Wednesday 30 March 2011

Weds 30th March: The Resee











The ReSee is chance to literally "re-see" a selection of fashion films from the season put together into one presentation by Anna Walker. For AW11 the one night event brought together Alex Mattsson (Chris Murdoch), myself (Elisha Smith Leverock), Henry Holland (Sarah Chatfield), J.W.Anderson (Ben Toms), Les Chiffoniers (Marcus Werner Hed)) and Piers Atkinson (Zaiba Jabbar). Here are some shots of these various films from the projection and a portrait of Ella and Ash who are the mastermind team that is Ella Dror PR who incidentally represent three of the labels shown.
Here is the text from my interview in the program which accompanied the event:

1. Tell me about your inspirations for AW11.

The palette of the last two seasons has been silver and gold metallics, so A/W 2011 is a return to my signature psychedelic spectrum of colour. I’ve stripped back use of layering materials and concentrated on the purity of paper and paper folding. Shapes and silhouettes employ a new technique developed in my ongoing exploration into origami. On a recent trip back to my favourite haunts of China Town NYC, I realized that origami is an infinite craft of possibilities with no limits. My new collection is an experiment in pushing these boundaries utilizing both the top and bottom conflicting surfaces of structures for contrast in texture.

2. Why did you want to make a fashion film?


Since I first received sponsorship from New Gen to make a film in 2009 I have been collaborating with Elisha Smith-Leverock on a further four. I would love to make a film for each season! We are really enjoying building a body of work together. It’s a joke but the idea of having a DVD box set one day would be fun!

3. You have made fashion films for previous seasons, to what extent is film a tool to express your creativity?


I’ve always been interested in crossing disciplines to present my work. My catwalk show at Graduate Fashion Week was choreographed with dancers to a soundtrack composed for an animated film I made projected onto the backdrop. That was 2003! Absolutely anything is possible to convey a concept using film as a vehicle to capture a narrative. The process of compiling a moving image clip is a whole bonus outlet to carry on exploring ideas of a collection. By working with Elisha I get to discover and execute a secondary realm of creativity in addition to just designing the accessories. It’s a dream.

4. Why do you think so many designers are turning to fashion film at the moment?


It’s cheaper! Runway shows and presentations are an enormous investment for emerging designers. Organising a film is a far more accessible option. Also, the medium translates so well to social media now. Once you have the embed code you can share the film across all blogs and forums. This is the perfect tool of self promotion for young designers to showcase their work to an international audience. Equally, more established labels have picked up on the immeasurable success of reaching new markets with online presence. Hence larger businesses are testing out the assets and avenues of fashion film.

5. What do we have to look forward from Fred Butler in 2011? Are you working on any projects at the moment?

We would like to keep pushing the film work and make our 5th for S/S11. I’m also exploring options of producing my accessories at a lower price point through collaborations to expand on the high end range. Meanwhile my blog is opening exciting opportunities with a guest editorship on a music entertainment platform..........

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