On Wednesday myself and three other students made our way to London and into the basement of the Cosmopolitan offices to take part in a photo shoot for their Cosmo On Campus Magazine.
Each of us represented a different trend:
Grunge - (not sure which catwalk)
Girlie - Louis Vuitton style
Folk/Sporty - Isabel Marant style
Florals - DKNY style
It was a Bloggers heaven as there was a clothes rail full of the latest trends, gorgeous shoes, fantastic statement jewellery and we had our hair and makeup done by a lovely MUA who had a makeup collection to die for (just look at all the MAC pallettes!!)
So the point of the shoot was to take inspiration from a Catwalk Look and recreate an outfit (accessories and all!) on a student budget of £50. Below is an example of the 'grunge' look!
I learnt some fab 'insider' tips such as using Hawaiian Tropic tanning oil to create a gorgeous shimmer in photos (wouldn't recommend for a night out though - smells divine but very messy!), invest in a proper backcombing brush as not only does it work better but it's kinder to your hair (this is similar to the one she used on us - the long pointed handle also comes in useful for hairstyling) - mac face and body REALLY CAN be used on the body - it was used for the 'sporty' look (can be seen in the backstage video).
The experience also reinforced to me that any 'look' you see in a magazine is unrealistic and the perceived 'perfection' is a) not achievable and b) not real - real people don't have an MUA there to fix your hair every 30 seconds, redo your makeup or to put foundation or tanning oil on your limbs so they look leaner! Plus the lighting makes a huge difference and this is without even STARTING on the airbrushing and retouching - I think this really is such an important lesson and it really hits home seeing it in action.
The final photos and outfit details will be in the next issue of Cosmo on Campus and I'll be sure to grab a few copies and scan the photos in so you can see how amazingly they recreated the looks and how much of a dick I'm clearly going to look trying to pose! I had a great day and was a shame I came down with tonsillitis that very afternoon so spent the rest of my time tucked up in bed!
Below is a video which shows you some of the clothes, shoes, jewellery, makeup and the grunge sporty and girly 'looks'. It's basically just a little behind the scenes video montage of a photo shoot as obviously i've never been to one and I found it so interesting watching the photographer and the fashion assistants working their magic!
xxx