Paul Hartnett - Photographer

19th October 2011

Paul Hartnett

www.paulhartnett.com

Photographer and fashion forecaster

“Always in search of raw style, real style”.

Paul works for various establishments as he is a free lance worker. He keeps a look out for individuals that appear different or unique. Those that attract his attention are those that dress as if they are from a particular era or dress like they are making their own trend as opposed to how garments are merchandised in shops. He is currently working for a Youth Club at the moment which he gets lots of inspiration from.

Paul described his work as ‘culture trawling’.

-Fashion and youth culture

-Harvest for WGSN

-London Fashion Week, Graduate Shows, Vintage Shows, Leeds Fest

-Freeze Art Fair – International Art Fair with artwork on sale from all galleries nationwide.

-Freerange – Annual event.

-Felix Trablick-Smith – Graduate Fashion Week. Phenomenal work.

The products in his work are generally photographed in the same way – bags are presented in a certain way as are jackets, shoes and clothing. He says to really look at the trends and instead of just using them and wearing them, look at where they have come from and what the meaning behind the trend is. This can give you more depth and more meaning behind what and why you wear things. This is how I have been looking at my work recently. 

Look at the work of other students for a new slant on your work and get new influences. It isn't wrong to experiment with other ways of working or using something as inspiration as long as you don't copy the work. Check how it has been presented, printed, fastened, finished etc. and see how you can use these techniques in your own work. Use it at research in your work so that you can show you have tried different techniques.

Using other people’s stories as inspiration is useful and can help with the creativity, especially with periodical pieces. Talk to grandparents about clothing in past decades and ask to see any garments. Cuffs, collars and embroidery are examples of design features that will have been hand-made. Do they have any old materials or items of clothing that you could re-construct?

Think about the marketing of a product and make sure it is easily exhibited and will be successful in sales. There are 15,000 fashion students worldwide that graduate each year and so to stand out and have even a slight chance in the industry you need to be OCD about fashion. As a student I need to think about making garments that the mass market will appreciate to be successful. Does this mean it has to be completely different to anything that people have seen before or just simply have a different slant? Most work from students in university is a copy of a copy of a copy. I really need to make sure that my work has a different angle on it and that there is meaning behind my work so that it can’t be dismissed and seen as shallow.

Every day should be taken as an opportunity to work to my full potential and ensure that my work isn’t the same crap. I need to raise the bar continuously and create new goals constantly.

Look at:

Tatty Devine jewellery range

Tom Brown menswear (Russ Williams graduate influenced by him)

The Beatles (1970s). Collarless jackets, cuffs, shirts. These were a bit influence on Paul.

Drapers magazine

A website is important to build awareness of your brand. Hermes is a good website for minimalism and not much choice, but then the focus is on the products and more chance of them being sold. 

Blogs can help with brand awareness and so these should be kept on top of. This can help with the dilemma of having nothing to walk into after graduation.

Check/look out for job opportunities at all times. Keeping in with the fashion industry and anything that may improve my experience and knowledge. Would be good to work for magazines or websites. Unpaid work is good as is short periods of work experience. I should make time to start a blog and keep on top of it. Also I could publish work onto www.thisisull.com.

Collect pictures of people that inspire you from the street. Don't be shy to ask the question because you will benefit greatly from it. Your moodboards are extremely important as they are needed to cement ideas in your head and present all of your ideas in the correct way to others. Be passionate about your work and put real effort and pride into it.

Make the random decisions of doing things that you don’t think will work. Techniques, fabrics, lengths, fastenings etc. IT CAN SURPRISE YOU BY WORKING!!

“There’s nothing more seductive than the unexpected”. Karl Lagerfeld

Follow your heart and gut instinct. Don’t listen so much to your tutors because they can shadow your development. We have no room to not know as much as possible.

Need to look after you body spiritually, mentally, emotionally, physically and sexually. Nurture yourself and what you do to your body. This in turn will help your work flourish.

Note: think about who the audience will be. Middle aged women who have established careers and more disposable income would be more ideal that young adults who are on a budget permanently.