10 fashion commandments and their movies.

Films revolutionize our sense of aesthetic and/or style. I was trying to prepare a post about the movies which inspired me the most – and most durably, but then I realized it was more a question of film genres and codes… and finally that each movie I chose had a completely different relationship with style.

And, lucky me, the movies in question are 10… so let’s start with the genre that I consider the most inspiring for…

1) COLOUR

For me it is giallo. Italian school, mostly Mario Bava and Dario Argento. Their use of red is always my reference. The perfect example of this is Blood and black lace (Sei donne per l’assassino, more caps HERE), a horror movie set in a fashion house – with possibly the best set design ever done in movie history. And then anything pulp.

2) SHAPE

Easier and more obvious. The trapeze dresses in Blow-up, the game with fashion photography, the tensed relationship between vision and neurosis.

3) MOVEMENT

The only movie ever done by Pina Bausch (a staged movie in a way), Die Klage der Kaiserin. It questions identity, gender, death, absurdity and many other philosophical problems.

4) FABRIC

Westerns! Poncho-blankets and heavy hats come to mind, rough pieces of cloth as in Corbucci‘s The Great Silence or -I watched it forty times at least- Leone‘s The good, the bad and the ugly.

5) ELEGANCE

Noirs, no doubt! Anything with Alain Delon and/or by Jean-Pierre Melville, but also classic American noirs. The example here is Le Samouraï: marvellous Borsalino display (watch the video until the end, it’s a fashion bible!). The female side of this commandment screams Hitchcock for me.

6) POWER

Mostly sci-fi or war movies; the example here is Blade Runner.

7) (SOCIAL) STATUS

I don’t know why I always associate it with the Eighties. Example being Scarface. Also really important for lighting and set design in my opinion.

8) EMOTION

Related with both colours and movement – I always feel like the clothes in Almodovar movies scream at us, mirror the emotions of the actors. Tacones lejanos is perhaps the best example (NOT his best movie though).

9) MODELLING

Visconti‘s Il lavoro. Romy Schneider playing around (bonus: that aRistocRatic accent…).

10)  PLAYING A ROLE

Two movies because of two iconic pieces: the pink jumper in Paris, Texas and the LBD in Nikita. Both in contrast with the theme of the movie.

So here we are, my list! Of course many other movies could have been included here, such as any other movie by Michelangelo Antonioni, Dario Argento, Jean-Paul Melville, Alfred Hitchock or Luchino Visconti; American Gigolò, Gloria (by the great JOHN CASSAVETES), Playtime, Batman (by Tim Burton), Heathers, the Thomas Crown affair, Rocky, la Decima Vittima, Audrey Hepburn’s movies, La Piscine, Lulu, Star Wars, Don’t look now, Borsalino, Casablanca, Clue, Easy Rider, Flashdance, Last year at Marienbad, Red Sun, Johnny Staccato, The Black Tulip, Lolita, James Bonds, even Inglorious Basterds… and the list goes on and on! (n.b.: the movies and the directors with links are my favourite, or the ones I recommend)

Which movies would you choose as ‘revolutionary’ and/or ‘classic’ for aesthetic then? Tell me about it!

p.s.: visit my new posterous, there is even a portfolio ;)