Gavin Fernandes: Cyber-punks and Sci-fi Photography
Text by Clare Green
Photography by Victoria Mullins

Gavin Fernandes teaches at LCF and has photographed countless shoots, including model Alek Wek’s first. Known for great image making and a unique approach to styling here he recalls how his career began with making the most of an opportunity:

“I had always dreamt of going to the Royal College of Art but once I got there it all went a bit pear shaped. My professor was very conservative and there was little creative freedom. The strict boundaries blocked my creativity and eventually they asked me to leave. I felt down at the time, but really it was a blessing in disguise.

“After leaving I was a bit lost, I consulted my foundation tutors who referred me to Steve Pyke, a photographer who created these interesting stories about certain groups based on role play.

“I had the idea to do a story on cyberpunks- a subculture inspired by technology and sci-fi. I photographed cyber punks and styled the shoot using a mix of the models own clothes and pieces I had found. I used a mix of second hand and if I did want something from a shop I’d leave a cheque with the staff and ask them to tear it up when I returned the clothes in good nic.

“Cyberpunk was picked up by a lot of magazines and years later people would still be asking to use it. The V&A saw the shoot and asked me to contribute to their future street style exhibition. I started looking at the graduate shows and found 13 outfits (including designs by Julien Macdonald and Eley Kishimoto), expecting them to take eight or so but they ended up showing them all.

“Styling just happened, I would never say “I’m a stylist”- I’m a photographer and believe that the end product is what counts.  I pass this message onto my students, styling is one thing but it’s more important to be able to control a photo shoot, conduct yourself in a professional way and get the pictures into print.”

British Asian Style: Fashion and Textiles, Past and Present is out now, published by V & A Publishing, £24.99. British Asian Style is available from the V&A online gift shop.

See more of Gavin’s work on his website.

good morning! my name is Nicole, after looking through pidgeons and peacocks, i have found inspiration again. on a partial year out at LCF, hoping to return in september with a whole new attitude x

• Check out Nicole’s tumblelog.

The other week my talented friend Kristen Blow did a jewellery shoot and got me, Nikoo and a few others to model it. I was hungover and very sick and it was fucking cold and not many clothes were worn, but as usual Kristen produced something amazing. Check it out and check out her other work here!

Photography: Kristen Blow
Make-up: Kenny Leung
Jewellery: Jacey Withers
Models: Me, Nikoo Hamzavi, Amanda Pererra.
Styling: Marshall David Johnson

The University of the Arts London doesn’t really have a decent gig space… but it does have a wealth of bands and musicians who have passed through it’s doors!

Listen to UAL Alumni and more on our last.fm station

From Camberwell

Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd

Rose Elinor Dougall of The Pipettes

Humphrey Lyttelton

Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine

From Central Saint Martins

Jarvis Cocker of Pulp

M.I.A.

Glen Matlock of the Sex Pistols

Vincent Frank of Frankmusik

Billy Childish of Wild Billy Childish & The Friends of the Buff Medways Fanciers Association

Joe Strummer, Paul Simonon and Mick Jones of the Clash

Neil Innes and Vivian Stanshall of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band

PJ Harvey

Rie Fu

Faris Badwan of The Horrors

Tom Vek

From Chelsea

Tom Jenkinson of Squarepusher

From London College of Fashion

Vincent Frank of Frankmusik

Julianne Regan of All About Eve

Rachel Stevens

Mich Dulce of Death By Tampon

From Wimbledon

Jeff Beck of the Yardbirds,

Finally coming down from the massive high of Freshers, and now with all the 3,000 or so photos uploaded from my exploits with my Canon 50D and nice fast lens, I’m amazed to reflect on the numbers of students we have at UAL. All you wonderful arty types, filling up huge clubs, waves of the future of the creative industry throwing themselves around in one big sweaty mess to the sound of one the amazing bands lined up by our own Mr Dave Charlesworth. Obviously we’re all here to make amazing things, but a part of me can’t help but wonder if this side isn’t just as defining an experience. Though doubtless most think of me as some kind of bizarre face painter/club photographer hybrid, this is the first year I feel relatively confident that many of our new students will have actually met or be aware of the officers. It’s an incredible feeling for our comms to be finally working properly, to the extent where most times I went up to speak to students they answered with something along the lines of “oh, you’re Kit Friend” – as much as I’d like to think I’d done something worthy of some kind of spontaneous fan club, this was true for all the officers I think, and was undoubtedly a direct result of us having a decent SU magazine for this year, the fantastic Freshly Squeezed, designed by Less Common’s own Tatiana Woolrych. Revel in it’s glory…

Music and fashion have always been tied together, musicians often use fashion as a way to identify and differentiate themselves, and their fans do the same. In turn, fashion often draws inspiration from the music industry. Earlier this year Less Common More Sense ran a fashion design competition in collaboration with Syllabus Music and Alex Roots. Alex Roots is pop with a healthy dose of punk and a bit of a retro streak. Described as part Katy Perry and part Cyndi Lauper, she pairs 80s quirk with noughties in-your-face lyrics and solid commercial appeal. Alex is fast becoming the city’s golden girl. Tipped by the press as a big chart invader for the coming year, she has been praised by Tiscali for her storming liveshows and magnetic charisma.

The competition aimed to find a designer at University of The Arts London to design an item of clothing or an accessory for Alex to promote and to wear in a photo shoot for this issue of Less Common More Sense. We received many outstanding entries but the winner is Gareth Lewis with his very modern, classy and edgy bag, which also helped Gareth to win Accessories Designer of the Year at the Drapers Award (www.drapersawards.co.uk). Gareth met up with Alex at the RAK music studio in London in the Summer for the photoshoot.

Gareth Lewis
garethlewisaccessories@london.com

Alex Roots
www.alexroots.net

Fashion Editor (text): Giselle La Pompe-Moore | g.la-pompe-moore1@fashion.arts.ac.uk
Photographer: Abigail Rose Liparoto | www.daughtersof.co.uk
Photographer’s Assistant: Tatiana Woolrych | www.arts.ac.uk/showtime/tatianawoolrych
Syllabus Music: Gideon | www.syllabusmusic.com

This article was previously published in our communicate/collaborate issue

In some ways our sister-site, thanks to the generous use of their web developer Alastair Mucklow of Stranger Pixel, Pigeons & Peacocks is the uber cool online and print home of all things LCF (that’s London College of Fashion to non-acronym fans). And whilst we like to think our home at wearelesscommon.com is pretty tip top, we must admit that there’s cool stuff going on there too, particularly in the form of their buzztracker, flickr pool, and of course their ability to mail you a copy of their magazine…