Flying Away

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>> I'm not normally into doing pre-event reminders.  It's a bit of a fluffy post when you have nothing to say except "Buy tickets STAT!".  Still, I know that I hated it enormously when I missed out on the last edition of the Fashion in Film Festival, curated by the hugely knowledgeable Marketa Uhlirova and so this time round, whilst I'm missing a good chunk of it due to being in Hong Kong, hopefully I can urge those that are in town from now until the 12th December to go ahead and gorge on the fantastic programming.  It's worth repeating what I said when I last previewed/reviewed the festival, which is that films about fashion may be few and far between (and not very well executed), fashion existing within films is a far more potent source.  I also feel like very often the same films are quoted over and over again (you know the ones – Breakfast at Tiffany's, Rosemary's Baby, Clueless etc etc…) as fashion inspiration sources and so it's therefore refreshing that the Fashion in Film Festival puts maximum effort into curating a selection of films that are rare and just as rich in terms of inspiration.  After attending quite a few of FFF's screenings, I knew I came out grinning from ear to ear at the imagery I just saw and then cursing the internet for not having any records of stills (thus making it hard to illustrate what I've seen…).  Looking at the programme, it seems a lot of the films traverse some super stylised lines, with a distinct focus on 'excess' and 'spectacle', especially in the early films that explore themes of Orientalism and exotica.  This physically translates to feathers, bling, glitter and an excessive amount of fabric from what I can see in these stills…

Affairs of Anatol
(The Affairs of Anatol, USA 1921. Dir Cecil B. DeMille)

BFI-secrets of the orient
(Secrets of the East (Geheimnisse des Orients/ Shéhérazade), Germany, France 1928. Dir Alexandre Volkoff)

L'île d'amour4
(The Island of Love (l'Île d'amour), France 1928. Dir Jean Durand, Berthe Dagmar)

Moulin rouge 1928
(Moulin Rouge, Great Britain 1928. Dir E.A. Dupont)

PECHEUR_PERLES_03
(The Pearl Fisher (Le pêcheur de perles), France 1907. Dir Ferdinand Zecca)

SPECTRE ROUGE_03
(The Red Spectre (Le Spectre rouge), France 1907. Dir Segundo de Chomón)

Anyhow, despite the lack of accompanying imagery I'm going to try and do some florid language reviewing reviewing for the latter half of the programme but for now, all I can do is violently urge you to go book up some tickets! (the festival is being held at the The Horse Hospital, The Tate Modern, BFI Southbank and the Barbican so you have to book at the respective venues). Perhaps a succint and sumptuous trailer will be the decisive factor…

21 comments

  1. I saw this festival when it was at the Arnolfini in Bristol! It was so inspiring, I am booking up tickets now! X

  3. The video is wonderful as are the amazing still images. Sounds like such a cool festival!! <3
    skiepies.blogspot.com/

  7. I love the idea of this festival! Through your post I found out they also do things in Holland. I still might visit London next year, to experience the real thing though!

  8. Le Spectre Rouge is such a weird movie!
    I used to show it in my History of Costume and Set design Class.

  10. Hello! I new here, but I just want to say that your blog is the best fashion blog I’ve ever seen! It’s so informative, interesting and laid-back at the same time. You have an immaculate sense of style and taste, so looking at the images you’re posting here is very inspiring for me. Thank you for sharing your texts and photos. I’m definitely a reader now!
    Kind wishes from Sweden,
    Antonia

  13. All very captivating films, great post, and I love your blog, but i recently stumbled across a better one. This boy is only a teenager, and is struggling to get his blog viewings up. He does all his own fashion stuff… and draws illustrations by every post. I don’t actually know him, but i was amazed by his work and actually want to help him.
    http://www.hersecondskin.blogspot.com

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