Leanne Bowen Photographs for Lizzie May Vintage

Herefordshire company Lizzie May Vintage recently launched a new clothing label, Who Dares Wears at Lizzie May Vintage, and turned to Extended Diploma in Art & Design second year student Leanne Bowen to photograph the range.

The clothing line is made up of beautiful items that couldn’t be restored due to wear and tear, and in order for them not to be discarded completely, a  re-work them into ‘new’ items; for example dresses with irrepairable tears in the bodice were made into skirts.

Lizzie May Vintage is run by two Herefordshire sisters, Sharon Podmore and Fran James-Hill and is based in the Hereford Antique Centre. Sharon has a degree in Fashion and Pattern Cutting and has worked in theatre costume departments around the country, before setting up the business in 2001 with her sister. They decided to tap into the local businesses and talent in Herefordshire for their latest project, and contacted HCA with their live brief and decided to work with Leanne as their photographer.

The local connection was furthered with the photoshoot taking place at Wye Valley Reclamation and Warehouse 701. “I’ve been specialising in Photography for a while now,” said Leanne, “But it was the first time I had coordinated a fashion shoot, so I was out of my comfort zone! I really enjoyed it though; everything ran smoothly and I was really happy with the images.”

Leanne appointed her fellow second year student Cathy Davies to model the line. “Cathy was great; she looked fantastic and was really helpful and professional,” said Leanne, who is planning on studying Photography at University when she finishes her course later this year.

The project was so successful that Leanne has been booked to photograph additional pieces in the range for the company again in March.

Check out the Hereford Times website for an article about the project.