Blast from the past

For one of my A Level Art projects, I looked at the contrast of youth versus old age. Here is a large two piece chalk, monochrome drawing I did as the final piece for the project; my Grandmother kissing my younger cousin on the cheek. As you can tell from the grimace on my cousins face she was very reluctant to being kissed! It shows the contrast in skin and hair texture of a 6 year old girl compared with the withered skin of an 80year old lady. I decided to do it in black and white so that the focus would be on the contrast in textures, rather than the use of colour.

As preparation for this project I looked especially at the age defining wrinkles of old age, whilst experimenting with different medias and the use of colour. Here is an acrylic painting I did of my Grandmother.

I also really enjoyed doing life drawings as part of my A Level art work. For the second of my art projects I looked at the naked body, looking at different angles, textures, shapes and shading. Here are some examples. These are a few rough, quick experimental pieces I have done.

In conclusion for this project, I did a large etching of a girl sitting down, curled up.

Coco Avant Chanel

Gabrielle Bonheur 'Coco' Chanel. The True face behind the name Coco Chanel.

'Coco before Chanel.' What a beautiful film. However throughout it did make me question the key to success. Is it an innate quality? Or does success come at the jeopardy of foregoing other aspects of your own life? One thing Coco Chanel can not be disputed for is her success; she was able to turn a small hat shop, into a fashion empire and label which is still going strong today.
As with most historical films, in some places, the films accuracy is questionable, particularly in relation to Chanel's love life. In the film we see he falling in love with a man, who tragically dies at an early age. Yet Chanel's sexuality is often disputed, which is not touched upon in the film. Would it have been a different story if Chanel had got married? She would not have needed to work; yet would she still have had the drive and desire to create a fashion label, which radically changed women's outlook in fashion? Perhaps her success was down to her attitude; her cold characteristic not affraid to stand up to what she believed in. The film does show her as a cold young lady, however I feel it could have made her even colder and more defiant against societies views. The film does portray her fight to change women's attitudes of the French Elite. Coco Chanel most certainly was not a sheep; preferring to wear men's clothes, disregarding her contemporaries, wearing flamboyant, feminine dresses. She was very much ahead of her time in her radical thinking, which has gone on to inspire some of the greatest Fashion Designers in the 20th Century, such as Calvin Klein and Giorgio Armani, who both originally took the idea of a men's suit and giving it a feminine edge to create womenswear.
In terms of the film, it cannot be faulted for its costume design, as you would expect with a film about Chanel. It clearly represents Chanel's elegant yet androgynous style throughout, whilst contrasting with the lavish, rich dresses worn by the French Elite women.
I feel that Audrey Tautou made a beautiful young Chanel, and I love the fact she is now the new face of the Chanel No. 5 Perfume.

Coco avant Chanel

'Fashion is made to become unfashionable'