BY MARIA GALLUCCI
The News
Thursday, Jan. 14
Lights. Camera. Fashion.
That's the main idea behind A Shaded View on Fashion Film (ASVOFF), an international style film festival set to screen in Mexico City later this month.
The 90-minute show, now in its second edition, includes competition pieces, documentaries, features and installations studying the “drama, power and personification that fashion evokes and commands on screen,” according to ASVOFF.
Since its September 2009 debut at the Passage du Désir gallery in Paris, the typically three-day festival has traveled to fashion capitals around the world. In Mexico, the films will be shown for one night on Wednesday, Jan. 20 at the Teatro Metropólitan in the Centro Histórico.
Diane Pernet, festival curator and fashion critic, photographer and designer, recently talked with The News about the project, which is produced in Mexico by the Trendsétera marketing boutique.
The News: How did you develop the idea for a film festival dedicated to fashion, style and beauty?
DP: It all started about ten years ago. I was making low-fi documentary films on designers and other creative [types] and thought that it would be great to create a fashion film festival, but at that time, there just was not enough material.
In 2006, Mark Eley, of the brand Eley Kishimoto, asked me to make a road movie for the launch of their menswear brand. I was in the support van for the Gumball 3000 road rally, which went from Trafalgar Square to Monte Carlo, or 3,000 miles (4,828 km) in six days. My blog's Los Angeles correspondent at the time saw the film and asked me if I wanted to project it in L.A.
A few days later, [Mexican designer] Enrique Gonzales, or EGR, sent me a film that he had made. I liked it and posted it on my Web site, and that is where and when the idea for my first fashion festival was born. So, Mexico City via EGR played a very important part in the birth of my fashion film festival.
In September 2008, ASVOFF was launched at the Jeu du Paume contemporary art museum in Paris.
The News: What does the festival's title mean, and to what does it refer?
DP: A Shaded View on Fashion Film is the name of my blog, and ASVOFF is an extension of my blog. “A Shaded View” refers both to my sunglasses and my interests in fashion, film, art and architecture.
The News: How did you see the need for a project like this? What void do you think the festival fills?
DP: Since I was a child, I have been interested in both fashion and film. To join the two seems like a natural progression to me. My degree is in filmmaking and I was a designer for my own brand in New York City for 13 years. As a fashion journalist, I've seen thousands and thousands of fashion shows, and over the past few years, I've been feeling that for the most part watching models walk up and down the runway seems very last century.
I'm not saying that fashion films will replace runway shows, but it's not such a bad idea. At any rate, it is another platform for designers and filmmakers to interact and reach a worldwide audience. Another point is that in the current financial crisis, it seems a bit outrageous to spend $50,000-plus for a seven minute fashion show that will reach a maximum of 500 people whereas a fashion film can be enjoyed in a cinema setting or reach hundreds of thousands of viewers via the Internet. The exposure helps to establish the brand.
The News: What are the main objectives of the film festival, and what do you hope that viewers will take away from it?
DP: My dream with the traveling film festival is to discover new talents everywhere we go and to be able to showcase them in future festivals. I am interested in how fashion and film can support and strengthen each other. Often directors do not understand the power of fashion and are somehow afraid of it.
ASVOFF is international, so the idea is to find talents from all around the planet. ASVOFF is launched in Paris, and then it travels. The 2008 debut led to screenings at the Guggenheim Bilbao in Spain, the Chelsea Arts Club in London and Cinema Rise X in Tokyo.
I think brands would be better served with a film and an installation. It's not as though designers have never used films before in place of shows, but it is more recognized as a valid way to communicate and reach volumes of people all around the world. That combined with the rise of e-commerce makes the creating of a film a good choice.
Fashion demands movement, and although I love a beautiful spread in a magazine, I also enjoy seeing things that a frozen fashion image cannot provide. Another objective of the festival is that it will inspire the viewers to go out and pick up a camera and collaborate and make a film.
The News: Why else is it important that the Paris-based festival travel around the world?
DP: The launch of the festival is in Paris, but the content is completely international. Fashion films are about what is to come for the future. Everyone from Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) and Prada to unknown but emerging designers are opting for using the medium of film to express their fashion.
The News: Could you elaborate on the concept that the festival studies the drama of fashion on screen? How does the festival evaluate these aspects?
DP: Fashion and film have been in bed together for a long time. In the late 1970s, Guy Bourdin showed amazing short fashion films, but it has not been until the past few years that fashion films have really taken off. Fashion nurtures and inspires on-screen ideals of glamour; actresses spark desire in their fans, stars need that perfect dress for the red carpets, and designers are only happy to satisfy their [clients'] needs.
The genre of fashion film combines art, film, photography and an acute sensibility for fashion. This edition, we decided to separate the films by the designer's role in the filmmaking process. If a designer or brand commissioned a film and therefore retained some kind of control over the end result, we grouped these films together and called that section “Communication.” If the film was created by artists, filmmakers and stylists and had as its sole objective to express their vision of fashion or beauty, without knowing the designer's intentions or wanting to further them, we called this group “Reflection.” So the more art- and fashion-friendly films would come under this heading.
For more details, visit www.ashadedviewonfashionfilm.com
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