Fashion Forward: A Film Selection by Hussein Chalayan October 14–21, 2010

Hussein Chalayan offers us a nice surprise before his exhibition ends. The program, consisting of five favorite fashion films of the world-famous designer, brings together fashion and film enthusiasts.

COMRADE COUTURE (EIN TRAUM IN ERDBEERFOLIE), 2009
Germany | 35mm, Color, 84’ | German
Director: Marco Wilms
Cast: Frank Schäfer, Sabine von Oettingen, Robert Paris   
Having worked as a model in the East Germany fashion industry, Marco Wilms embarks on a journey toward the unknown universe of East Berlin’s fashion designers and bohemians of which he was a part; a universe which until today remained hidden in the shadow of the wall. The documentary tells the story of the radical style of opposing groups which developed in the parallel world of fashion, their desire for economic freedom and individual difference, the formulae to creativity, their aspirations and disappointments. Wilms joins the heroes of his youth: fashion designer Sabine von Oettingen, photographer Robert Paris, and stylist and hairdresser Frank Schäfer… The aim is to bring together these subversive characters 20 years after in a legendary, avant-garde fashion theater and give an extravagant Eastern Bloc party!

FUNNY FACE, 1957
USA | 35mm, Color, 84’ | English
Director: Stanley Donen
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Fred Astaire, Kay Thompson
A musical from Hollywood’s golden age! The devil may wear Prada, but today how can anyone forget Audrey Hepburn, a paragon of perfection in pink? The film is about Jo’s transition from being a bookworm with a passion for philosophy working in Manhattan, to a modeling career in Paris; the other star in the film is Fred Astaire, shining with his dancing and acting. In the story, while a vibrant fashion magazine editor and a famous photographer search for a new face for the magazine, they come across Jo, a free-spirited but timid bookstore clerk. Thus Jo’s journey toward Paris begins, during which she will discover both herself and love. Still remarkably valid and innovative for its age, the film is also a first for taking fashion seriously on screen. A giant production, Funny Face is timeless both for its magical Gershwin pieces, and for Hepburn in her costumes and the romanticism between her and Astaire!

HOW DO I LOOK, 2006
USA | 35mm, Color, 80’ | English
Director: Wolfgang Busch   
This is a documentary on the ‘vogue’ spirit and shows, a dance style that is popular in the underground gay community and which we mostly know from the video of Madonna’s ‘Vogue.’ Exploring this 35-year-old culture, known as the ‘Ballroom’ community which evolved out of the Harlem ballroom scene in New York, How Do I Look features artists who took their talents and creativity from the streets and went on to work with stars such as Queen Latifah and Madonna. Drawing us into this ‘trendsetting’ community, the film highlights the troubles of three generations of voguers from their lifestyles, family values, and everyday struggles to AIDS. It also shows us how, when they strike those poses, they build their self-confidence and preserve their social status through art. Full of sensation, How Do I Look is a quintessence of style!

WHO ARE YOU, POLLY MAGGOO? (QUI ETES VOUS POLLY MAGGOO?), 1966
France | 35mm, Black&White, 102’ | French, English
Director: William Klein
Cast: Dorothy McGowan, Jean Rochefort, Sami Frey
An ironic film brought to the fashion world by William Klein, one of the fashion world’s most prominent photographers, starring Dorothy MacGowan, the photographer’s favorite model and Vogue cover girl in 1962. Polly Maggoo is a 20-year-old fashion model living in Paris. She appears as a guest on a television program called “Who Are You?” and goes to a small country in the Soviet bloc. We watch her in this documentary through the director’s camera. We observe Polly’s arrival in the principality, we see he having lunch in the suburbs, and we learn about her childhood. Is there more to Polly than her pretty face? A satire of the fashion and beauty industry, shot with the techniques of the French New Wave, the film has unforgettable scenes.

PARIS IS BURNING, 1990
UK, USA | 35mm, Color, 71’ | English
Director: Jennie Livingston     
“In Paris you can find the House of Dior and the House of Chanel. Whereas Harlem is the birthplace of other types of fashion houses.” A social document with a rich palette on New York’s underground culture in the late 80s; a poignant homage to a time when fashion had no concern for being practical. Here you will see behind-the-scene stories of fashion-obsessed New Yorkers, looked down upon by high fashion, who turn their drag balls and raucous celebrations into an expression of personal pride. This intimate portrait which commemorates vogue, the dramatic dance movement modeled on magazine poses, does not take us to the cream of the crop which we got to know in Madonna’s video but to its beginnings when tight competition was going on.