Iridescent Candescent

The sunlight dancing on water, the sheen on raindrops, the glimmmer of fish scales, all natural occurrences, is all about radiance of light, of coruscating refractions. It is certainly not about vulgar dazzle and glitz.

This Cellotape story is about a shimmering or shiny beauty, but it is also about high values in every component, and how the surface of silver or the texture of an eyeshadow brings this element into focus without vulgarity. It is about sheen, scintillating and the beauty we find in the natural sparkle of a diamond as opposed to the plastic brightness of a mass of sequin. In fact, I realised the word twinkle, manly used for stars, is actually rather a good term for this type of shine, although often associated with childishness.

The harmony in these images between the hair, makeup and accessories is about this balance of shine and sparkle. The reflective light, the subtle almost celestial sprinkle of shimmer on the hair, the reflection of silver on silver, the iridescent sequins scattered on the scales of a rich. The clusters of rings yet so restrained in the smooth shiny surfaces that they are perfect all together.

Close up and details are true tests of a team, focus and attention is paramount, a smudge a miss placed eyelash can be a disaster. Here the incandescent would be disrupted by a single misplaced light. The first class service is always about attention to detail, and this is also true of a fashion shoot. Retouching, photoshop or AI may correct some things but if the original images are not as perfect as possible, you are fighting a losing battle.

The thought behind these beautiful images, and the story boards or discussions are only the beginning, the real work is when the team assembled in the studios with the models and physically and practically began to create this story. Quite focus and experienced professionalism, a love and respect for the job in hand and a desire to create. All these elements allow us to have the pleasure to gaze at the completed work.

The pictures before us tell a story of editing the focus down to a pinpoint. Nothing interrupts the flow, nothing confuses the viewer, we observe the sheen, the shine, the quality of every element, and we note there’s no loudness of sparkle or dazzle, only a rich, luxury gleam to the narrative, from a silver slipper to a necklace.

From the moment I saw these images I have admired their layered eccentricity. Of how the first glance does not show how extraordinary the brushwork and the surface sheen of reflected light is within the make up. How and where the shimmer is placed in the coils and waves of the hair is perfectionism and the odd object placed amongst the still lives is a surprise. It is a story of an idea assembled by magic to look beautiful, but it is a tually as much about the removal of shine as its use that gives it its beauty.

Words by Tony Glenville