These are my photos for the topic choice assignment. The First two are my parents who grew up in the 70s and 80s, and both have a great fun and different style that I would love to have help me drive my paper as 1970s and 1980s style is super interesting to me. The final one is an album cover for the B-52s which I find super cool and very fashionable in a personal way.
The first one is from 1988 and is my mother and father at my mother’s junior prom. I love this photo, the dress my mom is wearing as well as the shoes were her mothers, that were given to her as a gift. My dad is wearing a tuxedo that he rented for the night. I feel like this photo really captures this time period, their prom was all about being together and just having fun. They both look youthful and happy and you can see the lightness from the 80s in their faces. The style of my mom’s dress is very fun and youthful as well, and I love that to juxtapose that it is black, making it seem almost more grown up. This dress symbolizes my parent’s relationship and is very telling of their love, as they would get married only a year and a half after this photo was taken. They have always been very in touch with themselves and I can see their love and devotion in their dress and body language. I also know that my dad hates dancing and wearing formal attire but he wore it for my mom. It touches my heart. My mother’s hair in this photo is also amazing. It is so 80’s with the curls (fake) and the teasing, and volume, which I know took hours to achieve, as we both have very fine straight hair.
The second photo is from the summer of 1990, my parents were 18 and 20, and this was taken the day before they got married. This photo is also very telling, the colors and pose make me happy. My mom’s tank top has a pattern that is subtle compared to what I would wear and my dad’s shirt is so bright and fun. I never really see him in this kind of style anymore. He wears more earth tones and I don’t think I have ever seen him wear a striped pattern in person ever. This photo makes me think about how young they both were and are and how much controversy they had to face getting married so young and waiting 8 years to have a baby. People didn’t understand that they really just loved one another and knew they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together, everyone was sure it was a shotgun wedding. My mom had just cut her hair and permed it earlier that day which caused a great deal of commotion, her mother was worried that the new very short length and texture would not look good with the veil. This photo with the styling and knowledge behind it makes me think of the changing between the 80 and 90s and the rebellious nature of my young parents getting ready to start a journey together. Their trust and embrace and colorful attire gives me chills because I really feel like I am there with them, they look like me and my peers because of their age and I think that would make a great topic piece.
Finally, the B-52s album cover is from the early 80’s I believe, I had trouble tracking down the exact date. The color usage and collage effect is very punk and rebellious and that is my vibe. The look of the album is really inspirational to me, as I use similar methods of composition in my artwork. I love using loud bright colors and very flat 2d coloring methods to create visual interest. I also think this piece shows the addition of technology to fashion from an earlier time period. Fashion and technology are so interwoven now that people cant always see where one starts and the other begins and this piece has a clear tech and fashion aspect. The bright colors and hairstyles are so grand and amazing, they demand attention, which I love. This captures the Punk and grundge vibe, using what you have to create a fun look. Not about brands and money, about looking different and cool. Using music and fashion together in ways that arent seen today. You can clearly tell what kind of person they are based on how they are dressed, they havent been washed with the 9-5 office job style that can be very suffoacting.
