As a clothes creator, a designer is a person who makes men’s and women’s lives more beautiful and pleasant. As sexuality is a basic, innate instinct, it is always there, no matter what we do. In the same time, if perceived wrong, it can harm us and people around us. And, if you ask me, there’s also a bit of psychology in the fashion creative process. Why? Because people choose their clothes with their souls.

So, what’s the thing? Sexuality is always there, but it has to be mysteriously prude in order to really excite and please. In the way Claudia Schiffer was photographed by Karl Lagerfeld for the German Vogue I saw a perfectly inspiring way of expressing, in fashion, sexuality via austerity. 

What will follow is magic. A collection of 12 videos. The making of the Chanel Paris Shanghai 2009/2010 collection. For me watching them was like sneaking in Karl Lagerfeld’s day to day life.

You’ll see a little bit of the entire process of making a fashion collection at Chanel: the atelier, the team, the drawing, the pattern making, the embroidery, the accessorizing, the inspiration and much more. 

Episode 1: Maison Chanel

Episode 2: The first fittings

Episode 3: The ateliers

Episode 4: Coco Chanel’s apartment 

Episode 5: Fittings la Suite 

Episode 6: Maison d’arts

Episode 7: Shooting of the press kit

Episode 8: Departure

Episode 9: Shanghai

Episode 10: The accessorization 

Episode 11: The fashion show

Episode 12: The interview 

This is how Rodolphe Marconi called his film featuring Karl Lagerfeld. Here’s a short preview… and I can’t wait to buy it and see it.

« This film is something not real :  It’s something not real about reality. And I think Rodolphe got it in a very modern pointing way. » Karl Lagerfeld

Synopsis:

Fascinated by the “man behind the sunglasses”, Rodolphe Marconi has been contemplating a documentary about Karl Lagerfeld for over ten years. With the groundbreaking feature film, “Lagerfeld Confidential”, Rodolphe Marconi allows us to see beyond the “Karl mystery”. Karl Lagerfeld himself becomes fully involved in the project, entrusting the director with his everyday life. For the first time Karl Lagerfeld has agreed to let someone create an artwork on his every day life and to trust in the director. Until today there is no authorised biography existing and the memories who Karl Lagerfeld would compose stay perfectly confidential. Rodolphe Marconi immediately started to work after their first meeting. He then associated with Gregory Bernard and the company REALITISM FILMS to finance the project, exclusively due to private investors. After three years of work, and over three hundred hours of footage, Rodolphe Marconi discloses the daily life of the star through his personal lens as a filmmaker. The spectator gains a philosophical insight into his personal history and his obsessions: designing a dress in private, giving public interviews, his time and work as a photographer, his collection of art books, Chanel, Fendi, Lagerfeld Gallery (now “Karl Lagerfeld” brand), the most beautiful women in the world, actresses and stars from around the world. The camera of Rodolphe Marconi approaches a hyperactive lifestyle in the closest way. And we discover between the lines the hidden moments of solitude, sorrow, reading, profoundness. The director discovers an intellectual insomniac with a thirst for literature, films and paintings, a fan of Art Deco and contemporary art; a lover of aesthetics in the extreme as well as luxury. Karl Lagerfeld reveals his caracter : affectionate and authoritarian, humerous, with a longing for farces and make someone laugh, to surprise and to appear always there where you would’t expect him to be. Rodolphe Marconi discovers the shattering moments of a life, a solitary man hurt by the death of the person beloved, a man who however doesn’t bear the nostalgia : « If life was really better before, there would be no reason now to continue ». 

You know I love so much the topic of alternative promoting of fashion.

Now, here’s what I’ve discovered: in Elle Spain April issue, Ulrich Schroder transported some of the top world designers into the Disney world. Karl Lagerfeld, John Galliano, Marc Jacobs, John Paul Gaultier, Dolce & Gabbana and Donnatella Versace, just to list a few, have been illustrated as everybody’s beloved cartoon characters. Naturally, I instantly thought about these cartoons as a way of promoting in fashion. Totally different and totally viral.

Just look at them and say if you wouldn’t simply love to spread the news, or more exactly the cartoons!

“All creation is just recreation - a new way of seeing the same things and expressing them differently.” Yves Saint Laurent 

A collection is a set of garments and accessories, designed and produced for sale to retailers or to direct customers, for a season or a particular occasion, and presented in a variety of forms, some of them being: catwalk shows, lookbooks, websites. 

Chanel, Haute Couture Fall 2010.

A collection can be inspired by a particular trend, theme, cultural, historic or social setting. 

For example, in its Fall 2010 Haute Couture collection, Chanel used as inspiration medieval costumes worn not only by princesses, but also by peasants. As a result, one have oversize silhouettes, jewel tones and highly adorned garments.

In further posts, we’ll talk about who and what is involved in the process of developing a collection, from sketching to its promotion. 

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After having spotted an interesting article on Pret-a-protester.com about short films as ways of showcasing fashion collections, I made some research on the matter. 

I have found some interesting facts. Abandoning the glamorous and expensive catwalk fashion shows and migrating to alternative ways like short films or private showcases, in front of only the press and the buyers, is a subject that has been taken into consideration since the beginning of 2009. 

Fashion labels, including Louise Gray and David David, who usually show their collections on the catwalk at London Fashion Week, are choosing alternative methods of showcasing their latest designs. Gray will show her new designs using mannequins at the Soho House private members club in west London, while David Saunders, the head designer of David David, will unveil his new collection via a film that will be shown to an invited audience of editors and buyers,

informs Telegraph.co.uk. 

But, I believe, if you are a designer, it’s worth choosing an alternative way of showcasing your collections not only because of the present economic situation, but also due to the benefits a short film, for example, can bring:

• It is different, fun and unique;
• It is fast and easy to watch;
• It is easy to share with everybody. 

Here are examples of two different kinds of short fashion films: Karl Lagerfeld’s Remember now, having a storyline and Inez Van Lamsweerde, and Vinoodh Matadin’s YSL - Spring/Summer 2010 MANIFESTO, which is actually showcasing the fashion pieces during a photoshoot. 

Remember now

YSL Spring/Summer 2010 MANIFESTO

iulias:

Awesome to see Karl drawing. He made my day!

Watch him: