Courtesy of SCOPE.
This week at SCOPE Diane Pernet of the blog and film festival, A Shaded View on Fashion Film (ASVOFF), will curate Markt, a fashion focused exhibition, and SCOPE Film’s Friday, March 5 programming. Pernet, a designer cum blogger, is a long time lover of film, art, and fashion and launched her first film festival in 2006, “You Where It Well.” Two years later she debuted ASVOFF in Paris, her second film festival that has since travelled extensively all over the world. We spoke with Pernet about what she’s brought to SCOPE and why fashion film has become so popular.
WHITEWALL: Maybe we should start by asking how you classify a fashion film - can an ad from a brand be included in this category?
DIANE PERNET: This edition of ASVOFF there are two categories. Some of the films are in reflection; it’s more the idea of a filmmaker, stylist, or artist who makes a film with no particular commercial focus. The other category is communication; that was including a direct ad like from H&M that had an interesting film. But I think next time I’m not going to divide them because the boundaries are so blurred it’s hard to separate a viral from a reflection film and a direct ad is easy because it’s usually 30 seconds but a viral is a direct form of communication and is 8 minutes and about one brand. I like to include them all because the festival is about a diversity of expression fashion.
WW: How will ASVOFF at SCOPE differ from your film festival, which was launched in Paris and will travel throughout the year?
DP: Because it’s an art fair I didn’t feel restricted. I’m a lover of film and so in the case of SCOPE I included two hours of programming of Michael Nyman, the composer who did “The Piano”. He makes films which you can’t really call fashion films, they are more art films. I met him and I asked if he did any films that could be in my fashion film festival and he said he did this one, which we can loosely call a fashion film, that involves the cleaners cleaning the reflective surfaces of the Prada store in Milan. I saw his other films and decided that for SCOPE it would be perfect. In addition to his films I’ll use films that were in my film festival which include films by Erwin Olaf, Alia Raza, Nick Knight, and Jun Takahashi.
WW: You will also be curating Markt, a fashion focused exhibition. Tell me about how you chose the designers.
DP: I have seven designers and most of them come from Europe except for Graham Tabor & Miguel Villalobos. It’s quite varied and quite interesting including artists and designers. It’s a matter of finding international talents wherever they come from because, as with the film program, there is creativity all over the world and we shouldn’t just focus on the major capitals. With the Internet anyone is at your fingertips and that’s what interests me.
WW: Why have we recently seen an increase in attention and production of fashion films? Why do you think major brands have started to embrace fashion film?
DP: Runway shows are getting really last century, except for certain brands that do really spectacular runway shows like the deceased Alexander McQueen or Galliano, Comme Des Garcons. But for the most part it’s just models going up and down the runway. It’s much more interesting and viewable by a much wider audience if you create a film that creates an atmosphere. You have to do a showroom anyway, an installation, and if you actually go interview the designer, see the clothes upfront, and have a film I think you have it all. Before, runway shows were a private thing with only 300 people but now with the Internet and blogging they can see that that old style isn’t working anymore.
All [a fashion film] does is benefit the brand. A film is something that has no sellout date. A runway show is seven minutes and it costs you $100,000 or more. You can make a film that reaches endless people for a price you decide. Like Gareth Pugh, who did a film that in one day reached 1000 people. How may people see a runway show?
