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frock ‘n’ roll Making suave online content for couturiers is a nifty revenue stream for production We’ve been on the shoots, sweetie. We’ve seen the crews’ Crocs. And Puffa
About 60 per cent of its archive is made up of film. And the idea of
jackets. And their stonewashed 501s. Yet somehow the worlds of production
showcasing new clothing collections in filmed “look books” only really
and fashion, two seemingly incompatible tribes, have enjoyed a long, fruitful
entered the mainstream over the last year or so, with more commercials and
— if occasionally ill-fitting — relationship. From The Devil Wears Prada and
music video production companies getting in on the act. Fashion films ain’t
Zoolander, to this year’s brace of Coco Chanel biopics. But it’s not just
new, but they’re certainly getting made with more frequency.
feature films — over the last couple of years, fashionistas have been
One of this new wave of fashion films was the split-screen film Colonel
swapping the catwalk for the camera, turning to directors to help them
Blimp’s Sarah Chatfield and Chris Sweeney created for Yves Saint Laurent’s
showcase their collections in arty short films. As designers become more
creative director Stefano Pilati, to promote the label’s Autumn/Winter 2008
confident working with film, the opportunities for production companies
collection. Its success prompted a second series for YSL’s 2009 season,
have grown. (And like, umm…maybe you guys might pick up a few tips too?)
starring Simon Woods and Jack Huston. While these two are easy on the
Much of the world has caught catwalk shows on the small screen since the
eye, they are everymen rather than typically elfin male models: so the films
start of the ubiquitous satellite channel Fashion TV in 1997, but it wasn’t until
were arty, but you could relate to them too.
the 21st century that things got creative. In 2000, photographer Nick Knight
“Film is emotive,” say Chatfield and Sweeney, “it can be full of drama, mood
launched his online fashion and art project-cum-production company,
and atmosphere, and I think a catwalk show would always struggle to match
SHOWstudio, to create both still and moving images for high-end designers.
the emotion you can provoke in a piece of film.” What’s more, by making a
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(From left) Burza’s short for Topshop; Ferguson for Erika Trotzig and (below) for David David; and (strip, bottom) Farahmand’s Ghost for Alexander McQueen
houses. So is fashion and film a perfect fit? Laura Swinton on hemlines and bottom lines film, they argue: “you can create a world for the clothes that is linked
houses. At a time of global recession, even the beautiful people have to face
directly to the designer’s inspiration for the collection.”
up to the bottom line. (Wanton extravagance is so mid-noughties.) Brit
On a practical level, film also allows the audience to see the texture and
designer Gareth Pugh pared back his usually extravagant catwalk show at
detail of clothes in a way that traditional shows can’t. (But be warned,
Paris Fashion Week this March, opting instead to screen an eight-minute,
focussing your lens so closely on beautiful embroidery or immaculate
CGI-heavy short featuring just one model to audiences instead. The film was
stitching could have unexpected results. “We learned lots,” say Chatfield
shot by Ruth Hogben through SHOWstudio.
and Sweeney wryly, “including how much we love designer clothes.”)
Catwalk shows can cost around £300,000 — which doesn’t exactly scream
Since fashion films are proliferating fast on the web, it’s a crowded and
credit-crunch chic. While a production company could quite easily spend that
competitive area, pushing constant creative innovation. Among the most
kind of money, given half the chance, a young director and some creative
surprising was this year’s collaboration between Partizan’s Saam Farahmand
simplicity could get you a film for as little as five grand.
and Alexander McQueen, on a film for the designer’s sportswear collection
The YSLs and Louis Vuittons of the fashion world may be using film in a very
at Puma. Ghost sees two stylish martial artists fight it out in elegant slow
high-end way, smaller, edgier labels are finding collaboration with young
motion. By employing a combination of intricate post and high-speed
directors to be not just fruitful but cost effective too. And it works both
cameras, the film has an ethereal “ghosting” quality to it (hence its name).
ways: more commercial than a music video, but more like a music video than
It’s not just creative considerations that make film appealing to design
a 30-second ad, fashion films can be a helpful middle step for any up-and-
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(Above and strip) Pane’s film for Diesel Kids, (right) YSL’s Figures Entwining by Chatfield and Sweeney
“Advances in technology means that people can pause the video, zoom in. The mileage in these films doesn’t stop at people seeing the films - they can click on links and buy.” comer hoping to move their directing career on a step or two. And young
magazines, turning online for their fashion news instead. For example, style
designers struggling to get their work seen now have a new platform.
and fashion site www.handbag.com has 1.5 million unique users and gets 22
Kathryn Ferguson is a director who came to film following a degree in
million page impressions — and such sites are always desperate for new
fashion communication, and who now curates the fashion film segment of
content (especially when it’s free).
the women’s film festival, Birds Eye View. She has shot several films for edgy
That’s not to say the digital + fashion + film formula is infallible. Earlier this
designers like Erika Trotzig and David David, and is an advocate of the
year Honeyshed, a content-driven online retail venture from Publicis and
benefits for both designer and director. “A catwalk show costs an
Droga5 was forced to go offline due to a disappointing initial hit rate and the
extortionate amount of money therefore making it incredibly difficult for
climate of economic instability.
start-up designers to get their work out there,” she says. “The development
Deborah Cartwright is a PR consultant who helps high-street brands such
of fashion and film now means young designers can share their vision with
as Diesel and Topshop make the most of online media and the production
the masses should they want to.”
industry’s filmmaking expertise. “A photoshoot in a print magazine might
When talking about fashion films, it’s easy to get swept up in fantasies of
look nice but it doesn’t do very much, ” Cartwright says. “Advances
unattainable glamour or the impenetrably abstract fashion-as-art scene. But
in technology mean that people can pause video, zoom in. The mileage
mainstream clothes brands are catching up and beginning to see the benefit.
in these films doesn’t stop at people seeing the films — they can click on
The potential is huge — the all-important 18-25 demographic is buying fewer
links and buy.”
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(Left) Ferguson’s Tingel Tangel work (below) Pharrell Williams in Rozan Schmaltz’s film for Vuitton; and (strip) Nez for Halston
Partizan’s Kinga Burza has just finished a film for UK high-street fashion
abstract:groove, it sees adventurous children navigate a soft, purplish
titan Topshop, for Biba designer Barbara Hulanicki’s new collection. The
“steampunk” landscape. With its Golden Compass aesthetics, flying ships
retailer has worked with film and digital media before — its website is home
and winged horses, the film is playful, warm and fantastical. Far more
to some very basic movies — but the idea of creating an original short was
appealing to children and parents than a staid old runway.
still new territory for its marketing department.
But can these moving look books really replace the catwalks of Milan, New
“It was the first time for all involved,” says Burza, “so we were all finding our
York and London? It’s tempting to think so — the benefits of film over live
feet a bit. I think perhaps our project lacked a creative director — which
shows are manifold. But there have been grumblings among the sceptical
would be the equivalent of a commissioner on a video shoot — but
fashionistas who still love a good ol’ catwalk show. And it’s not just because
nevertheless it was a great learning experience.”
of the generous goodie bags. Allegedly. No, a catwalk is an exclusive event,
Diesel is another mainstream brand embracing the cyber catwalk. It’s a
a private club, they say, and nothing says “luxury designer brand” like a
brand with a history of experimental digital advertising — such as the recent,
show most of us can’t get into.
glorious headfuck Pete the Meat Puppet campaign. For the most part, their
So it’s unlikely that directors will be making runways redundant quite yet.
films are more about brand identity than showcasing specific collections of
“It’s a tricky one,” muses Ferguson, “exclusivity is such an important element
clothes, but they have made the leap with their children’s wear film,
of fashion. So while film is going to play a bigger part, I don’t think there is
Explorers of the Past and Future. Shot by Luigi Pane through Italian studio
any chance of it replacing the catwalk for a long time.”
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