Birds of Paradise: The Fashion Film Festival

Promising to be a "major extravaganza in costume spectacle, dance and diabolical glamour," the 3rd Fashion in Film Festival in London, is coming this December 1-12.  Curated by Marketa Uhlirova, the films will focus on the use of costume as a spectacular cinematic element as seen in European and American films from the 20th century.  Included in the programme are many early rare and unseen films, as well as some of the lavishly styled underground films of the mid-century.

Last week I had the pleasure to hear Marketa speak at a fashion media conference at the London College of Fashion.  She spoke in depth about the films and showed us some tantalising preview footage!

Screenings will take place at the BFI Southbank, Tate Modern, The Barbican, and the Horse Hospital. So if you live in London, or will be near London in early December, don't be surprised if "diabolical glamour" abounds.

More Doris Langley Moore

I had seen this series of BBC documentaries on fashion history entitled What We Wore on VHS in the London College of Fashion Library, but regretfully never borrowed them because I don't  have a VCR.  Currently I don't have borrowing privileges at London College of Fashion because I finished my MA, and the library card has been cut off.  A quick search for the series online opened up the magical realm of the BBC Archive site, where all of the clips can be viewed.


This series was remarkable, not only for its insightful look at dress history in the contemporary context of 1957 Britain, but they were the first BBC programmes to be broadcast in colour! 


I do recommend spending an evening viewing them all - Enjoy the brilliance of the colours as well as Ms. Langley Moore's rather stern commentary and dry sense of humour.  Do also salute her for being a pioneering fashion curator and great innovator of linking fashion to a wider social and cultural context.

Some screen shots I took below illustrate the range and highlights of the programme's topics.


Enjoy!

Shanghai Surprise: Prada's Spring Awakening

Pictures usually succeed where words will fail, and in fashion it seems that video is having more than its day as a medium for artistic advertising. On the streets of Shanghai in a world of nostalgia outside of time, Prada presents its spring/summer 2010 menswear collection in this spellbinding short film by Yang Dufong.

Do watch the film, but make sure to dim the lights, and prepare for magic realism in stark black and white.