Collage Kid

Collage Kid..

It's funny when inspiration strikes. There's no rhyme or reason to it. It's like fate or love I suppose - in the sense that it smacks you right in the face before you've had the opportunity to really prepare for it. I often wonder how many genius ideas pass us by simply because we failed to make note of them or take the time to explore them further. Back in 2007, I was researching for a cover shoot I was styling/directing. It was for the November cover shoot for GT Magazine. There were two magazines kicking around the office. One was Vogue Homme with an incredible Galliano shoot. The models wore Galliano underwear, masks obscuring their faces and tribal-esque head pieces. They leapt across the page, bodies entwined, dirty and sweating. It was so primal, so raw. The other source of inspiration was a copy of Maxim with a cover shoot by the uber talented young photographer Kai Z Feng (www.kaizfeng.com). I once had the opportunity to have coffee with Kai - alas by the time I asked to collaborate with him, he was demanding £3000 a day - way beyond the budget I was working with. Undeterred, I cut up the Galliano shoot and some images from Kai's shoot and together with some images from a Dsquared2 show and a Burberry campaign, I started making some mood boards for my shoot. Collage has always been one on my favourite mediums. I suppose I love it for the same reason I love styling and cooking - it's all about combining different elements that have a greater impact together than they do individually. I'd totally forgotten about these mood boards. I've just taken some snaps to show you all - just click on the images to enlarge.