Reflection on Fashion and Film

I have really enjoyed this winter school subject, and am extremely happy to have done it. I've learnt things I have never even thought about before, and I feel my knowledge of the relationship between fashion and film has been expanded upon greatly. Every lecture Pamela Church Gibson gave was so enlightening and a refreshing look at the whole fashion scene. Pamela has such a wide knowledge of fashion and film and I only wish I could have taken in all of her knowledge. For such a short time, Pamela was able to get through a lot of content and she did it in a way that was easily comprehensible, and made each lecture attractive in their own right. Watching the films each week in the first week of this winter school subject meant I was beginning to actually put all the content of Pamela's lectures, the scholarly reading's and Deborah's tutorial discussions into action while viewing this diverse films. The subject has made me view these films (of which some I have previously seen before) in a different light. I was able to question societies acceptance of these films and the currant themes that ran through out the lectures and the films. Overall the content of this subject has been insightful and intriguing, and I now have an desire to watch about a 100 of the old Hollywood films which I have never seen before.

Reflection on the Film

At this current stage, I'm pretty happy with how our film is going. I think our shooting went really well, and although yesterday was an extremely long day for everyone, we got what was necessary on film, and having reviewed some of the shooting we did yesterday I think our will hopefully display our concept in an effective manner. I have had a tremendous amount of fun in the entire making of the film, and I think each member of my group worked extremely hard to get the film to where it needed to be. Our film came on quite a journey in the week we have been working on it, and form start to finish we continually developed our initial ideas into more solid concepts and themes that worked with the design aesthetic we were aiming for. The editing of our film (although there is still a bit to go) is coming along quite nicely, although it has been a bit tricky as none of us had any experience in Final Cut Pro, so instead we decided to use iMovie, which I thin, viewing at what we have produced so far is the better option for the kind of editing we are aiming for. I am anticipating the final production not only to see our own film on the big screen, but also to see the diverse nature of other group's fashion films, and how each different group will have interpreted their perception of a 'fashion film'.

Ksubi Fashion Film

ksubi kolors from ksubi on Vimeo.

Hot Couture: Brigitte Bardot's Fashion Revolution

A short group discussion on the reading we were assigned that goes with lecture six-'Beyond Hollywood':

• Bardot seems to emulate a very constructed image
• Although she is not a 'Hollywood' star i.e she is originally French, her persona personifies the constructs of a typical Hollywood icon/star
• Married to the director of most of her films-her key conceptual designer of her identity as a public icon
• Era of the 1950's-the boom of the teenager. Bardot emulates a teenage persona which is possibly why she was so popular
• Promotion of body image, clothes, hairstyles-because she became such an icon designers could promote their clothing by allowing Bardot to wear their items and they would be instantly called fashion and become a hit
• Marilyn Monroe seems to have a more mature persona than Bardot's sex kitten child-like body

• Bardot was carefully and purposefully marketed as a sex symbol-why is this so appealing to the demographic at the time?
• For men is she an object to be gazed?
• For women is she the desirable?
• Clothes were specifically designed for Bardot's figure-represents the power and symbol she has at the time and still does
• Child of youth mixed with sex symbol icon
• Stars like Jane Fonda, Catherine Deneuve would copy the Bardot look
• She became the archetypal French sex goddess
• Late 1950's and early 1960's she became the "most photographed woman in the world"
• Brigitte grew up in a wealthy setting with a very fashionable, well connected mother. Started a Childlike fashion revival, including gingham and broderie anglaise. Emblem of youth with overtly feminine dress +radical American youth clothes: James Dean’s jeans. Beatnik Duffle coats.
• Bardot’s generation had economic freedom, but not social, therefore used delinquency and Cinephilia as outlets. She was essentially revolting against the feminine construct which had been presented to her by her mother and her mother's peers.
• Her clothes: child like but ostentatiously sexualized.
• Choucroute hairstyle combined invitation and defiance. Simultaneously said fuck me, and fuck you. ‘Bardot adopted and promoted fashion that liberated the body (and hair) from the constraints of rigid couture outfits, leaving behind bourgeois conventions.’ Simplicity and cheapness.
• Bardot rejected couture as ‘for grannies’ and promoted young designers. Bardot’s clothes easily reproducible, so she was the centre of fashion production and consumption change. Youth and joie de vivre. She was an essential figure in the rise of the teenager and the working class.
• Her ‘highly sexed behaviour lost its appeal in 'the permissive age', her fashion sense was no longer innovative.’
• Bardot in 2011 has formed a completely different identity. Now it is ‘offensive’ to look as if she does not give a toss. Going against the constructed image.

Avant Garde Fashion Film Inspiration

Osaka Kid and the Preadtors

Osaka Kid and The Predators from Hello Family on Vimeo.

Conceptual Framework-Film

Message: fast fashion is not sustainable or healthy

Concept

protagonist represents the mainstream consumer. She consumes fashion in a unsustainable way. She is always in search of the next trend, the latest release, the hot items. However she is never fulfilled and is in constant search to end her hunger.

Character

Job:

Setting/where does she live:

Age:

Marital status:

Education:

Visual representation:

· Greed: the way she physically consumes the food- grotesque consumption

· Pace of the film- speeding up of the film shots, fast cuts, movement within the shot

· Use of music

Types of shots

· Close up shots of the eating

· Stairs- feet

· Elevator

· Close ups of clothing

Personas

The Interior= food consumption. The private self

Private self, what we hide from view, freedom to eat what they want, grotesque eating

· Dishevelled

· Unconventional style, not current trends

· Mismatched

· Kitsch

· Chaotic

Exteriors= public self

The persona we want the world to view us by

Women have control over their consumption

Women shouldn’t have appetites

Food consumption is controlled. Example eating a single pea, leaving 2 on the plate

Confessionals

· Up to date with current fashions, trendy but not to outlandish

· ‘workwear’ corporate cross evening

Locations

Control, power, glamour/ gloss, money

· Syd uni- new buildings, glass and metal- reflections. Views back towards the city OR building 10, aerial

· City- financial area, blight st

· Double Bay

· Food desire- cupcake shop, bakery, DJ food hall

· Trade halls building

Essay

• Subcultures
• Skinheads
• Youth culture relation to consumerism
• Mirrors consumer culture
• The branding of various items worn by Skinheads
• Doc Martens
• Ben Sherman Shirts

Nick Knight's book entitled 'Skinhead' is a collection of black and white photography of Skinheads in England. It's a very raw reveal of the Skinhead subculture.

These are the three films I am considering looking further into for the essay; each could be relevant in their own way.

'This is England'(2006)

'Romper Stomper' (1992)

'American History X' (1998)