Prèt-à-Porter

As mentioned before, for my thesis on film and fashion I'm analyzing Robert Altman's Prèt-à-Porter. The film is a parody and satire on the fashion world, and ridicules the industry. The movie, set during Paris Fashion Week, sends out a quite stereotype and negative message that only greed, betrayal and shallow 'keeping up appearances' are of the greatest importance in the business.

And yet, never did I see a Hollywood picture in which so many 'real designers and models appeared; Jean Paul Gaultier, Gianfranco Ferré -back then working for Dior-, Sonia Rykiel, Christian Lacroix, Issey Miyake, Campbell, Schiffer, Christensen... And not to mention the designs by many other great fashion houses. It's a shame that I've left the DVD at home, but when I return for the weekend I'll put up a screen shot of the end credits, so you can discover which designs -by whom- were featured in this 'fashion film' yourself! This movie beats Sex and The City for sure.

But the 'communications scientist' in me can't help but wonder; why were these fashion icons so happy to work on this project, if it puts the industry in bad daylight? Is bad publicity better than no publicity?

For anyone who loves fashion, this movie is a must!



Don't let this boring trailer mislead you, the film is much more fun...
And the title chosen for this movie is genius, Ready To Wear, when all designs presented are totally unwearable.

edit: And according to literature, Karl Lagerfeld was so furious that one of Altman's characters portrayed the french designer of chanel as a 'thief' that he called in the German juridical system and had the movie banned from German cinema's. But the picture does however feature quite some product placement by the house of Chanel. Curious and curiouser...

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...