Masculin feminin & how film influences fashion
By Eva Bizzarri
11 / 15 / 2022
At this year’s New York Fashion Week, Keith Herron showed the Spring/Summer 2023 Collection for his brand “Advisry”. The designer celebrated “Masculin Feminin,” a film directed by Jean-Luc-Godard. The film is a love poem to youth, meditating and reaching a point in life when one is curious to know who you are, spiritually. The French film holds interviews with female characters, and throughout the film you can observe how the actor Chantal Goya has to tread the line between youth and womanhood with her wardrobe . The film’s costume designer was inspired by the modern plaids and structured denim shown in the film. Just like the film, Herron's collection explored womenswear and distinct aspects of it coming from a naive point of view, accented by timeless trends reflecting today’s younger generation. Keith always had a passion for fashion and started designing at the age of thirteen, inspired by designers such as Virgil Abloh and Pharell. He hoped to create a vision of his own someday to share with the world. Through his collections, Keith was motivated to demonstrate his passion for cinema, music, fashion, art and was inspired by observing how people are dressed on-screen.
Legendary director Jean-Luc-Godard was inspired by fashion and believed it was an important aspect of his films. TV shows, music videos, and films are fundamental art pieces that can make a statement in the fashion industry. Inversely, designers are inspired by cinema to create new trends, recognizing the relationship between culture and fashion. The director stated, “To me, style is just the outside of content, and content the inside of style, like the outside and the inside of the human body. Both go together, they can’t be separated.” Learning about sexuality, socio-cultural norms and fashion in particular era designers get inspired by historical fashion in the media.Raf Simons’s Fall 2018 collection was inspired by the German film Christian F., Directed by Uli Edel. The film revolves around a prostitute in Berlin plagued by substance abuses issues. The designer spotlighted the relationship between younger generations and illicit substances. While the public could interpret the collection as celebrating drugs, the designer aimed to comment on how the use of drugs has become part of society, both illegal and prescription. Jun Takahashi, the UNDERCOVER designer, was also inspired by the film, ‘A Clockwork Orange’ directed by Stanley Kubrick featuring troublemakers in their adolescent years who commit violent acts.
We can observe how designers are interested in what individuals want to wear and how people are dressed on television. French films have a significant influence on fashion. Hollywood filmmakers dress actors to reveal the cultural influences of the character or the director. Audrey Hepburn, for example, was dressed in Givenchy in Funny Face and a variety of remarkable films as a love letter to Parisian style. Mr. Givenchy and Ms. Hepburn became friends before either reached their fame. Givenchy had just started his fashion house, and Audrey was starring in her first movie. They worked together for over seven years, some of the pieces he designed for her were the white dress worn at the Oscars when she was nominated Best Actress. For her second marriage, she was wearing a Givenchy gown. Not to mention, Givenchy’s favorite creations, which some have never been exposed publicly before dedicated to her, were shown at the Gemeentemuseum. Audrey Hepburn is quoted saying, “Givenchy’s clothes are the only ones I feel myself in. He is more than a designer, he is a creator of personality.'' The connection between fashion and film allows us to acknowledge how style itself is powerful in shaping the present and future fashion media, not just clothes in that scene. The art of fashion in films defined ways of attire that are still upheld to this day.