Can you believe it? It’s already time for a new Inspired by post!

Riikka and I challenge each other each month to create something with a particular theme or thing in mind. This theme or thing can be anything and this Inspired by is proof that if you keep your eyes open at all times, inspiration can be found where you least expect it.

There is a place I go to at least once a week, mostly two times a week, sometimes three times a week and that’s my gym…

I think my gym is pretty amazing as far as gyms go. I haven’t been to that many different gyms in my lifetime, so on the whole I guess it’s just a regular gym.

There is one thing that might be different though and that’s the changing room. Or to be more specific: the framed posters that are adorning the walls of the changing room:

(Please forgive the grainy iPhone photo. It’s the best I could do because there is NO way I’m bringing my DSLR into a changing room…)

So I guess I had just been to the gym when Riikka and I discussed future Inspired by themes. We had already decided we wanted to do ‘something fashion’ again and because ‘Versace’ is printed on some of these posters, I knew it had to be a fashion campaign.

I didn’t know anything else about them though. I just know that no matter how many times I see these posters, I see something different each time I take the time to really look at them. They are captivating! And timeless… because I never ever could have guessed that this campaign originated from 1998, as I found out once I did a Google search.

Turns out this particular Versace Autumn/Winter campaign was photographed by Steven Meisel. I don’t know anything about fashion photography, but this is exactly what I love about Inspired by: it’s a way to find out more about stuff I’m oblivious to. I do know what I like though and my internet research helped me realize exactly what it is that I recognized in this campaign.

For one: Steven Meisel is famous… And he is known for photographing pop icons like Madonna. This means I probably must have seen his work many, many times before.

And secondly: there seems to be a lot of Medieval/Renaissance reference in the way the models are portrayed.

The thought of the Renaissance references kept lingering in my head. It made me think about how much I loved to read and learn about the Renaissance when I was in high school. And how seeing some of those paintings in real life blew me away when I visited my friend Anita in Italy in the nineties…

It occurred to me that I had never scrapbooked about this before. I had made an attempt at a mini album once, but it is sadly still in the ‘To finish’-pile. So I decided to dig it out and make a page about my visit to Florence with Anita:

Making this page was so rewarding! I had fun trying to mimic the blue backdrop from the campaign, I chose several elements from the fashion and the props to embellish the page (old book pages, gold, sequins, pearl…) AND I got to tell a story that was missing from my scrapbooks!

Now… I’ve kept you for far too long! Go and see the awesomeness Riikka has created this time! I promise it will be good!

Thanks for stopping by!