Tragic Icons: Photography Work

I'm no photographer - me and technology in general just don't get along - but seeing as I had to do a fashion photography unit to pass my course, I thought I'd share my pictures ...

We had to do an icons spread, so I choose to do 'tragic icons.' My theme was Glam Rock Chick: The Dark Side. So basically trying to show the other side of the rock and roll lifestyle behinde the glamour and behinde all that eye makeup. What a party girl looks like when the party's over.

Tragic: very sad; especially involving grief or death or destruction

Icon: One who is the object of great attention and devotion; an idol

A tragic icon has to be hugely talented/beautiful and absolutely adored by all but at the same time extremely insecure, depressed and highly addicted to drugs and/or alchohol. It's very important to have the talent and adoration bit because other wise you are just a crack head right? But an addict with a talent and a pretty face? That's the makings of something special. People are darkly obsessed with tradegy and a star with a sad story will always get extra fame points. Here are some of the most famous tragic icons:

Marilyn Monroe: actress, model and sex symbol perfectly portrays both glamour and tragedy

Kurt Cobain: Nirvana's front man, poster child for 90s grunge and tragic depressive and heroin addict

Jimi Hendrix: eccentric fashionista and performer, widely considered the greatest electric guitarist of all time

Edie Sedgwick: one of Andy Warhol's beautiful 'superstars' 'it' girl with a lot of problems

Iconic, beautiful, talented and adored and not one lived past the age of 40.



girl crushes

I love boys as much as the next girl, but despite this I seem to have ever growing girl crushes and they are spiralling out of control. Hot girls catch my eye as much as hot guys - ok i'm lieing ... probably more. I'm not sure if it's because girls make more effort with themselves (eg make up, hair, tweezing, plucking, heels, ect) or if we are just naturally the fairer sex, but i definitely think that there are more good looking girls in the world than boys (sorry boys). Anyway, I thought I'd share a few of my top girl crushes with you: I not only think these girls are mind-blowingly sexy, but I respect them for their talent and style. They don't do it like dudes, they do it so much better ...

Rihanna

I am so fiercely defensive of Rih Rih, that if you diss her, you will pretty much get cut out of my life. She has always been pretty but since she became more, shall we say experimental, in the fashion department she became more than just your average pretty girl and it's been reflected in her music too. She took risks. They paid off. And now she's hotter than ever. The only reason I have stopped playing Rated R for a little while is because Loud came out.

 


Nicki Minaj

Ok, so my first thought when I saw Miss Minaj in the Bedrock video was who is this tacky, cheap looking black barbie wannabe but I hope I can be forgiven for this slander, because she is now one of my major girl crushes. I love that she describes herself as a "harajuku barbie." I see it: the craziness of harajuku mixed with the cuteness of barbie. She is THE black barbie right now. Nobody's touching her for a while.

 

Jessie J

This girl is the epitome of Brit cool. This Essex girl has a certain swagger that is exclusively British. She's been writing songs for everyone who's anyone for the past few years, including Justin Timberlake and Alicia Keys. Thankfully she's decided to come out from behinde the scenes and release her own material. Do It Like a Dude is a definite tune but I didn't realise how amazing her vocals were until I heard the acoustic version. Watch the link below and you will understand why I am so smitten:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTZQjk6Y3BU

While I'm on the subject of girl crushes I just wanted to say how happy I was to see Victoria Beckham on the cover of this month's Vogue and Cheryl Cole on the cover of Elle. Their style is much more tame than Rih Rih, Nicki, and Jessie but I love that about them. Because even though I love a good crazy coloured outfit with even crazier coloured hair to match, sometimes it's just nice to look, well ... nice. Victoria Beckham is so classic and classy, and I honestly think her fashion line would have done well - ex Spice Girl or not. And as for Cherly Cole, all I can say is: those dimples.

More Years, Different Fears

As i approach 21 and I am still tattooless and I have asked myself the question why am I such a pussy?

Ok but on a serious note, why am I scared if things that I never used to be scared of? When I was 14 I went to go get my madonna pierced without a second thought because I wanted to get it done before my ex best friend to make sure I was the first one in our school. The thought that it might have looked as if I copied her was enough to get me racing to the piercers chair. But now nearly 7 years later and I can barely bring myself to go and get my tregus repierced (it fell out last christmas and I can't get it back through).

Maybe it's because as we get older our priorities change. I just don't care about saving face anymore. My (very brave) house mate has just booked a massive tattoo for wednesday morning and even though the intention was to go together, if I don't go through without it won't bring quite the same amount of shame as I would have felt at 14. You can't back out of stuff when your 14, because you'll never live it down: when you're younger image is everything, and while I'm not going to act like I don't care what people think, I care a lot less.

When you're a little kid you think that the big kids are brave. Big girl's don't cry after all. But sometimes it works in reverse. I am much more scared of pain, and of hangovers and of getting in trouble. I am scared of walking home at night by myself and I'm scared of mouthing off to every and any girl because I think I can. Things have shifted, maybe I scared of trouble because I'm scared to hurt my mum, and maybe I'm scared of hangovers because I have more to loose these days if I don't manage to wake up in the morning. And maybe I'm scared of getting a tattoo because I am no longer scared of looking like a pussy.

But on the flip side ... I'm scared of a lot less. I'm not scared to speak my mind if it's necessary, I'm not scared to wear what I want to wear and I'm not scared of wearing sexy stacked heels and being taller than my friends because I know that those heels make me feel good. I'm not scared of being a geek or of saying no if I don't want to do something. I'm not scared to go places on my own or to make different choices to my friends, because I know that my best friends will still be my best friends whether I listen to a different type of music, or live in a different city.

I think in some ways age makes you more fearful and in some ways less. You learn more and collect more experiences so you begin to realise the things that are worth being afraid of and the things that aren't. After heartbreak you'll be more cautious who you give your heart to. But after petty arguments with people who don't matter you'll be less scared to speak your mind.

I don't think I'm scared of more things just different things, because I'm a different person now and different things are important to me. Probably the biggest difference bewteen me and my teenage self is that these days, when I am scared, I'm not scared to admit it.