Second Year Lily Hedges Photographs a series of images inspired by New Romantics for the Subcultures brief.

  20th December 2019

These portraits are inspired by a fashion and music subculture from the 1970s and 1980s called New Romantics. I was inspired mainly by the makeup element of the movement, which included flamboyant, colourful, over-the-top makeup on both sexes, making it seem very androgynous.

For this shoot, I tried to recreate the essence of the New Romantic look, whilst giving it a more modern twist. I used both male and female models, but used the same makeup techniques on both to create the ‘androgynous’ appearance. When researching photographs of this period, I particularly liked the makeup worn by icons such as Boy George (Culture Club), David Bowie, Adam Ant, Steve Strange (Visage), and The Human League, and the work of photographers Peter Ashworth and Dean Stockings. When taking my images, I had reference pictures of these musicians and ones by Ashworth and Stockings, as I wanted the makeup and the feel of my portraits to be as authentic as possible.