Considering Athens is known as the cradle of democracy, it is appropriate that Bernhard Willhelm and Dirk Bonn's film uses the distinctly Political Fashion worn by the Greek Proedriki Froura guarding the Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier to subversive effect.
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Another Political Fashion response straight from the fashion front-line, the Financial Times’ Fashion Editor Vanessa Friedman explores the sexual politics of the coming season’s increasingly implausible footwear offerings from male and female designers alike.
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Emma Summerton draws on classic imagery of sixties radicalism and rebellion for her Political Fashion film, shot in grainy black-and-white and starring Raquel Zimmerman.
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Liz Hoggard’s piece for Political Fashion examines the concept of “the frock film” - and Elizabeth: The Golden Age in particular – to examine the political meaning hidden in cinematic costume and make up.
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As our 'Wonderland' shoot draws to a close, our water tanks of dye (and the polymer on Alice's face) are all that remain of three of Helen Storey's groundbreaking outfits.
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Helen Storey's definitely 'dry clean only' jeans have their first (and last) handwash.
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Alice ready to disintegrate Helen Storey's blue jeans, our final outfit of the day.
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Before our last look of the day, our star model Alice Dellal takes some time out to talk about her 'Wonderland' experiences.
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The print on the fringe dress disintegrates, dispersing dye throughout the water tank as Alice swims through her underwater ballet.
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Alice and Helen's leopard-print fringe dress 'Mabel' ready and waiting for their Ophelia moment.
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No-one was entirely sure what was going to happen as Alice hit the water. The estimated twenty minutes actually amounted to around three before Helen's suit was completely dissolved. As Alice was lowered in, and the suit began to break away from itself, the pattern climbing through the current, clinging... [more]
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Alice Dellal, suspended on a steel cage above a tank of lukewarm water and set to be naked in, oh, twenty minutes or so. And she still manages to make us all laugh - what a trouper!
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It's odd being on the other side of the camera, even when you're just the test shot. From my perch behind tank #1, here's a fish-eye view (excuse the pun) of Nick and his assistants Ruth and Andy setting up the first underwater shot.
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I grabbed Helen Storey at a rare quiet moment during shooting to talk about her experiences of the Wonderland project, the shoot, and how she feels about seeing her collection vanish before her eyes.
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Nick, Jonathan and Helen examine Alice's shots before we break for lunch. Next up: the water tank, and those underwater fireworks!
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'She says her trousers are melting to her legs!' is not a soundbyte you often hear on a shoot, but Wonderland is no ordinary project! Here, Alice strikes a pose in the final look of our dry shoot. After Helen's transparent leopard opera-coat and turquoise fishnet mermaid gown, she gave... [more]
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Helen and Helen (Storey and Bailey, respectively) put the finishing touches to model Alice Dellal's translucent opera coat and fringed bustier before our first shot of the day.
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Testing lights and shot angles around Helen's printed fringe dress ('Mabel'is her official name, according to Helen), you start to get a real sense of the aesthetics of the coming shoot. Backlit and silhouetted to emphasise the translucency of the polymer fabric, this gives some idea of the way the... [more]
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With our live feed starting in just a few moments, I took the opportunity to inspect Helen Storey's wares in their final forms. The soluble polymer 'fabrics' used for each and every garment have been fretted, sliced and punched to resemble everything from ostrich feathers to sequins to embroidered tulle... [more]
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Ross and I are currently braving the unseasonable chill on our way to the Wonderland shoot. We'll be blogging and recording live from 11, but here's an idea of what to expect: these are the water tanks our model Alice will be negotiating later today.
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Henry Holland's inaugural House of Holland 'Fash Bash' last night managed to drag East London in pretty much its entirety to the flash environs of Argyll Street's Movida for a party stretching far into the wee small hours.
Mr Holland was of course on hand to oversee the shenanigans (it... [more]
Alongside her Political Fashion contribution, Zora Star enclosed this written explanation of some of her intentions in making the film. Perhaps most poignant was her declaration that the invitiation "didn't leave me indiferent" - just the kind of reaction we were hoping the Political Fashion brief could inspire. You can... [more]
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Lit eerily by the screen of her television, Zora Star’s ‘Shooting’ explores our desensitisation to and alienation from so much of current political affairs, her own status as model subtly referenced and parodied in this Political Fashion submission.
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The latest addition to our Wonderland project is this short film, created from interview footage and experimentations with the soluble polymer fabrics now incorporated into Helen Storey's collection. The film gives some idea of both the staggering research and development behind this extraordinary project, and also a sneak preview of... [more]
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Faithful to his signature culture-jamming sartorial ideology, NOKI’s Political Fashion Film ‘Can’t Help Loving That Brand’ slices up lyrics from the classic 1927 Kern and Hammerstein musical ‘Showboat’, utilizing a NOKI-shrouded cabaret to question brand dependency in an increasingly label driven capitalist world.
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In her contribution to Political Fashion, appropriately titled ’Fashioning Dissent’, Alison J Clarke examines what fashion really represents at grass-roots level - in womens’ daily lives.
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Wednesday evening saw the launch of Acne's latest Summer '08 magazine. Thomas Persson, Editor in Chief and Creative Director welcomed press to Claridges and defined his ideas behind the issue. "In a time of technology and globalisation, when the world is at our fingertips and no stone seems to... [more]
Dean Rogers puts the spotlight on Big Brother in his Political Fashion film, taking British working class teenagers as his subject. Rogers’ film questions the role of the ‘watcher’ and collective upon the youthful individual in modern day society.
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Our fourth week of Political Fashion opens with a film by Julien D’Ys and Ilker Akyol: ‘Bela Gypsy’ explores itinerant Romani culture, as represented through the romantic, sepia-toned figure of the traveller.
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As head of college at the London College of Fashion, Dr Frances Corner’s Political Fashion essay naturally looks to the future and the numerous social, environmental and economic issues facing the next generation of fashion professionals and consumers.
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Zoe Broach and Brian Kirkby of Boudicca have never been content to go with the flow. Their Political Fashion film documents some of their experience as anti-capitalist protestors at the 2001 G8 summit in Genoa, where the power of the events they witnessed was in turn... [more]
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Jane Audas’ essay both raises and addresses the question which our Political Fashion project has provoked from the get-go: namely, is it possible for fashion to be political?
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Perhaps the most recognisably political interpretation of the Political Fashion brief, Jodie Harsh and Malcolm Pates’ ‘FASHist’ film draws on propaganda imagery, militaristic flourishes and uses a blood-red and black colour palette to allude to right-wing politics of the past – an
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The intrigue of androgyny has been a style-staple throughout the twentieth century - think of Saint Laurent's Smokings, Chanel and her Matelot jerseys - today, that whole 'boy-girl' thing retains its undeniable allure. Illustrating this point perfectly is this short film, another offshoot from Nick Knight's April British Vogue editorials.... [more]
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Political Fashion as ‘Style War’? This is the proposal by New-York based House of Diehl, combining catwalk with catfight. ‘Style Wars’ comments on competition and sacrifice (of hair, at least) in the highest of sartorial stakes. The motto? You’re only as good as your next ensemble.
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Design Critic Alice Rawsthorn draws from her own memories of Political Fashion, and 1960s Labour MP Barbara Castle in particular, to comment on women in politics and the undeniable power play of their clothing which continues today.
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With its title – ‘Riot Now’ - adapted from a Sex Pistols’ lyric, Johnny Blue Eyes’ contribution to Political Fashion is charged with religious, political and sexual imagery. ‘Riot Now’ revists all the raw energy and confrontation of the early punk movement – and indeed the... [more]
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‘I’m obsessed with Page 3 girls,’ professes Alice Hawkins, and her Political Fashion film exerts equal focus on Glamour model Danni Wells and the politics of sex, gender and taste. ‘Mannequin’ is a dual homage: both to Wells as a mannequin (in the most old-fashioned sense),... [more]
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After those chiffon-shrouded faces at Giles, it seems timely that Nilgin Yusuf focuses her Political Fashion essay around one specific (albeit still inflammatory) point: the covered head, and modern society’s oft-misguided perceptions of this.
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We popped in to the opening of Previous Arrangements last night, a new photographic exhibition by husband and wife team Tim Gutt and Shona Heath. If you could squeeze past the world and his wife, who had rocked up to bStore on Savile Row in support, you'd find 7 characterful... [more]
Artist Matthew Stone takes a personal approach to Political Fashion, enlisting the help of friends and collaborators in his rough-hewn, thought-provoking offering seemingly illustrating the oft-overlooked impact of politics on the individual.
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The second week of Political Fashion closes with Adam Briggs’ essay questioning not the value but the values of fashion, our demand for novelty and the impact of this accelerated supply-and-demand on those attempting to satisfy
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Political Fashion as a theme seems intrinsically tied up with the politics of sex and appearance; perhaps it was inevitable that make-up supremo Val Garland’s film would address these issues. ‘Push’ is exquisitely colour-saturated, thought-provoking and technically flawless – like all of Val’s work.
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Filmmaker Marcus Werner Hed eschews fictional narrative in favour of documenting Political Fashion as it is created – or perhaps as it destroys. His film ‘The Red Shoes’ will make you reconsider both the Hans Christian Anderson classic and the Moira Shearer movie forever.
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Dr Becky Conekin utilises her extensive research into the life of Lee Miller to inform her contribution, the latest in our Political Fashion debate. Examining the politics of appearance, Conekin investigates the attitudes that Miller met following the war, when her looks... [more]
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Our latest Political Fashion film is an offering from Cologne-based modelling agency Nine Daughters and a Stereo. Utilising one of their own models, Jerome, and the talents of agency- co-owner and freelance photographer Kira Bunse, 'Desire is War' is a rumination on politics, lust and fashion.... [more]
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Purikura contributors Kenji Hirasawa and Takumi Iwata join forces once again to work on a collaborative effort for Political Fashion. Their film ‘Light’ bears all the colour-saturated hallmarks of their previous work, again drawing on elements of Japanese culture - this time a Taiko drum –... [more]
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Fashion by its very nature is of-the-moment: hence Tamsin Blanchard’s Political Fashion essay examines clothes barely off the models’ backs. With Viktor & Rolf showing protest chic and Gaultier sending fur flying (most of it down the catwalk), Blanchard demonstrates that Political... [more]
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After a highly successful campaign in New York, Saturday@Phillips launched the inaugural quarterly auctions in style this evening, with an event hosted by auctioneer guru and chairman Simon de Pury at the Phillips de Pury and company gallery, Victoria. The launch consisted of an amazing display of contemporary art, photography,... [more]
The art savvy crowd viewing collection to be auctioned at next weeks saturday@phillips inaugural sale.
Phillips de Pury, the company that made visiting the Saatchi Gallery free is now opening up another affordable piece of the art world to the discerning public. Tomorrow evening, SHOWstudio will be in attendance at the launch of an initiative to encourage a new generation of collectors to participate in... [more]
Shot between takes on an editorial for British Vogue (due to hit newsstands next week) Nick Knight’s latest film for SHOWstudio is a frank homage to out-and-out glamour. Starring Victoria Beckham (who else?) as glittering starlet incarnate, Showtime is a old-fashioned take on a quintessentially 21st century icon. The film... [more]
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Yesterday’s Political Fashion film by Liberty Ross was incorrectly titled on SHOWstudio. The correct title for Liberty’s contribution is ‘Cut,’ as shown at the opening of the film itself.
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Linking to her ongoing work ‘The Cult of Boys’, Toyin's offering for Political Fashion looks at the modern sexualisation of both the pubescent male and violence. Drawing on the political charge of contemporary images of gun culture, her unsettling film questions the moral behind our current... [more]
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In her Political Fashion essay, Fashion Historian and theorist Dr Rebecca Arnold examines the subject of race and ethnicity within the fashion industry. Despite the freedom of expression in fashion, Arnold argues that racism is the final taboo which fashion, and perhaps... [more]
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Perhaps raising more questions than it answers, Liberty Ross' film ‘Cut’ takes the most visceral approach to answering the Political Fashion brief yet. Starring Ross herself as both protagonist and product, the film draws attention to the true costs of modern luxury.
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We’re all familiar with the concept of the ‘It’ bag, but Fred Butler
pushes it to the wonderful extreme in her ‘Conspicuous Consumption’ film. We don’t want to ruin it for you, but suffice to say it must be the first time anyone with a Chanel 2.55... [more]
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With fashion acknowledged as a multi-billion dollar global concern, journalist Roger Tredre explores the green side of Political Fashion in his timely essay examining the link between the consumption inherent within fashion, and the subsequent depletion of natural resources.
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Politics should start at home, and accordingly stylist Camille Bidault-Waddington addresses the issue of Political Fashion with examples from her own career. Bidault-Waddington questions the issue of personal politics, and how working in fashion can affect one’s perceptions of what is and isn’t ‘politically correct’.
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To open our Political Fashion film season, photographer and provocateur Steven Klein’s piece plays like one of his dark, brutal photoshoots brought to life. Mixing elements of high fashion with the paraphernalia and imagery of the military, Klein’s film is a powerful yet abstract interpretation of... [more]
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To kick off our Political Fashion season, Fashion Historian and theorist Professor Christopher Breward contributes the first piece of writing themed around this prickly subject. Questioning the idea of the politics of fashion versus politicised ‘fashions’, Breward challenges our perceptions of agitprop... [more]
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The haze of fog from which the models emerged at Lanvin may have been slightly disconcerting, but luckily they were dressed in a vision that was crystal clear. Alber Elbaz is evidently feeling dark: the tent was black, the runway was black, and the clothes were - yes, predominantly black.... [more]
No trip to Paris would be complete without a trip to the Jeremy Scott showroom - at least for me. His show this season was packed with typical Scott irony, playing on his favourite themes of luxury and distinctly American excess. Gold-card intarsia knits, dollar bills and cherubs were splashed... [more]
Besides the shows, Paris Fashion Weeek is rammed with showroom appointments, both for Paris-based designers and Brits abroad. After a sensational London show, Marios Schwab's showroom on the Rue de Richleau was an obvious stop to make. The fretworked surfaces of his laser-cut grograin dresses, figure-hugging jersey and beautifully tailored... [more]
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Back from the glory of Galliano, I had the immense pleasure and priviledge of hearing Colin McDowell's always-astute views on the show first hand.
'In Xanadu did Kubla Khan, A stately pleasure-dome decree'. These were the Coleridge lines inscribed on John Galliano's invitation: evidently John was our Kubla, and for Winter 2008 he pitched his pleasure-dome in a vast hanger on the outskirts of Paris. Xanadu, I'm not sure - but the evening... [more]
See what I mean about those gilded draperies? Metro Goldwyn Mayer to the max!
I hoped for a full-out Galliano spectacular, and he's pulled out all the stops with a fully-fledged night-of-a-thousand-extras production number. The opium-hazed mise en scene is a thirties Hollywood epic of the de Mille variety, with yards of suspiciously gold ruched lame, a multitude of sets and the Galliano crew... [more]
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The ghost of haute Hollywood costumier Edith Head and her auteur set the scene at Galliano
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Me & bailey working on the textile lay 4 the opera coat made of scarps last week.
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After a busy, busy Paris fashion week, sitting in the overheated tent in the Tulleries, it was really quite difficult to stay awake at the Chloé show. Paulo Melim Andersson, three seasons into his tenure, offered a collection which will no doubt be quickly dubbed 'eclectic,' a popular fashion euphemism... [more]
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