High Fashion on the Big Screen - Rodarte's Black Swan

Patricia, my Fashion Film-partner in crime sent me this Style.com-link the other day, something I most definitely would have overlooked due to packed agendas: High Fashion on the Big Screen. I was delighted to see this lovely overview, although it made me miss working on my thesis. And I learned a few new things as well: I never knew that the Wizard of Oz-slippers where by Salvatore Ferragamo!

all images via Style.com

Yesterday I saw Black Swan by the way. Although it's a movie about the dance industry, I was glad that it wasn't a 'Save the Last Dance'-type of movie. The story is quite dark and scary, and Portman's performance is amazing -great moves by the way! Many things were said about Rodarte not getting any credit for their costume designs (I guess not much has changed in the last 100 years since fashion films emerged). Yes, the outfits in the movie are perfect. As I took ballet-classes when I was a kid, I would love to wear any of tutus shown in the film, but the White and Black Swan-outfits were beautiful but not as fashion-forward as I thought they would be, especially since it caused such a stir. They were just so conservative for being by the hand of my beloved Rodarte. What do you think?

Eitherway, on a different note, Patricia and two of her fashionable friends have launched a new fashion blog: Ella & Louise! I love it since it so versatile. Street style, personal style and fashion news; Great combo!

Lily and the Lady.com

If there is one girl I'm pretty jealous of at the moment, it must be Patricia! She's a fashion journalist for Belmodo.tv (think: gets to go to the coolest fashion parties ever), has an amazing wardrobe (YSL cage-sandals!) and recently moved to London (!) to study fashion communication (!!!). And to top all that, she's one of the funnest and nicest girls I know, so hating her is impossible.

So, when she told me that she and her mom would start their own web shop, I immediately knew that it would be a hit. The items they picked out for Lily and the Lady are too cute - check out my sister's wish list here - and the site looks and feels super professional yet very personal, since it provides a lot of info and feedback.

Here's a sneak peak of some of the cool pieces Lily and the Lady features - btw. I just placed my order for the Best Behavior-legging!- but make sure to explore the rest of the web shop. It's well worth it. Especially since Shark Attack-vistors will be rewarded with a 10 euro discount when placing a 50 euro-order. And, the rest of the month shipping will be free throughout the whole of Belgium!

Just enter this promotion code when adding your must-have item to the shopping bag:

7r2tl9yh0g

Krizia explains on her blog how you do this.

Have fun and keep me posted on what you picked out for yourselves...
Oh and I want to wish both Patricia and her mom all the best with this great project! Well done!

The Sartorialist - Blogger Event

Today was amazing! Not only did we get to meet Mr. Schuman, - such a nice and friendly guy!!! - but I got to meet up with some of my old friends, who by chance were also invited to the blogger event....

So before I put up any pictures of our day, I wanted to present you some of these cool bloggers!

Me -yes, I finally wore my Proenza-dress!-, the lovely Marie from Oona, Miss Patricia from 

Dit Geheel Terzijde & Belmodo.tv and Mr. Michaël from Belmodo.tv

Stèv from Monieur/Mademoiselle and Otto from Otto Vankerkhove

SATC 2

Fashion product placement in Film = Sex and The City:

So excited to see the sequel, not for the plot - SATC 1 was quite boring- but for the clothes, off course.

On the last day of our trip to New York City, we spotted part of the cast and crew at Bergdorf's.

It made our day. And I think Cynthia Nixon looks more beautiful in real life than she does on screen.

Patricia Field

Cynthia Nixon / Miranda

Btw.

I have no idea why 'blogger' keeps cutting my pictures in half, when I select the 'small' size picture-button...

Mr. Scott Schuman

Krizia and I have been writing and talking about the event so much lately, that when finally the day of the meeting arrived, we were speechless for the rest of the day. Yesterday was kind of surreal for sure.

Oona had invited us -as 'fashion bloggers'- for a roundtable meeting with the renowned street style photographer. And it was a great experience; listening to what his thoughts are on style and what his vision of The Sartorialist is. 

Mr. Schuman comes off as a passionate person with a great love for what he does, not someone who takes it for granted, you know? Although he made a little joke from time to time during the conversation, I -unlike others there- do think that he takes his 'job' very seriously. I got the impression his experience in the fashion business has something to do with his success: not that he knows the right people, I'm sure he does, but he just sees the project as a brand. As something that needs to be perfect, consistent and of high quality at every time. But unlike some other brands, he does not compromise when it comes to his own work. When I asked him how he balances the commercial aspects -e. g. his project for Burberry 'Art of the Trench'- with his personal beliefs of style and his own integrity, he mentioned that when he's signing contracts he makes sure that the brand, which he is cooperating with, are hands off of the blog. And that he'll only put up pictures of the project on The Sartorialist he is comfortable with. "It's just that level of honesty and integrity, that's what [the brands] are buying into [when we are doing projects like this]" Mr. Schuman said.

Some communication scientists say that blogs are all about integrity and credibility. After yesterday, I can only say that The Sartorialist is just that...


Thank you, Mr. Schuman
and thank you, Oona and Maasmechelen Village!



And now for some good old fashioned childlike excitement;
did I mention that Patricia and me got to interview him for Jim Tv???
We were so nervous and didn't have the best questions since it was all done spontaneously... but Mr. Schuman is the best, he gives the best and longest answers, so we got our 10 minutes filled up perfectly!
Watch Jim Tv next week on wednesday night for the report!


Click on the pictures to enlarge them - credits go to the Oona-photographer!

Pictures my sister and I took 

Back home... 

More pictures to come... 

The Sartorialist Interview

Tonight the interview Patricia & I got to do with Mr. Schuman will air on JIMtv's Spotlight.
(at 4.45pm - 8pm - 10.45pm)

I'm so terribly nervous, just like during the conversation with him. Hopefully we asked the 'right' questions and come off okay, since we are not professionals -which we stressed several times during the interview- and we were not prepared at all.

Fingers crossed.



Oh and a big thanks to An for giving us the opportunity!

Product Placement

Another weekend has passed and once again, I've spent it working on my thesis. Since I'm analyzing the use of product placement in 'fashion films', I have to check which brands I and my two 'assistants' (my sister and boyfriend) are featured in the four films I've selected for my research.

Remember when I did the same thing for Sex and the City?

Back then I spotted 25 different high end fashion brands. My sister did the same thing two weeks ago, and got 23 brands, while my boyfriend found 17, if I can figure out his hand writing correctly. Chanel got a leading role in the movie since it was featured the most amongst the brands.

Yesterday, my boyfriend helped me out with The Devil Wears Prada. And Patricia Field and the producers did a great job on this one. Just by recognizing bags, boxes, and labels in the back drop, or listening to which designers and fashion houses the characters are talking about we've found a whole list of fashion brands; Although he claimes he doesn't have a good eye for these sort of 'where-is-wolford?' and other brand recognition-games, my boyfriend spotted 30 different brands. My list on the other hand featured 32 labels. Once again Chanel was the big winner, although Prada is mentioned in the title and gets the spotlight.

I'm planning to do the same thing for Confessions of a Shopaholic, Funny Face and Prêt-à-Porter, which should be interesting since the two latter are more of a parody on the fashion world. Furthermore, I'm going to analyze the four films on what message they send out; a Hollywood dream world or rather "don't sell your soul for shoes and bags"?

Either way, although the high amount of brands featured in these films might be irritating for the viewer, they don't disrupt the film experience, nor are they perceived as payed advertisement. Since the main story is set in the fashion world, it is only natural that the characters talk constantly about their favorite fashion label or that bags and recognizable must-haves are lying around in the background? And that all of the scenes take place in luxurious fashion stores and fashion salons? The fashion film is the natural habitat of product placement, and this without giving the crowd the feeling that they're watching a commercial...

Think again, this scene bothered me the most...