Sending Out a Flare to Dr. Martens

Kayleigh and I began our line of communication with Damien Wilson (Creative Director) from Dr. Martens, as we wanted to attract his attention in order to encourage him or his creative team to give a talk at University of East London. 

Inspirations also included Allen Jones

We began by researching his background, in which we discovered that he was a teenager during the 1980’s, a time where Punk and other sub-cultures were thriving in England. This influences his work at Dr. Martens, as the heart of the brand and himself is music, rebellion and youth; thus he still reflects back on his 80’s youth. Dr. Martens market themselves at nonconformists, British subcultures, and focus on individuality, anti-establishment and vintage-heritage; while they began by supplying for working class members such as postmen who needed affordable, comfortable footwear. 

I wanted to harness all of these traits in order to create my final piece/flare. As the brand focusses on footwear, I didn’t want to supply Wilson with a foot, thus I wanted to supply him with the next best thing - a leg. Alexander McQueen (someone who I often turn to for punk inspiration) once said “I find beauty in the grotesque, like most artists” and this was something that inspired me, as realistically, a single, unattached leg spikes thoughts of endless possibilities for why the leg has been severed from the body, often making the conclusions quite grotesque. However, by styling these legs, we have ‘beautified’ the grotesque with the use of embellished materials that are often linked with British subcultures. I myself focussed more on glam punk, while Kayleigh explored a more vibrant, flamboyant subculture. 

I had to source the materials most suitable for the subculture and music genre that I was responding too, and also keep my eye on the budget as the heart of the brand stemmed from the working class - not to mention, the punks kickstarted the DIY movement and so I wanted to create something quite thrifty and unique. 

Once the legs had been completed we failed to source a box that would accommodate the two legs for postage, so we had to think of an alternative. I photographed my leg in various positions, hanging from a chain lead, in an almost bondage style. I tried making the leg appear as though it was pushing through the wall in a weird psychedelic, warped world in order to give it a strange personality. The images that I found most aesthetically interesting were the abstracted images where I focused on close ups. These images make the spectator intrigued, and provokes thinking and problem solving, while also showcasing the variety of textures used throughout the leg styling. 

As I am taking inspiration from 1970/80’s British subcultures I wanted the photographs to reflect that period. I explored taking the photographs with and without flash, and soon discovered that the flash photography enhanced the reflective fibres within some of the materials, giving a grainier, grungier appearance. The white backgrounds also transformed to dark grey/black due to the camera focussing on the visual merchandise. These images didn’t require retouching. Once I imported them into photoshop the images looked just how I would have liked and I was thrilled about this, as back in to 70/80’s raw images were often used within the punk industry to expose the truth, as the movement had a political ideology that focussed on expression and being open. I did however, reduce the resolution slightly and add a grainy texture in order to remove the perfection from modern, 2017, technology. 

I printed these images on 4” x 6” photo paper, as once again I wanted to simulate the era through the nostalgia of photographic prints as traditional photographs. My printer has a slight collaboration issue, where the photos printed with a green tint. Even though this was unintentional, I decided to utilise this as a feature instead of reprinting, as I liked the vintage quality it gave to the image, as well as the imperfection and hint towards steam punk. 

My photography

Kayleigh was happy with these images, so she photographed some un-staged close ups of her more flamboyant leg, for me to edit and print in the same way in order to keep consistency. I like how her images were un-staged, and there is more truth and purity to her images, while mine were more referenced towards the DIY movement by setting up my own scene in a makeshift environment. Both are suitable to the brief and work well together.

Kayleigh's images, with my editing

Finally, we had to solve the issue of postage. What were we going to post the photographs in? Kayleigh suggested redesigning a sleek, and modern box that she obtained from designer store, Choice. I liked this idea at first, but upon further thought realised that it was appealing more to our own style, rather than towards Damien Wilson, Dr. Martens or the British subcultures. The design would be too perfected and neat for our intentions. I decided to take a risk. I thought of just throwing the photographs in an envelope and being entirely direct and completely ‘punk’, however Kayleigh opposed dramatically of this idea, so I had no choice but to convince her. 

I made a prototype using A4 paper to throw together my own ‘envelope’, sealing it on the back with thick, black gaffa tape, a hand made label and a touch of yellow thread as a response to Dr. Martens branding. I convinced Kayleigh by sending over the images along with the following passage: “Punk is all about the DIY (do it yourself) movement, and going against rules and what ‘should’ be done. So essentially, throwing everything that we SHOULD be as designers away, and doing what we shouldn’t be doing, or what goes against conventional design methods. The photos are professional quality, so he [Damien Wilson] will know we are not being lazy. And he understands the alternative movement so he should find this refreshing. A sleek modern box is great - totally our style, but is it his? We need to design for the movement, the theme and the brand; not our own personal aesthetic. Hence why I think this is stronger. The point is to be risky and do something out of our comfort zone. A hand made envelope does that. We can print the address label on the photo paper too so it still has that luxury quality to it and then the post office will add a stamp to it to give it even more character”

Kayleigh still needed further convincing, so I allowed her to experiment with the Choice box, while I compromised with my DIY-envelope by making it feel more durable and luxury. Just by increasing the paper weight, and printing the label on photo paper rather than ordinary copier paper made the design more crisp, while the slapped-together movement accompanied with the industrial gaffa tape grounds it back to my initial intentions. As a result, the box redesign didn’t work out too well, as so we posted the photographs in the designed un-designed DIY envelope. 

Overall, I am happy with the project as it helped me to rethink design, by unthinking it. I had to do what designers are told we shouldn’t do, such as using a mobile phone for photographs instead of a modern DSLR, packaging our raw photographs in a hand made, messy envelope and also throwing a load of materials on a single body part in a totally free, and unplanned process. Of course, this was all intentional in order to aid the aesthetic and aim, but it helped to open my mind from the rules and constraints of the design industry.

As an update: We decided to include an invitation within the envelope too invite Damien to give a lecture at our university, UEL. We hope to hear from him shortly!