BLACK IS THE NEW BLACK

Rough Trade Store, Nottingham. 

I've decided to create a blog to accompany the start of my new adventure at Uni! Starting the 22nd of September I moved to Nottingham to pursue my love of fashion further and study a Fashion Communication and Promotion degree at NTU. So.. what better way to kick things off than to have a chat about the first assignment I have been set and my initial responses. We have been tasked to explore the different moods, connotations and attributes to a specific colour, I was assigned with the colour black. BLACK. The drabbest boring colour there is, I thought I'd have to be researching goths and dark, minimal and boring aesthetics all week. However after just initial research and photo taking I have already discovered the hidden moods, feelings and fascination with the colour black.

Billboard, Nottingham.

As soon as we were assigned our colours I decided the best way to gain inspiration for my project was to explore Nottingham and find architecture, billboards and ANYTHING black (basically an excuse to do some shopping). Despite the weird looks I got from taking pictures outside stores and of random ashtrays it was a good experience as I not only got to delve deeper into my new temporary city residence but also really understood the diversity of the colour black. On one hand black was being used to promote a sleek and minimal aesthetic for stores like Zara and 18montrose and then it was creating serious urban soho LDN vibes with stores like Mimm and Rough Trade.

Mounted Ashtray, Nottingham. 

For many of the places I found that black was used as the back drop for the main attraction for example graffiti artwork or sticker, collage etc however its with the use of black that makes the main feature so impactful. If the graffiti style graphics of the Mimm store were on a white or coloured background they would have no where NEAR the same impact as the black already creates an urban, street vibe and creates the sleek, effortless mood.

Mimm Store, Nottingham. 

I also noticed something that I never really picked up on before which makes me sound like a complete ignorant idiot but it was the extent to how gender neutral the colour black is. From the outside of most of the store fronts I visited that were black it was hard to even tell what gender the shop was targeted at which is a pretty clever (but most likely unintentional) marketing strategy as unisex clothing is v in trend at the moment and mixing and matching opposite gendered clothing isn't as taboo and unheard of as once before and rather more in fashion than not!

SHAUN EVANS