Costume

When people think of the 'image' of a band, one of the first things that they think about is clothing. Audiences may be often tricked into thinking that a music artist choosing their clothes is a simple procedure, however this is often the product of a mass of thought and outside input to help construct the right fashion for an act.

We have had various different ideas for the style of the band. One would suggest that this style should be entirely coherent. However, we are trying to depict this band as a group of friends and when I look around my own group of friends our clothing style differs slightly without doubt, despite being interested in very similar styles of music. This means that we are unlikely to be going with styling where one band member is simply a replication of the next, as seen in this marketing image of The Kooks;

As one would expect, the majority of the clothes the band wear will comply to the styling conventions of the genre, with items such as skinny jeans. However, we want to create more personable styles for each of the band members. We would like Callum (singer) to wear quite casual, indie clothes such as opened up, one-tone shirts with a t-shirt underneath and suede desert boots. This is quite similar to what Callum wears in real life which means he will feel comfortable. It is most important that Callum feels comfortable during the shoot as he is the frontman and will have the most audience attention. Also, this style is reminiscent of George Ezra's fashion, who is the original artist, meaning there is a subtle link between them so that the video doesn't seem too distanced from reality. 

For Chris (guitarist) we thought we would explore the idea of him being the smartest of the group in terms of his clothing. In boy bands there is normally one member who has a slightly more alternative clothing style compared to the others. We are thinking of combining chunky loafer shoes, with skinny jeans, braces, shirt and a trilby hat. This would make Chris stand out and give him individual character. It's certainly a bold look, but we think these clothes would work well on Chris aesthetically as he also has the right body shape to pull them off.

(Middle left)

For the remaining two members of the band, Joe (bassist) and Ben (drummer), we were thinking of trying to create some element of continuity between their outfits. They are the clearly the younger members of the band so are likely to be the best friends of the bunch. We brainstormed with various different styles and settled on a modern, indie look that is inspired by Mod culture with brands such as Fred Perry. This is a classically 'cool' look and doesn't stretch worryingly far from the others. It would also include boots/chunky shoes with certain modifications such as top button done up possibly the inclusion of parka/Harrington jackets. The boys would look the part and it would be a visual way of communicating on screen their relationship as long term friends.

Furthermore, at the very start of the video when we plan to have the band in a 'line up' at the forefront of the shot, they will be wearing very plain and generic outfits (white t-shirts/black jeans). This then gives us the opportunity to gradually dress them up, through use of stylists, to their final looks during the course of the video, further representing the 'commercial construction' that the video satirises.