Saturday night saw the Vauxhall Fashion Scout host a Fashion Film Club which showcased the latest talent in fashion design and directing. The five films explored different ways of representing clothing as well as setting particular themes in which the designers could explore all aspects of their collections.
The screening opened with a rather dark and gothic feature by the Kate Davies and Lauren McCalmont duo. The designers presented their Saint Martins MA 2009 collection, which focused on the idea of black bondage garments against a concrete backdrop. The graduate duo are known for their use of black, shapeless garments with head wear being something out of a bdsm fantasy. The film seemed represent the dark fetishes of the designers, whose inspiration I’m pretty must have come from an all black mood board.
“Dip dyed in Dusk”, was the second film screened - a complete contrast to the first one. With intricate floral and geometric inspiration the Milena Silvano designs seemed to scream summer. The short film, set in against a background of the forest, sand and sea seemed to reinforce the idea of the sunny period. Milena, who is known for her dreamscape style, captured the season well with her use of chiffon- see through loose dresses and hippy- free loving dance presented by the model.
The third screening, entitled “There Is No Such Place”, was presented by Neurotica. The London based fashion label explored the idea of print, colour and texture. For their short film, the designers chose to explore the kaleidoscopic setting on their camera. As the bat print dresses twisted and untangled for the audience on the screen, they were invited into the dreamy and dynamite fairytale world of the fashion label. The dense, poignant mood of the solid background contrasted with silk jersey textures mesmerized the viewers.
The “Theatre De La Mode” production concentrated on the early 90’s style with sartorial references to Run DMC and MC Hammer. Their video explored loose jumpsuits, buttoned up shirts and enough faded red and blue to take you back in time. All this shown off by the models pulling a variety of different shapes and poses with African inspired prints popping up on the screen. The label, which experiments with prints, transferred them from the garments onto the screen, which was an unusual and interesting transition.
The screening ended with a second presentation from Kate Davies and Lauren Mccalmont featuring their Spring/Summer 2010 collection - a complete contrast to their previous one… You know all black… well now it’s all…white. Similar loose fitting designs, the same fetish headwear but all in crystal white. This created a fitting ending to the 20 minute feature which showed fashion in a more conceptual, artistic, and romanticized way.
The “Theatre De La Mode” production concentrated on the early 90’s style with sartorial references to Run DMC and MC Hammer. Their video explored loose jumpsuits, buttoned up shirts and enough faded red and blue to take you back in time. All this shown off by the models pulling a variety of different shapes and poses with African inspired prints popping up on the screen. The label, which experiments with prints, transferred them from the garments onto the screen, which was an unusual and interesting transition.
Words: Raf Jaworski
Images: Katherine Barton