andrew Mulson, Grace Bridy, and Brandon Texeira) were yellow eyeshadow, peach colored brows, electric blue cat eye, and dichromatic eyeshadow. I chose these trends for two reasons. My first idea was that I wanted to capture lots of bright colors, toying with the idea of femininity. But these trends also all made an appearance as popular trends among high fashion, used in shows and documented by brands like Vogue, in this past season. I noticed these trends were more commonly than not observed on women and the photographs paired with articles were almost entirely of female figures. To combat this stereotype I casted my models with the goal of role reversal, showing makeup trends mainly on male figures and with an aura of androgyny in place of femininity. I instructed the models to wear all black as to allow for complete focus on the makeup. The shoot took place in a studio for the sake of maintaining complete control over lighting and flash, specifically to properly capture the models’ faces up close and accentuate the proper hues of the makeup. Shooting at the ISO of 400 was a choice made after several test shots to minimize the warmth of the lights, but not reach too high of a number where grain would begin to appear in the photographs. The post-production editing involved reinforcing all these ideas in my vision by enhancing the colors and drowning out distractions.
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About The Author: Alexis Masino is a freshman enrolled in the College of the University of Pennsylvania, Class of 2020. To access additional articles by Alexis Masino, go here: https://tonywardstudio.com/blog/alexis-masino-los-detalles/