Miles Aldridge - Inspiration for Advert 1

Miles Aldridge is a highly regarded fashion photographer who is known for his 'technicolour dream-like worlds he creates and the glamorous, beautiful women who inhabit them'. Aldridge originally studies illustration at Central St.Martins in London, however he thought that being an illustrator was too 'boring' so he decided to be either a photographer or director. In 1993 he started his career as a fashion photographer and quickly became successful, working with W Magazine within his first 6 months. He has since worked with famous magazines such as British Vogue, American Vogue, The Face and New York Times. He has also worked for clients such as YSL, Armani, Hugo Boss and L'Oreal. 

He uses very bright and bold colours in his shoots to create fantasy scenes that almost look fake. The model's he uses are always beautiful but he doesn't rely on this, he instead gives them specific poses and characters to portray a high class Stepford wife look. All his shoots look very staged and they usually incorporate domestic scenes, for example cooking or cleaning. In an interview with MorningBeauty, Aldridge said "I am against boringness" and I definitely think this is apparent in his unique and fun work. He says that he has been surrounded by beauty all his life, with his sister being models, his mum being very beautiful and marrying a super model; therefore he isn't interested in photographing beauties with no flaws because he wants his images to be different, new and exciting, exploring new possibilities.

Miles Aldridge
VALOIS, C., 2015. Against The Boredom: Miles Aldridge Talks Career, Beauty and His Relationship with MAC [viewed 5th March 2015]. 
Available from:  http://morningbeauty.co.uk/against-the-boredom-miles-aldridge-talks-
career-beauty-and-his-relationship-with-m-a-c-cosmetics/

Miles Aldridge has worked with Mac cosmetics numerous times to create beautiful, fantasy-like images. He has shot for collections such as Wash & Dry, Huggable Mac, Mac Is Beauty and many more. Their partnership became so strong that they released a photography book together show casing all their collaborations called, Miles Of Mac, launched in September 2014. The book was put together by Mac's Creative Director, James Gager, and he told Daze he hopes "this book will offer young art directors, makeup artists, hair stylists and photographers a glimpse in terms of what truly is possible if you let yourself go with it and go there". The image below is a shot by Miles Aldridge and it is the front cover for their collaborative book.

HEALY, C., 2015. Miles Aldrige teams up with MAC for a new photo book [viewed 5th March 2016]. Available from: http://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/21276/1/miles
-aldridge-teams-up-with-m-a-c-for-a-new-photo-book

Miles Alridge's Work - Inspiration

Vogue Italia, March 2008 Issue

VALOIS, C., 2015. Against The Boredom: Miles Aldridge Talks Career, Beauty and His Relationship with MAC [viewed 5th March 2015]. 

Available from:  http://morningbeauty.co.uk/against-the-boredom-miles-aldridge-talks-
career-beauty-and-his-relationship-with-m-a-c-cosmetics/

Vogue Italia, October 2011 Issue

VALOIS, C., 2015. Against The Boredom: Miles Aldridge Talks Career, Beauty and His Relationship with MAC [viewed 5th March 2015]. 

Available from:  http://morningbeauty.co.uk/against-the-boredom-miles-aldridge-talks-
career-beauty-and-his-relationship-with-m-a-c-cosmetics/

Vogue Italia, October 2011 Issue
ALRIDGE, M. Miles Aldridge - Selected Work [viewed 5th March 2016]. 
Available from: http://www.milesaldridge.com/selected-work/

The images above were shot for different issues for Vogue Italia. They are all typical of Miles Aldridge's style, with the very bright, contrasting and bold colours and the vintage feel, and I chose them as example because I found them inspirational for my own shoot. I love how many different colours have been included, but how it works and doesn't look too messy because they are all block colours. All the women used looks rebellious, but there seems to be some pain behind the glamour. They are all doing domestic chores; however they are all fully made up, in heels with glamorous makeup and hair styles. This shots inspired me to go even further with using bright and contrasting colours to make my images look strong and powerful. These images also inspired me to make my images slightly retro and to make my models look almost like Stepford wives in the way they are almost like dolls or robots. I prefer the images where the models aren't making eye contacts with the camera because you tend to look at the whole image instead of being drawn in by the eyes. The models also look more distant and disconnected from reality when they are just starring off into the distance. 

Below is a YouTube video showing some of Miles Aldridge's photoshoots. I found it particularly interesting seeing how they set up the studio to shoot. It starts off as a plain studio and they have to build the whole set and paint it in these bright colours. This has inspired me to make up my own set, even if I don't quite have the budget for this!

VOUGE ITALIA, 2013. Fashion Story: Home Chic by Miles Aldridge [viewed 5th March 2016]. 

Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYxRvmAY4aw

Resources:

KASHER, S., 2016. Miles Aldridge - Bibliography [viewed 5th March 2016]. Available from: http://www.stevenkasher.com/artists/miles-aldridge

HEALY, C., 2015. Miles Aldrige teams up with MAC for a new photo book [viewed 5th March 2016]. Available from: http://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/21276/1/miles-aldridge-teams-up-with-m-a-c-for-a-new-photo-book

VALOIS, C., 2015. Against The Boredom: Miles Aldridge Talks Career, Beauty and His Relationship with MAC [viewed 5th March 2015]. Available from:  http://morningbeauty.co.uk/against-the-boredom-miles-aldridge-talks-career-beauty-and-his-relationship-with-m-a-c-cosmetics/