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)

La Grande Bouffe from Erik Liss on Vimeo.

My group found this film recently, and we think it's kind of the same design aesthetic to where our fashion film is heading. I like the fast paced aspect of it, it has a really good beat and rhythm that is maintained throughout the film, but it doesn't get boring at all. Interest is maintained throughout the film, and the whole time I was intrigued as to how it would end. I think for our film were looking a little more closely at the link between the food we choose and the costumes the model will wear. I also prefer the idea of one model/ character, so there is more notions of individual character development.

Beyond Hollywood

Bridgitte Bardot:

o For young French women she represented youth, rebellion

o ‘And God created Woman’ (1956)

o By-passing the official fashion industry in France

Catherine Deneuve:

o ‘Belle De Jour’ (1967)

o Deneuve and Yves Saint Laurant relationship

Sophia Loren:

o Star as national symbol

o Italian

o Subversive

Anna Karina

Juliette Greco-Beat knick chic

Jean Seberg ‘A Bout De Souffle’ (Breathless) (1959)-connection to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s W Magazine shoot. ‘Breathless’ made actress Jean Seberg a star

Anti-Fashion:

(Konig, R. 1973. The Restless Image: A Sociology of Fashion)

(Davis, F. 1992. Fashion, Culture and Identity)

Pierre Bourdieu-Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste (1984):

o Taste-habitus

o Taste is a marker of class

o What is considered good taste is simply the taste of the dominant class in the society

‘In the Mood for Love’ (2000) “One could line up all the gown and tell the film’s story” (Adrian-costume designer)

Gong Li resisted being taken up by Hollywood-Star of the new Chinese cinema of the 90’s

Zhang Ziyi

Estee Lauder-Chinese models become more prevalent in their ad campaigns

Group Discussions on Mobile Film

Theme and Concept:

An endless search for food, with food being a metaphor for fast fashion consumption.

How much is too much?

• John Waters-confronting
• Pink Flamingo's
• Articulation of concept
• Arty
• Obsession with food
• Bordering on food porn
• Consumption and food and their relationship
• Material thing
• Be creative with food and the combinations we create
• What could the link be between the food we choose and the fashion the model is wearing?
• 'beautiful jelly'
• Changing banquet
• Do we necessarily need all the different locations? Or could we replicate these types of locations in an inside set. This might be easier with time restrictions and limitations of camera quality and lighting.
• Femininity-identity in clothing
• The notion that women aren't meant to eat
• Could the clothes be contrasted with the types of foods chosen e.g.. a glamourous clothing ensemble while she is eating fast food? Or should they work together to say something?

Production Schedule:

Remember to consider the three aspects of film-

Pre-production

Production

Post-production

Shot List-think about the logistics of each shot:

• Talent/ model
• Make-up
• Props (furnishings etc.)
• Locations/ sets
• Accessories
• Lighting
• Equipment
• Costume
• Crew (models, assistants, camera men)

Notes on filming:

• Give 4-5 seconds leeway at top and tale of each shot to allow for editing
• Film more rather than less because it is easier to cut things away than to re-take scenes
• Cut aways (feet, hands, close-ups)
• Whose perspective do you want the audience?
• Dynamics and psychologies of shots?

Film Development

Opening:

• Street shots
• Establish location
• Model-dress/ clothes
• Focus on clothes

Food:

• Strawberries
• Chocolate
• Steak/ meat
• Fish

Shots:

• Tran/ bus/ transport moving

Scenes

Model:

• Focus on clothes
• Feathers/ clothes
• Pan up body -body image
• Feet/shoes
• Close up of clothing detail

Street:

• Street shots
• Identify location
• Goulburn street
• George St
• Red Lantern
• Darling Harbour
• The Rocks

Eating:

• Close up of lips and hands
• Close up of napkin (part of the style)

'Running' Scenes:

• Car (driving)
• Elevator
• Public transport
• Around corners
• Alley-way perception
• Alleys with old style bricks
• Surry Hills
• Inner-west
• Stairs

The character has two different personas-work on her 'outside' persona and her 'inside' persona

'Outside' persona-how the character is represented in the outside world. The protagonist out and about, she has a very controlled and structured façade. Control, money, business end of city where the old building are. eg. Hunter st, Macquarie st, Blight St, The IVY, Chiffley Tower.

'Inside' persona-out of control personality. This is her when she is alone, her inner-self, which no one ever sees. Indulgence in food, and excess of consumption. Perhaps this 'inside' persona does not need to be on location but rather we can create a set where she would indulge in food.

Change, Identity and Rebellion

o First use of the word ‘subculture’-1940’s LA in reference to gangs

o First genuine subculture group were ‘The Zooties’ in the 1940’s, and at about the same time ‘Bikers’

o ‘Rockers’ (1977)

Youth Cultures-1950’s:

o High urban populations and improved standards of living

o Rise of the teenager is a demographic fact as a consumer group

o Disposable income and credits for young people

o Abolition of National Service in some countries

o Not many young people went to university at the time

1950’s:

o The relaxation of the Hays code

o The widespread popularity of television

o Films began to be directed at the youth market which were operated in a different way

o ‘The Wild One’ (1953)

o ‘Blackboard Jungle’ (1955)

o ‘Rebel without a Cause’ (1955)

o Formulaic teen movies ever since

o ‘Easy Rider’ (1969) A seminal counter-cultural film. First film to have music on the sound track that wasn’t scored.

Alienated youth on a killing spree:

o ‘Gun Crazy’ (1950)

o ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ (1967)

o ‘Clockwork Orange’ (1971)

o ‘Badlands’ (1973)

o ‘Natural Born Killers’ (1994)

o ‘Elephant’ (2004)

Hebdige/Hall and Jefferson Subcultures:

o They saw sub-cultures as resistance

o ‘Resistance through ritual’

o Opposing the dominant ideology

o Western consumption involved

o Japanese subcultures

o Working class but having money in style

o Symbolic resistance through style

o “The problematics of lived class existence”

o As un-employment kicks in-how does this affect subcultures?

o The idea of the subculture as young people who have jobs

o Hebdige on Bricolage-“The mods could be said to be functioning as bricoleurs when they appropriated another range of commodities by placing them in a symbolic ensemble which served to erase or subvert their original straight meanings…” (Hebdige, D.)

o Fighting of the synonymous enemies-for the mods it was the bikers

o Union Jacks-Mods utilised this symbol as a unifying symbol of identification

o Male dominated subcultures-Mods, bikers, skinheads

o Mods-influenced by Italians

o Things that are valued in their own right

‘This is England’:

o Finds his friends by hanging out with the local skins

o Looking back at Skinhead subculture

o Skinhead fashion never appeared as re-interpreted form on fashion catwalks

o Link between Skinheads and racism

o Skinheads against racism

o Nick Knight-whether there is anything you can retract

'This is England'

Subculture-Authenticity:

o Style leaders

o Active/creative consumers

o Innovative/original

o Opposing bourgeois values

o Resisting mass consumption/taste

o Picked up by cinema

o Style, taste and self-expression

Subcultures in Australia:

o much more related to consumption

Hebdige-two methods of ‘recuperation’:

o The commodity form-sub sued through commodity

o The ideological form

o ‘The Girl can’t help it’ (1955)

o ‘Jubilee’ (1977) –About a group of girl punks

o Appropriation

o Commodification

Sarah Thornton:

o Subcultures are not necessarily about resistance

o The creative and the commercial live side by side

o The boundaries between mainstream and alternative cultures are not distinct

o Subcultures are defined and created by entrepreneurs

o They are ‘taste cultures’, organised around ‘subcultural capital’

o Subcultural capital

o “While subcultural capital may not convert into economic capital with the same ease or financial reward as cultural capital, a variety of occupations and incomes can be gained as a result of hipness. DJ’s, club organizers, clothes designers, music and style journalists…” (Thornton, S)

Subcultures:

o Link to fashion-power of grunge in 90’s, and the return to authenticity

o ‘La haine’ meaning Hatred

o ‘Clubbed to Death’

Angela McRobbie-girls and subcultures:

o Suggests there were female subcultures, but they did not have the media presence

o Because female youth cultures were often based in the home and school, they were, to a large extent, ignored

o The notion that women, and in particular young girls, are excessively susceptible to domestic and consumer ideologies, has a long history

o Most girls’ magazines over-privilege the spheres of consumption and leisure in comparison to production and work

o Because they are not necessarily threatening or violent, most girl subcultures are often invisible to reporters and academics.

Film List:

o ‘Metropolis’ (1930)-First film to envisage the future

o ‘Blade runner’-Drew on themes in the film ‘Metropolis’

Italian cinema of the 50’s and 60’s

Exploring Fashion Film

La Prochaine Fois (The Next Time) from A76 PRODUCTIONS on Vimeo.

I think the repetition in this film is what makes it so interesting, it develops continuity of design aesthetic which makes it appealing for the audience, and I was definitely kept interested right till the end. As I've been researching different fashion films that are out there, one of the main things I have found they have been lacking is the ability to maintain audience interest and intent. There needs to be a development of some sort in any film and I believe a fashion film is no exception. Whether it's development of character, or narrative, this is what retains the audience intent to watch right till the end. In this film although there are only slight changes in clothes, the character is definitely being developed, and these clothes build on personal identity for the films protagonist. It represents a notion of transformation through clothes.

Group Fashion Film

Narrative:

• Girl who is food obsessed
• Driven by the need for another hit
• Food as a metaphor for fast fashion consumption and how fast fashion is un-sustainable
• Sartorialist escape
• Parody
• Illusion to drug addiction

What are we trying to say?

• Un-sustainability of fast fashion

Film Styles:

• Slapstick/ no sound
• Action/ comedy
• Melodrama

Possible Locations:

• Darling Harbour
• China Town
• Leichardt
• Reverse Garbage
• The Rocks
• Carriage Works
• Train Tracks

Scenes:

• Car
• Elevator
• Fast food store
• Restaurant (Italian, Asian, Japanese, Kebabs, Burgers)
• Gradation of pace

New masculinity in Film

Jason Segel in 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall'

The lectures on masculinity have made me think more about the more recent representations of masculinity in film, and the contrast to those we looked at in class, such as Brad Pitt in 'Thelma and Louise' and male representation in 'Brokeback Mountain'.

Lately films such as the romcom 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall', are representing men in a new light. As a natural more realistic representation. One of the last taboos in mainstream cinema to represent a man a pathetic and laughable especially because his naked body is obviously doughy and pallid. These more common representations of realistic masculinity identity are becoming more taboo in modern cinema, with other films such as 'Couples Retreat', 'Knocked Up', 'Superbad' and 'Juno' displaying and obvious devoid of sexual intent.

I guess representation of masculinity in film has had to take a break from the male pin-up's since Julian in 'American Gigolo', as the modern demographic needs to relate to a more realistic interpretation of masculine identity.

These more recent box-office stars of today's romantic comedies and comedies are goofy schlubs and nerds, that are appealing to today's male and female demographic. Actors such as Jason Segel, Seth Rogen, Michael Cera, and Jonah Hill now define the paradigm of Hollywood romantic lead.

Mobile Fashion Film

Remember to Consider:

• Film making hat
• Audience
• Bold and Simple
• Beginning/ Middle/ End
• Screen/ Viewing audience
• Clips onto a moving thing eg. scooter, bike, wheelie chair, car
• Clips to attach phone to a steady object
• Hardware store for clamps
• Do not clamp the phone without a case
• Continuity
• Eye line
• Body Direction

Planning:

• Meet and come up with a concept
• Based on audience/ demographic/ resources
• Structure
• Story-board
• Shot breakdown (everything you need within each shot)
• Location
• Actors/ models
• Backgrounds/ sets
• Costume
• Make-up
• Accessories
• Special effects
• Schedual-who/ what/ when

Restrictions-Be inventive:

• Panning
• Zoom
• Lighting
• Steady
• Camera quality

Monday-completed story board to bring to class

Tuesday morning-shot breakdown to be completed in class

Masculinity and Film

Streetcar:

o “Streetcar” named desire. One of the first films in the 50’s that had a blue collar hero.

o Starring Marlon Brando and Stanley Kowalski

o Projected a blue collar sexuality

o Very revolutionary for it’s time

American Gigolo:

o A seminal moment in the history of menswear, when you see Julian dressing for a date, in the 80’s

o Lots of gadgets

o Very clever product placement

o Body appearance and luxuriating the male body

o Revolutions around the male consumer

o Caused a stir, and up the sales of Armani

• Is this one of the first films to promote the male body, and male sexualisation?
• Is it true then that male sexualisation has come after the sexualisation of women and feminity, or are there previous examples of the male body as an object of desire?
• The changes in society around masculinity were beginning to be reflected in film.
• Film often represents significant cultural and societal elements

Here is the theatrical trailer for 'American Gigolo'. In class we watched the scene where Julian is getting ready for his date. It includes quite a lot of product placement. The scene represents Julian as a man who cares for what he looks like. This is I believe the first film where men are represented as 'adorning' their body, as a woman would.

Richard Gere in 'American Gigolo'

Brokeback Mountain:

o How far cinema has come

o Very slow opening sequence, with a slow build

o Post-Hollywood

o Franchise film around the male body

Masculinity:

o Representations of masculinity through cinema

o “Rambo”, “Rocky”, “Die Hard”, “Terminator”, “Lethal Weapon”

o ‘This here is a snakeskin jecket. It represents a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom.’ Sailor Ripley (Nicholas Cage) in “Wild at Heart” (1990)

Laura Mulvey Essay-‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’:

o Written in 1975

o Re-negotiating the dominance of Classic Hollywood

o “According to the principles of the ruling ideology and the psychical structures that back it up, the male figure cannot bear the burden of sexual objectification. Main is reluctant…” (Mulvey)

Woman as image, man as bearer of the look:

Masculinity:

Activity

Voyeurism

Sadism

Fetishism

Story

Femininity:

Passivity

Exhibitionism

Masochism

Narcissism

Spectacle

o Women are a problem

o Men are tested in action

o First male pin-up was not butch or muscular-“Son of the Sheik” and “Young Rajah”

o Cary Grant in ‘North by Northwest’ (1959) Wore no less than 12 identical suits in the crop dusting scene

Flugel-‘Great Masculine Renunciation’:

o Since late 18^th Century

o “Man abandoned his claim to be considered beautiful” (1930, p. 111)

o “modern man’s clothing abounds in features which symbolise his devotion to the principles of duty, of renunciation and self-control

o Hollander-‘Sex and Suits

o Craik, 1994 ‘The Face of Fashion’

1950’s:

o First questioning of gender roles

o Demographic changes: enormous numbers of young people

o Emergence of youth cultures

o Serious questioning of traditional gender identification

James Dean:

o ‘Rebel without a Cause’

o Dean was bi-sexual

o Characters he played were in touch with their feminine side

o First moment in a police station

o Vulnerable yet masculine

o Rebellious yet romantic

o Early metro

o ‘Giant’ poor boy from the wrong side of the track

o Sartorial aspect of James Dean characters is appealing to the early metro-sexual man

o Marlon Brando-‘Guys and Dolls’

o Montgomery Cliff

o 50’s the age of the chest

o Male torso fetishized

o Burt Lancaster in ‘From here to Eternity’ (1953) Blue collar sexuality

o Paul Newman ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’

o Alain Delon in ‘Plein Soleil’ (1960) First French film where the male body is fetishize

o Steve McQueen-Blue collar boy who became a movie star

o John Travolta in ‘Saturday Night Fever’ (1977)

o Tom Cruise in ‘Top Gun’ (1986) About a love affair between men

o Homo-erotic sub text which gets stronger in the 80’s

Gangster Film and the Suit:

o “Vanity in a man […] came to signify evil degeneracy (the most obsessively…” (Bruzzi)

o ‘Goodfellas’ (1990)

o ‘Pulp Fiction’ (1994)

o ‘American Gangster’ (2007)

1980’s:

o ‘Menswear revolution’

o ‘Grooming’ products

o Men in ads and on billboards

o ‘homo-spectatorial gaze’ (D. Fuss, S. Nixon)

o ‘the new man’

o Men can look at other men without spectator

o Nick Kamen in Leiv’s 501 ad (1985)-increased sales by 200% The campaign that propelled the new man

o Legitimating consumption

o Changing gender roles had happened

o The rise of the metro-sexual

o Accustomed to the visualised to the male body

o ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ (2001) Oppositional duo

o ‘300’ (2007) A reaction to the new man

o Persians are the other in ‘300’

Bibliography:

o Bruzzi, S. ‘Fashioning Film Stars’

o Chapman, R. ‘The Great Male pretender: Variations of the New Man Theme’

o Craik, J. ‘The Face of Fashion’

o Flugel, J.C. ‘The Psychology of Clothes’

o Mulvey, L. ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’