SHOWstudio IX - Marlon Rueberg / George Tsioutsias / Royal College of Art MA13: Visual Analysis

This short fashion clip was created by 9 students from the Royal College of Arts aiming to campaign their newest shoe line. It gave off a very new-age vibe, and a hypnotic one at that, with the inclusion of images of cosmic occurrences and radio noise. Perhaps this was done to convey the aesthetics of the brand itself, something that is eccentric and even futuristic.

What I found most brilliant about this film was how the shoes were marketed and presented in such a tasteful, tongue-in-cheek way - the futuristic design of the shoes were put up-front and integrated seamlessly with the setting and ambience of the set, music and the metallic make-up of the models.It also plays around very well with subtle yet powerful movements created by the models and the interesting diverse textures provided by the different garments that were utilized in the clip. Everything in harmony, really brought out the details and value of the shoes themselves. The colourful lighting of the film was also done very well, as each opposing colour hit the models' skin in beautiful harmony. Additionally, there was a static pause and break in scene towards the end of the film, that eventually served as the introduction of a more high-pitched music and a more abstract and hypnotic setting. The high-pitchness of the scene and the static breaks and fast-forwarded replays actually reminded of Pipilotti Risti's "I'm Not The Girl Who Misses Much" and allowed me to draw connections between this digital video meant for mass consumption, into the art world as well. Perhaps popular culture does have a large, albeit undermined, influence in modern art after-all.

The Life of Gia: Too Beautiful To Die, Too Wild To Live.

GIA is an autobiographical movie based on the life of a late 1980s supermodel, Gia Carangi. It chronicles around both the glamour and terrors of the fashion and modelling industry, and how people can so easily be swayed by the notion of fame, despite how fast and painful the fall from fame can be. In this way, it also reminds me of Factory Girl - a Warhol muse who met a similar fate (see movie review here). Upon minutes of arriving in New York City, Gia Carangi was whisked off by a powerful model agent, Wilhelmina Cooper (today known as the founder of the Wilhelmina Modelling Agency, a globally-recognized leading modelling agency) and quickly rose to fame with her beauty. Unfortunately, not long after her modelling career picked up, cocaine, pills and heroine led to the demise of her career and an end to her life.

Angelina Jolie's portrayal of Gia was absolutely stunning. Jolie's acting was spot on and really connected her viewers to every single emotion that Gia experienced. Her transformation from a confident supermodel owning the runway to a drug-induced and sickly animal was absolutely brilliant. This movie also explored the idea of sexuality, as Gia competed fearlessly with a man for the love of a woman, Linda. This breaks the stereotype of female models in the industry, who are very often appropriated by the male gaze. Despite Gia's eventual raging and dangerous lifestyle, we still see snippets of who she used to be - a normal, warm and caring woman - in the way she feels hurt from people in the industry treating her as meat, her wishes for a "normal" life and the gracious way she handles receiving news of her health. We see an emotional and vulnerable Gia and we both empathize and sympathize her. This again makes me question the toxicity of the industry, and how people can so easily be swayed into such a dangerous direction despite numerous warning tales that exists, such as this one.

Supermodels Trapped In A Haunted House Wearing Luxury Fashion? Must Be Lagerfeld.

Fashion films such as this has been on the rise as of late, especially the ones created to hype up new up-coming collections. I found that this particular one consisted of a very interesting collaboration between the eccentric designer of the Chanel empire, Karl Lagerfeld, as director and a competing luxury brand, Fendi. The film narrates the story of two beautiful women trapped in a haunted house, hoaxed by the eerie house-keeper. Of course, all of them were decked out in the latest Fendi collection.

What I loved about the movie was the set choice - shot in a beautiful, dark Victorian-esque mansion, the dim camera lighting successfully brought out the mysterious and edgy vibe of the brand itself. Although the clothing and setting were beautifully cohesive, what caught my attention the most was Cara Delevigne's surprisingly great acting. She managed to convey her character's emotions naturally and effortlessly.  The make-up and hair on all of the models were brilliantly done as well, and also synchronized perfectly with the line.

One thing I found myself apprehensive about was how some of the 'scary/horror' aspect of the film can come off as a little corny. Perhaps it was the little snippets of the camera zooming in suddenly into random details, which was not done as tastefully as it should have been. Additionally, the editing of the music itself did not cohesively accompany the situation at certain points of time. Despite the editing of the film falling slightly short, I found the ending rather hilariously powerful in marketing the brand. When saved at last by a mysterious young man, the models were told to leave everything else behind but "Just take the Fendi bags"- a brilliantly hilarious little twist in such a dark and eerie film.

Olenka Campaign Ad S/S '15: The Visual Breakdown

This campaign video was designed to introduce the newest Spring-Summer 2015 line of an up-and-coming brand based in Indonesia, named Olenka. However, the video was so beautifully executed and seamlessly cohesive that I would like to argue that it is considerably film art as well.

The use of space and planes in this video was brilliant - although it was shot in what seemed like a dark studio, the video artist successfully pulled out key colours from the collection and utilized the blank space by filling it in with the movements and soft textures of the coloured fabrics. I was also captivated by how well he used simple special effects such as backwards-playing and mirroring image to create a fuller and more dynamic screen. One scene that caught my eye was when the model wrapped a long piece of cloth on her neck and the cloth flowed towards the camera at a quick pace - the angling, movement and texture of the cloth and the still-expression of the model synchronized so effortlessly and perfectly.

The short clip successfully conveyed the essence of the collection to its viewers by putting the bold colours up-front and contrasting it with the dark background, mimicking most of the pieces in the line, and emphasizes movement through the model and the clothing, as many of the pieces in the collection was beautifully layered and meant to create the movements in fabric as well. What I loved most about this video was that not only did it representatively capture the essence of the line itself, it also embodies the brand in its entirety - the fun and dynamic characteristic of the brand was embodied in the trance-like dance of the models and the playful combination of bold-coloured fabrics, and it even incorporated contemporary traditional Balinese music, which perfectly aligns with the fact that the brand takes pride in being a local Balinese brand that aims to take Bali's fashion market into the rest of the world.

As aesthetically-pleasing as the video is, the video artist also successfully conveys the underlying message that the brand wants its' viewers to be aware of. This expressive aspect of the video is similar to the functions of art itself, and therefore toys with the idea that the future of digital media, though sometimes made for mass consumption, can be considered art as well.

The Politics of Sex and The City

I have decided to do something slightly different this time round and therefore, chose a modern classic Television show. It is undeniable that Carrie Bradshaw's avant-garde sartorial choices will perpetually stay iconic and influential in New York's street style culture. As much as I loved the series and sometimes find myself binge-watching an entire season of the show in one sitting especially after a long day (guilty), I must say that the storyline gets rather predictable. It also overly romanticizes New York and its function for single people trying to find love, in addition to perpetuating the materialistic stereotype of women and the fashion industry in general. I believe that the high fashion industry, despite its cutting-edge and consumerist nature, still contains a valuable artistic substance that vastly influences old and modern cultures. It also bothered me how overly dramatic some of Carrie's mid-episode narrations were, sometimes even coming across as corny.

Having said that, Carrie's successes in such a nail-cutting city does give me a sense of empowerment. Her character has taught me that one must believe in one's self and endure even the lowest of times in order to be successful and to never lose sight of your dreams. Additionally, Kim Cattral's portrayal of Samantha Jones is wonderfully hilarious, and also serves as an empowerment tool as she is the perfect embodiment of self-confidence and of being comfortable in your own skin. I loved the diversity of the show's characters - from the scandalous Samantha to up-tight Miranda to sweet Charlotte. I believe that this diversity is what allowed women and even men every where to connect with the show, thus leading to the show's great success.

As much as I loved following the TV series, the movie itself fell short in my opinion. As we see the progression of Carrie's relationship with Big, it was almost frustrating to see it crumble. It was also not the perfect series finale I was hoping for. Although I was left a little bit disappointed with how the series concludes, I did love how each of the main women were able to capture the essence of their characters in the movie. The movie was also beautifully shot - from the wardrobe to beautiful settings chosen for each scene.

Paris Is Burning: The History of "Voguing"

Paris Is Burning is a documentary that explores the world of drag performers - specifically the gay, transgender, Latino and African American drag queens of New York City in the 1990s. It documents one of drag's greatest and oldest culture, the Ball, and chronicles both the moments and preparations leading up to the ball and the categories and performances during the Ball itself. Although not a conventional fashion film and definitely different than any of the ones discussed in previous posts, there is undoubtedly a strong relationship between being a drag performer and the fashion world. Most drag queens are required to design, sew and create their own elaborate performance costumes.

What made this documentary extremely commendable to me is the fact there is still an underlying narrative and a continuum in its storyline, and a very eye-opening one at that - the audience was introduced to the interesting past and present of each drag performer, and every section of the Ball was explained and showcased brilliantly in well-organized snippets.

The aesthetic highlight of the documentary was perhaps the showcasing of their very own dance move entitled "Voguing": it is a mixture of poses that Vogue models have been seen to do in magazines, their own dance takes and adaptations from Egyptian hieroglyphics. This dance move is perhaps what makes this film timeless and iconically ground-breaking within the LGBT community as it has been perpetuated into modern dance culture, with some of the performers landing successful choreography and modelling roles because of it.

This personal insight into the world of drag queens and kings has created important questions on gender and identity: is the front that you put up for yourself, be it in drag or not, a reality that you have created for yourself or merely an escape from universal reality in its entirety?

Factory Girl: The Rise and Fall of Warhol's Muse

"I went to a party once, and there was a palm reader there and when she looked at my hand, she just froze. And I said to her "I know. My lifeline is broken. I know I won't live past thirty." - Edie Sedgwick, Factory Girl (2006)

Factory Girl is based on the true story that chronicles around the rise and demise of Andy Warhol (Guy Pearce)'s 1965 muse, Edie Sedgwick, brilliantly played by the ever-talented Sienna Miller. Upon meeting Warhol in the Big Apple, the trust fund baby that is Sedgwick was transformed into the biggest It Girl of her time. However, caught in the whirlwind of the Factory (Warhol's eccentric artist workspace) and her heroine addiction, Edie quickly falls to her demise and made way for the next Warhol muse, leaving behind her first love, Billy Quinn (Hayden Christensen) and her stardom.

What I loved most about this movie was the brilliant cast. From Miller's perfect depiction of the tortured yet effervescent Edie to Pearce's eerily cold and awkward characterization of Warhol. I have never been a huge fan of Christensen, but I must say that this was evidently one of his best works. The entire make-up and costume coordination of the movie was both perfection and timeless - we can still see Edie's mod 60s style significantly infused in modern culture.

Despite being a party film, the emotionally-detached rave culture of the movie was nicely balanced out by the emotional snippets of Sedgwick and Quinn's relationship. It was almost heartwrenching to watch Edie refuse help when help was so close to her. However, this movie painted a different picture of Warhol to me, both as an artist and as a person. As the movie accounts how much he takes away from his muse, it has raised some critically ethical questions about his artworks and methods - each and every one of his masterpiece seems to be a glamorous facade of the dark and twisted lives of his muses, and perhaps the greatest muses of art history in its entirety.