It feels like forever – and I suppose as a result I have some yarn to spin.
First and foremost – I’m back to blonde. Almost. Most of.Kind of. White roots, yellow lengths…..which is a little warmer than I was going for but I’m kind of on the right track. The red lifted far easier than I expected (thanks for the horror stories) and hair could feel worse. I mean I’m not going to lie….it’s pretty fucked…but it doesn’t feel like chewing gum after 3 lightening sessions so I’m counting my blessings. I’m aware I’ll have to lighten the lengths a few more times to even out my hair before I can go a darker blonde, but it’s a work in progress. I’ve finally got used to waking up and seeing blonde hair.
Other than that life has been a mixture of uni (so close to being over…I’m pretty sure I nearly lost it when the word “cocacolaization” was thrown in the words….no more “izations” leisure studies…it’s getting ridiculous) working to pay me some bills…and after a wee break to work on a project back in the GFF offices. Obviously delighted. A brief overview of what I’m doing is looking at the fashion strand, what it is now,what we’re hoping to develop it in to next year. It’s pretty awesome. The other day was spent looking at the background of fashion films (opposed to fashion in film) and how it’s grown with new media and how fashion lends itself to cinema. Basically I got to spend the day reading about Nick Knight’s work with ShowStudio. Life is pretty peachy keen.
I love film, and seeing how new media affects the industry – how we consume, be it events or fashion or music. It allows a connection and a more direct relationship between consumers,artists….brands. I suppose I could wax lyrical about constructed identity through social media platforms, but for now it’s more of the trans formative nature of media in our lives.
It’s not even like fashion film’s a new thing – designers frequently use them to help promote brands, preview new collections and generate excitement around the products, but it seems that in the last 5 years we’ve seen a shift in it as an art form. Film is after all about creating new worlds and we’re seeing more complex narratives and stories interwoven with the brands message. Christian Dior’s Lady Dior campaign with Marion Cotillard are a favourite – working with high profile directors like David Lynch, Jonas Akerlund and Oliver Dahan to create these very cinematic and strange short films. The latest chapter Lady Grey co-stars Sir Ian McKellan – and the imagery is beautiful. Sure it comes across as a bit pretentious but it’s beautiful and a little bit sad, and even though it’s an advert it still has a story and it’s just sort of lovely. To be fair though I’m going to love anything with Marion Cotillard in it – the woman is just absolutely timeless. I’m particularly fond of Miu Miu’s fashion film series “The Miu Miu Women’s Tales”with each part of the series directed by a different female director. The first part “The Powder Room” was directed by Zoe Cassavetes and is very sweet and dreamlike. I guess it’s only natural that we see the rise of fashion films as they lend themselves a sense of theatrics that is sometimes lost in a still image. Streaming runway shows to our phones is pretty standard, and I can pretty much spend an evening watching fashion films on youtube. Nick Knight – the crazy talented bastard that he is -pretty much leads the way with fashion films pointing out that “Clothes are designed to be seen in movement. One could argue that a still photograph of a piece of clothing it to some degree a compromise of the designer’s original vision.” That’s not to say the still image is obsolete or ever will be – for me it’s more about embracing technology and using it as an art form and a promotional tool in the same breath.
I can’t really talk about fashion film and not talk about Gareth Pugh’s F/W collection film that was projected on the ceiling of a 14th century chapel in Florence. I thoroughly recommend you check it out cause it’s pretty insane. I love that it was on a ceiling – I can just imagine it would create a really immersive experience.
Fashion film isn’t lost on us Scot’s either. Back in February, Vogue’s one to watch Iona Crawford premiered her 2011/2012 fashion film of her Ailsa collection produced by homegrown talent Vox Populus. It has the cutest bull in it and the music (and clothes) are uhmaze.
But what is your guys take on fashion film? Do you think it has the potential to become an alternative to runway or is it nice to have both? Any favourites that I should check out?