It’s been only a year since Brandon Bolland graduated from BA (Hons) Fashion Communication at Arts University Bournemouth (AUB), turning heads and earning no shortage of recognition with his project, MASC Magazine.
MASC has since been put on the back burner – for now – but Brandon has hardly been resting on his laurels in the meantime, developing his career as a freelance fashion stylist, working in editorial and commercial styling. He also recently joined the Fashion Retail Academy as an associate lecturer, and has served as production assistant on various projects with two different agencies.
A big feature of the latter is Kiran Manak, with whom Brandon has worked on projects with Body Shop, Vinted and, most notably, Dr Martens. Their most recent collaboration – a shoot with Netflix’s hit series, Wednesday.
The shoot posed Dr Martens’ distinctive shoes alongside a multitude of creepy creatures.
“My role on the shoot was to oversee the promo and social video part,” says Brandon, “ensuring we were on schedule and helping with the running order.
“I love prop and set design – seeing some of the props was so cool. The vintage swords and urn (which didn’t make the final edit) were really cool. In one shot, the set designers had a bag of ash they were sprinkling over the set for the video, which was quite funny – although that meant a lot of cleaning between takes.”
Live animals formed a big part of the shoot, including scorpions, tarantulas and several species of snake.
“I had never seen a live scorpion in person so that was interesting,” Brandon says. “The animal handler, Laura from Animals UK Ltd, was so lovely – answered everyone’s questions and everyone was dying to hold the animals. I think I was the only one on set that didn’t hold them in the end – personally it isn’t a life goal of mine to touch anything like that!
“They were quite active and it was so cool to shoot with them – it was the first shoot I’d worked with any animals. The only challenge was the slight fear, as mentioned before, I didn’t touch any of them, by choice. They were real!”
In his life as a stylist, Brandon is as busy as ever, with a Christmas campaign coming out with homeware brand Joseph Joseph; editorials, including one due to be released later this month with MENACE Magazine; and visual content with music artist Bradley Jago.
But in terms of what’s next, Brandon confesses he isn’t sure:
“Lately, I’ve had to take life week by week – my schedule changes so often, it’s hard to plan too far ahead! I’m just trying to enjoy where I’m heading right now. I’ve really enjoyed working with talent and the editorial side of fashion.
And as the new academic year swings open, Brandon offers one piece of advice for new students:
“The main piece of advice would be to collaborate – whether that’s in university or out of university.
“As new creatives, we all want a gorgeous body of work, everyone is in the same boat, just put yourself out there and grab every opportunity you can. Even if it feels out of your depth, just trust in yourself and your skills.
“Most of the time, you can pull it off and you can produce beautiful work. If it doesn’t quite go the way you wanted or to the best of your ability, learn from that and put it into practice on the next project. I live by ‘fake it until you make it’.”
