In editorial photoshoots, the photographs are taken with the intention to tell a story by themselves. As I was aiming to recreate scenes from the ‘A Court of Thorns and Roses’ fantasy book series, costume was of utmost importance for me to breathe life into this creative concept of mine.  

As I had already picked out which of the characters I would be featuring in my magazine, I briefed through the books again and watched a couple of TikToks to get an idea of what the characters actually wore in the story. It was important that I know what their fashion aesthetic and personality was, to recreate the outfits to convey them appropriately. 

I listed the key points in terms of the characters' fashion and personalities so I could work towards bringing the characters to life through the outfits.

I was not sure about the current price range for buying or renting out clothes in Colombo. I googled a couple of places that sold and rented out Couture wear and then called and visited some of the places to see what options were available and if they were cost-effective. 

Upon calling UR Bridal Dresses, they informed me that their selling prices were above 16,000 rupees and renting prices range from 8,000 to 10,000 rupees. In addition, they only had very limited options of dresses for rent. 

Then I called up H&H Bridal Gallery which is another store that rents out couture wear for women and they told me that their price range was 3,500-4000 rupees. As this was more affordable I decided to physically go to the place and see what dress options they had.

[Some BTS photos taken while checking out the stores.]

I even tried a few dresses on to see how they looked. Although I was able to find dresses that matched my colour palette and aesthetic I was not satisfied with it as the clothes I preferred seemed to have some damages on them and I was not sure if my models would prefer wearing rented out clothes due to sanitary concerns. It did not seem cost-efficient to rent 3 pairs of clothing as well.

So I decided to style the clothes which the models already had.     

I direct messaged each of my models with the costume and style I wanted from them and from there on we mixed and matched whatever clothing they had with them or I could lend them.

Nesta: Nesta as mentioned above represents Death and one who wears clothes that aren’t revealing and always has her hair up. Thus I wanted the girl modelling as Nesta to follow the Arab fashion as they also don’t wear revealing outfits and go for black clothes so as to represent death. Thus we paired a black short skirt and black crop top with a pair of black tights and a black head scarf. As Nesta wears a gold face mask I decided to add a touch of gold to the look using minimalist jewels: 2 gold chains (a thick one and a thin one) layered together, a few gold rings and gold hoop earrings. We decided to finish the look with a pair of grey heels. Her makeup look would be more focused on her eyes. 

Elain: Elain is the character who is considered as the most beautiful and the softest of the three sisters and is very much into flowers. I felt that her character would be better represented through Bollywood fashion which involved lehengas. Conveniently I had a sparkly maroon lehenga which captured the character’s personality and was cohesive with the colour palette which also happened to fit the girl modelling as this particular character. We decided not to wear any jewellery for her as she will be having a heavy floral makeup look and her hair would be let down like the character itself. 

Feyre: Feyre is the High Lady of the Night Court and represents the starlight. I wanted her to represent the western culture in the Sri Lankan community and thus we decided that her outfit would be a long blue dress. We paired the dress with desi jewelleries: earrings, bangles and a simple necklace. The main intention here was to show that styles that are considered way apart can go together harmoniously. Her outfit was paired with Grey Block heels. The makeup look she will wear would include rhinestones so as to represent starlight and her hair would be let down like the book character itself. 

Cassian: This character being the Commander of the Night Court represents Bloodshed. His entire personality is hidden behind a playful smile and sarcastic façade. As he is the commander he dresses in black leather. Thus I wanted my model to wear a black shirt, black trousers and pair it with a black belt and any black shoes he had. His makeup will be more messier to represent his easy going personality. We even tried to see if we could get feather wings, but eventually dropped the idea as wings weren’t available in the country at the time. 

The process of styling outfits took quite a lot of time as we had to go back and forth between what we had and what we wanted. However as this was the most crucial part of my fashion magazine I did not want to rush through it. I specifically wanted the mise-en-scene to embrace the local cultures and yet adhere to the storyline of the book series. 

Prior to my photoshoot I wanted to have at least a brief idea of the feature article I would be writing so that I could take pictures that align easily with the storyline.

So I made a google docs by jotting down a few concepts I had in mind for the article. 

[Google docs with the concept ideas.]

This brain dump helped me get a better handle of the outcome I wanted to get out of the photoshoot which is to recreate parts of the book and thereby create a fandom for the book locally.   

Makeup plays an important part in my photoshoot as it was an editorial shoot that revolved around recreating fantasy characters. Thus I spent a lot of time compiling some makeup references photos from Pinterest that would capture my characters’ personalities well.

[Details sent to the Makeup Artist about Nesta's Look.]

Nesta: As this character represented death I wanted her makeup especially the lipstick to be on the darker side. We decided to add gold dust to show that she wore a gold mask on her face. I wanted to highlight her eyes using siren eyeliner in order to show that the character oozes confidence and is not someone you’d want to mess with, like in the book. Her hair will be tied up in a ponytail as she does not prefer to have her hair down in the books. 

Elain: As this character represented flowers I decided to base her entire look on floral makeup and some subtle lipstick to show that she is the softest of the three sisters. We even went with fake eyelashes for her to enhance the look and show the fact that she was also considered the prettiest of the sisters. Her hair was let down in order to connote her beauty.

Feyre: Her character represented starlight and thus I wanted her look to involve blue and silver rhinestones to denote it. The rest of her face makeup was very much subtle compared to the other sisters, in order to show that she was the sister who was not only hardworking and the breadwinner of the family, but was a huntress as well. That is also why we decided to leave her hair down to show her free-spirit. 

[Details sent to the Makeup Artist about Cassian's Look.]

Cassian: Him being the commander of the Night Court had a very contrasting personality, which was simply easygoing and playful. I wanted this makeup to bring that part of his personality out. So I chose a messy blue sprayed makeup for him for this look. 

After finalising their makeup looks I contacted Blushing Noir, Thisara Bridal and Unisex Makeup, Mirror Magic, Lakshitha Bridal Makeup for this purpose. I was determined to get the most cost-effective option as I had 4 models to be worked on. Ultimately it was Mirror Magic Salon that had the best bargain for me. 

Upon sending the Makeup Artist from Mirror Magic my makeup inspirations, we realised that the floral makeup cannot be done using natural flowers. We specifically needed paper flowers and it had to be cohesive with the colour palette. After searching all throughout the Pettah area in Sri Lanka for these flowers we were unable to find the best options. 

Thus we contacted Nandini, a floral designer we knew of, and asked her to custom make the paper flowers for us and fortunately she agreed to do it and it was at a very efficient price too. 

Compiling the makeup looks was a very time consuming task as I had to focus on how I can bring the characters to life through the makeup. I was able to understand the importance of the makeup aspect of Mise-en-scene even better in completing this activity. 

Reference photographs are essential pieces of information which ultimately helps artists fill the gaps in their production process or even get some inspirations. It is also a very efficient way of getting the models to understand what is expected of them.

I decided to compile a few reference pictures taken from Pinterest for the same reasons as above. As I was trying to create a specific scene from the book I needed my models in a particular pose and spot relevant to the story line. 

Elain: As this character was more soft-spoken and was into gardening. I wanted her shots to involve flowers and to be taken outdoors in the garden. 

Nesta: As this character is Lady Death I wanted her poses to be more confident and bold. I was particular about the character not smiling for the camera to bring out her stoic personality.

Feyre: As this character is the High Lady of the Night Court, her poses were elegant yet showed that she was very much powerful. 

Cassian: Being the commander of the Night Court, with a playful personality I wanted his poses to capture both parts of his character. Hence I chose a few low angle shots to establish the character’s dominance and the poses to be less stiff so as to convey his easy going personality. 

Female group: These poses were specifically chosen for the three sisters, so as to show their contrasting personalities despite being related. I also wanted to establish their relationship with each other through these poses: that although there is tension between them, they’re still there for each other. 

Male female duo: Each of these poses were chosen specifically for each character to show their relationship with the male character: friends, sibling-like or mates. 

I chose 4 poses per model and then 4 poses for group and duo pictures so as to manage the limited time we had effectively. However as it all came down to how comfortable models were with each of the poses I did not finalise anything yet. However this compilation helped me get a visual grasp on how the final output of the shoot would look like and if it would go with the recreation I was aiming for.

As I had no idea what editorial photography looks like I decided to do an analysis of the outputs from an editorial photoshoot. For my analysis I chose the Vogue editorial “In Nature” by Stella Asia Consonni for CONAI. 

The following photographs are the end result of Italian Photographer and Creative Director Stella Asia Consonni’s interpretation of Caterina Zhou’s collection ‘One more Life’.

[Editorial Photos from PhotoVogue by Stella Asia Consonni.]

The main purpose of editorial photographs is to tell a story, and here I would say that Consonni has done it successfully. 

Analysis:

Her shots poetically highlight Zhou’s environmentally friendly, upcycled fashion line, by dedicating each of models’ costumes to packaging materials such as steel, aluminium, paper and cardboard, wood, plastic and glass. She has used the natural environment as her shooting location, thereby creating powerful meanings through the shots. The mix of aerial shots, wide shots and high angle shots makes the story conveyed a lot more compelling. Her photographs invite the audience to reflect on their responsibility towards the health of the planet and encourage them to play an active role in bringing about positive changes. 

Learning outcome:

Through this analysis I was able to understand how powerful messages can be conveyed through photographs if adequate attention is paid to all the important elements such as the frame compositions, location and even the costume and makeup. This was very helpful for me to create my own concept for the shoot and had me focusing a lot on the mise-en-scene elements.

When scheduling the mock shoot and main shoot it was of utmost importance that I have the best weather conditions to do any of my outdoor photographs. I also wanted to do it over the weekends as it was easier for the cast and crew who were all school students and their working parents. Having checked the availability of the cast and crew, I went through the weather forecast and decided to have the mock shoot on the 19th of February and the main shoot on the 25th of February. Colombo was having light rains these months, and these were the best options we could find. 

[Weather forecast for the 19th Feb]

[Weather forecast for the 25th Feb]

Prior to the shoot I made a price list that I derived after discussing with all the artists and sales people. This price list helped me finalise which of the artists would be helping me out and from whom I would be purchasing any props or equipment needed. 

[Price List I made on Google Sheets.]

Followed by the price list I made a budget with all the expenses I would incur for the main shoot and mock shoot. This helped me cut down any unnecessary requirements (i.e. contact lenses) and make the shoot cost-effective as much as possible.

[Budget I made on Google Sheets.]

Writing a story based on editorial photographs whilst including the interview responses, personal opinions etc. is an art of its own. In order to properly understand how to write such articles, I read up and analysed a few articles published on Vogue Website. 

1. “Daydreaming” - Elliot and Erick Jimenez for Gucci Beauty

   [Annotated Feature article on Daydreaming.]

2. “Whispering” - Bodhi Shola for Xiaomi

   [Annotated Feature article on Whispering.]

Analysis:

What I noticed collectively in both of these articles were that they are the results of the artist’s own interpretations of the selected topic. And through these unique and creative portraits they have conveyed a really powerful message to their audience. In addition each of these shoots have a particular title and can be summarised in a few key words. Although the articles are short and concise they are very influential. That is because the major part of the story is conveyed through the editorial photographs itself. They have also given all the artists involved in creating the art (Hair and makeup, costume etc.) appropriate credits as well. 

Learning outcome:

This analysis gave me an understanding on how I should write my own editorial article so that it conveys the message I am trying to represent in the photos without diminishing the visual elements.

As the purpose of my shoot was to convey a niche, fantasy story to the local audience, I focused on some key points when choosing the models. 

Key points focused:

• Models should convey the personality and looks of the characters in the story.

• Models should resonate with the audience and did not have to fit the traditional standards of what a model should look like.

• Sri Lankan people within the target age group of 16-25 to show what the magazine represents. 

• They should be of different skin tones and from different cultural backgrounds to fully embrace the local community.

With that I decided to have 3 female models and 1 male model.  

I found it fairly easy to find all 3 of the female models who fit the character description amongst my classmates itself. However after agreeing and proceeding to a certain extent with the planning one of the models backed out as she was having issues with her transport. Hence I had to quickly find someone else and conveniently another one of my friends agreed to do the shoot taking her place. 

[Message I received from the Model who was unable to continue.]

Getting a male model was relatively hard as I couldn’t find anyone who did the character justice. A couple of my friends helped out by putting Instagram stories and tried to find someone through that. They even asked around from their friends if they were willing to do an editorial shoot free of charge. Although we did get a few responses I was not able to find the right fit. 

Eventually a mutual friend of mine agreed to do the shoot and conveniently he also fit the character description. 

I was finally able to get a cast that satisfied all of my key requirements. These are the finalised set of models who would be doing the editorial shoot with me. 

Finalised Cast (models)

Sachin Perera as Cassian

Character description: Cassian is tall with black hair, golden-brown skin and hazel eyes. His features are described as being rough-hewn, as though they’d been made of wind, earth and flame. His body is powerful and muscled. Beneath his roughness and warrior-like nature, he is genuine, playful, perceptive and loyal to a fault. 

[Photo taken by Dhamsarani.]

Dhamsarani Kuruppu as Nesta Archeron

Character description: Nesta is described as being devastatingly beautiful with sharp eyes. She has defined features and a thinner build than both of her sisters. She has impeccable posture and stands very tall. She wears a impenetrable façade over her emotions, stoic, poised, regal and does not need to resort to violence to be intimidating. 

Sowmieya Thiagarajan as Elain Archeron

Character description: Elain has rich brown eyes and her skin is sun-kissed from the time spent in her garden. She is described as the most beautiful of the 3 sisters. She is gentle, kind and arguably the softest of the sisters. 

[Photo taken by Abhishri.]

Abhishri Shankar as Feyre Archeron

Character description: Feyre has a pert, pretty and straight nose, sharp cheekbones and a tanned and freckled skin. She is the high lady  of the night court and is driven forward by her compassion, determination and self sacrificing nature. She is also a keen artist.