CINEMATIC
VIOLENCE
Inspired by “Cinematic”









DELICATE
DISTORTION
After Degas, through the lens of Poor Things








AFTER TRASH
A response to
AVAVAV FW24 “Trashcore”


EGGTYMOLOGY

EGGLOOKS

Ann’s Styling WorksThis section presents three styling projects developed through my personal lens on fashion, image-making, and emotional storytelling.

From concept development to visual direction, styling, and image construction, all works are independently created by me. Each project explores how fashion can function beyond aesthetics—as a medium to construct narratives, provoke discomfort, and reflect psychological or cultural tensions.

Through these works, I approach styling not just as dressing the body, but as building a visual language—where clothing, space, and the body become part of a larger narrative system.  


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1
Cinematic Violence
Inspired by Vogue Italia April 2014 “Cinematic”

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Creative Direction, Fashion direction: Annie Xu
Photography, Lighting: Annie Xu
Stylist: Annie Xu
Model: Gloria Guo, Helen He, Pepper Liu, Annie Xu
Hair: Helen He
Makeup: Gloria Guo, Helen He
Set Design: Annie Xu
Production: Annie Xu
Photography assistant: Helen HeThis photographic series is inspired by Vogue Italia, April 2014, Cinematic, photographed by Steven Meisel. The original editorial staged highly dramatic, film-like scenes to confront the reality of domestic violence—blurring the line between fiction and lived experience.

Building on this reference, the project explores domestic violence not as a literal narrative, but as an atmosphere. Through cinematic composition, controlled lighting, and stylized gestures, the images construct a tension between beauty and discomfort—where glamour becomes a surface that both conceals and exposes vulnerability.

The mood is defined by dark glamour and emotional intensity. Each frame feels suspended, as if extracted from a larger, unseen story. The subjects are not portrayed as passive figures, but as complex presences caught between control and fragility, performance and reality.

Rather than depicting explicit violence, the series focuses on suggestion—on what is implied, withheld, or just out of frame. In doing so, it reflects on how violence often exists in hidden, private spaces, and how its traces can be aestheticized, distorted, or overlooked.

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2
Delicate Distortion
Inspired by Vogue Italia April 2014 “Cinematic”

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Creative Direction, Fashion direction: Annie Xu
Photography, Lighting: Annie Xu
Stylist: Annie Xu
Model: Estella Hong, Helen He
Hair: Helen He
Makeup: Estella Hong, Helen He
Set Design: Annie Xu
Production: Annie Xu
Photography assistant: Helen HeThis styling project draws inspiration from the film Poor Things and the works of Edgar Degas, combining innocence, distortion, and the gaze on the female body.

Soft textures, fragile silhouettes, and ballet-inspired references are reinterpreted through a slightly uncanny lens. The body appears both controlled and unstable—echoing Degas’ intimate yet detached observation, and the surreal transformation of identity in Poor Things.

The project examines the tension between delicacy and distortion, questioning how femininity is constructed, observed, and performed.


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3
After Trash
On violence, spectacle, and reconstruction

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Creative Direction, Fashion direction: Annie Xu
Photography, Lighting: Annie Xu
Stylist: Annie Xu
Model: Helen He, Selina Wang, Annie Xu
Hair: Helen He
Makeup: Helen He, Selina Wang, Annie Xu
Set Design: Annie Xu
Production: Annie Xu
Photography assistant: Helen HeA response to AVAVAV FW24 “Trashcore,” this project reinterprets the idea of violence embedded in fashion performance. 

While the original show used literal acts of aggression—models being attacked with trash—to critique internet cruelty, this project shifts the focus toward internalized violence and psychological impact.

Through fragmented garments, distressed textures, and staged environments, the body is no longer a passive object but a site of resistance and reconstruction.

Rather than repeating violence as spectacle, the project explores how harm is absorbed, processed, and visually translated—turning destruction into a language of self-awareness.



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