BEAUTY: Clothing--Dries Van Noten AND Ann Demeulemeester

I don't think I've ever combined a post for two different designers before--well, last season Undercover teamed up with Valentino for a cross-pollination experiment (seen here), but this is different. These are two stand alone collections that, through the Hundredth Monkey theory of metaphysical psychology, both looked to the exact same source material for inspiration.

The gay French author, poet, filmmaker, and playwright Jean Genet (1910 - 1986) wrote a book called QUERELLE DE BREST that was adapted in 1982 by German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder into a feature called "Querelle," starring Brad Davis and Jeanne Moreau. The highly homoerotic story involves the ship Le Vengeur coming into the port town of Brest, France where sailor Georges Querelle comes ashore to visit the bar La Feria. There he meets a man who is supposedly his brother. He also gets involved in nefarious dealings and has sexual encounters with men and women. And in order to understand these two clothing collections we are about to see, let's look at some film stills from Fassbinder's adaptation. I saw this film the year after it came out and it is stunning. The highly stylized, artificial sets and abstract, symbolist lighting plan are immediately striking, and is one of the reasons why this film is a legend.

Dries Van Noten and Ann Demeulemeester both took this unlikely book and film as inspiration for collections that, while flowing from a common spring, diverged in course and presentation. And even though it might be odd for two different high profile houses to choose the same inspiration material, it is worth noting that Van Noten and Demeulemeester were both part of the original Antwerp Six, a group of fashion designers who graduated from Antwerp's Royal Academy of Fine Arts between 1980–81.

Let's start with the easy one. For the house's SS '20 collection at Paris Fashion Week, Ann Demeulemeester's creative director Sébastien Meunier took a more literal route, creating a collection from black sailor berets, long and short variations of pea coats and captain's coats, lace-up blouses, mesh tops, and of course the iconic, low-cut (almost nipple-bearing) A-shirt worn by Bad Davis in "Querelle." But the house has an historic template rooted in its DNA, leaning toward elements of period dress (18th and 19th centuries), and Meunier thankfully indulged that side of the brand. It is the thing that the house does beautifully so we end up with some New Romantic, swashbuckling, Pirate-y pieces that recall Westwood.

Now, on to the darker, more abstract interpretation. Dries Van Noten is a master of pattern and to reflect "Querelle"'s violent storyline and feral, animalistic sexuality, he chose to employ a jaguar print. As a counterpoint, he used floral patterns to express an aspect of Genet's writing in which the author uses poetic, lyrical, almost holy phrases and words to describe a seedy underworld of criminals. In fact, two of his novels are entitled OUR LADY OF THE FLOWERS and THE MIRACLE OF THE ROSE. Among high cut leather shorts, colors that imitate the lurid lighting of the film, and variations on the pea coat and captain's coat, we see cotton and mesh versions of the low-cut A-shirt Davis as Querelle wore in the film.

https://www.anndemeulemeester.com/
https://www.driesvannoten.be/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Stella McCartney

It's taken her a while to get here but she finally did it. And I suppose I understand: children of famous parents often want to strike out on their own, without help from or reference to their famous parent(s). But for her Fall-Winter '19-'20 collection at Paris Fashion Week, Stella McCartney paid homage to her father's band. Now some of you who are of a certain age might need some explanation: Stella's father Paul was in a band... perhaps you have heard of them... The Beatles. And in 1969, the Fab Four released a film that turned out to be one of the most important and defining moments of the 60s. Called "Yellow Submarine," it was an animated psychedelic spectacle whose colors and shapes must have entertained a young Stella the first time around. But a recent viewing of the 4k-digitized restored version inspired her. "The last time, I saw it through the eyes of a child. This time, it blew my mind. I looked at it as a fashion designer and a creative person."

For this collection, she utilized images of not only her father but his fellow Beatles, Ringo Starr, John Lennon, and George Harrison (one of the models she chose looks more than a bit like Harrison). Called "All Together Now," this capsule collection features not only colorful, animated images of the band, but scenes from the film along with words ("LOVE") and graphics (look at the trench peppered with patches and you will see The Chief Blue Meanie at the bottom!) that appear in "Yellow Submarine." Additional suiting pieces and separates echo the looks The Beatles sported over the years. It's a lovely thing on so many levels...it is nice to see images and graphics from such a special film, the message of "All Together Now" and "LOVE" is needed now more than ever, and it is touching to see Stella embracing the world-changing work her father created both on a familial and global level.

https://www.stellamccartney.com
https://www.thebeatles.com/film/yellow-submarine

Just watched...

..."Blade Runner 2049."

I had been waiting a long while to see this film--and it was a nervous wait since the film could have been fantastic or dreadful. But even before it was released, I saw it has a lot going for it: co-written by Hampton Fancher who co-wrote the original film, produced by Scott Free Productions (founded by Ridley Scott, the director of the original film), and starring Harrison Ford who played Rick Deckard in the original film. Add to this the fact that the film was directed by Denis Villeneuve who did the extraordinary 2016 Amy Adams film "Arrival," and also stars "La La Land"'s Ryan Gosling (a wonderfully understated and versatile actor, seen previously here and here) and Oscar-winner Jared Leto, well,...it seemed to be a sure thing.

And I must say that the film exceeded any expectations I had. It is a stunningly beautiful film--truly a worthy successor to the original, in every way possible. The visuals are as breathtaking as the original and the art direction is ravishing. The story makes complete, utter sense and in no way feels forced--or unnecessary--as many sequels (especially after so many years) can; the story not only references the original, but is completely dependent upon it in an extremely satisfying and plausible way. Thanks to Villeneuve, the pacing of the film is a marvel: perfectly deliberate and eerie, like dreaming. I love that Fancher and Villeneuve and everyone connected with this film dared to forego the current popular film structure paradigm of an explosion or car chase every 5 minutes. Sure, there are some actions scenes, some explosions, some chasing, but it does not feel distracting, sensationalizing, or sophomoric...they are part of the larger, more cerebral story filled with deep connections that one must pay close attention to and for.

The film presents something else that I just adore: I love when films portray technology that is unrelated to most anything we know now or could possibly imagine. As the great science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke once said, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." And Leto's character possesses some magical technology that is simply not explained which makes complete sense: if we show current technology, why would we bother to explain how, for example, an iPhone works? In the future, the tehchnology that seems magical now was built on all that came before it. Have faith, it will get there.

And of course it is a real treat to see Harrison Ford as Deckard once again, along with many familiar faces from the original film. The new additions are marvelous too: Gosling, Leto, Ana de Armas, Sylvia Hoeks, and Robin Wright are expertly cast.

Recommend? YES YES YES! But of course you SHOULD have seen the original first...

http://bladerunnermovie.com/

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