I could ramble lengthily on why film is the new medium for presenting fashion but I dare say it’d prove a considerable pain in the ass taking into account you’re all already aware of this. Cheaper than erecting extensive catwalks, more in tune with contemporary media and the viral approach to marketing, and just, well, a little bit brilliant, film is fast consolidating its place as the sister fashion never really had. Until now.
For me, it was my recent interview with William Richard Green that put everything into perfect perspective. In particular, it was this statement from the emerging menswear talent:
“I think that film is a great format to present fashion – a more controlled and more mood-orientated medium than a catwalk show which at the same time retains the defining sense of fashion as a moving, rather than static, medium.”
Ace – wouldn’t you agree? Anyway, I’ve just realised I’ve completely failed in initial aim to cut short any tangential talk so I’d like to draw your attention to this – the A Shaded View on Fashion Film competition established by Diane Pernet in association with Talenthouse, judged by Pernet and everyone’s favourite precocious editrix, Tavi. It’s currently at the voting stage so get viewing and have your say.
Entries range from a film in which a model sporting a variety of whimsical hats engages with eggs (no, not in that sense), variously crushing, throwing, and eating them (Three Eggs by Mich Dulce) to one in which two women swathed in fabric battle Wu Shu style (Let Me Go by Hieu Phan). My fave so far? Definitely Einstellung’s Skull & Bones, an eery flick which seems to draw on both film noir’s sensuality and horror’s disturbing mise-en-scène.
Who’s getting your vote?
To be honest, it's amazing it's taken this long. I suppose some industries move slower than others.