Fashion Influences Film

source - Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures, Imaxtree

 Who knows, maybe the sight of this would make Alexander McQueen smile. His Harry Potter-inspired fashion spectacle was textbook material and it surely is interesting that one of his Fall/Winter 08-creations now seems to copied for the latest Harry Potter film.

Film influences fashion influences film.

Sex and the City - in my opinion

So it has been a week now since Sex and The City has been released in Belgium. I hope you all have seen the movie by now, so that I don't ruin your fun by revealing the movie plot.

(picture: imdb.com)

So, that's why you can read the review after the jump:
*spoiler alert*

Getting ready for Sex and the City 2

So tonight, my sister and I are finally going to see Sex and the City 2 at our local theater. We've got tickets for a so called 'Ladies Night' so I'm curious to see what all the fuss is about that kind of events.

Only thing is that my sister has a fever and she's been sleeping on our couch for the whole day now, but she still wants to come along. Hopefully the movie will exceed my expectations so she'll be able to think less about her feeling bad, and more about all the clothes (read: product placement) she wan't to have...

Since I'm in a Tiffany blue kind of mood today, I decided to try out the Chanel Le Vernis Riviera-nailpolish, also because I hate wearing 'matchy matchy' colors (Nouvelle Vague is practically identical). The color is perfect, I always love raspberry-inspired nail polish.

Sex and the City - Product Placement

Quote of the day:

"Sex and the City 2 (...) brandishes enough product placements to embarrass a Formula One driver..."
(Telegraph.co.uk, 25/05/2010)



This morning I was reading some SATC2 reviews -like this one for instance-, when this little line mentioned above made me smile.
Wednesday I'm going to see the movie during a so-called 'ladies night' at our local theatre. I am excited to see the movie, but I can't help but feeling that I won't be able to enjoy the movie since I probably will be watching it with a 'I-wrote-my-thesis-about-this-subject-and-now-I-can't-help-but-criticise-the-film-constantly'-perspective. No fun at all.

So, which of you have already seen the movie? And what did you think? Are the film critics right?

Film and Fashion: Coco Chanel

Apparently I've missed this film, 'cause I had no idea this movie was released in Belgium back in January... Has anyone seen the film yet? And is it any good? I've heard that it's somewhat slow? But from what I can tell from the trailer, the mise-en-scène is beautiful, as well as the costumes the main character is wearing... 

Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky

I told you many times about Lagerfeld's short films for Chanel, but did you know that Gabrielle Chanel worked for Hollywood? Sam Goldwyn 
offered her one million dollars to design for MGM in 1931. But after a 
year she left the industry since she supposedly didn't get along with 
Gloria Swanson, whom she dressed in Tonight or Never. Bruzzi 
states that "Chanel was inflexible when asked to tailor her style to 
the needs of the film or to divest her costumes of the understated 
chic which had become her couture trademark" (1997, p. 3).


Btw. Bruzzi's Undressing Cinema-book is a must read for anyone who 
is interested in film and fashion! It helped me out for my thesis a lot.
Check out Google Books...

Sex and the City Inquiry

For my second chapter in my Fashion/Film-thesis, I am writing a segment on product placement in fashion movies. Since the first Sex and the City-movie got awarded with the title 'Film Whore of the Year' by the Brandcameo Product Placement Awards, I just had to mention the film.

Als we all know, the movie is packed with the namedropping of high fashion brands, glamourous -recognizable- fashion must haves and tie-ins. The collaboration with Bag Borrow or Steal is the most remarkable, in my opinion. After the e-shop was mentioned explicitly, the number of members increased by 217%, and more importantly, the number of 'bag borrows' rose up to 400%. And the website gets the idea of product placement and tie-ins perfectly: "Look like a SATC star: Carry Bags Seen in the Movie".

(source: Bag Borrow or Steal)

Many significant authors state that the reason why these marketing techniques are a success, is because they give the film viewer the illusion that they can follow into their favorite star's footsteps and be a little like them. The movie as well as the leading characters become sales men and once again, Hollywood functions as a dream maker -remember what I concluded about the shirt scene in It Happened One Night?

Vanity Fair send two fashion reporters to examine how many brands were exposed in the movie. They counted about 25 fashion brands, excluding fashion magazines, stores and other brands. But since the two probably were experts on the subject, I was wondering how much of these fashion brands will a 'normal viewer' spot and recognize?

If by any chance you are planning to watch the movie again, and if you care to join me, and help me count, you are all more than welcome! Every dress -, shoe -, purse designer that you can spot, counts in this one, even the one the four ladies namedrop... Thanks a million.

Edit: I have just finished up searching for the 'hidden' labels in the film, and I've found every brand the Vanity Fair team reported, except for Ferregamo, Nike and Adidas. I did however spot some brands that they didn't find: Judith Leiber, Roberto Cavalli and the rainbow bird of paradise Alexander McQueen dress, which is quite saddening given today's tragic event.

Alice au Printemps

If there is one subject I have been blogging about too much now, it has to be Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. The movie hasn't hit theaters yet, and I would already describe it as a fashion film, since so many top designers already have been inspired by Lewis Caroll's story.

My sister and I have mentioned the jewelry lines (Stella's and Swarovski's) and the editorial in Vogue's December 2003 issue. But do you remember the post about the Alice-window display at the Parisian department store Printemps? It's finally here -or there, to be more precise- until March 14th.

Nicolas Kirkwood's sketch has become reality. And I think the shoes are 'Alice'-inspired in an obvious way, but nonetheless very cool and clever. Both his and the story signature 'design' is incorporated in the shoe. Those window mannequins don't know how lucky they are to wear them.

The shoe designer states: “I think my favorite Alice character is the March Hare. You can see I’ve made his watch rather prominent. This was a different design process for me, because I’m not usually so applicative—typically, I’m thinking about line, silhouette. But this time, I figured, why not just pile as much as I can on top?”

And how I wish I could go admire the store's windows myself. Christopher Kane, Alexander McQueen and Haider Ackermann; I would go crazy.

Alice au Printemps des Merveilles.
Photos by Francis Peyrat.

For more wonderful Wonderland-designs, go to Style File.

Edit: Every time I see those last few pictures, I think of Donnie Darko.

Shark Attack 2

Yesterday evening my sister was browsing teletext, when she started laughing and said: "Look what's on tonight!". Apparently the movie that was about to start, was called Shark Attack 2. I had no idea that this was the name of a film, but I do find it quite funny though. We watched for about 10 minutes when we agreed with imdb.com; this isn't the best shark movie.

Btw. More film related news: The Alice in Wonderland-jewelry line by Stella McCartney at Shark Attack 1. Click on both our Alice tags below to find more on collection inspired by Tim Burton's upcoming movie.

It Happened One Night

Through many films, Hollywood acts as a 'dream maker'. Movies might offer its public the wish to want something more in their lives like e.g. a prince charming by their side or a more exciting life. Fashion films do not differ in this aspect, since they often are based on the Cinderella-motive and the viewer -along with the main character- dreams of a job in the fashion world or a closet filled with the latest trends.

Al though It Happened One Night (1934) is usually classified as a romantic comedy -in stead of a fashion film-, this movie had a great influence on fashion at that time. In the scene where Clark Gable is getting ready to go to bed, he undresses only to reveal that he is not wearing an undershirt, which allegedly caused the sales of the undergarments to drop. I still need to investigate this fact properly for my thesis, but this is what IMDB states:

"While shooting the scene where he undresses, Clark Gable had trouble removing his undershirt while keeping his humorous flow going and took too long. As a result the undershirt was abandoned altogether. It then became cool to not wear an undershirt which resulted in a large drop in undershirt sales around the country. Legend has it that in response, some underwear manufacturers tried to sue Columbia."

How is this connected with Hollywood's Dreams Can Come True-policy, you might think? The female viewer might never get married to the movie star, but she could however get herself a man who did not wear undershirts.

Gable starts undressing around 1:45 min.

Armani'can Gigolo

My dad already is a great help in finding valuable sources for my Fashion/Film-thesis, since he found me an important article on the subject. The piece primarily focusses on Anna Wintour, and her direct and indirect influence on films and Hollywood. The September Issue is only one example.

In that documentary creative director Grace Coddington states that fashion has become entertainment, which will probably support the outcome of my hypothesis. Film and fashion go hand in hand since the beginning of the 20th century and this synergy has worked out for many designers, such as Hubert de Givenchy who collaborated intensively with Audrey Hepburn for various projects. Another designer that had the best of both worlds is Giorgio Armani.

The article compares him with Wintour. She was the first to put Hollywood stars on the cover, while Armani was the first to dress them up for red carpet-events. In my first chapter however, I mention him as a costume designer for numerous films such as Miami Vice and the gangsters in The Untouchables. Armani's relationship with film is most prominent -in my opinion- in American Gigolo. The opening shot of the movie says it all: Richard Gere goes out for the perfect date-outfit.

Below, you'll find the trailer of this 80's movie.

That voice-over is hilarious.

Alice

I can honestly say that New York City is my favorite city in the whole wide world. Not that I've been to every city in the whole wide world. But still, I'm pretty sure that it's one of the most exhilarating places ever. I wish I was there right now.

At least then I could head towards the MoMa and visit the Tim Burton exhibit. I'm a huge fan of his work.

And so, here is another film I wish I could see today, in 2- ànd 3D!

Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter look amazing, as well as the sets! (btw. I don't know why but Depp reminds me of Madonna)

You'll find the first trailer and pictures of the characters on my sister's blog.

More Alice in Wonderland fashion news:

there is a jewelry line coming up and

prominent designers such as McQueen, Kane, Demeulemeester and Margiela will design some Alice inspired dresses to be displayed at

Paris' Printemps in February.

Update:

Stella McCartney is designing a jewelry line as well! And my sister has uploaded the first look of the line!

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...

Tom Ford

And now a film I am really really really really excited about: Tom Ford's A Single Man!

The trailer has been out for a couple of months now, but I love watching it again from time to time.

The use of camera and music, the editing, the sets, the lack of text in this segment ...

I really have high hopes for this one. Too bad the release date in Belgium is still months away.

I wish I saw the full Tom Ford on the Martha Stewart-show segment,

even though I still don't get that.