aestheticcontradiction

Shopping style boards

It has been a while since I last had time for a shopping post. I always save images of products I find interesting but at busy times I have to focus on orders. While I’m disappointed I didn’t get to post about some of my finds, however, I think this is a great time for a clothes post as everyone has updated their ranges for spring.

I have complied 3 boards of my favorite spring styles.

A. Tough girl

1. Bordelle belt strap garters £130+VAT www.bordelle.co.uk I love these but would never be able to afford that much on garters so am considering making a similar pair.

2. sleeveless stripe shirt £30 Topshop

3. leg harness £16.50 Topshop

4. Infragante leather bodice £120+VAT Bordelle

5. mesh panel leggings £22 Miss selfridge

6. skull jouy vest £35 All saints

7. Studded Lita boot, Jefferey Campbell

8. stud detail bralette £20 Topshop

9. leather biker jacket £165 by boutique at topshop. This isn’t the most amazing leather jacket but I’m struggling to find a nice one that will fit me for a reasonable price and at least this one would be easily customisable.

B. Mystical girl

1. bodycon dress £42 miss selfridge (I may have actually bought the last one of these as I had to go to a pretty obscure branch to find it).

2. lattice bra top £18 miss selfridge

3. vero moda lace biker jacket www.usc.co.uk

4. cross front longline cami £22 topshop

5. heelless platform by Jeffery Campbell, I’ve wanted a pair of these for so long!

6. silver cross stretch armcuff £9.37 miss selfridge

7. multi chain vest necklace £50 topshop

8. obsidian tomb ring $260 blood milk

9. sheer split maxi skirt £37 miss selfridge

10. reformed coquette tie die dress £30 urban outfitters

11. rune divination cuff $275 blood milk. I love rune jewellery and have had my rune rings from past times (which has now closed down) for about 10 years!

C. Pastel girl

1. Dior eyeshadow £39.24

2. printed sleeveless shirt with metal tipped collar £32 miss selfridge

3. pastel harness £18 asos

4. Mashmallow bust harness praline (yes that is actually what its called) about £104 www. misencage.com

5. lilac glitter belt £12 topshop

6. fleur cropped jumper £20 Topshop

7. illamasqua nail varnish £13.50

8. turquoise glitter plugs $13.98 hot topic

9. lilac leggings £18 topshop

10. side strap top £18 miss selfridge

11. pastel tie die tights £10 topshop

12. Spikey shoes, Jeffery Campbell

I have bought a few of these things and hope to have a bit more spare cash soon. Having to spend all my money on my business gets depressing some times but with a new casual range coming out soon I have high hopes for the future.

aestheticcontradiction

Demons

I wanted to plan a shoot to better showcase some of the accessories from the Chimera collection and had an idea for a demon series. Though not totally related to the inspiration for the collection, I felt like the concept would work well with specific pieces in mind.

I had a few different ideas about what the demon would look like and a few different types of make up in mind that I thought would be appropriate for the shoot so I decided to do a series showcasing the different styles. This gave me the opportunity to try out most of my styling ideas and create a gradual light to dark effect in the images.

I shot the set with Jennifer Byron as the final part of our accessories project as I thought we needed a set with darker thematology, most of what we have previously shot has been quite light and colourful. All chainmail components were created by Richard Ayres.

With regards to the editing, I wanted to make sure it looked different to the other sets Jenni and I have collaborated on so I thought of making the characters look statue/gargoyle-like with a stone/marble-like texture. I think Jenni did a great job with the editing and the texture in the background really ads to the images.

For the last two images, I used a hair-piece that I made as part of my Halloween outfit for TG. There has been some interest in the hair piece so I’m going to include a brief tutorial for anyone who would like to make something similar. To save making this too long, I’ve decided to put it in a separate post, here.

Personally, I am most pleased with my hair for the first two looks as its an unusual look for me. I have seen similar styles in a few magazines recently and was waiting for the opportunity to try something like that for myself. The look was achived with gel and white hair spray. I have found white hair spray to be very effective at making roots look better during shoots in general.

Featured products:

First image- nutmail cuff, nutmail cross (chainmail chain), organic lace bustier.

Second image- studded cross necklace, O-harness, studded cross gloves, crystal spike pasties.

Third image- inverted cross necklace, nutmail choker, O-harness (back to front), trophy pasties (black latexlace).

Forth image- shield necklace, chimera bra, chain garter (on forehead)

All items can be purchased from www.eustratia.co.uk (If you can’t find the item you are looking for please get in touch via the order form and we will do our best to help)

aestheticcontradiction

Auxiliary calender images

In October last year I shot a couple of looks for a submission to Auxiliary magazine’s 2012 calender. I posted some details regarding the inspiration here.

In the end there weren’t able to produce the whole calender so they chose a few of the best images (6) to make into phone and desktop backgrounds, they are all stunning and can be viewed/downloaded on their site, here.

Amongst the selections was my image, by Jennifer Byron photography. I’m glad they picked this one as it was probably my favourite from this set.

My favourite from the other set we shot that day is the one below, the rest can be seen on my facebook page, Biomechanina.

aestheticcontradiction

Deer Series

Hope everyone had a good Christmas and is looking forward to the new year (hopefully with some exciting parties)!

We recently shot the last part of my accessories project with Jennifer Byron photography and the outcome of one of the sets were these (quite festive) deer characters.

All the accessory shoot sets were planned out at the same time (September) so it was quite a lucky coincidence that the deer ones happened to fall in december. This gave me an excuse to include some of the new winter accessories that weren’t originally going to be part of the shoot.

Cold deer

I had this glitter tears idea ages ago and tried it for a different shoot but it didn’t really work so I’m glad it came out well in these.

Blood deer

I actually used a glitter glue pen for the tears on this one, it was the best looking red glitter I could find but was quite stingy so I wouldn’t recommend wearing it for too long.

Dark deer

I have a few dark images that are kind of similar so I tried to pic something different for this one with a softer and more animated pose.

Notice the Aesthetic contradiction logo necklace? I’m planning a little giveaway for these soon. All other accessories (excluding the body jewellery :p) can be purchased at www.eustratia.co.uk!

Antlers are made to order, please email enquiries@eustratia.co.uk for details.

Best wishes for the new year,

aestheticcontradiction

Bella Morte Alt girls feature

This month I was selected to feature in Bella Morte magazine’s Alt girls issue, available to purchase here. They chose a set of photos I shot a while ago, in Chester with Gareth Hickey. There were a few hundred entries and only 20 girls were featured which makes me feel quite good.

They chose a set of photos I shot a while ago, in Chester with Gareth Hickey and gave me a double page spread, which you can view below.

My favourite image from this set and the one I use for my book is the one below but the feature has definitely make me appreciate the other two a lot more.

image by Gareth Hickey, make up by Azzurra