Video highlight: Jean Paul Gaultier talks 2014 Barbican exhibition

There’s three types of good fashion films these days: the conceptual creative type (think features for seasonal campaigns), the product shots (more for selling, a lot shorter in length but ideally still tied to a story), and then the interview. That was an idea coined by Harriet Mays Powell of The Look Now (formerly fashion director at New York Magazine), speaking at the first Fashion Forward conference in 2011.

Her focus was that each needs investment, not just in terms of money, but in terms of a strategic approach. The better interviews for instance aren’t haphazard behind-the-scenes clips that don’t do a high fashion house any justice, but well-shot and insightful pieces in their own right.

This one (below) just released by The Barbican Centre in London serves as a great example. It captures designer Jean Paul Gaultier animatedly discussing his upcoming exhibition in its art gallery in April 2014. Set in his Paris studio, with shots of various items from his collections interspersed, he jokes about the retrospective being shown while he’s still alive, and highlights his appreciation for the city of London.

The entire video is such an enthusiastic insight into him and his brand, that when he says, “I am very lucky because I am living my passion”, at the end, the viewer truly believes him.

 

The exhibition itself also sounds like a winner. The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk, as it’s called, will see more than 140 garments from 1970 to today presented. Included will be the infamous conical bra from Madonna’s Blonde Ambition Tour, as well as costumes for Kylie Minogue and films such as The Fifth Element.

The exhibition will also comprise catwalk footage, music videos, films, dance performances and snippets from Gaultier’s cult TV show, Eurotrash. It will be accompanied by an events programme and film season.

It has been initiated and produced by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in collaboration with Maison Jean Paul Gaultier, and will tour worldwide.

Chloé launches digital archive for 60-year celebration

Chloé is celebrating its 60th anniversary with an interactive digital archive to accompany its Chloé.Attitudes exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris.

The Alphabet, as it’s called, is an online exploration of the French fashion house’s heritage from 1952 to current day. Created by digital agency Guided Collective, it plays on the idea of founder Gaby Aghion’s own naming of her collections and garments, taking each letter of the alphabet and assigning it a relevant theme.

The first five letters were, unsurprisingly, C H L O and E. They launched simultaneously last week with a short film each (shown below) directed by Poppy De Villeneuve, Julie Verhoeven, Kathryn Ferguson, Stéphanie Di Giusto and Mary Clerté, who interpreted the themes of counter-couture, horses, light, O (roundness) and embroidery respectively.

The rest of the archive letters will be brought to life with further documentary films, previously unseen imagery, past advertising, sketches and collection references, editorial and even specially-commissioned music.

“Individually [they tell] a fragment of the story; collectively [they form] a mosaic of Chloé’s iconic moments, inspirations and heritage,” reads the write-up.

A new letter is currently launching every other day, revealed by a famous blogger worldwide before appearing on The Alphabet microsite. Once they are all live, users will be able to send friends an invitation featuring their own version of the heritage, relative to the letters that make up their name.

Referred to as playful, immersive, imaginative and compelling, the site is available in six languages worldwide and across multiple devices.

The Chloé.Attitudes exhibition opened on September 29 and runs until November 18.

James Bond exhibition kicks off with online documentary focused on tailoring and style

 

The Barbican Centre in London has released a short documentary looking at the tailoring and styling of James Bond in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the iconic character.

The spot was created to accompany an exhibition showcasing the design and craft behind the movie series. “Designing 007 – Fifty Years of Bond Style“, is a multi-sensory experience opening on July 6, documenting everything from the costumes, set and production design, to the automobiles, gadgets, weapons and special effects.

The film (as shown above) sees Oscar-winning costume designer Lindy Hemming alongside tailors such as David Mason, creative director at Anthony Sinclair, and Ritchie Charlton, managing director of Douglas Hayward, looking at the varying styles of Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig.

Says Hemming: “Bond is a British icon, but he’s a world citizen, and he’s beloved all over the world and he’s iconic all over the world, so what he looks like has to not just suit England and Britain but it has to actually be acceptable to the world.”

The spot also describes details such as the silk turned-back cuff worn by Connery in the first film as a sartorial nod to author Ian Fleming’s own style.

The exhibition has been created in collaboration with EON Productions, with unprecedented access to their archives. It was designed by Ab Rogers and curated by the Barbican alongside fashion historian Bronwyn Cosgrave and costume designer Hemming.

There is also another short film available that focuses on the design and craft of the sets, vehicles and accessories.

Chanel’s Little Black Jacket exhibit launches online

Elle Fanning as featured in Chanel's Little Black Jacket digital exhibition

Chanel has unveiled a digital rendition of its new Little Black Jacket photography exhibition, showcasing 113 pictures of celebrities and personalities taken by Karl Lagerfeld.

Thelittleblackjacket.chanel.com follows on from the brand’s book of the same name by Lagerfeld and Carine Roitfeld, available from autumn 2012, and the opening of its physical exhibition in Tokyo last week.

Included are shots of Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kirsten Dunst, Baptiste Giabiconi, Sarah Jessica Parker, Lily Donaldson, Stella Tennant, Yoko One, Elle Fanning (as pictured) and more. Each one is featured as though part of a rotating cylinder, random in its delivery and clickable to reveal full detail.

See below too for a summary video of the launch event of the main exhibition in Tokyo, or click here for a behind-the-scenes from the shoot itself.

Digital Archaeology at #IWNY

The guys over at Story Worldwide have put together the most incredible exhibition dedicated to the history of the internet.

Digital Archaeology, as it’s called, is central to Internet Week New York this week, which I’m in town for especially. Dating from 1991, it brings together some of the most significant sites from each year since, displaying them on the original computers they were created on.

From Tim Berners-Lee’s “The Project” to games such as Noodle Box and a film portal for Requiem for a Dream.

There were a nice couple of fashion examples thrown in as well including Barneys.com from 2000. Using Flash 4.0, it featured full-bleed images, parallax movement and floating palettes.

Agent Provocateur’s site from 2007 meanwhile starred actress Maggie Gyllenhaal. A content-rich experience, it was based on the trashy novel and created in Flash 8. It was also one of a number of sites Story Worldwide worked on for the brand between 2004 and 2007, which were referred to by Vogue as the “sexiest sites on the web”.

Check out some of the Instagr.am pictures I took below:

Digital Archaeology from 1991 - 2011

Apple Macs at Digital Archaeology

Barneys.com at Digital Archaeology

Agent Provocateur at Digital Archaeology

Costume Institute’s McQueen exhibition microsite

The web is awash today with the beautiful images of everyone at the annual Met Costume Institute Gala last night in celebration of the Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty exhibition. My favourite? Diane Kruger.

But so too has the event drawn my attention to the microsite set up especially about the exhibition. At blog.metmuseum.org/alexandermcqueen users can find all manner of images, videos and commentary.

Included are snapshots of some of the items included in the show, as well as short films of some of the late designer’s catwalk presentations. There is also a full rundown of the different areas that can be seen throughout the museum.

The retrospective of McQueen’s extraordinary contributions to fashion is open to the public from May 4 – July 31, 2011. It celebrates his work from 1992 when he was at Central Saint Martins, through to his final collection shown after his death in February 2010.

Approximately 100 outfits are on display as well as some 70 accessories. They were drawn primarily from the McQueen Archive in London, with some pieces from Givenchy in Paris, as well as private collections.

For iPad users, there is also an app available, created by Vogue. It features never-before-seen videos, pictures, interviews and behind-the-scenes footage, including a personal tribute to McQueen from Vogue ed-in-chief, Anna Wintour.

From May 6, there will also be exclusive celebrity coverage from inside the gala made available on the app. Read more, here.

UPDATE: You can also see a video tour of the exhibition and an interview with curator Andrew Bolton, from New York Magazine, here.