In ZOOT’s latest editorial, a luminous team of creatives comes together to pay homage to renowned fashion photographer Paolo Roversi and show off the work of recent graduates from some of the world’s foremost fashion schools. The narrative comes together with an airiness grounded
in classic art and film references.
Photography Sandro Hyams
Styling by Jonathan Ferris
Beauty by Linda Burns
with DIOR • GUCCI • VIEVE • TOM FORD and DANESSA MYRICKS
Hair by Timothy Furssedonn with L´Oréal Professionnel Paris
Model Arna at PRM Agency
Photo studio Pixel Studios London
Hats by Juan Lopez Alvarez
Special thanks to Rebekah Roy
Words by Michaela Doyle
To bring the editorial to life, photographer Sandro Hyams expertly created the scene in the style of fellow Italian photographer Paolo Roversi. Roversi’s signature technique employs a long exposure to get closer to the essence of the subject and capture the movement and physicality of the fashion. A perennial admirer of Roversi’s, Sandro captured the soft contours and lighted eyes of the Shanghai-born and London-based model Arna as well as the asymmetrical lines and varied textures of the fashion.
Makeup artist and beauty editor Linda Burns came up with the beauty concept for the project, aiming to achieve a cool and contemporary elegance. On trend for the season, Linda chose a pared back look with the soft nudes and pinks that have been all over the SS23 catwalks. Hair stylist Timothy Furssedonn approached the hair with an eye toward diffused beauty from a juvenile and playful perspective, using different coloured and textured hairpieces for each look.
The three creatives had worked together before and had been concocting the idea for a Roversi-inspired shoot for some time. They brought on-up-and-coming stylist Jonathan Ferris to round out the team and bring the project to fruition. Jonathan, founder of the nascent Jonathan James William label and co-founder of the New Future Horizons label, chose fresh designs from fellow graduates of Central Saint Martins (CSM) and Manchester Fashion Institute (MFI) at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU).
Photographed in London, the result was a romantic ensemble with classic film undertones, both of the past and of the moment.
Grey pinstripe coat
by Sarah Duffy
paired with a white embroidered shirt by Shannon Woodward
This look from my BA [Fashion Design and Technology at MMU] Final Collection was inspired by decay and how beautiful something looks when it’s deconstructed by nature. This led me to Eduardo Paolozzi: Michelangelo’s ‘David’.He used David’s head, destroyed the cast in pieces, and then attached it back together with glue and pieces of wood and string. Although he attached it in a distorted way it was easily recognisable as the head of David—I wanted to apply the same method using tailored garments by cutting, distorting, and then sewing everything back together. Sarah Duffy
My general inspiration has always been based around sustainability and inclusivity, as these are two of the main issues facing the future of the fashion industry at present. The white shirt was from my final collection ‘Shinka’, inspired by Japanese tradition and culture, with the garment being multifunctional and adjustable. It means it can be worn through ever-changing bodies, reducing garment waste. Shannon Woodward
Patchwork knitted dress
by Aashima Singh
My work experiments with urgent realities and the visceral intimacy we share with our clothes. Fashion has always been a tool of communication for me and I take it as my responsibility to voice the voiceless, people or situations. Aashima Singh
Black and white electrical cord dress
by Hana Lee
My project [in MA womenswear, with a focus on digital fashion, at Central Saint Martins] has the following topic: ‘When the nature and digital harmonise’, inspired by thunder, lightning and electrical signal. Through my work, I tried to find the similarities and represent a combination between them; because we were, are and will remain living with digital elements as human beings, so we need to harmonise ourselves with them. Hana Lee
White ruffled shirt
by Jenny Scott
As a practitioner I always begin with draping and pattern-making; these are usually the forms in which inspiration or happy accidents occur. The featured white shirt is the first garment I made at university, four years ago. My practice has moved on from this; however, the idea of mutating traditional elements of garments carries through to my current work, which has developed with the use of traditional and digital tools. Jenny Scott
