Fashiongirl2006
07-16-2005, 08:03 AM
It's no news that Los Angeles has a swelling community of shooters, but what is often overlooked is the city's burgeoning fashion scene. Why not unite the two?
Los Angeles is home to numerous designers, and its biannual fashion week has in recent years attracted more producers, sponsors, and press, legitimizing the city as a growing capital for innovative apparel. Keeping in the spirit of West Coast rebellion and drawing from Los Angeles' natural resources, some local designers have been bucking the tradition of the standard runway show and instead creating short video presentations to showcase their collections.
Designer Erica Davies had put on runway shows for the past 10 years. For the latest Los Angeles Fashion Week, held at the end of October and the beginning of November, she decided to use her fashion show budget to create a short video presentation.
"I was mostly inspired by Helmut Lang, who did a collection about four seasons ago that he put on the Internet," Davies explains. "That inspired me to do something similar - to try and create a different type of media, where people could have a copy whenever they wanted it, and it wouldn't just be 15 minutes of watching the clothes on the runway and then have them be gone."
Davies worked closely with director Clement Jolin to create the seven-minute piece. Using an Aaton 16mm camera, Jolin kept the straightforward concept of the runway, with models walking down a hallway of Los Angeles' historic Ambassador Hotel. But Jolin also incorporated plenty of close-ups to showcase the fine detail and texture of the clothing. "On the runway, you miss all those little tiny details," Davies notes.
When it came time to premiere the collection, Davies eschewed the mainstream fashion week venues and showcased the short like an art exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art at the Geffen Contemporary. She also distributed the short on DVD to prospective buyers and fashion press, including those from New York who were unable to make it out to Los Angeles.
For designer Jessica Jones, video was the perfect way to display her first collection, Silva Martin, on a budget.
"I couldn't afford to do a runway show, and I thought it was a unique way to have a portable fashion show - something to always keep inside a portfolio," explains Jones, who distributed the finished short on CD-ROM to buyers and press. "And it was second nature to do a movie here anyway because that's what everyone wants to do in L.A. It was very easy to find people to be in it."
Jones and producer/director of photography Bob Brill shot "Burn Rate," a 13-minute video, with a Sony DSR-PD100 camera from Bel Air Camera (where Brill worked at the time) and plenty of shoestring ingenuity, including homemade lighting rigs. "The lighting rig on the front of the camera was a Home Depot special, with PVC piping and fluorescent tubes," jokes Brill.
"Burn Rate" reveals a day in the life of a Los Angeles hipster who, during 24 hours of diurnal tasks and partying, goes through a lot of clothes. To capture the details of the outfits, Brill incorporated stills taken with a Canon EOS-1D digital camera.
"I could show people how you could wear the clothes in day and night settings, and you could examine the clothes really closely," says Jones. "We had the ability to zoom in on the girls and see the clothes from every angle."
Jones displayed the short at the Jade Pavilion in Los Angeles' Chinatown during fashion week. The interactive setting included photography and paintings of the clothing, models milling about in the designs, and even a Pong-style fashion video game.
"During fashion week, a lot of people were busy going to the shows of designers who are more well known, but by being able to show my collection over and over in one night, I got everyone there who I needed to be there," says Jones. "It's a great way for budding fashion designers to start out."
Los Angeles is home to numerous designers, and its biannual fashion week has in recent years attracted more producers, sponsors, and press, legitimizing the city as a growing capital for innovative apparel. Keeping in the spirit of West Coast rebellion and drawing from Los Angeles' natural resources, some local designers have been bucking the tradition of the standard runway show and instead creating short video presentations to showcase their collections.
Designer Erica Davies had put on runway shows for the past 10 years. For the latest Los Angeles Fashion Week, held at the end of October and the beginning of November, she decided to use her fashion show budget to create a short video presentation.
"I was mostly inspired by Helmut Lang, who did a collection about four seasons ago that he put on the Internet," Davies explains. "That inspired me to do something similar - to try and create a different type of media, where people could have a copy whenever they wanted it, and it wouldn't just be 15 minutes of watching the clothes on the runway and then have them be gone."
Davies worked closely with director Clement Jolin to create the seven-minute piece. Using an Aaton 16mm camera, Jolin kept the straightforward concept of the runway, with models walking down a hallway of Los Angeles' historic Ambassador Hotel. But Jolin also incorporated plenty of close-ups to showcase the fine detail and texture of the clothing. "On the runway, you miss all those little tiny details," Davies notes.
When it came time to premiere the collection, Davies eschewed the mainstream fashion week venues and showcased the short like an art exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art at the Geffen Contemporary. She also distributed the short on DVD to prospective buyers and fashion press, including those from New York who were unable to make it out to Los Angeles.
For designer Jessica Jones, video was the perfect way to display her first collection, Silva Martin, on a budget.
"I couldn't afford to do a runway show, and I thought it was a unique way to have a portable fashion show - something to always keep inside a portfolio," explains Jones, who distributed the finished short on CD-ROM to buyers and press. "And it was second nature to do a movie here anyway because that's what everyone wants to do in L.A. It was very easy to find people to be in it."
Jones and producer/director of photography Bob Brill shot "Burn Rate," a 13-minute video, with a Sony DSR-PD100 camera from Bel Air Camera (where Brill worked at the time) and plenty of shoestring ingenuity, including homemade lighting rigs. "The lighting rig on the front of the camera was a Home Depot special, with PVC piping and fluorescent tubes," jokes Brill.
"Burn Rate" reveals a day in the life of a Los Angeles hipster who, during 24 hours of diurnal tasks and partying, goes through a lot of clothes. To capture the details of the outfits, Brill incorporated stills taken with a Canon EOS-1D digital camera.
"I could show people how you could wear the clothes in day and night settings, and you could examine the clothes really closely," says Jones. "We had the ability to zoom in on the girls and see the clothes from every angle."
Jones displayed the short at the Jade Pavilion in Los Angeles' Chinatown during fashion week. The interactive setting included photography and paintings of the clothing, models milling about in the designs, and even a Pong-style fashion video game.
"During fashion week, a lot of people were busy going to the shows of designers who are more well known, but by being able to show my collection over and over in one night, I got everyone there who I needed to be there," says Jones. "It's a great way for budding fashion designers to start out."