________                                     FASHION
| WILD KINGDOM:
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by Sarafina Hindi, start date 04/10/2012

     "No culture can live if it attempts to be exclusive"

                   Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) Preeminent leader of Indian nationalism 

My name is Sarafina but most people call me Sara for short, i go to Solent university and am in my 2nd year. Started Monday the 1st Oct. Not a surprise that i got given my first project brief that day... not a small one at that either.

But hey, second year its gonna get harder. I don't know why im moaning because i love this project brief that we have been given its to do with fashion (OBVIOUSLY) and cultures/tribes like a big mash up of ethnicities.

Background info on mee; i am Greek, my mothers South African and my fathers from Lebanon - sisters are both welsh - boring ;). Been and visited Lebanon a few times over different lengths of time and loved the culture, loved the styling, loved the fact that women loved fashion but at the same time covered their body with their traditions.

I am very interested and fascinated by the controversy in the news today with the 'war' between the middle east and the west, being brought up as Muslim in a British country i have had access to  2 different views on the controversy. this wont be the first time i will be completing a piece of work on this subject.... for GCSE i came up with an idea of a game board with a blonde american women on the west side of the page and on the right (east) a woman in a head scarf.. the overall image was meant to represent the war between them being a game.

I also did a another piece for my A level exam - an american solider in a dessert landscape with oil dripping off his uniform - meaning they are only there to suck the oil from the middle east - so yeah, i like to do controversial pieces.

So yeah... i'm really excited to get stuck in to this project because i wanted to focus on Arabian tribes, tribes and cultures focus in the middle east, dessert land. i then thought why not include the Indian culture.. they have beautiful fashion also.

I don't want to be a student that follows the crowd and that does the obvious tribes.. i want to create two beautiful images that stand out in their own way, two images that portray tribal, traditional influences.

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ideas, thoughts, ideas and more thoughts..... 

.. 

there are hundreds of tribes and different cultures around the world from such a variety of different homelands e.g:

• maouri 
• mayan 
• aboriginal
• native americans
• indians
• basarwa

There are so many different nationalities, cultures, religions and tribes all over the world and each independent to themselves. Within these different cultures there are obscene amounts of originality, independence and beauty.
As society and everyday life has evolved so has the fashion. Many, many designers are influenced by these different tribes all over the world. Take RODARTE'S hair and makeup from his Spring 2010 fashion catwalk show... absolutely beautiful. The amount of effort, thought and history that had been put into those models was fascinating. 

inspired by the Maori tribe. (based in New Zealand). i think this image is a work of art on a model. the makeup artist Chantel Miller has clearly out done her self working on the spring 2010 Rodarte show. 

I want to be able to have this amount of expertise in my chosen tribe/culture ready for my assessment. 

fashion experts described the Rodarte show as the models being 'East LA gang girls' a 'fantasy'.. not only did the designer have tribal influenced clothing, the makeup and hair had to follow suit and so it did, and it worked. worked extremely well. 

to be honest with you, i find this image > quite scary that we can lengthen parts of our body to be 'more attractive'? but then again, our societies haven't been raised to think like this, for example western countries believe being size small and long legs are more attractive.

 i wishhhh i had long legs :( 

Another tribe I found out about is the Padaung, originally from Southeast Asia. The women are often known as ‘giraffes’ because of the tradition of placing rings around their necks from when they are young girls until they get married. The pressure and weight of the rings (as much as 11 pounds) forces the chin upwards while pressing down the collar bones and ribs, which elongates the neck

an image of a tribe carving tools to catch fish in iceland

the inuits have to get around on the snow and ice, hunt and stay warm, the Inuit people developed a very 

unique way of life. They created different kinds of hunting gear, like harpoons; they had dog sleds to get around; and built igloos for shelter when on hunting expeditions. The Inuit people knew a  lot about their natural surroundings and passed this knowledge on to their children through storytelling and other traditions. 

if you look below there is a mood board that i quickly constructed, giving you a brief insight into tribal cultures around the world. 

even the media has taken tribal cultures on board. Many artists, celebrities have incorporated this style into their work and it has been a success. 


Take Kelis' - Acapella;  

www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8D9xCBcfzw

it looks at various different tribal areas and animalistic influences; although it evokes a fashion inspired theme throughout. the way the film has been shot gives it character, the way the flips from neon colour to black and white almost hypnotises the viewer into watching the rest of the film.. when i watched this music clip (after learning my brief for this project) i got lost deep in thought, imagining all the possible ways i could start and then flourish within this project. 

But then there is also this music clip;

Shakira - hips dont lie 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUTSrEU6pqM

I chose this music video because not only am I familiar with that culture, that environment - i feel that, that setting evokes culture, music and fashion extremely well. It also works well with where i want to go in this project. I find that a woman dancing in, lets say, not a lot of clothing.. is this sort of setting, is not seen as sexual or dirty but seen as beautiful. dont get me wrong it is definitely sexy but because the dancer is not giving any sexual gestures, it allows the viewer to explore the culture, the fashion... the art. 

TIME TO FOCUS...

After travelling over to The Lebanon i became very familiar with the art of 'Belly Dancing'. The dance has a long and colorful history. It began with the many fertility cults of the ancient world, and in the temples of ancient India and the middle east. The entertainment back then was provided by the gypsies, provided for the cross-culturation and higher classes.

to me this image entices the viewer, makes the
viewer ask questions, what is she hiding? conspiracy?