ASVOFF in Barcelona
Text: Eloise Edgington | Photo: Miguel Villalobos
International icon, acclaimed fashion critic and pioneer of fashion film Diane Pernet hosts ASVOFF in Barcelona. a representative of the new internet-led fashion epoch embracing film, Diane Pernet has contributed to revolutionising an industry which she continues to democratize through her esteemed blog, A Shaded View of Fashion, and festival, Shaded View of Fashion Film, providing groundbreaking platforms for both emerging and established creatives.
Notorious for her signature look – red lips, black garments and black accessories, complete with veil and 50s sunglasses – the Paris-based critic and video journalist has become an icon in fashion. Since its launch in 2008, Diane’s international film festival A Shaded View of Fashion(ASVOFF) has encouraged and enthused entrants and participants – from newcomers and students to distinguished professionals – to express their own unique fashion vision in the form of a short film. For the last four years ASVOFF has been held at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, however beginning tomorrow, Barcelona will host the festival’s first-ever Spanish edition at the CaixaForum Barcelona.The 4-day program will consist of curated themed screenings, conferences and debates with industry professionals as well as the launch of three genre-bending competitions: Official, Students and Mobile Fashion Film. Days before the launch of the festival, I had the opportunity to ask Diane her thoughts regarding the concept of fashion film, the evolution of the fashion industry and what one can expect from Barcelona.
How do you define a fashion film? Could a music video or a full-length film ever be defined as a fashion film?
A fashion film has to fill the same criteria as any other film. How is the direction, the acting, the lighting, the sound? Does it take you anywhere? Is it just moving fashion shoots? Does it look like something that you’ve already seen? So many look like fake Ruth Hogbin these days. That said, the only difference between a fashion film and any other film is that fashion has to play a key role. A music video or a full-length film certainly can be defined as a fashion film. What would Lady Gaga be without fashion or Roisin Murphy or Amy Winehouse RIP? Fashion has been playing a leading role in music videos since David Bowie, Madonna, Boy George and Bjork and probably way before all of them too.
Do you think designers communicate themselves and their brands better through the moving-image than still-photography? What does one medium offer/allow, which the other doesn’t?
To begin with, I think the ‘fashion film’ was born out of a real need to breathe life into the old static medium and set fashion in motion through the magic of cinema. What ASVOFF does is to give people in both industries – and talented outsiders too – a platform to let this genre flourish. Hopefully, by rewarding excellence in the field, it also keeps pushing them to push the boundaries forward too. As for what one offers that the other doesn’t: a script, sound, movement… a film as opposed to a frozen image.
A fashion film can work as an alternative to a catwalk show even though one could argue that cameras and post-editing are likely to alter the true appearance of the garments?
I would dream for that to happen but do not expect it any time soon. For now there are a few designers who just show their films, Gareth Pugh has done that very effectively for seasons. Most, however, do both a catwalk and a fashion film because they worry that if they don’t do a show they will not get sufficient attention in the press.
I don’t think it is a question of altering the appearance of the garments anymore than styling a catwalk show. Fashion is about creating dreams; it is all a the world of illusion – be it on a printed page or in a film. Take away the styling from most photo shoots and catwalks and what do you have? Why should an edited film be considered anymore fake?
As fashion film becomes more popular, do you think we will see a change in the designers’ approach to creating a collection? Will the increasingly more popular medium provoke designers to focus on creating garments, which have more of a visual impact when viewed on film (like Hussein Chalayan’s mechanical garments from his S/S 2007 show)?
I don’t believe so. We’ve always had designers that make show pieces with no intention to sell, just for the press and shop windows. You mention Hussein Chalayan, he is a special case and a treasure because of it. The result of a good film is that it will spread the atmosphere of a brand to a broader market. If it is a good film it will never get old or out of date. A catwalk show is like a newspaper, over in 7 -12 minutes
I have heard you speak about making fashion more democratic. Is ASVOFF Barcelona’s launch of the world’s first mobile phone fashion film online competition a way of doing so? What are your thoughts regarding the fashion industry’s exclusivity?
The essence of a blog is to make fashion available to everyone that is curious about it – no velvet ropes to keep people out – that is the direction of fashion, live streaming, works in progress, e commerce. The landscape has changed. I’ve always promoted that and will continue to.
Any consumer or fashion-obsessed person can launch their own blog and become a critic – some are good, some are not, but the same can be said about a lot of journalists. I walk both sides as I’m the co-editor in chief of ZOO Magazine and a contributor to other independent magazines. I think the battle between print and the internet is a mute point, both have a reason to exist and one does not nullify the other.
Yes, mobiles fashion film and school films are yet another way to democratize fashion but my festival has always been open to everyone so in fact that is nothing new, only the mobile phone as a tool and the addition of asking students to propose their own films. I love both in fact and am really pleased with some of the results.
Predominantly through your immensely popular blog, A Shaded View on Fashion, you provide a platform for aspiring creatives and scout new talent. Have you ever considered curating a showcase of new fashion designers? Which new designers do you admire at the moment?
That is something that I love and have done on various occasions. The first curation was at Santiago de Compostela years ago. It was a magical moment, the gathering together of great talent in fashion, photography and film. I curated fashion, art and film at the Scope Art Fair in New York, and in several countries around the world.
At the moment I think one of the most interesting young talents is Jean Paul Lespagnard, but there are plenty of others as well. I’ve been watching him ever since he was in the Festival d’Hyeres. I love the work of recent la Cambre graduate Zoe Vermeer and of course Sandra Backlund, Antony Vaccarello. All I know from their early days. As for the more established designers I love Rick Owens, Haider Ackermann, Riccardo Tisci, Kim Jones, Raf Simons…
SHOWstudio’s films often focus specifically on showing the creative process. Do you think the creative construction process of fashion design is something that has ever been undervalued and/or ignored?
I’ve always been in to the behind the scenes in fashion and film. SHOWstudio is a great internet platform and a true pioneer. One can never undervalue the people that make dreams come true be it the sample makers, the pattern makers, the lighting directors, the show producers, the DJs. They are all the pieces that put together the finished product and the one taking the bow could not exist without them.
With a commercial product often being the principal subject of a fashion film, is it impossible for the genre to escape being defined as a form of advertising or self-promotion?
Luxury brands are embracing film with huge enthusiasm, hiring super directors Scorsese, Lynch, Kenneth Anger, Quay Brothers, Dennis Hopper before he died, the heavy weights are for advertising. People have different motivations as to why they make fashion films. Some just want to express their universe and don’t even show a product. Others just want to make art or a beautiful film. When fashion is the protagonist, you want, as a director to make something that moves people on some level. It does not have to be literal, it has to be genius. Take Muta for Miu Miu directed by Lucrecia Martel – that is one of my favorite films, we never see the girls faces we see the clothes but it is not just about the clothes it is a well constructed film and the clothes are an element in the film. The same goes of many films by Ellen Von Unwerth, Bruce Weber, Steven Meisel… If it is a 30 second spot, then probably it is an ad.
What inspired you to bring the festival to Barcelona?
Before there was ASVOFF there was You Wear it Well which was launched in 2006 with one of my LA collaborators and it travelled around the planet. More than a festival it was a one day curated program. One stop, thanks to Juan Montenegro from B Guided, was the Santa Monica Gallery in Barcelona. For about two years now Alex Murray Leslie and I have been discussing bringing ASVOFF to Barcelona and making a very special program launched here with new competitions, round table discussions and a special carte blanche focused on Spanish fashion in history to now. I’m super excited to bring ASVOFF to Barcelona at CaixaForum. I love that museum and it has been a real joy to work on this project with Alex Murray Leslie and Mahala ‘s team.
And finally, what can we expect from ASVOFF Barcelona’s selection of films?
There will be new films added to the official selection, the two new categories created for Barcelona: student films and mobile fashion films. Charo Mora has curated a section on Spanish fashion from then to now called Narraciones, Glenn Adamson from the V&A has curated a conference Shell Game: Post-Modern Fashion followed by a Q&A with Linda Loppa, Polimoda, Robb Young, journalists for IHT, Financial Times, Vogue.co.uk, and Joachim Schirrmacher of European Fashion Award FASH and myself. There will be a mobile bloggers discussion chaired by Lorea Iglesias and myself and a conference with films projected chaired by Linda Loppa. Alex Murray-Leslie and Melissa Logan have curated Feminist Fashion Films Now! We will screen Les Mains d’Hermes. We will screen The Murder of Jean Seberg by Joseph Lally starring Daphne Guinness and there are also satellite activities: The Outpost of Barcelona which has dedicated a window to me. The concept was created by Marcelo Horacio Maquieira and realized by Ulises Chamorro.
