THE INSPIRATION OF FILM IN FASHION
Inspiration in fashion comes from anywhere and everywhere. As Coco Chanel once quoted “Fashion is not simply a matter of clothes. Fashion is in the air, born upon the wind. One intuits it. It is in the sky and on the road.” As well as referencing the fine art world, fashion designers have often been known to look to film for inspiration. From associated prints and branding to screen shots and screen prints, the correlation between film and fashion has never been stronger.
As of more recent, Bobby Abley channelled his spring/summer 2015 collection in London using Ursula from ´The Little Mermaid´ onto sweatshirts, to the delight of the crowd. Next up, the accomplished Thom Browne and iniquitous Miuccia Prada have all used elements from familiar cinematic experiences to enhance the capacity of their collections.
Fashion is not simply a matter of clothes. Fashion is in the air, born upon the wind. One intuits it. It is in the sky and on the road – Coco Chanel
Diana Pernet from ´A Shaded View Of Fashion Film´ gave a discussion after her 8th successful installment at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris last week, noting that fashion is no longer about static photography, but a marriage of multidisciplinary and multi media sources and references. However, is this a creative licence or just one step up from product placements?
A costume from “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” presents a striking resemblance to a snapshot from Thom Browne’s autumn/winter 2014 show. This apocalyptic apologue was released several months before Thom Browne presented his collection, which must have been absorbed into the designers creative vision. Given the fact that Trish Summerville’s costumes for the film got a great deal of media attention in the run up to the film´s premiere this vision sat nicely along side Browne´s utilisation of dark themes dark themes, violence and dis-empowerment of females.
For his spring/summer 2015 show in London, Bobby Abley had images of Ursula smiling across his over sized lilac sweatshirts- The designer then carried this trend onto affixing smirking Disney icons on his neoprene and sweatshirt creations. This is fast fashion in it´s most basic form but with a hint of humour and nostalgia, it won the designer points for poignantly portraying his Disney fan boy side.
Anna Sui’s autumn/winter 2014 New York offering had the intrinsic colour palette of a Wes Anderson film. Because of his intense colour saturation, these movies tend be to be visual extravaganzas which encapsulates his audience into a technicolour trance so mouthwatering your almost tempted to lick the screen. Numerous designers admire this director and utilise his palette to achieve their sought after rich, edible hues for the season.
The Canadian fashion duo Dsquared2 saw Amanda Wellsh escorted by two nurses. As a normal trend,this design house finds most of its fun in fashion detours: Polynesian themed Tiki bars, psychiatric wards, artists’ studios and high school proms to name a few. Their show sets tend to hint-hint, wink-wink at a certain film or a time period as a narrative and context to help portray a collection’s message. Mark Robson’s “Valley of the Dolls” appeared to influence Dean and Dan Caten’s autumn/winter 2014 Dsquared2 show, which burst with sex symbols. Think Barbarella meets Bardot in all it´s sexy bubblegum glory.
David Lynch´s intoxicating “Muholland Drive” is a film which is simply either loved or hated. The New York Observer once famously called it “a moronic and incoherent piece of garbage.” Thankfully for Lynch, the fashion patheon love this director who’s trademark chaos negates any clarity or linear thinking and leaves his viewers ´ as having experienced a vivid dream which they don´t understand, but can´t wait to tell everyone the next day.´ Prada´s autumn/winter 2013 show followed on a concurrent theme with a cryptic set and macabre score which oozed mystery and intrigue with a tale of the unexpected.
The grandmaster of the original ´alternative´ movies of their day, Alfred Hitchcock´s portrayal of “Vertigo” is almost a homage to fashion, with it´s romantic obsessions and ideologies. Ralph Lauren presented this very notion for his autumn/winter 2014 show in which he utilised a gray, smokey palette to conjure images of mysterious Hitchcockian blondes looking as if they just emerged from Castro metro to the depths of a freezing San Francisco autumnal fog.
With many more film inspired fashion notions popping up of recent such as J W Anderson with Star Wars, it is certain that this ongoing correlation will keep the fashion force strong.
Article: Charles Daniel McDonald
Photography: Each Respective Design House / Imaxtree
