30.10.09




Fashion In Film









INTERVAL

Director/ Jamie Isaia @ Art + Commerce

Designer/ Hussein Chalayan

Cinematographer/ Andreas Von Scheele, Stephen Blaise

Editors/ Catherine Camille Cushman, Jamie Isaia

Stylist/ Ben Sturgill

Makeup/ Yuka Washizu

Hair/ Wesley O'Meara

Models/ Ali Micheals @ DNA, Daria Strokous @ IMG, Olga Maliouk @ Marilyn

Sound Design/ Casey Smith

Video/ Courtesy of Fashion 16X9©

Visit for Video/ Fashion 16X9©

Print Editorial media is so passé these days and what with the economic climate and restrictions designers are experimenting with creative flair and new media. Film is being used as a substitute for catwalk shows which means it is far more cost efficient, and allows a wider audience to experience it.

Film medium gives designers another tool to express themselves, offering another dimension.

The influences, thought process, and narrative a designer was working with for a collection is revealed and exposed with their control.


Erwin Blumenfeld


1950’s – film experiments (One, Two and Three) were produced for Vogue and Harpers Bazzar. They were extremely innovative for the time, different angles, techniques, Colours and camera effects which Blumenfeld experimented with over the 6 years towards the end of his life. They had a poetic nature to them.



FILM EXPERIMENTS IN ADVERTISING: Given Blumenfeld’s antipathy towards his reputation as a commercial artist, advertising films might seem a strange addition to his archive of imagery. Started in 1958 and spanning six years until 1964, the photographer’s cinematic experiments were prompted by the rise of perhaps the greatest commercial force of the century –television. Feeling frustrated with early, rudimentary television advertisements and convinced he could better them, Blumenfeld set about making film tests to show to his biggest clients Helena Rubenstein, Elizabeth Arden, Dayton’s department store in Minneapolis and L’Oreal.

see the video here http://www.showstudio.com/projects/blumenfeld/films/1_lg.html

Close examination of the approximately twenty-five minutes of existing footage reveals that Blumenfeld’s adventures in moving image were anything but mundane corporate fodder, however. To begin with, they were strictly amateur in production. The photographer was a great cinema enthusiast and loved the work of Charlie Chaplin. Upon moving to Paris in the mid-1930s, he worked as a stills assistant to the French filmmaker Jacques Feyder, around whom he learnt enough to master the 16mm medium when working alone. Just as he adored experimenting in the darkroom, Blumenfeld’s son, the writer Yorick Blumenfeld recalls him enjoying the dogged toil of splicing together film strips to craft simple edits.

Neither was Blumenfeld’s mode of creative expression strictly commercial. The tactics and aesthetic appearance of advertising plays only one part in a rich holding of moving imagery that focuses also on stylistic formations in contemporary art, notions of beauty and their application to the photographic shoot and many of the formal devices present in perhaps his strongest photographic period, from the 1930s and 40s. It is in this latter body of work that the photographer reveals himself to be most seduced by the artistic potential of moving fashion imagery, as if proving to himself it was capable of all the sophistication and intellectual aspiration he found so lacking in advertising.

Extract from Show Studio


Guy Bourdin

Guy Bourdin’s films have complex exotic narratives. Vivid colours are synonymous with his photography and they are still apparent in film collectives. They are fragmented moments conducted in video graphical way which build up layers and communicates a visual language in which the audience is invited to interpret.

Guy Bourdin and Richard Avedon are photographers who in my mind are revolutionary geniuses with there film experiments and photography techniques. They set the standards for today’s fashion photographers.


Below is the playlist of the fashion films which were shown at Show Studio Revolution at Somerset House.










Beyonce Sweet Dreams video more than took influence from British design protégé Gareth Pugh- She is also wearing his designs.



Gareth Pugh Launched this art expression film in tandem with his show during Paris Fashion Week, the film was created in collaboration with Ruth Hogben, which showcases the designer's Autumn/Winter 2009 collection. It received a great response, as this was risky territory for a relatively new conceptual designer. The sequence has a sci-fi aesthetic, which mainly focuses on the shapes and silhouettes of the garments, moving, transforming and interchanging. This is a cinematic performance rather than a catwalk is expressing a new visual language. Pugh when asked if he will present in this format in the future he was documented saying that this type of fashion presentation 'depends on what is right for the collection'.

This reminded me of Viktor & Rolfs s/s 2009 digital online catwalk- is this the future was echoed after this controversially was released purely only as an online format. When i first watched this full length (there is an introductory bit before this where Shalom Harlow runs into the dream like grand hallway) I was taken back at how amazing it looked! at a fraction of the cost of a full runway production and eco- friendly links it was only before time this was done, and i was glad it was my favourite duo who broke the mould as they always do and pulled this out of the bag!

Maison Martin Margiela - Make Up Your Mind

This has to my favourite Fashion collab video which I can't help but smile at- all the features such as the infectious sound track, amazing Masion Martin Margiela

Wig Coat!!! are all amazingly produced again the legend that is Nick Knight for show studio.



Prada "Fallen Shadows"

08/09
animation artist Penny Martin created this for prada with very obvious surrelism refrences such as Salvador Dali

Superflat first love by Takashi Murakami for Louis Vuitton. Another feel good short animation where Luxury brand Louis Vuitton attemots to engage a new audience with this wacky creation.

All this information was presented to me as a Lecture on 29.09.09 by Fran Coombs whom was involved in the Fashion Film Festival which brings together filmmakers and artists who create moving images and they expose forgotten hidden gems such as

You wear it well and If looks could kill




27.10.09

Through the London Key Hole

I have a bit of a nosey streak when it comes to peoples homes and exploring there interiors. Therefore I absolutely loved flicking through the beautiful images of the pages of this superb book, (right).

I think London Style is indeed the most intriguing with a mass of creative individuals living door-to-door and the interiors of their homes reflect their individual personalities  (especially Matthew Williamson's Home in Hampstead below). A Home is a retreat, a sanctuary where people surround themselves with precious items, I think the design and interior of the home is another extended perspective of who lives there.
West London I think suits my style and taste best and It is my dream one day to live in a beautiful Georgian house in W10/11 with a gorgeous interior similar to the ones below, French boudoir furniture with distressed chic! And Fireplaces oh how I would love to have a fireplace in my bedroom! well we can all dream can't we...



New London Style (Hardcover)

Chloe Grimshaw (Author), Ingrid Rasmussen (Author)

Thames & Hudson

New London Style takes a fresh look into the private dwellings of the most exciting young creative talents in the city, from the music, fashion, design and art worlds. This new London style takes many forms, but above all it expresses a creative sensibility against the backdrop of the ever-changing environment of one of the worlds most exciting cities. The 28 houses in the book are loosely arranged by location, in the grooviest, on-the-edge neighbourhoods fromWhitechapel to Notting Hill, Camberwell to Clerkenwell and reflect the cosmopolitan melting pot that influences the citys design trends.Whether in a mews house, derelict pub, or even a church, this new wave of lively Londoners is injecting funkiness and bright ideas into a range of highly individualistic and inspirational interiors.









23.10.09

'Artwork Floating above the crowd'


I Promise I have been a busy bee this week thats why I
very true) and I'm going to just prove it and attempt to post up as much of my work, findings, research etc..... up!

So the other week I had a bit of a London Day, went to show studio (I'll post later) then onto Mode Information for a little talk on the trend publications they hold and then through the rain down to Southbank to see the new Tate Modern exhibition- POP LIFE

Must admit after paying a whopping £11 or so for a ticket I was expecting something pretty amazing, for it to be curated well with dynamic a modern displays and be able to leave clued up on all thing Pop art ready to curn it out for my pop culture essay, sadly it didn't tick any of those boxes. After going to such an interactive and boundary pushing 'show studio' exhibit in the morning this may have something to do with my slight disappointment. Surely the Tate Modern should be at the forefront of taking art and interaction, with digital displays to the next level but they seem to be flagging behind!

I apologise Mr Warhol, and this is only an opinion but seeing your work on google images looked not that much different to when they have repeatedly plastered all over the walls! I'm not sure what it was but the exhibition seemed to lack substance, there was no interesting dialogues or facts to be learned and as these are POPULAR, ICONIC images which we are all very aware of it would of been nice to have been surprised in some way! So to see them plainly with a name plate stuck underneath did not give the viewer any other deeper perspective of the works or artists behind them. I would be interested to know if others who have been would disagree with my account. Either way i can't be completely negative watching peoples careful expressions with a slight head nodding and side glancing in the 'strictly Adult viewing Rooms' filled with 20ft Jeff Koons Photo titled 'Anus' was quite amusing!

Andy Warhol- Mick Jagger (1975)
Acrylic and Silkscreen ink on canvas 101.6 x 102.6cm


Gavin Turk- Pop (1993)
Glass, brass, MDF, fibreglass, wax, clothing, gum 279 x 115x 115 cm


Gavin Turk- Cavey (1991-97)
Ceramic laid on concrete 48.25 diameter x 5 cm


Damien Hirst- Aurothioglucose (2008)
Household gloss and enamel paint on canvas 172.7 x 274.3cm


Damien Hirst- False Idol (2008)
calf, gold, glass, gold-plated steel and formaldehyde solution with a carrara marble plinth and stainless steel plinth

Andy Warhol- Self Portrait (1986)
Acrylic and screenprint on canvas 203.2 x 203.2cm

What amazingly talented individual. I love how he more or less branded himself as a sellable product and rarely spoke in interviews the man was a pure revolutionary genius!

Andy Kissing John Lennon (1978)
Vintage silver gelatin print 40.6 x 50.8 cm

Tracey Emin- Hotel International (1993)
Applique quilt 257 x 240 cm

Although i have always seen Emin as being slightly overrated i must say her work tucked away in the corner of the exhibition was one of the highlights and to see it in all its glory with the objects that filled her once west end shop you really could imagine the atmosphere and it told a great story!


Tracey Emin in bed, lying under Hotel international, with Jay Jopling at the Gramercy Hotel, New York (1993)


Jeff Koons- Burgeious Bust- Jeff and Ilona (1991)
White Marble 113 x 71.1 x 53.3cm

Jeff Koons- Jeff in the Position of Adam (1990)
Oil inks on canvas 243.8 x 365.8 cm

Not quite sure what to make of Jeff Koons Sexually orientated work, Is it art? or is it trashy pornographic images? It's got controversial written all over it!

Martin Kippenberger- Bitte Nicht Nach Hause Schiken (please Don't send Me Home) (1983)
Oil on Canvas 120 x 100 cm



Elaine Sturtevant- Haring Tag (1986)
Sumi ink and acrylic on cloth 25 x 22.5cm


Pop Shop (1987)
Photo Charles Dolfi- Michels

The recreation of the pop shop with actual items for sale was interesting but could never come clothes to actual representing the original.




Jeff Koons- Rabbit
Stainless Steel 104.1 x 48.3 x 30.5 cm


6.10.09

Oh Mr Joe Zee we ♥ You!


Karl's hoe-down Part 2 on Twitpic Lara's womanizing ways. on Twitpic Karl's idea of the modern family. on Twitpic Lily Allen jamming for Chanel on Twitpic Chanel set is giant treehouse with bales of hay. OMG. So Majo... on Twitpic
Chanel's Fantasy 2010 s/s show- less that 5hours ago!!
Amazing Hideaway! (very jealous mine as a child never looked quite that amazing!), Suitably Lilly Allen performing Not Fair- Who got inspiration from who for the barn hoe-down aesthetic?

Years ago we could of never imagined getting live mobile uploads of various catwalk shows from Fashion Weeks before even Style.com or Vogue had even updated there websites. But thanks to the phenomena that is Twitter and Mr Joe Zee(Creative Director of American ELLE) who regularly updates his fashion obsessive followers on all the goings on we get to have a real first look exclusive insight.If you are not already a follower (why not?) check out his twitter page musings and snap shots which really do give you an inside sneak peak. Personally I think they need to all be collated into a book, a retrospective of Mr Joe Zee Twitterings! Mr Joe Zee is like my fashion God...All hail Mr Joe Zee

Thou Shall Covet...

Share and Share alike

Although signifcantly reducing my chances of wining by posting this... it's too good not to share this Temperley
Competition... I mean who would not want to own this gorgeous lux jacket?!
Temperley
Temperley

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Competition

4.10.09

White the Slate Clean

Below is only a small selection of the designers of the s/s 10 collections who all opened there show in white. Is this due to the hard financial time of late, a bright, blank simplistic opening, a sign of optimism maybe?

3.10.09

LFW- Recovering, relaxing and reflecting

London Fashion Week now may be a distant memory but it sure did take some rest, my feet are still suffering for it but it was all worth it!
Back at home, I was actually able to have a good look through all my bits and pieces I picked up along with photos I took with my loaned EOS 50D. As i mentioned in my previous posts Canon and 1000 heads were great hosts and generous at that take a look at my gorgeous Canon goodie bag right. (must admit not much is left of it now- the chocolates were so yummy!)



Was so happy to find the canvas shopper in my goodie bag as I had been lusting after one the whole week seeing everyone using them- It is now my uni book bag ever so useful.

The poster with a story- Well as we walked out of Somerset House making our way to Covent Garden for few after drinks Sophie of Trendspiration noticed two massive Plastique posters which we sneakily pulled down to lovingly take home to our bedroom walls. To see just how much Sophie ADORES Plastique magazine check out her post dedicated to it.

So Fashion week is now on its last stop in Paris, It has been and gone so fast but thanks to Canon I was able to capture the moment of lfw and keep the memories with beautiful print outs courtesy of the uber professional photo printer (Canon PIXMA pro 9000 Mark Ⅱ)

The Printer- Nicknamed the Beast!


It takes a impressive 8 cartridges!!


I Love the feature of the ink cartridge lighting up to indicate the cartridge are in place and when they are running out they flash to highlight the one that needs replacing!

Set up was pretty straightforward and was so excited to just get going with it!


The Printer was A3 which is my dream, how I wished I had this printer when I had to print up my uni mood-boards! If your following me on twitter you would know of my excitement to be using the printer...maybe a bit too over excited. The large machine was daunting as I knew it was one of the best professional printers you can get and although it was late at night I screamed to my mum as the first photo started to emerge.... "Mum, Mum look at the quality of this, it comes out soooo good!". The beast lived up to my expectations and more, the photo paper was of amazing quality too (I was using Photo paper pro platinum and Fine Art premium Matte photo paper in in A4 & A3). The photo editing software that were part of the printer package were also good it came with photoshop elements as well what a plus point!



The end result- My A3 print outs think I may frame my handy work... he he he!