Fashion Overdone

while i believe in the old adage, "there's no new thing under the sun," i pride myself on my creativity as a stylist. in fact, as a vintage enthusiast and a person trained in theatrical costuming, i make sure i never repeat concepts or be lazy by using things overdone.
influences are great, homages can be fabulous, but overdone is overdone. copying is lame. uncreative isn't worth anyone's time. so here is my rundown of the most overdone concepts, stances, shots, and ideas in fashion. yes, some of these have been done very well a time or two- but over and over just makes poseurs.
here's what i consider the worst of the overdone worst...

HAUTE IN A HOVEL 

a dilapidated house, abandoned church, or dicey grafittied wall and a model is inexplicably there in full on couture. she just happens to be there. these shoots are meant to set up dichotomies or comment on the eventual destruction of all things, but all i can say is puh-leeese. 

  


ALICE IN WONDERLAND
seriously. how many of these shoots have you seen? this one i at least understand a bit, because the subject matter is so fascinating and there are many characters, colors, settings, and attitudes in the story. however, over and over again, what we see in AIW shoots is really that the team wants to play with one or a combination of the following: madness, petticoats, blue stripes, large vs. small, or red and black. and at the core, the Wonderland is a place where anything is possible: why not take this single most important aspect and apply it to a new and different shoot? and, for the record, circus shoots are not far behind this.

Alice AND the hunch (see below) Gahh!

THE COUTURE HUNCH 
stop. just STOP.

RUNNING MASCARA 

either a crying model or one fully clothed in a shower or bath. she's deep. she's not just a pretty face. those tears are Real. REAL! and most of these are black and white, because that's Legitimate. didn't you know? Suffering is ART. and along the water route is famous.... 

 

& underwater! ugh...

UNDERWATER PHOTO SHOOT

there is a whole site devoted to this. Seriously. http://underwaterfashion.org yes, the light play is beautiful. yes, it's flowy and pretty. but for fashion's sake, can we move on?

AND the damn hunch again!

THE "HOMAGE" TO THE GREATS- MARILYN, JAYNE, MAE...
too numerous to pick illustory photos. and i know you don't really need them. no model is any of these ladies. they are all dead. let's let these them leave the party, shall we? not to mention the fact that part of why we remember these fabulous fashion icons is they were creative, different, and their own.

don't get me wrong- inspiration is fantastic and strong artists are open to it every minute of every day. but the most powerful influenced pieces, in my opinion, are those where you cannot see the jumping off place until it is pointed out to you. at the end of the day, creativity is what truly shows your art- whether you're a stylist, musician, model, designer, whatever. and frankly, if you're not being creative, what Are you doing?