Idea 1: Fish & Seafood.

Own photography from Harrods food hall

The striking way that the fish sat in the ice at Harrods made me want to explore this form more.  Delivering fish to markets and to customers in this way is all about keeping it fresh and the consumer can always tell if its not fresh just by looking at its eyes.  I think this works as a good metaphor for a fashion editorial, bringing the consumer what's fresh, knowing that if the timing is off, then the fashion might already be past it.  

Photo credit: Storm in a teacup

Photo credit: Superdrug beauty blog

I saw in the markets that fish come in all shapes, colours and sizes, but they all arrive stored the same way - in large polysterene boxes filled with ice.  The box and the ice give a stark backdrop to what's inside, so even the greyest fish stand out against in comparison.  The boxes reminded me of shoe boxes - and therefore gave me the idea of using them in this way to display accessories.  

Placing the accessories alongside different forms of the seafood that would usually be in the boxes would make the concept startling clear, and create a striking contrast between carefully sourced beautiful accessories and  what by my own admission I think are quite ugly, unappealing creatures unless they're tropical like below.  

Photo credit: Peter Menzel - ruguru.livejournal.com

Photo credit: Dirty sexy things, E4 television

The spring/summer 2012 collections luckily don't share my thoughts and one of the key trends was fish-related.  Metallic shades and fish-tail dresses were among the styles that gave an underwater feel to many catwalks such as Elie Saab.  Versace's collection went one step further and produced seahorse prints and dresses covered with starfish.  

(Bottom left) Elie Saab spring/summer 2012 RTW (Rest) Versace Spring/summer 2012 RTW

As snakeskin is also a texture for 2012 so is fish skin leather.  This material has been used in shoe design by design houses such as Alexander Wang and Alexander McQueen.