Research: Leigh Bowery; the Original Club Kid

Leigh Bowery
Pawlock, W.  Available: http://www.pawlok.com/
pictures/werner-pawlok-photographer-leigh-bowery-1863
-1449.html

Leigh Bowery was an Australian performance artist, club promoter, actor, model and fashion stylist, who was based in London.  He was a very influential figure in the 1980s and 90s, especially within fashion and art circles.  Bowery inspired a whole generation of artists and designers, including Alexander McQueen, Boy George, the Scissor Sisters, John Galliano, and Lucien Freud.

Leigh Bowery was born on the 16th March 1961.  He felt alienated from his conservative surroundings from a young age, his method of escape being to read British fashion magazines, through which he learned about London.  In 1980, Bowery then moved to London where he became a regular at local clubs and was recognised for his eccentric outfits of which he had designed himself.
He was best known as a club promoter and nightlife fixture.  In 1985 Leigh Bowery opened a nightclub with his friend Tony Gordan, which they named 'Taboo'.  Taboo originated as an underground party, but it soon became the making of what clubs should be about.  It was known for it's defiance of sexual convention and for being about excess.  Taboo nights were all about dressing outrageously and having a great time.  The more extremely a person dressed to go to Taboo would have meant that they were more likely to be given free entry and a free drink by Bowery.

These nights were all about dressing to impress, but a new romanticism came about through just getting ready to go out.  People would spend hours getting ready to go out, and then wouldn't even make it to the club because they had spent so long dressing themselves up.  It became a weirdly wonderful type of art form, through which it allowed anyone to become an artist.
As well as being a key character of the nightclub scene, Bowery also participated in performance arts as he was well connected with the theatre and arts circles.  Whenever he performed, he would do so in either face paints or masks as he was always aiming to shock people wherever he could.  Bowery also served as a model sometimes, posing nude for Lucien Freud a few times.

Leigh Bowery was the first person to have made a living being outrageously himself in a costume.  However as soon as he took his clothes of for Freud's portraits of him, he suddenly became this new, private person, and this became a new kind of performance for him.  Fashion was everything for Bowery, always dressing up in his own creations (which he saw as a performance in itself).  He dressed up for an audiences reaction.  Bowery's fashion looks continued into the daytime, with him still dressed so over the top that he looked threatening and confusing to passers by.  Bowery took fashion in a completely new direction, being described as "his own best creation".  His costumes and clothing that he made could have sold really well and it's been argued that he could have been a very successful fashion designer, had he not been unwilling to share his style.

Although Leigh Bowery had been identified as gay for many years, he married his friend Nicola Bateman in May 1994.  Their wedding served more as an art performance between the 2 of them rather than a proposal of love.  However after 7 short months of being married, Leigh Bowery died on New Years Eve of that year due to an AIDS related illness.

Leigh Bowery's various outfits
Available: http://galleryhip.com/leigh-bowery.html
http://monuque.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/most-important-designers-in-history-of.html
http://artblart.com/2013/01/27/exhibition-xtravaganza-staging-leigh-bowery-at-kunsthalle-wien-vienna/

References:

- Anon. (n.d.). The Legend of Leigh Bowery. Available: http://agnautacouture.com/2014/11/09/the-legend-of-leigh-bowery-part-one/. Last accessed 10th Nov 2014.

- The Legend of Leigh Bowery, 2002 [online video]. Directed by Charles Atlas. [viewed 10th November 2014]. Available from: http://agnautacouture.com/2014/11/09/the-legend-of-leigh-bowery-part-one/

Club Culture: An Introduction

The next part of this project is based on club culture and the club kids of today.  For this part of the project, I will look at the film Party Monster and compare it to Cabaret.  I will be looking at the characters in both films/books and I will create a contemporary version of one of the characters from Goodbye to Berlin.

I am looking forward to starting this part, as I am really intrigued to research more about club kids and one of the key club kids of all times; Leigh Bowery.  Having read briefly about him I am excited to learn more about his life and what he did for the club culture in London.  Moreover, I am excited to contemporise one of the characters from Goodbye to Berlin, because I feel that this task will allow me to be a lot more creative.

1980s Club Kids
Available: http://marcosbatuecas.tumblr.com/post/5199813830/introducing-the-club-kids

Assessment Two: My Partner Creating My Design

My partner was very professional in the assessment when she created my historical Fraulein Kost design on me.  She set up her station well, was hygienic in the way she applied the make-up, and seemed fairly confident with what she was doing.

My partner applied a good coverage of foundation and created a good eyebrow shape.  I like the way that she applied the eyeshadow and the lip shape was good, although could have been more even on both sides.

The hairstyle was also very good, however I would have liked for a more defined finger wave at the front and coming onto the face a bit more.  However I am very pleased with the overall outcome and think that my partner did a great job in creating my design.

Assessment One: Me Creating My Partner's Design

My partner provided me with clear and concise instructions in order to create her historical character from Goodbye to Berlin.  Her chosen character was Fraulein Kost.  I liked the designs she had chosen for her make-up and hair and I think that I executed them well in the way she would have wanted, however there are some things that I could have done better.  For example, I think that the hair could have been done better at the back, with a thicker layer of curls over the backcombed hair.  I also think that the lip colour could have been a bit darker, but I struggled to build it up to the exact shade that my partner wanted.

I like the headpiece that my partner chose to accompany her hair design, however I found it a struggle to get it in the correct place, weaved in and out of the hairstyle.  She wanted the hair to cover the elasticated parts of the accessory, and I think that I managed this well, even though I did struggle to get it in the right place.

My Partner's Historical Character: Make-up and Hair Designs and Practices

Above are the designs that my partner has created for her historical character that I will be creating in our assessment.  For the hair she wants me to create a version of the 1930's waved bob that we learnt in class the other week, but with the curls being looser and the front to be in a defined finger wave arrangement.

For the make-up, she wants rosy cheeks with the blusher being applied in a way that makes the face look rounder.  She then wants thin and elongated eyebrows, with a dark two tone eyeshadow and with mascara on both lash sets, but with more definition with the lower lashes.  Then for the lips, my partner wants the shape to be a bow with the colour being a deep purple.

Here are my practice creations of my partner's make-up and hair design on her.  The hairstyle is a simple one to do, however I need to practice defining the finger waves that she wants at the front of her hair.  The make-up is fairly easy to replicate as well.  In the assessment I just need to make sure that I build up enough colour on the eyes and lips in order to achieve the correct shade that my partner wants.  I also need to be careful with the lip shape, as I do find it quite tricky to change the shape of lips.

Anita Berber: Continuity Week Two

 

I am very pleased with the outcome of my second continuity images for my Anita Berber design.  I think that I managed to successfully recreate the look that I created last week, even though I had a few hiccups in the process.

Overall the process was not the best, as I forgot to pack the original eyeliner that I used for last week's shoot and I was running behind on my timings.  However I had luckily packed a different eyeliner, so I used that one, meaning that I just had to build it up a bit more so that it came out the same darkness and the previous week.

Though despite the difficulties that I faced, I still feel that I created a good version of my design and one very similar to the one that I created last week.  Overall I am happy with the outcome.

Anita Berber: Continuity Week One

 

Overall, I was happy with the outcome of my first Anita Berber creation as I feel that I executed my design well, and I like the combination of the dark eyes with the red lips.  I think that I applied the make-up well to my model's face, however I do feel that I could have applied it a bit thicker.

The hair design went best out of the two for me, as I feel I am generally better and more confident when it comes to designing and creating hair.  I also really like the hair design that I used because  I find it easy to create, especially in the short space of time that I had today.

All round I had just 45 minutes to create my hair and make-up designs on my model, and I am happy that I managed to stick to these timings, although I was panicking previously about getting it complete in time.