Fashion through the ages in “Counter // Culture” photo project

Photographer and Ohio State University student Annalisa Hartlaub has created a photo project, called Counter // Culture, depicting herself wearing clothes, hairstyles, and make-up popular during the past hundred years.

What do you do when you are asked to create a unique photography project for your class? Well, you combine your passions and become an internet sensation in the process, too. We are talking about Annalisa Hartlaub, a 16-year-old student at the Ohio State University, who has also been featured on The Huffington Post.

In one of her classes, she has been assigned a special photography project, so Annalisa has decided to combine fashion, make-up, and photography in order to create the “Counter // Culture” project. The results consist of photos of the author wearing clothes specific to a certain decade, while applying effects to the shots in order to look like they have been captured during that time.

Annalisa Hartlaub reveals the history of fashion in “Counter // Culture” photo project

As time passes by, fashion changes with it. Make-up and hair styles are also changing along with clothing. Annalisa Hartlaub has dressed herself as a 1960s hippie and 1980s punker among others, and she has done so with great vision.

There are two shots for each decade, starting the 1920s. The one on the left represents the “mainstream” appearance of a person living during the respective decade, while the one on the right consists of the time’s rebels or those who have not given in to the period’s conventionalism.

The photographer has revealed that she is “fascinated with counterculture” because it helps shaping society as well as the mainstream culture, although she does not seem to refer to herself as a “hipster” or “hippie”.

What she would have worn and looked like decades ago

Inspired by information found on the internet and other sources, Annalisa Hartlaub has found out what she would have worn if she were to live in those decades.

For the people growing up in a specific decade, it may look like the fashion chosen by the Annalisa does not match with what you used to wear in your teenage years, but you cannot say that the Ohio State University student is very far off the trends.

Some would say that jean jackets used to dominate the 1980s along with scrunchies, but Annalisa’s approach for the Counter // Culture project includes a leather jacket for the people who refused to live by the rules during that time.

As expected, the counterculture style chosen for a girl living in the 2010s consists of hipster glasses and long hair without any scrunchies. One could say that being a hipster is actually being mainstream in today’s culture, but we should focus on Annalisa Hartlaub’s creative series, which can be found on her official Tumblr website.