We published part 1 of this fashion film roundup to honor the end of New York fashion week and since then London and Milan have had their turn. Now we’re in the thick of Fashion Week Paris, the final of the 4 consecutive world fashion weeks, and at last here is part 2. Last time we surveyed some of 2010’s star studded collaborations, however those big budget shorts are still few and far between, and, in their way, disguise the fact that video has permeated all levels of the fashion industry. Fashion labels small and large are looking to promote their lines and short film is seen as a cheap, effective way to garner attention. $15,000 short film or million dollar investment for TV? Right.

So this time we will focus on the more modest offerings of the fashion world. These films are diverse in their own way, following divergent artistic/commercial paths. We recently featured the work of acclaimed fashion photographer Greg Williams with Tell-Tale, but his short film for racy lingerie brand, Agent Provocateur is a raunchy bit of commercial excellence.  Others are even more blunt. This Prada spot by acclaimed fashion photographer Steven Meisel is being called a fashion film, but is truly indistinguishable from a commercial. If Chris Cunningham can do this beautiful Gucci ad and call it such, lets not confuse our terminology. Others though follow an artistic path towards total inscrutability. Famous underground filmmaker Kenneth Anger adapted his signature experimental video aesthetic for Missoni, which barely has any elements that can be recognizably connected to the brand.

Most work however falls somewhere in the middle of the two poles— abstract, brief 1-3 minute pieces showcasing clothing, sometimes not even released for a particular brand, but an experiment by a photographer/filmmaker to be showcased in reels and on new fashion film websites like the LVHM-owned Nowness. This piece by Alex Prager featuring Bryce Dallas Howard is a perfect example.  Most of the directors of fashion films are in actuality photographers, and many of the films play like videos of the photoshoot edited, or attempts to realize the mood and production design inspiration of the catalog theme. With rising curatorial outlets like Test Magazine, ShowStudio and HypeBeast, this arena has become a fertile ground for experimentation. What you are losing in narrative capacity is amply rewarded with a level of innovation in stylization that you don’t often see in short films—a spirit too long relegated to the the province of the music video.

When innovation does occur, it can be fabulous, but where they often go wrong is in leaning too heavily on established aesthetics of feature filmmakers such as Spike Jonze and Sofia Coppola (who did a spot Dior in 2007 coincidentally), or, even farther back, John Cassavettes—attempting to match the level of romanticism or style those directors imparted in their work but without the emotional heft they summon; content with the form of extreme closeups, lens flares, slow motion and other dreamy manipulations.

Thus most of these films end up being utterly disposable, as must the majority of work produced in all the arts, but there are great ideas and execution intermingled as well, and fashion is providing a hub for these creative image makers to operate in and have work seen. A Shaded View on Fashion Film is the perfect apotheosis of this. The brainchild of celebrated fashion critic Diane Pernet, it is the world first fashion film festival. The latest edition just took place in Paris, and the festival program, showcasing over 60 films,  is truly the definitive look at the best recent work in this nascent genre. However for your benefit I’ll provide a more streamlined sampling.

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Ryan McGinley—Pringle of Scotland:

Ryan McGinley is a celebrated fine art photographer—his recent series Moonmilk, is gorgeous, but his forays into fashion are not immune to some of the criticisms cited above. His film Entrance Romance derivatively plays with Phantom camera enabled slo-mo, such as we saw in films like Birds and ActionFigure’s punching series, and yet he also happened to have made the best fashion film of 2010, his 8 minute piece for luxury brand Pringle of Scotland.

This film is an obscene love letter to travel. It makes you ache to leave behind your world and go forth into adventure in a way that those Walt Whitman Levi’s films never seem to do for me. Tilda Swinton is amazing. Her aggressively gender neutral and bohemian styling is a turn off at first, but she is so game in this film. Especially at the old ruins, the centerpiece and highlight of the film, which touched me in a very visceral way.

The first couple of minutes of the film are a bit…blah. Some shots of natural Scottish beauty that aren’t exceptionally lovely—at least not enough so to carry a film. My attention flagged until the short has Ms. Swinton speak into the camera informing us, the viewer, that the previous tableaus are “unimportant images”.

A crude tactic certainly, but it was enough to keep my head checked in to the film and not let my attention wander off as I pondered the motives and questioned the veracity of the statement.

Once you reach the ruins though, the film overwhelms one who is sensitive enough to allow it. The history of the place and the exploration of our innate senses of curiosity and hunger for adventure are simultaneously brought into relief, producing a moving reflection upon the profundity of one’s connection to the world. The claustrophobia of the dark and night is palpable when Swinton spends the night within the ruins, and the overall result is almost spiritual.

This film is a wonderful concept for the brand, advertising Pringle using the natural glory of the country itself; celebrating an outdoor brand with a spiritual communion with the outdoors. Ryan McGinley is an amazing photographer, voted by his peers to be 2003’s photographer of the year, and luring a guy like this into the world of video embodies to me the seductive appeal of the current fashion film trend.

****

Karl Lagerfeld—”Remember Now” for Chanel

Forget Martin Scorcese, the most surprising entrant into the realm of fashion film is Karl Lagerfeld, the creepy old vampire himself, becoming the only fashion designer to fully embrace the art of directing. Heading up Chanel he is intimately involved in productions such as Scorcese’s piece for Bleu de Chanel, but with increased regularity been serving up his own works to the public. Remember Now is the most substantial of his several recent directing efforts, and surprisingly enough, I really like it.

Set in Saint Tropez, the film dreamily floats through a night of beautiful people dancing and partying straight till the morning, as seen from the perspective of an older gentleman and a young model who spend their time together. It looks good and wonderfully encapsulates the fantasy of the model lifestyle as the young beautifuls rejoice together.  To my mind however, it also is the first fashion film to feel like fashion.

This is a film that feels connected to history, to the European filmmaking tradition. Many of the films we’ve featured look backwards to the styles of the past—hard-boiled noir, old China, prep-school Americana are notable examples, all used in order to create glamor—to have a false nostalgia for a time and place rub off and inform how you think of the clothes. This makes sense. Fashion itself only makes sense through history as it always defining itself by the touchstones that it revisits, reinterprets. While those films adopt a historical style, theirs is a resemblance purely of art direction. This is a film however that feels like it uses film history in the same pastiche sort of way that fashion uses itself.  Surprising and entertaining.

Wing Shya—Rodarte:

God rest Alexander McQueen’s old soul. The master of high drama runway shows (who could forget hologram Kate Moss?), we were denied several future films from him by his recent death. Instead we must settle for a lame effort by fashion photographer par excellence Dave Sims, and some stellar runway videos by ShowStudio founder Nick Knight. So what company in his absence will stand up for the avant garde in fashion film?

A good bet would be the upstart fashion house Rodarte, lead by the famous Mulleavy sisters. Only 5 years old, the line has already reached the apex of the fashion world and their fashion films are likewise succeeding in creating buzz. This film by Chinese artist Wing Shya and starring Maggie Cheung, is the loveliest of the many purely conceptual pieces churned out by the fashion industry this year, a film of grace and immense stylistic mastery, as Maggie moves between 4 different tableaus.

Its appearance though has been inexplicably overshadowed by another Rodarte film, Aanteni by famous photographer Todd Cole which has recieved a ton of buzz. A film loosely connected to space travel, it is a work that I can’t much stand, but will link to for the curious.

***

Bruce Weber—”Ain’t Nothin’ Like the Real Thing” for Yves Saint Laurent:

Bruce Weber’s photography has had a massive impact on mainstream fashion, as you might have noticed from the big Abercrombie and Fitch billboards that are likely prominently displayed somewhere in your town. He is the master of the semi-naked B&W photo, and in this film he speaks personally about his philosophy and inspiration.

This film contains NUDITY. Indeed it is about nudity really. The primary bulk of the footage is comprised of video taken during two shoots involving a  group of immaculately chiseled young men. One session is clothed, the other is nude.  For Weber, achieving a nude shoot that is free and uninhibited is a large part of his job, and the film, impressionistic as it is, shines a partial light on how he works.

After an opening collage of footage, Weber addresses the audience around the 1:30 mark and explains his thoughts somewhat on his craft, mostly through comlaint. Via monologue he remarks, somewhat incredulous, about how difficult it is to get his models naked. “Why, they make excuses! They feel shy! They say they have to ask parents/partners/friends for permission!” he exclaims.  Gosh, how silly of these incredibly young “rebels”. Sure, concerned outsiders have (for good reason) always emphasized that you don’t have to get naked to be a model,  but really hasn’t Art has always had great respect for the nude? The still-life model is a mainstay of many beginning courses, so Weber says forget all those very concerned people and get free. For backup, the film detours in its middle section in order to pay tribute to a hero of Weber’s, the much in fashion Bunny Yeager, famous for her female pinups in the 50’s and 60’s.

My skepticism and protective instincts were shunt aside, as one comes to feel that Weber is a true believer in what he preaches. He waxes poetic on the beauty, freedom and daring of unihibited communion with one’s body like a modern day hippie. In its way the film, and Weber’s philosophy, is very sweet—an innocent sort of rebuttal to the travesty that is the Terry Richardson scandal. Though you cannot help but feel that this is the atmosphere that leads to such indiscretions. Still an interesting exploration into something that most of us never have to grapple with.

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That is the roundup. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed. With this round of fashion weeks just finishing up there is a whole new batch of films coming out, so stay tuned to the blog fin the future for the best of these recent efforts!