I don‚Äôt mean to be constantly aping content from the new issue of Let Them Eat Cake today. Blame it on the fact that the new issue is packed with the good stuff in a way that I never expected it to be considering the first issue was an A5 pamphlet affair. An interesting article about the growing number of fashion documentaries being made which concluded that though films like Rudolphe Marconi‚Äôs Lagerfeld Confidential or Lo√Øc Prigent‚Äôs Marc Jacobs & Louis Vuitton were never going to be massive box office hits, but that the niche audience and the demand for them is never going to go away. It raised the obvious points that for fashion lovers, a lot of designers tend to be enigmas and beyond that bow at the end of their catwalk show, we‚Äôre not exactly saturated with their exposure in the public eye. Of course we get a wee bit curious about those people who create the stuff we dissect and lust after, and perhaps it is a little shameful that when I see an interview with Stefano Pilati in a magazine, I devour it in an instant. I say shameful only because I get the feeling that a lot of designers don‚Äôt want to be ‚Äòdevoured‚Äô in that way and only want their work to do the talking…
This was even more apparent when I went to see a screening of Roger Burton’s Vive le Punk at The Horse Hospital on Tuesday. It is the only recorded interview of Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood, filmed in 1993 at the opening of the Vive Le Punk exhibition which effectively started The Horse Hospital venue. It was slightly eerie that the interview was filmed in the very room I was watching it in but even more remarkable that the interview was MOSTLY very candid. Both McLaren and Westwood talking about the beginnings of their store Let it Rock on Kings Road, turning into SEX, Seditionaries and eventually Worlds End (the store was designed by Roger Burton). The camera work is very basic to say the least, the sound quality isn’t great but all in all, it’s perfectly imperfect because those tidbits were all there. The teddy boys who came to the Let it Rock store and trashed the place. The pedantic people who would come to the store not to buy anything but just to say that teddy boy fluorescent socks were the wrong shade of pink. The chicken bones that Vivienne laboriously boiled up so that they would crystalise and she could use them to make slogan t-shirts. The SEX store appealing to fetish groups who organised days of walking around London in full on fetish gear. The obscene t-shirts that got Westwood and McLaren arrested. A genuine speech by Westwood that was full of genuine feeling about the environmental state of the world, taking into account she said this 15 years ago which she has now doctored into something of a manifesto.
Reading the article in LTEC, and having seen all the aforementioned fashion documentaries, it does strike me that trying to cream the truth from a designer isn‚Äôt easy. There are very noticeable flaws within all those films in their representations of the designers and this is down to of course what facets the designers themselves deem ‚Äòscreenable‚Äô. Even in Vive Le Punk, something very VERY fly-on-the-wall, I could see a little of McLaren checking himself before he said something. So, if the truth is never going to out, and we only get beautiful facets along with facts that the designers themselves want to showcase in these films, then beautiful visions of designers by various film directors is the best we can hope for and I for one am clamouring for more…
So much so that I came up with some fantasy fashion film combos that would really get the DVD expenditure going…
Alber Elbaz directed by Sofia Coppola – Coppola might only be interested in telling stories about girls in different transient stages in their lives but I think she’d have a thing or two to say about a man who many many women want to be dressed by. Plus, I feel like there’d be many a quirk to come from this teddy bear of a man that would make compelling viewing.
Boudicca directed by Anton Corbijn ‚Äì So ‚ÄòControl‚Äô got panned as a bit too ‚Äòstyle-over-substance‚Äôbut since I feel Boudicca has A LOT of substance behind their designs (delve into their website and you‚Äôll see what I mean…), I think a deft stylish hand from Corbijn would strike a perfect balance.
Gareth Pugh directed by Alistair Allan – The Dirty Dirty Dancing photographer is actually embarking on his first film project this year and seeing as the two are familiar with each other, it would seem almost a piece of cake to get a film together that flowed and speeded through London’s East End.
Bernhard Willhelm directed by Michel Gondry – I get the feeling Gondry’s imagination would go into overdrive once Willhelm lets him into his Antwerpian world. I want crafty DIY projects made by both director and designer and the clothes to be animated in the way that I always imagine whenever I see a Bernhard Willhelm collection.
Rodarte directed by Rian Johnson – They’re both delightfully unexpected surprises from America and up and coming. They both take dark subject matter and make them look beautiful. Something amazing could happen here and I feel it in my distressed holey crocheted tights-clad legs.
Peter Jensen directed by Wes Anderson – I’m thinking they both share a love of moleskin notebads filled with sketches. Jensen could provide Anderson with a lot of superb props that he has a knack of employing as one of the characters in his films. I’d look forward to buying a carefully selected soundtrack.
Pray tell, what would be your fantasy fashion doc?
I love the idea of Sofia Coppola directing a film on/with Alber Elbaz as the subject…
Though methinks I’d really love to see a Jean-Pierre Jeunet take on Bernard Wilhelm, something about the latter’s clothes just gives off that vibe.
And I know it’ll never happen, but I’d LOVE to see an Alfonso Cuaron or Terry Gilliam doc on Comme de Garcons.
Already seeing these in action!…. Alfonso Cuaron could take on all kinds of designers… how could I have omitted him!
Hey Susie, what are your other favourite fashion mags? Sometimes I go into Borders and I can be there hours trying to choose the ‘best’ ones, but then I often get them home and I’m a but dissapointed by my choices! x
An enthusiastic YES to Cuaron!! He would be simply amazing. I think it might be a fun combination for Miyazaki to give it his interpretation of Marc Jacobs + Murakami collaboration…an animated documentary! Also, Spike Lee + Tracy Reese and Lars von Trier + someone like Jil Sander would be on my list.
Gareth Pugh! My favorite designer ever ever ever! I dont care who he does what with, it would be amazing no matter what 😀
-Giselle <3<3<3
Funny, I’ve had that photo of Jordan standing outside Sex on my desktop for ages!
Great post!
I can imagine Christian Louboutin directed by Wong Kar Wai!
I can imagine Louboutin’s red soles and Wong’s dimly lit, dramatic takes all over a street…
Oh-so-wonderful!
I most definitely agree with Bernard Willhelm and Michel Gondry!
A perfect pairing!!!
I was also thinking Christian Lacroix directed by Eric Rohmer.
giancinephile – great suggestion re: Wong Kar Wai!!
I’m with Minjae re: Wong Kar Wai and Louboutin being a fab idea..and glad to see there are other Cuaron fans here too 🙂
If Tim Walker ever took to filmmaking, I’d love to see what he does for Eley Kishimoto. Just a thought…
superb post! i’m thinking tim burton could draw out the dark luella girl, especially with the witchy a/w collection, it’s feeling too sickly by now!
I don’t mean to be a downer but it looks like that destroy shirt has a swastika on it, maybe they were trying to push boundaries, but after all that killing, I don’t really find it fashionable. I do however love your blog! And I am not trying to start a debate, just mentioning what i noticed.
I can’t imagine any duos better than the ones you’ve come up with. I’d love to somehow see them brought to life.
Like a fool I was being a lazy reader, skimming through this post…resulting in my nearly wetting myself at the combination of designer and director you have compiled. Upon further inspection I realised all was fantasy. Alas. Loving the post Susie B.
Alexander McQueen by David Lynch, for sure!
oooh excellent post! to add to the already wonderful suggestions – Marc Jacobs with Spike Jonze – I think Jonze would bring out the weird humour well; Lynch or Cronenberg with… almost anyone! esp. Hussain Chalayan, or Mcqueen, or maybe Christopher Kane…
I’d love to see Tim Walker turn to film, that’d be amazing, no matter who the designer.
Vivienne Westwood, how I love you so. Very excellent post Susie!!
Hmmm… I think something like Nicholas Ghesquiere with Roman Polanski would be very mysterious and interesting.
Marc Jacobs & Louis Vuitton was very interesting.would you like to link with me?
ah susie i am so envious of all the exciting cultural events you’re going to. sounds fascinating!
xoxo
Balenciaga/Ghesquiere and Alejandro Gonz√°lez I√±√°rritu…*swoon*
/DCB.
you have jumpstarted all kinds of thoughts in my brain susie!! I would like to see Lars Von Trier do Carol Christian Poell (or MA+, or any of the “arte povera” designers), because they both have a ‘less is more’ creed and prefer to let the craft speak for itself rather than embellish it with nonsense!
Wow… I love all of your suggestions…. do you think a letter to the director pleading them to take on fashion subject matter might do the trick?
I’d watch anything by Michael Gondry, even if it was an hour long tape of him eating Spaghetti-O’s.
But I’d love to see Stanley Kubrick and Hussein Chalayan because of their futurist perspectives, and David Lynch with Gareth Pugh, I think the nightmarish side of Pugh’s designs would work well Lynch’s style.
great post.
how bout Jan Svankmajer for Undercover? it is somewhat feasible as they both were featured giving each other love in A magazine…
Jim Jarmusch for Comme des Garcons would be a dream pairing.
Jan Svankmajer – great suggestion!
Its a great post..well done..i really like it..
Wonderful post. Would also love to see Jeong Jae-eun do a film on Keoun Park. Or
Alain Berliner doing one about Olivier Theyskens. Or else just see how long a fashion film Theo Angelopolous could make on Sophia Kokosalaki. Anyway, a fabulous blog, and don’t underestimate your own filming talents either. You’re able to make me watch anything, it seems.
Your posts, are awesome….
very well written…i am one of your regular readers…