​

   Garments are by definitions objects, but they are seen as institutions. They have a political and social role in society, notice as “social formation historically constructed” (Frederic Godard) which may indicate several information both at the level of individuality and community. They permit to represent an appurtenance to a country, religion, or a social group by having an artistic and economical dimension. They are clearly part of culture and became a form of entertainment. However, fashion evolved, at the end of 18th century, with the Dandyism, where appearances were seen as a self-expression based on personal preferences. One of the first time that fashion was seen as an identity tools. Fashion became the reflect of self-love and permits to share our personality to others. The sociologist Cornelia Bohn states that clothes are “identification such as passports” (Bohn 10). Indeed, everyone has to dress from a way to another. Our choices in terms of fashion are personal and ethical. The way to see fashion as a tool to be differentiate is the one which impacted the cinema. Fashion is used on screen to go deeper in the process of characters’ construction. Behavior, personality, beliefs, and way of thinking can be demonstrated through garments. From an artistic conception of what mode is, cinema always has fascinated several designers in their art. From now, the collaboration between the two-medium is emerging. The goal is to value each other in terms of creation and aesthetic. First according to the layer of what costume can give to narration, then from a cinematic point of view which give to garments importance and value. And, as the result of both created together. 

​

    Costume may permit to escape for a moment according to the event we are facing on. A night costume would not be the same as a working one. Therefore, dressing up depends on the time and place. Films well understand this procedure and apparel their characters by taking care of the film timeline and the personality of each. The historical timeline impacts on the way people dressed. Every period has its social dress code. A director would create the meaning of his film according to the movie’s universe and the context of its creation. How would be Harley Quinn without her pink deconstructed outfit? Or Holly Goligthly, the character created by the writer Truman Capote and produced by the movie director Blake Edwards, without her obsession for Tiffany’s. Clothes aim at dreams and fascination. Women are a source of inspiration for director and designer. They see through them a political, seductive, impressive vow. Women play with colors, forms on their curves to express several moods and attitude such as the character of “femme fatale”, iconic figure of film noir. (referred to the character of Faye Dunaway in the Bonnie, in the movie Bonnie and Clyde directed by Arthur Penn, 1967). Many of movie directors appealed on designers to transform their characters, it is true that “clothes have incredible transformative process” (Kate Young). In several films the costume became an entity. Among these we can name The fifth Element (1997, directed by Luc Besson; costume by: Jean Paul Gauthier) his precursor Barbarella ( 1968 , directed by: Roger Vadim; costume by Paco Rabanne), the short film Hotel Chevalier (2007, directed by Wes Anderson: costume by Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton) or even Audrey Hepburn and the designer Hubert de Givenchy, the most fashionable duo who worked on several film as Roman Holiday (1953, directed by William Wyler) or Sabrina (1954, directed by Billy Wilder). Givenchy once said while created Audrey’s outfit “The dress must follow the body of a woman, not the body following the shape of the dress”. We can also name Yves Saint Laurent and Catherine Deneuve as duo of actress and designer. Indeed, the designer dressed her on orders for several movies. Among them we can name the film Belle de Jour (1967, directed by Luis Buñuel). Women are often seen as “muse” as referred as a source of inspiration to artists. Fashion in cinema is also marked by its most fashionable movies like Cruella (2021, directed by Craig Gillespie; costume by Jenny Beavan) and The Devil Wears Prada (2006, directed by David Frankel; costume by Patricia Field). To the beginning until the end of the movie, it is quoted the trendiest brands. Indeed, Andy (Anne Hathaway) offers the last Marc Jacobs’s bag to her friend. Who better than Marc Jacobs to represent the fashion in New York during the 2000’s? New York always been a fashion place reference. Some TV Shows also well demonstrate it such as Gossip Girl and Sex and the city. They are known for their permanent name dropping on the most emblematic brands of the moment and where all looks are permitted. Blair Waldorf wears an Elie Saab’s weeding dress while Carry Bradshaw wearied a Vivienne Westwood’s creation. (Referred to the photos of both characters in their wedding dresses). 

   

    On the other side, cinema influence fashion. Mostly viewable on the catwalk where models run as an actress plays. Indeed, fashion show became an artistic set with changing decors and music depending on the present context, the universe of the brands and the imagination put into it. The analyze of a fashion show is so close of the analyze of the meaning of a film. Then, since 1943 in New York, fashion week became the “Festival de Cannes”, surrounded by celebrities and sequins. The idea for public of a fashion show is the same as movie’s viewers. It comes to entertain, denounce, and create a world to escape. For models, it is about being someone else for a moment “constructing and revising identities” (Rudd 196). (referred to the video of Louis Vuitton fashion show fall-winter 2021 by Virgil Abloh,). Alexander McQueen, famous English designer and big cinephile, created a fashion show as an homage to the movie director Alfred Hitchcock on the theme of his movie Birds (1963). The creator was 26 years old at the time and succeed to create a new approach of what mode and cinema can be. For his Spring/Summer 1995 collection, he drew his patterns with multiple birds on it to refer to the harrowing environment created by Hitchcock in his movie. (Referred to the Alexander McQueen spring-summer 1995 collection). The bird logo was a symbol of his lower-pride brand MCQ by Alexander McQueen, launched in 2006. More recently, Jeremy Scott, the current designer of the Italian fashion brand Moschino created a floor just like the bedroom scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1963, directed by Stanley Kubrick; costume by Hardy Amies). In the Loic Prigent’s video Moschino: opulence! Le défiler le plus délirant avec Gigi et Bella Hadid released on 2022 May 7th, we discover as the closing of the Moschino show winter 2022/2023 the well-known red astronaut. Indeed, Jeremy Scott designs the Space Odyssey’s red one-piece for the final of his show. The one-piece apparel is a garment which provokes as effect on the runway than on cinema. Indeed, the jumpsuit has always been related to the look of a costume because of its way to be someone else when we thread it. Fashion season collections have most often a theme, and cinema is one well exploited. 

 

     Then, a collaboration between film directors and fashion directors artistic arose. The two medium associates together to offer a new perspective of creativity. Indeed, Jean-Paul Gauthier has curated in 2021 an exhibition called “CinéMode” as an acronym for fashion and cinema. It took place at the French film library in Paris from October 2021 to January 2022. The exhibition underlined the relation of fashion and cinema by illustrating it with films posters, films clips, costumes, and a staging of all of this. This exhibition put forward the way of men and women are dressing for cinema through time. However, collaboration goes deeply in work. Film directors and fashion designers work together to create another visual universe which is leading by montage, sound, visual, colors and garments. The French-Argentina director Gaspard Noé works with the luxury brand Saint Laurent directed at a current time by Anthony Vaccarello to create a short movie as advertising campaign. The film is called Summer of 21’ to indeed highlight the YSL spring/summer collection 2021. The film plays with image, montage, and fashion. It also includes the precursor of cinema: the theatre. The half of the video is in spilt screen as Gaspard Noé’s last film Vortex. Before Summer of 21’, Noé directed a movie of fifty minutes Lux Æterna, where he developed his adoration for split screens. Moreover, it is through Lux Æterna that the director aimed to appropriate Saint Laurent’s universe for the first time. This movie stages Charlotte Gainsbourg and Béatrice Dalle dressed in Saint Laurent. The film shows two different visions at one time, thanks to the split screen, like when fashion and cinema work together. However, he is not the only film director to collaborate with a such universe. The Italian director Matteo Garrone worked in collaboration with Maria Grazia Chiuri to illustrate through a video the autumn/winter 2020-2021 “haute couture” collection. Both directors succeed to create a fantasy world where fashion luxury and cinema make sense. The film is surrounded by magical living being such as fairies, mermaids, and centaurs with embroidered dresses. In the early days, it was David Lynch who directed a short film for Dior in 2010. The film is called Lady Blue Shanghai incarnated by Marion Cotillard. The film mixed the inspiration “Lynchien” to the Dior’s image. Therefore, in a world where digital becomes the first source of information and viewing, fashion had to create video content. The sanitary crisis reinforced this collaboration and change the way to apprehend fashion. More recently, the fashion house Céline, directed by Hedi Slimane created a short runway video to present its women summer 22 collection. The short film is called La baie des anges referencing to Nice’s Bay. However, the name and the black and white sequence in the video may refer to Jacques Demy’s movie called the same and directed in 1963. The montage looks like to Hedi Sliman previous video at the Monaco stadium for the Summer 21. Transitions are fast with several up and down plans. The video is as anchored in its time than the garments of the collection. Indeed, women run with casual and sexy outfit which plays from heels to basket. Video permits to give to fashion brands another visual identities and anchor fashion in our modern time. 

 

     As seen, both fashion and cinema are an artistic and visionary media. They collaborate and impact each other in the aesthetics and construction. The influence of both on their work permit to give renewal of what fashion and cinema can be. There are two separate worlds working together to create one meaning. However, with a world which became more and more digital, video seem to be another way to run collection. 

 

Written by Olympia Dairaine-Grimaux 

 

 

 

SOURCES : 

Frédéric Godart, Penser la mode, IFM/Regard. 2011

​

Kate Young, Dressing for the dark. Assouline. 2014 

​

Bohn, Cornelia. “Clothing as medium of communication”. 2006, pp. 1-20. 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328530889_Clothing_as_medium_of_Communication