Friday, March 5, 2010

Fashion films

 
 
The Weeks of Dasha

What do we call films with characters wearing distinctively designed outfits, in better known examples, Marie Antoinette or The Great Gatsby? Or films with characters not even being put into pretty clothes, but designing them, such as Coco Before Chanel? We describe them, potential nominees for Best Costume Design of movie awards—movies with a touch of fashion.

Some directors are not satisfied with having just a touch of fashion, they want to create fashion films with fashion as the focus. Here is the tricky part—short films with a fashion theme sounds kind of familiar—aren’t they… emmm… ad campaign? I am not discussing Vol de Jour by Karl Lagerfeld here, but it just doesn’t feel right to call it a fashion film. Fashion films may have to, delicately, strike a balance between making fashion the focus, and getting the commercial part involved. Whether the commercial side becomes a result, that’s another story, but it’s better to be left out of the planning process.

Inspired by Haruki Murakami (村上春树), The Weeks of Dasha ties in fashion and film nicely—each episode keeps the scene simple enough to not let the story get in the way of the fashion items Dasha wears, yet somewhat leaves a cliffhanger, in a noncommercial way, to induce curiosity. Although I didn’t get the mood of Haruki Murakami from the music used in the film, I am curious to find out more places Dasha goes to, with the close-up shots of the shoes or jackets.

View the film here: The weeks of Dasha