Sunday 11 August 2013

Film // Fashions 'Pope' and Women's Tales

Love him or hate him Karl Lagerfeld is a massive fashion name and is a household name, if you pray at the mans shoes then you might be interested to hear about a four hour German documentary by Martina Neuen. 

"Mode Als Religon" is a project comparing fashion to religion, which if fashion is your life it's a fairly good metaphor for the importance of fashion. Neuen comparin fashion devoiton to a relgious devotion, an idea I love especially since there are so many people to whom fashion is their religion. 


"Fashion involves powerful symbols, a tight-knit community, age-old rituals and a system of beliefs"

The film shot over 16 months follows Lagerfeld, Neuen also speaks to neurologists about how the emotions of a Catholic priest and devoted fashion addict react in the face of the their 'religions'. A comment which I find amazing, has fashion almost become a religion of sorts. 

Karl being Karl apparently seems himself as a fashion 'Pope' but would we expect anything less from Karl Lagerfeld himself. Also contaiting interviews with massive fashion names such as Claudia Schiffer, Linda Evangelista, Suzy Menkes and Sarah Jessica Parker it should be a must see for any who consider fashion their religion. 

If im honest I can't wait to see this when I get the chance, with such a really interesting stance and view point. I love fashion films and especially seing a deeper insight into peoples careers, The September Issue and Boss Woman being so interesing. 

I remember also catching BBC4 documentary The Secret World of Haute Couture and how Karl was featured in that was interesting so it'll be great to have a better insight. Also looking forward to see how our minds view fashion.

 Premiering September 7th 2013, Mode Als Religion is definitely one to watch out for. 



Also for anyone who loves fashion film Mui Mui are set to return the Venince Internation Film Festival on August 29th. Showing the latest in their series of silent short films named Women's Tales, the films focus on the roles of women and after shall have discussion panels about the roles of women in cinema. 

Other titles in the series include: 
 "The Power Room" Women's Tales #1 by Zoe Cassavetes 
"Muta" Women's Tales #2 by Lucrecia Martel 
"The Woman's Dress" Women's Tales #3 by Giada Colagrande
"It's Getting Late" Women's Tales #4 by Massy Tadjedin
"The Door" Women's Tales #5 by Ava DuVernay

All of the titles above which can be found //here// for anyone looking to watch them. Which I suggest you do, these wonderful silent films are so stunning and have so much depth to them. They're all perfectly filmed and remind me how film can be used in such a brilliant way.

Important dates for people's diary are August 29th and September 7th! 
Hope people get to catch both and i'll have to post my thoughts when I have.

Saturday 10 August 2013

Men // Clothing or Fashion?

Recently I've seen the topic of whether we think men are interesting with clothing or fashion being brought up, saying that men don't tend to respond as much to catwalks and menswear tending to take more time to focus on celebritys and male icons. 

I guess this is shown by the types of males people choose to look up to, tending to look up for more sports personalities rather than fashion icons. Generally saying they care more about brands linked with David Beckham or Tom Daley as opposed to various fashion names like Karl Lagerfeld or Terry Richardson. Although not saying that some men aren't influenced by those people either but the majority prefer celebrity endorsments over fashion.  


I think it is interesting how to women fashion, who's wearing what seems to be such a massive deal but with menswear there's still not as much of a hype. Why? There are some brilliant menswear designers out there, are men scared to admit they like fashion and it's still seen as a threat to their masculinity?

Recently Tommy Hilfiger said they'd be pulling out of menswear, yet menswear amounts to 60% of their sales. They've said they want to view other avenues to promote menswear. Personally I think menswear needs this added strength of having its own time of focus and to remove your company may not be the brightest of ideas but perhaps having your brand seen as less fashion based you're more clothing and therefor appeal to men? Is it the factor of men and peers opinions another reason men choose clothing not fashion?