Quote of the Month

Dinarzade or Lillian Farley photographed by Edward Steichen, 1924

‘’As I went through the door to show my first dress, I had the impression of stepping into a perfumed, silk-lined jewel casket, the atmosphere was strongly charged. The men in their correct black tailcoats with the sleek, pomaded hair; the women in gorgeous evening dresses, plastered with jewels. It was hot, so hot, and the air was stifling with the mixed odours of perfume and cigarettes.’’

Lillian Farley in Chase, Edna Woolman and Chase, Ilka, 1954, Always in Vogue, London: Victor Gollancz Ltd. pp: 166

December's quote is a recollection by Lillian Farley, sometimes better known by her more exotic moniker ''Dinazarde'', recalling her first entrance as a mannequin in a fashion show at Jean Patou. Farley was one of the six celebrated mannequins brought from America to showcase the haute couture creations of Jean Patou. Although a lesser known name today than Chanel, Patou was a fashion marketeer par excellance, and knew what a great stir he would created in ''old Europe'' by showcasing his designs on a group of attractive yet ''modern'' American women. In turn, Farley's recollection here as recorded by Edna Woolman Chase (who worked for Vogue for an incredible 50 plus years rising to become its Editor-in-Chief, assisting in the ''birth'' of the British, French and German editions of the magazine along the way) reminds us of what an ''event'' a fashion show can be and the importance of the ''performance'' aspect that fashion can provide. Here in the depths of winter with heavy snowfall disrupting or preventing travel we can now revert to the comfort and convenience of the Internet via our laptops to obtain our ''fashion fix'', yet as Farley also reminds us, there is really no substitute for ''being there'', breathing in the atmospherics of the fashion, whether that be mannequin parade, or the spectacle of dressing up for a Christmas party. None of this can be substituted by the virtual experience. Farley's recollection is also an intriguing insight into the apparently more ''civilised'' experience of the early fashion shows, where the audience, men included, ''dressed-up'' for the occasion (no scruffy photographers scrabbling around in jeans and trainers) and where the heady atmosphere of excited anticipation for the new collections was heightened by the mixed aroma of perfume and cigarette smoke. Perhaps it was this kind of atmosphere Tom Ford had in mind to re-create when he presented his first own-label womenswear collection in September, where all but his ''official photographer'' Terry Richardson was banned, and the outfits paraded in the ''closed salon'' were worn by a mixture of high-profile characters, including Lauren Hutton, Beyoncé and Stella Tennant. Does this mark the return of the fashion show as an intimate ''insider'' event, where you have to be ''in-the-know'' to attend? As with Patou, Ford too is consummate marketeer, and so it will be interesting to see if others take to offering the ''first bite'' of their new collections to only select group of fashion insiders. Although judging by some of the outfits worn by the audience in recent pictures released from this show, it would appear the audience too will need to dress accordingly to rise to such occasions.

Searching for...Halston or Lanvin

There's a frisson of glamour in the air in a gloomy and wintry London this week. Following hot on the heels of speculation about who may or may be designing the future Duchess of Albany's wedding dress comes the launch of H&M's collaboration with Lanvin plus also the European premiere of the film Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston.

With Lanvin perhaps the party-dress label du jour, it came as no surprise to see a queue of eager fashion fans outside H&M's Oxford Circus flagship in readiness to get their hands on a piece of Parisienne chic from such a fabled house. In researching in and around the uses of fashion film it is curious to note how H&M have picked up on creating a short film to promote their tie-up with Lanvin - viewable here:

LANVIN FOR H&M. SEE THE FULL COLLECTION AT HM.COM

Taking the Paris-chic theme to its extreme, the film is created in the image of Guy Bourdin, best known for his fashion spreads for French Vogue and advertising campaigns for shoe company Charles Jourdan. This can be read in one of two ways, either as an homage to the innovative work of Bourdin (who was the subject of a retrospective exhibition at the V&A a few years ago), or perhaps as a pastiche, featuring Bourdin's evocative and mysterious women, dressed-to-the-nines, pursuing strange encounters in hotel rooms, with the odd French Maid-type slinking by with a pot of coffee. I'll leave it for you to decide...but for an original look at Bourdin's own experiments with film it's highly recommended to take a look at SHOWstudio's project which puts together several fragments that illuminate Bourdin's working processes as a highly accomplished fashion photographer.



In the same week we have the release of a feature film on another 1970s fashion stalwart (do we detect a trend in the air, happily coinciding with the 70s-esque S/S 11 trend for maxi-dresses, big hair and espadrilles?) that of Halston, the famed New York designer who dressed the best of the Studio 54 crowd and partied hard alongside them. Following on from other recent documentaries focusing on the fashion industry, such as the September Issue and Lagerfeld Confidential, it will be interesting to see how this new film adds to the developing genre of fashion documentaries and the fashion film genre as a whole, as well as seeing what kind of insight this film gives into the evocative world of a decadent period of the 1970s New York fashion scene.

Resources:

www.showstudio.com

www.halstonmovie.com/

Upcoming - 3rd Fashion in Film Festival

Exciting news - hot off the press - the 3rd Edition of the Fashion in Film Festival directed/curated by Marketa Uhlirova of CSM is coming up from 1st-12th December. I had the privilege of working on the 2nd Edition ''If Looks Could Kill'' back in 2008, and it looks like the 3rd Edition under the theme ''Birds of Paradise'' is shaping up to be even bigger and better, with an intriguing mix of film screenings being hosted at the Horse Hospital, Tate Modern, the Barbican and BFI Southbank. This edition is also set to include a series of ''off-site'' installations on a trail around London, together with an installation at Somerset House. Definitely this festival is a must for any fashion or film lover's diary as a number of rare or never-seen-before films are to be included in the programme.

Fashion in Film also participates in many other projects and events, with plans to visit New York and the Arnhem Mode Biennale in 2011, while Marketa's new book to be be published by Wallflower press is also due out next year - so plenty to keep an eye out for!

For the full Fashion in Film Festival programme listing visit:

www.fashioninfilm.com

Who will it be - Jigsaw or Westwood? Galliano or Marshall?

Souvenirs at the ready...

After much speculation and anticipatory rumor Prince William and Kate Middleton have today announced their engagement. While much comment has been generated over the choice of ring (William's mother, Princess Diana's own engagement ring) the real speculation in fashion circles is what will the bride be wearing, and perhaps as importantly, who will be given the task of creating what will no doubt become one of the most photographed, blogged and tweeted upon dress of the century? As a former employee of mid-range brand Jigsaw it's not outside the realm of possibility that in these straightened times that Kate may choose something ''off-the-peg''. More likely, however, the task will go to a ''name'' British designer, perhaps some satin-silk ''picture-dress'' with a huge bustle by Vivienne Westwood? Or perhaps an intricately embroidered number by Matthew Williamson? Or even something spiky yet seductive by Gareth Pugh or Hannah Marshall? Although fully-resident in Paris, John Galliano has on hand the full might of the Dior ateliers at hand...and one can only imagine what Alexander McQueen could have created...or perhaps Christopher Bailey could develop something tasteful with a little Burberry-check...and of course she must wear a hat or headdress of some kind, British milliners are second-to-none, step forward Stephen Jones...

Coming on the heels of recent royal weddings in Sweden and the Netherlands, such a state occasion offers the opportunity for Britain now, too, on an even grander scale to assert its authority in the sartorial stakes of its official consorts. While the sartorial battles between the likes of Michelle Obama, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy and Samantha Cameron are well documented, the royal consort holds a special place in the demonstrating the cultural, and thereby political, superiority of nation states. Although the potency of their sartorial influence has perhaps waned under the plethora of actresses, TV and pop-stars that now act as fashion's ''role models'', the royal consort still adds a certain glamorous and exotic allure that their less-than-royal counterparts cannot hope to provide, or indeed compete with, as examples such as Queen Rania of Jordon prove. Yet the figure of Kate Middleton provides a new-take on the ''fairy-tale'' updated for the 21st Century, being a middle-class girl from a wealthy, self-made family. In dressing Middleton for her wedding the designer entrusted with the task will not only be creating a fabulous gown for a one-off occasion, they will also find themselves on duty to provide a dress that defines a new era in bringing the royal wedding into the 21st Century

Design Relationships

McClaren C12

I am not really a big fan of cars as such - living in London a city seemingly snarled up with them, or having lived in NL too, where pretty much everywhere is accessible by public transport, not being a car owner is almost a no-brainer. Yet today at the RCA I had the opportunity to attend a panel talk hosted by the Vehicle Design Department, in part because I was intrigued more by the talks title than the speakers attending (not being very ''au fait'' with the ''names'' associated with car design generally) which went under the banner of ''Design Relationships - the ways design relates to commerce and the way it touches people''.

Design - especially for ''consumer goods'' such as clothes, cars, furniture, telephones or computers - is perhaps as much about the emotive or tactile quality as anything. This was certainly the key message put across by Neal Stone, Director of consultancy Leapstone, and formally of BA and GNER, who put it in terms of how design is the key link between commerce and people. In many way this is one of the standard arguments, that innovation comes through design, as a way of promoting the health and leadership of any given brand or product. Yet design, or rather designers who create and develop cars, or other products, have a very real role as ''problem solvers'' - with even car designers having to think through how to develop a vehicle that coincides with the principles of ''cradle-to-cradle''. Frank Stephenson, Design Director for McClaren, explained how the ''time-to-market'' for cars has changed from the usual 36 months, to 18 months, and how it is now even possible to develop a car in just 10 months, which is achieved with advances in the speeding up of the ''drawing-board'' and prototyping stages of car design. Deputy Director of the Helen Hamlyn Centre, Rama Gheerawo, explained how in looking at the role of cars in cities today it's necessary to garner the views of a cross-section of car users, from passionate ''petrol heads'' to complete car abstainers, since all have a valid view, and indeed stake, in the usage and perceptions of cars today. Looking at how cars can be more ''connected'' to our everyday lives - how they are used for both professional and personal occasions, he described some possible solutions to how this could come about, and how cars may in future may become more ''useful'' in their role as ''street furniture'', when cars spend so much time just sat passively in parking bays. Kenny Schachter, a curator, was a car enthusiast of a different kind. As furniture has come to be displayed as ''Design Art'', so too he believes, do cars have a role to play in the gallery or exhibition space, as beautiful objects whose aesthetics and meaning behind them can be celebrated in the same way so many other ''designed'' products can be, and are. He cited in particular the project he commissioned the architect Zaha Hadid to create, with a 3-wheel and four-wheel version of what became the ''Z-Car''. This idea of creating ''bespoke'' or ''limited'' edition vehicles almost brings car design back full-circle, to its beginnings, with cars initially the preserve of enthusiastic and adventurous inventors.

For each of the speakers, collaboration was a key theme in the context of car design, yet this is also a facet that applies to many other areas including fashion. Since to realise the vision or ambition of a particular concept requires the input, and co-operation of a number of stakeholders - from designer's ''drawing board'' through to end user. Yet, as was acknowledged in the Q&A session at the end of the panel presentations, the designer's role is today perhaps more complex than ever, as they have to negotiate the demands and needs of the various aspects their designed product impacts upon. Less about trends or ''styling'', instead the social impact has to be considered, and while building ''efficiency'' into the design process is important, helped along by innovations in technology, this cannot negate the quality or emotive aspects of design. As cars too, can be viewed as ''fashion'' objects, unveiled in the glamorous surroundings of glitzy car shows, this emotive and tactile quality makes them not only interesting, but also desirable.


Z-Car, four-wheel version, by Zaha Hadid

Research RCA: New Knowledge

''What is Fashion?'' this is the question I pose as part of my installation for Research RCA: New Knowledge - the first ever dedicated exhibition of the work of MPhil and PhD students held by the RCA.

In many ways this question ''What is Fashion?'' is less a statement than a provocation in re-assessing how we look at and consider what fashion is. While there is much commentary about fashion, both in the Fashion Press or Media and amongst those in academia who take up fashion as a serious subject of intellectual investigation, few have actually dared to ask the question out loud ''What is Fashion?''

In a well-known essay Valerie Steele, Director of the Museum at FIT in New York, has even gone as far as to state that for many Fashion is the ''F-word'' - something abusive, yet in turn itself also abused. This curatorial project seeks to address this stance, looking at the different ways in which we seek to define and process the meaning of what fashion is.

In the ''What is Fashion?'' section of my website I post up pictures of my installation together with a PDF copy of the accompanying brochure, with the aim of provoking a continuing and lively discussion. To join in the debate E-mail your thoughts, comments, ideas or images to: whatisfashion(at)nadabea.com

Details for the exhibition:

Research RCA: New Knowledge

22nd - 27th October 2010

Opening Times: 11.00 - 18.00 daily

Private View: 21st October 18.00-20.30

Venue: Gulbenkian Galleries, Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London. SW7 2EU.

Transport: Buses: 9, 10, 52 and 452 Tube: South Kensington and High Street Kensington

Quote of the Month

Fashion is inconceivable except as image. Fashion plays out in images, not on the streets. The fashion industry is intimately entwined with the logic of the illustration, the presentation. What stimulates our imagination are the illustrations, far too rarely the clothed individual himself. Less and less do we see the clothed person as an image, but more and more as a two-dimensional interpretation of that image. There is no fashion without the resonance in the logic of the illustration.

Lauwaert, Dirk, ‘I. Clothing and the inner being II Clothing is a thing III Clothing and Imagination IV Democratic snobbery’ in Brand, Jan, and Teunissen, José, Editors, 2006, The Power of Fashion: About Design and Meaning, Arnhem: ArtEZ Press and Terra Lannoo. pp: 183

This month's quote concerns fashion's relationship with images, and particularly the notion that because fashion is mostly perceived through images (such as those in magazine spreads) its aspect s flat. Yet this disconnects fashion from its very real haptic or tactile qualities. In exploring how and why fashion has become so popular as to be used in the promotion of such a wide variety of products, as I attempted to explain in my paper presented at the 2nd Global Conference on Fashion in Oxford, in part this is due to the very tangible nature of fashion. For everyone, the touch-quality of fashion is something that is perhaps very specific to the enjoyment of fashion - while we can all aspire to the images perpetuated through glossy fashion magazines - in ''real=life'' we also experience fashion through touch - with the clothes both in our wardrobes and those we encounter in shops. It is this tangible quality that many non-fashion brands and products seek to emulate in attempting to attach the idea of fashion to enhance the allure of their own products or services. Visible in the car industry, electronics and food. While the image of fashion remains important it is through the physical notion of touch that we perhaps truly experience fashion.