Star Potential juxtaposes fashion with the familiar

Collaborative photo book Star Potential was birthed out of the pandemic — despite heavy restrictions, Dean Davies and his students at UWE Bristol were able to piece together the project through Zoom calls and online sessions, as well as a DIY-attitude to creation. The result juxtaposes experimental fashion with the familiar setting of Bristol — channelling a multitude of references through Dean’s signature photography style. For the Digiverse, Davies and students share the process behind Star Potential.

What is the meaning behind the name Star Potential?

Dean Davies: I commissioned writer and director, Dorny Sunday to write four pieces of spoken word/poetry to accompany the visuals of the project. I have worked with Dorny previously on my first book, Manchester Girls and a special project for Versace Jeans Couture. Besides being a talented wordsmith, he just gets the references and experiences that imbue my image-making. His writing captures the heart and humour of the project and, alongside the photography, provides cohesion to tie in the many different styling ideas and manifestations from the students. The four spoken word pieces, Pay As You Go, Miss Demeanor, Mutya, Forever and Star Potential feature in the book and as voice overs in the short films that accompany the project. The writing was inspired by the project’s visuals, as well as a series of interviews I had conducted with the students which talked about their first memories of fashion, their inspirations for the project, the importance of collaboration, and their ambitions beyond the project. When deciding upon a title for the project I wanted something that spoke to the work we had produced, but also the larger ambition with the project, which was to spotlight the work of the students on the programme, and the programme as a whole. I wanted to show the potential of creative collaboration between lecturers and students, and the opportunity for creating something truly special. Star Potential was a perfect fit.

This project was mostly materialised during the pandemic, which was a difficult time for many — what was that experience like? And how were the students and yourself able to build community and work together, despite having to communicate mainly online?

Dean Davies: Whilst an incredibly difficult time for both staff and students, I am proud of how we all managed to adapt to new ways of working, and to keep each other inspired and motivated during this time. The students produced some fantastic, inspiring work with incredibly limited resources. It was a testament to how creativity perseveres. For me, this project provided a creative respite beyond teaching which allowed myself and the students to connect and develop ideas in readiness for a time where lockdown restrictions were lifted and it was possible to undertake the photoshoot aspects of the project. Sometimes the delays took us into another academic year, which was unfortunate (as it meant some students involved in the project had graduated and moved away from the city, meaning we couldn’t make the collaboration happen), but this was unavoidable. As a programme we were online every day with students for online teaching sessions, seminars and tutorials, so had already built a framework for communication to continue to take place for the project. Working on this project allowed me to continue to create, and provided the opportunity to collaborate and connect with the students, which maintained that aspect of community.

Lydia Webb: To create such an interesting piece of work during the pandemic was difficult but wouldn’t have turned out the way it did if we hadn’t all been going through that experience. My work was a direct reflection of my experience as an ‘extremely clinically vulnerable’ individual, shielding away from home, family and friends. The concept of my shoot came immediately, from there I was experimenting and testing with what I could from home. Due to the pandemic, my shoot was postponed until my third year, so completing this work alongside my final project was challenging, but Dean's constant enthusiasm and feedback allowed and gave space for continued momentum and experimentation.

Chloe Marshall: I was involved with this project in the first year of the pandemic, so it was tons of Zoom calls and getting people in close proximity involved! For me, this meant family — my mum sewed my under skirts and my cousin was a model!

James Robinson: From my perspective, it made it interesting and a lot more challenging to work around the restrictions. I used my housemate (then eventual model) Harry to style and test different looks in the living room of my flat since I couldn’t actually see anyone for ages (including Dean and other students). In hindsight it's funny to look back on those strange times and see how brilliant it all turned out and the different types of work everyone was able to produce despite the stresses of the pandemic.

Beckie Marrington: I think during the pandemic there was just this attitude of having no choice but to adapt, and even with everything going on, we're still creatives at heart and naturally find things in our surroundings inspiring and thought provoking. So the creativity didn’t switch off and in the same way we all had to adapt in our day-to-day lives, our creativity and work styles adapted with it. My work and my part in Star Potential was completely inspired by working from home and communicating online via video call, and not necessarily knowing what to wear and if formal expectations had changed. Also the new ways we explored our visual appearances and found our own solutions to outgrown hair cuts and dressing for never leaving the house. So my work would never have materialised the way it did without the pandemic. Communicating online with Dean and discussing the styling choices over Zoom was a funny juxtaposition of the inspiration and the process.

What aspects of queerness and queer identity influenced everyone behind this project and how important was it to include these elements? 

Dean Davies: As a queer myself, it’s very important for me to explore queerness within the project. I encourage the creative exploration of queerness at any opportunity, whether students are exploring their own experiences, or paying homage or tribute to someone else’s. It provides a wealth of research and learning opportunities when engaging with this queerness, and provides a creative effervescence that is unmatched. Queerness is integral to the programme — and fashion!

Thanks to social media, many fashion students today are adopting a DIY attitude and successfully creating their own brands in a non-traditional way. Looking through this project, the same spirit of DIY can be felt throughout which is inspiring. What was the reason behind this approach?

Dean Davies: A DIY attitude and a non-traditional approach to communicating fashion is integral to the programme’s teaching, and something we instil in students throughout the degree. We’re inspired and excited by the possibilities of raw materials and encourage students to think about what they have and how they can use that to create something unique. In student’s styling (and image-making), it's quite rare you will see something worn or presented just as it is. It would have likely been worked on further to make the most of the references and the materials for story-telling and communicating ideas. For the first few collaborative photoshoots of the project I provided students with a small budget to support them in developing their styling. As the shoots progressed and the costs of photographic resources (such as film and processing) soared, I was no longer in a position to offer this budget to students, so adopting a resourceful, DIY approach became necessary. Education and the cost of living is already expensive for students (and us all) so I find an approach that encourages creativity whilst using what you have to hand allows students to develop unique and interesting ways to communicate their ideas and perspective.

Beckie Marrington: The DIY and design work was something that felt crucial for me to include as it's the most true to my work style. It was great to have a platform to explore my garment making process.

Looking through the still images and video from this project, there is clearly a multitude of style references. What subcultures/aesthetics/eras did the students pull from to create such a diverse range of styling?

Dean Davies: What I found exciting about the project is that each student’s ideas and references were completely different. I have an established photographic style and way of seeing and depicting the world, so that became the cohesion to the project’s visuals, whereas the student’s casting and styling was the one variable from shoot to shoot. In some cases the styling and casting were an extension of work the students were developing on the programme at that time, and in some cases, the styling and casting would be completely unique to this project. The subject matter and references that informed the styling were broad, with students exploring topics including; heritage, queerness and gender nonconformity, as well as contemporary and nostalgic references to style trends including; kitsch, punks, cowboys, cricket players and early 2000s pop stars. Some outfits and details were more camp and exaggerated, whilst others were more measured and simplistic. The curated outfits include garments from grandparent’s wardrobes, upcycled items sourced from charity shops, and styling assembled on the day for the purpose of the photoshoot. The majority of the casting features family members and friends, which created a great energy on the photoshoots, whilst allowing the students to feature their relations within their work.

Lydia Webb: Disconcerting Dreams is based on the escape from reality I experienced whilst shielding during the pandemic, escaping from the strange distorted reality to a wonderland of anxiety in my head. I wouldn’t say my work was a direct reference to a subculture or aesthetic. Each item symbolised a feeling or thought attached to my concept, with each character representing something different. Inspired by old art films, baroque architecture, Gummo and the exquisite work of Egon Schiele. 

Chloe Marshall: My inspiration is as follows: pop-punk, Avril Lavigne in her 2007 Girlfriend music video, Claire’s Accessories, upcycling, Lily Allen, and when Demi Lovato said, “who said I can’t wear my Converse with my dress?” 

James Robinson: I was instantly drawn to explore what you’d typically see on a St Paddy’s night out. Being born and raised in Northern Ireland, this was my starting point for many of my visual cues in the project. The important thing for me when it comes to my work is good craic, so it felt important to be playful hence the styling of the clover hats mixed with cliché ginger wigs and leprechauns cladded in football tops running around the streets of Bristol. It was one big jumble of Irish references but distinctively with a nod to St Paddy’s Day.

Beckie Marrington: When it comes to style references, eras and subcultures I think my largest influences were Telfar, Martine Rose, and this amalgamation of western energy and normcore formalwear. More concisely, I was influenced by Martine Rose’s incredible Spring Summer 2020 show and Hans Eijkelboom’s People of the Twenty-First Century which explores normcore/anti-fashion and identity. I also took inspiration from a fashion show episode of The Suite Life of Zack and Cody from my childhood, where they comically used their work uniforms to create more trendy Y2K outfits featuring ties used in abstract ways within garments. I think I just wanted to make something that still had that odd twisted normcore reference but with a sophisticated energy.

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