Christopher Kaneさんのインスタグラム写真 - (Christopher KaneInstagram)「DÉBUTANTE by Yelena Grelet - @yelsss Behind the vivacious, regal costumes and theatrical poses lies a multi-talented, CSM BA Fashion Communication and Promotion graduate. Joseph Bates wears many hats - he is a costume designer, his own model and a self-portrait photographer among other things. Exploring West African carnival costume and festivals has been a recurring theme both in his final major project, ‘Lokko’ and ‘Débutante’ photoshoot for Platform. “I grew up in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire and it was super white. My family is mixed-race, but I never knew anyone from my Ghanaian side of my family, so I felt quite isolated.” Moving to London allowed Bates to explore this British-Ghanaian heritage, and he was strongly encouraged by his tutors at CSM to do so. The results are fabulous, memorable and deeply personal. He has found his personal style since graduating, Bates’ self-portraits of ‘white face’ characters in dramatic, larger-than-life costumes brings a whimsical side to fashion imagery during dark times. “I realised that I love creating characters. I try to amuse myself when I’m making, because otherwise, what’s it for?” Though he hopes to one day be able to style and design the costumes for a musician’s tour with no creative boundaries, Bates is currently focusing on showing the beauty in giving a second life to discarded materials, and also urging the fashion media to be more attentive on what and how they put out a message. “There’s always going to be messages that can be slipped in. You have people getting into trouble for blackface controversy, but they could have engaged basic sensitivity and elemental critical thinking and not done it. I believe in thinking about your own work means, and how it will engage the viewer. Critical thinking- let’s have more of that.” Head to our Instagram stories to read the full article... #ChristopherKanePlatform #Débutante #bafjcsm」8月20日 20時32分