The
Lost Generation
(2013)︎View Full Illustration︎
La Génération Perdue or The Lost Generation, was originally submitted for the 2013 International Foundation of Fashion Technology Institutes (IFFTI) Illustration contest, with the theme ‘Power of Fashion’, in representation of the image of “Today”.
Instead of choosing the usual full grown woman to represent the image of “Today”, I felt that ‘The Lost Generation’ would be better suited to express my view on the sexualisation and commercialisation of children/
childhood.
The sole inspiration would be the fact that girls and boys are growing up way too fast in this era, especially young girls, due
to the rapid exposure of adult fashion. Those who grow up too fast,result in the loss of innocence and their childhood over by early age,leaving their parents mourning the loss of innocence.
The main figure in her illustration serves as a response to Belgian photographer, Frieke Janssens’s “Smoking Kids” depiction of innocent looking children enjoying a smoke break.
The irony is that instead of smoking, this young girl now has on a conservative outfit, yet she cakes on too much make up. This reflects while she tries to retain some of her innocence, she has unavoidably, gained too much exposure from the outside world. The gold leafing would be a representation of cracked mirrors reflecting the
young girl’s inner self, because she no longer wants to be seen as a child. The desire to become a ‘woman’ ultimately leads her to hide her true self by putting on make up to ‘grow up’ quickly.