'I cannot use extras... they do not know how to touch the clothes'
Karl Lagerfeld, on his decision to use members of the Chanel Atelier in his recent silent film homage to Mlle Coco Chanel, screened accompanying his Pre Fall 09 collection.
stills from lagerfeld's silent film
[tfs]
I'm beginning to think that Karl Lagerfeld is not of this world. He is the head designer for one of the most prestigious and historic fashion houses in the world (Chanel), as well as the HD for another high fashion house (Fendi), and also has his own line along with a diffusion range (Karl Lagerfeld and K by Karl Lagerfeld), he is a photographer, he is an interior designer, he works with the French Government to improve cyclist safety on the roads... and now he is a Film Director.
Aside from the obvious questions of where does the man find the time to go to the bathroom and read trashy romance novels, i think a little round of applause is necessary for if not the most talented, then at least the hardest working man in the fashion industry at the moment. Along with designing the Pre-Fall collection for Chanel, a beautiful and opulent show that took its inspirations from Imperial Russia and which i will be doing a blog post about tomorrow, Karl also directed, produced and staged a 10 minute silent film homage to Coco Chanel, the original and the best, starring the striking eastern european model Edita Vilkeviciute and Brad Koenig as well as the incredibly chic Lagerfeld Muse Lady Amanda Harlech, her daughter Tallulah Ormsby-Gore, Karl's own bodyguard Sebastien Jondeau and members of the Chanel Atelier playing seamstresses and workers in the fashion house.
The film starts in 1913, showing Chanel and her ladies hard at work in the newly established house, fitting suits, hats, gloves etc. There is a scene of dancing in a nightclub, the girls beaded flapper dresses spinning excitedly and then there is a change to 1923 where Chanel is a little older, the story now charting her relationship with her russian lover the Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, as well as other russian characters, hence providing the inspirational link to the Pre Fall collection 2009.
Fascinated, as i am, by everything and anything about the 1920s, and obsessed, as i am, by everything and anything to do with chanel, this film has my highest recommendations. I've only seen the teaser clip placed on youtube, and which i've embedded below, but from what i can see Karl went to great lengths to really capture the style, both cinematically and sartorially, of the 1910s/1920s. There is the quickened, almost comedic pace of the faster film reels back then, as well as the blotchy, saturated colour and the tinny music accompanying the 'silent' film. Also, place cards announce and explicate the plot, a distinctly 1920s sort of thing.
The film is ostensibly an homage to the fabulous Coco Chanel, and as such, she is shown as a beautiful, glamorous, chic woman. There are extended shots of her smoking in that delightful french way, and Edita is just such a stunning person, when she poses at the top of the stairs of the nightclub in a white dress you are truly captivated. Chanel herself was not that good looking, but then, this is an homage after all, and Karl is clearly besotted with his predecessor.
and who in the world isn't, when you think about it. Next year will see 2 chanel biopics released, one with Audrey Tautou, a story of the years before she started Chanel, and one with Keira Knightley, i think during the heyday of the Chanel house. Both of those girls are perfectly casted in their roles, because they are possessing of that angular beauty, all cheekbones, foreheads and chins, which is what Chanel had too. They are, admittedly, rather beautiful in their own right, but it is a very gallic beauty i think. And Tautou is french after all, although K Knightley, to the best of my knowledge is not.
Ah the allure of Chanel. It really surprises me that it has taken this long for her to immortalised on film, although the house's popularity is surely a reason why not 1 but 2 films will be released next year. Chanel is one of the only enduring fashion houses of that era left, and i'm sure it won't be long before Dior, Poiret, Balenciaga, Hubert Givenchy and possibly even Yves himself get a film too. And, of course, even more interesting is that Chanel was a woman, succeeding at a time when women were not encouraged to do so whatsoever. Her designs were groundbreaking, and iconic, and have stood the test of time. And thus, she interests us immensely. What was it about this woman that could so capture the essence of a generation and the needs of women at the time and yet create designs that are popular today (one recalls the 2.55, the tweed suit jacket and the ballet flat).
Designers today seem less worried about posterity than the designers of old. I mean, sure, every once in a while there is a deisgner who makes a stab at longevity, one could say that Marc Jacobs' accessories for Louis Vuitton (the graffiti scribble, the cherries etc) will probably be remembered far into the future. But are they iconic? I mean, perhaps Ghesquiere and his clothes for Balenciaga are going to be hailed for years to come, and when we go all 'jetsons' and live in hovering houses his sculpted clothes with exaggerated panelling may seem the logical sartorial choices, but i can't see them being both practical and chic over decades of clothing change, like Chanel's tweed suit has been.
But then, i am a mere blogger, and not a fortune teller or oracle. Who knows what the future will bring? I suppose my point was rather to say that Chanel really was in a league of her own, and Karl's fascination and obssession with her, as well as that of the 2 film directors and producers making the biopics for next year, is justified and understandable. those 2 films promise to be an enjoyable and perhaps even iconic cinematic experience. And if the Karl Lagerfeld film is anything to judge by, our fascination with Coco Chanel will not be ending any time soon.
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with the title in matters of the cloth he is as fickle as can be, 'cos he's a dedicated follower of fashion.. You can bookmark this page URL http://startthefire-cafagesta.blogspot.com/2008/12/in-matters-of-cloth-he-is-as-fickle-as.html. Thanks!
