There is a haunting magic to the frozen landscape of Alaska in winter that is nearly impossible to capture in print. I say “nearly” because the look book that Pivot Design created to help promote ICB’s fall/winter 2017 fashion line combines studio photography with location-shot Alaskan imagery, which more than lives up to the piece’s title: “ICE.” So what is the secret to crafting an appropriately chilling fashion book? Translucent overlays and silver ink.
To bring “Ice” to life, the printing experts at Active started with a highly reflective 11.2 pt. Chromolux C1S Digital Magic Chrome wraparound cover, which puts one in mind of winter on its own. “ICB” was then printed in Silver across the front and back cover in such a way that the right-half of the “B” is cut off by the trim line, making it appear to spell out “ICE.” This is an eye-grabbing example of one of my Top 5 print trends: printing on foil substrates.
And if you think THIS was a clever move, you haven’t seen anything yet.
Photos of young men and women modeling ICB’s fashions against arctic backgrounds were printed CMYK on 70 lb. Verso Sterling Premium Gloss White Text paper. Completely different images of the models were also printed in Silver on translucent 24 lb. Neenah Clearfold White Writing paper (part of Neenah’s newly-updated Design Collection).
These very different sheets – 16 main and 18 translucent – were alternated throughout and PUR bound together. The effect is an eerie one, with cold ghostly heads and bodies rendered in silver on the translucent pages superimposed over the full-color shots beneath.
There’s something about the interplay between the Silver ink, Chromolux cover and translucent paper in particular that puts one in mind of the Northern Lights, which makes for quite a chilling experience. What more could you ask for when paging through a fashionable look book called “ICE”?
