Bubblegum Club

Tag: fashion film

  • Sleepwear and intimates brand Koeksuster’s new fashion film

    Sleepwear and intimates brand Koeksuster’s new fashion film

    Soft shades of pinks and blues, coupled with smiles, twirls and giggles. “I think it is important to always protect your sisters,” says a voice. This is the beginning of the fashion film created by Cape Town-based sleepwear and intimates brand Koeksuster for their latest campaign. Working with director Thea Small for the visuals, and Elu Eboka to create a specific soundtrack, the film is an ode to high school and coming of age. It acknowledges that being at school is a time when young womxn can become insecure, feeling scrutinized by society and their peers. For this campaign, it was important to reclaim the school grounds as a place where young womxn can encourage one another and feel confident in their bodies. I had an interview with designer and founder Marli Grobbelaar about the brand and the concept behind the film.

    Please share more about the Koeksuster brand, and the name ‘Koeksuster’?

    Koeksuster started as an hypothetical business idea and kind of spiraled into something much much bigger. I’ve been conceptually working on the idea for about 2 years, but our website has been live since July 2017.

    I  think when people first here the word, Koeksuster, they immediately think of the South African dessert! And they’re not wrong. But if you take it apart,  The word “koek” is an Afrikaans word for a prude, and suster is an Afrikaans word for sister. And so the combination felt perfect for a feminist intimates brand, and also my alter ego!

    Only as the brand started growing I started coming across more and more people who also use the word as either a nickname or alter ego as well. Even one of the models from the film told us about how she and her friends used to call each other ‘Koeksisters’ in school.

    Our mission is to not only create feminist inspired products, but to also create a educational safe space for womxn and to promote feminist content in and around South Africa. The brand is aimed at promoting social change and wants to change the way society views womxn and more so how young females see themselves.

    You have a feminist approach to how the brand is presented. How do you think this ties in well with the brands designs for sleepwear and intimates?

    I’ve always been a fan of delicate intimates, but seemed to feel ashamed to admit it. I think it was because of the stigma and sex shaming, that I felt was associated with intimates when I was younger. I wanted the brand to promote the message that intimates don’t have to be sexualized. You can wear intimates just for yourself. But in the same breath there’s also nothing to be ashamed of! I wanted to create a brand  that encourages young womxn to know themselves better, explore who they are sexually and ultimately become comfortable with who they are.

    Please share more about the concept behind the fashion film for your latest campaign?

    I think it all started when I drove pass a beautiful School Building in Woodstock. The pink building seemed so on brand, and I could already imagine the styling that could accompany a shoot there. So when I met up with Thea, the director, for the first time we started brainstorming around the concept of incorporating a school setting. We wanted to create an authentic representation of girls that might be nostalgic for older generations while inspiring for younger girls. While exploring the theme of coming of age, we realized it was a place where many young women feel insecure about their bodies, and we felt that by setting the film in a  school environment, and styling the intimates there, we would be reclaiming that space. It was also important that it was just the girls by themselves, without the distraction of parents, authority figures or boys – we were intentional about creating a gynocentric representation of high school.

    Please share more about Thea Small and how working together enabled the creation of this film?

    I met her through Instagram, where she messaged me to meet up to discuss a possibly collaborating on a fashion film together. I think we were both in a space where we wanted to find a new creative outlet as well as work on our own portfolios. It was also really important to me that she was a female filmmaker, and upon our first meeting, I knew she understood and shared the brand’s vision.

    She taught me so much as a fellow creative, but I think some of the biggest takeaways for me from the project is the power of collaboration. It was so amazing to be able to rely on someone else, especially someone as hard working as Thea. She had the perfect vision for bringing our brand to life on film. I think if you have multiple people contributing to an idea, the concept can become so much stronger and far more refined. So I can’t be happier with how this project has brought a next dimension to the brand.

    Why did you decide on a fashion film for this?

    I have to admit that I would have never thought to do a film if it wasn’t for Thea reaching out to the brand. After talking to Thea for the first time it felt like the right next step to expand the brand. I really wanted to push the brand into a more conceptual direction, while still showcasing the products. Also this is by far the brands most theme-driven project, so I think it’s a bonus to have more than just stills to fully translate the idea.

    Who do you imagine as the people who wear your designs? Do you keep this imagined wearer in mind when bringing out new collections and campaigns?

    I think unfortunately the product design process is very much influenced by what materials are available. But once I do have the materials, it’s all about finding the most versatile way of working. I try to make patterns that I can adjust to different cup sizes and bust sizes. The dream is to make most of the products on request so that you have to submit your measurements online to make a custom bra that fits you perfectly. For now I’m still finding the balance between what’s available and within my skill range as a small business owner. Eventually I really want to expand to be able to accompany more body types and preferences. Because I suppose, I imagine all womxn wearing the designs eventually, or at least that’s the dream!

    Anything else about the fashion film or Koeksuster that you would like to share?

    Our film also had a soundtrack composed especially for the production. We wanted the perfect sound to accompany our film, and spent time creating music to edit to. The track also includes voices that further emphasizes our focus on Sisterhood and Solidarity.

    Credits:

    Director: Thea Small

    DOP: Jason Prins

    Producers: Lola Almond & Chase Musslewhite

    Camera Assistant: Junaid Rawoot 

    Gaffer: Patrick Buti

    Make-up: Marchay Linderoth

    Styling: Marli Grobbelaar

    Art Direction: Christina Leigh Fortune

    Style Assistants: Michelle Benade

    Production Assistants: Chelsea Wiercx & Beth Ribeiro

    Photographer: Natasha Alexandra

    CAST:

    Terri de Jager

    Iman Kathrada

    Lucy Mbiola

    Maxim Marais

     

    POST:

    Editor: Tomas Wells

    Colourist: Brett Wrayner

    Music & Sound Composition: Elu Eboka

    Voice: Liza Scholtz & Tinuke Eboka

  • An Afro Futurist fashion film for Vlisco x AWCA

    An Afro Futurist fashion film for Vlisco x AWCA

    Photographer, Art Director and stylist Daniel Obasi‘s latest offering is the creation of an Afro Futurist fashion film for the eminent textile designers Vlisco and A Whitespace Creative Agency (AWCA) titled ‘An Alien in Town’.

    A sequence of lush palm trees and fauna are contrasted by the earthy brown landscape that acts as a bordered scenery. From a distance, a motorcycle slowly appears, distinguished by its cattle horn adornment. Its riders in strikingly styled fashion combinations. They are met with the alien (Benita Ango). A blue life form has her back turned towards her onlookers. With a gentle movement, she turns to meet the gaze of her audience.

    The earth below her feet mimics the surface of a crater. The viewer is met with transitioning images of space, the alien in profile caught in a medium frame as well as a wide shot that exemplifies her otherworldliness. She faints.

    Her onlookers take on a more active role and with the curiosity and near naivety of children, they approach her. They take her in and attempt to teach her the ways of humankind, of human culture. With the metropolis of Lagos as the setting of this tale, the viewer is taken through a variety of scenarios in which the alien life form finds itself. This emphasizes how out of place she is in this human world. She examines this new found space for the first time and is clearly amazed by all that she witnesses. She studied her hands, a book, the television. Her alien-ness is highlighted by her incorrect use of a fork and non-intrinsic manner of attempting to consume food. What is deeply apparent is an emotional detachment that flows through the entire piece. It is implied that the alien identifies more with a mannequin than with the humans who have given her refuge.

    Obasi’s work takes the form of a gestural film as there is no audible dialogue and yet, the gestures and narrative are well woven together so that the simple storyline cannot be construed as one of haphazard play (every scene has been well thought out). A theme that is carried throughout the film is that of fashion. We see the male character played by Oke Tobi Subomi in the film take the human femme (Rebecca Fabunmi) and alien into a photo shoot setting made up of Vlisco fashion and a backdrop pattern of black and white squares against which the fashion ensembles stand out triumphant. Headpieces, beaded on the humans and more futuristic on the alien take centre stage.A scene lingers in a dark room with red light and as we see the last of the alien’s stay the lighting takes on a blue, extra-terrestrial statement. The darkroom where the male character develops his images of the fashion shoot act as a possible signifier towards an act of creating a physical object –  a proof of what had transpired – an alien visiting Lagos. Obasi ends off his piece with the alien in the same setting she was originally found and the viewer assumes that it is the last that will be seen or heard from the alien. The upbeat soundtrack that flows through the piece assists in making this film light-hearted and the viewer does not perceive her voyage home as one that should be taken in with sadness.Obasi’s contemporary Afro Futurist film is vibrant and celebrates Nigerian culture as well as focuses on African fashion and the energy that it carries. His considerations of the colour of lighting and the possible symbolism connected, adds another layer to this work. His ability to keep a concise narrative throughout the film despite having no audible dialogue verges on brilliance. I look forward to his next offering.

    Credits:

    Art Direction & Styling: Daniel Obasi

    Models: Rebecca Fabunmi, Oke Tobi Subomi & Benita Ango

    Videography: Ugo Oparadike & assistant Deji Adekoya

    Production Assistant: Ifeoma Kalu

    Composer: Emmanuel Ejidike

    Editor: Matuluko Robert

    Hair: Happiness Okon

    Makeup: Lauretta Orji

  • The Wanderer – Stability through Movement

    In search of a meaningful way to stay intellectually charged and creatively engaged,  Jason Storey said goodbye to his corporate law position in New York and followed his dream of becoming a full-time designer in South Africa. He now explores fashion creatively in its various conceptual forms with the label he started with his sister – Unknown Union.

    When the label was launched in 2010, it took root in a retail store on Kloof Street in Cape Town, and it housed a collection of international brands alongside their own small capsule collection. 2014 saw the siblings open a design studio in Salt River. The same year also saw the inception of a larger collection that reflected upon the art, history and culture they encountered on the African continent. And in 2015 their brother Oscar left his job in the US to join the team. In their newest location on Bloem Street in Cape Town’s CBD, Unknown Union blends art, fashion, literature and music as a way to stay a “community of people that dig the arts.”

    Their latest offering is a collaboration with photographer Cathrin Schulz titled The Wanderer – Stability through Movement. This body of work is a crisp exhibition of Unknown Union’s garments and Cathrin’s extraordinary command of lighting. An additional layer to this visual treat comes in the form of a short fashion film shot by Anna Schulz. With a behind-the-scenes feel, the film opens with the model getting camera ready accompanied by the soothing tone of James Blake’s voice breaking free as the music starts, bringing one into the Wanderer’s journey. I had an interview with Jason to find out more about the project.

    Tell us a bit about The Wanderer – Stability through Movement and how it came into being?

    The Wanderer can be seen as a pilot for an upcoming series and a fruitful collaboration between Unknown Union and Cathrin Schulz. A team of creatives sat down and brought in their expertise as a form of creative exchange. The cultural diversity of the creators brought up a colourful mix of ideas, leading to the story of The Wanderer. The result is the art directed and photographed edition by Cathrin Schulz and a complementary film by Anna Schulz.

    What was the inspiration behind it?

    The source of the collaboration is to merge the creative languages into a synergy. Unknown Union weaves ancestral knowledge into fashion, while Cathrin Schulz infuses spirituality into her visual medium of photography. The red thread is to connect the respective visions and create an effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.

    The series found inspiration in conveying the concept of Human Design, a science of differentiation. The Wanderer is a primal aspect found on both of the artists’ work, to convey a deeper message – a message of interpreting experience, emotions and stories – into a stimulating form of expression.

    What is the message you wanted to convey with this film?

    The medium of film visualizes and highlights the project’s aspect of ‘Stability through Movement’. Its purpose was to portray the creative flow of the shoot, as well as giving access to the different angles of the scenes. The intended message is simple: the beauty of creative collaboration.

    What sparked the collaboration with Anna-Marie Schulz?

    The collaboration was sparked by Unknown Union’s openness to provide Anna Schulz with a creative platform of expression within ‘The Wanderer – Stability through Movement’. It is rooted in creative exchange.

    What can we expect to see from Unknown Union in the future?

    We are going to dig further into current themes as well as unveil some new themes at this year’s runway show on February 10, at SAMW (AW18). In March, we’ll open our newest location in Johannesburg – in Maboneng.

    With The Wanderer – Stability through Movement as the pilot,  Unknown Union’s partnership with Cathrin Schulz promises to bring about sheer viewing pleasure. To watch the film go to their Instagram.

    The Team:

    Clothing: Unknown Union

    Photographer: Cathrin Schulz

    Stylist: Kshitij Kankaria

    Hair & Make-Up: Richard Wilikson

    Model: Cristiano Palmerini

    Filmmaker: Anna Schulz

  • Wonderverse (e) // an experimental fashion film

    Greeted by the camera panning a rock facade towards the face of a man looking directly at you, chin up. The subtle beat of the music massaging your eardrums while his proud eyes hold your gaze. Engulfed in a computer screen framed cosmos that allows you to experience the polysemous nature of wonder, to be curious and to marvel, all at once. Wonderverse (e).

    In an interview with the art director for the experimental fashion film, Size Mbiza, he explained that the idea for the shoot was born during a conversation over lunch with the designer of DCCCLXIV, Julian Tamuka. “He was in the process of designing his debut collection and we were having a conversation about the duality between wisdom and wonder and how [this] is a sweet spot where ideas are born.” The two of them felt that presenting the collection in this short film would provide the framework for a well-rounded concept. “Luckily Neo Twala was more than interested in the capturing of the clothing, the garments and the relationship between the character and environment,” Size explained.

    Following on from their initial conversation, the name Wonderverse (e) encapsulates their interpretation of wonder as the birthplace of ideas and greatness. “The (e) is a representation of everything. So it is the Wonderverse of everything,” Size continues. The character portrayed in the lookbook, (E)zra, lives in this fictional place, and this is where he realized his potential and greatness, hence his strong posture and the intense look in his eyes while confronting the viewer.

    The location for the short film helps to build a life history for (E)zra. Taking place at a mine dump in the south of Johannesburg CBD, they are able to make a connection between the history of mining and Zama Zama miners in South Africa. “So the location fits in well with the narrative because Julian’s character has overcome great tragedies [and connects to] his forefather’s painful history,” Size explained.

    Have a look at the film below, and be transported to Wonderverse (e).

    Credits:

    Art direction: Size Mbiza

    Styling: Didintle Ntshudisane

    Makeup and hair: Didintle Ntshudisane

    Photography: Size Mbiza

    Cinematography: Neo Twala

    Model: Julian Tamuka

    Music: Badulah

    Assistant: Miya Twala

  • Nirma Madhoo – exploring digital aesthetics through fashion films

    Describing herself as “culturally hybrid” and an “accidental nomad”, Mauritian born Nirma Madhoo moved to South Africa in 1998. She was based between the UK and South Africa for 2 years, studying fashion photography and fashion filmmaking. Now based in Durban, her work continues to think about how fashion environments are shaped by digital tools.

    Her latest fashion film ‘Labtayt Sulci’ showed at this year’s Berlin Fashion Film Festival, and combines a natural landscape with the digital, creating a dreamy, “otherworldly” visual and sonic experience. The futuristic and the surrealist amalgamate. The graceful body movements of the models in her film are transformed into glitchy movements, allowing models to take on an alien or robotic characteristic.  However, Nirma manages to maintain a softness and humanness in these characters. With her work being informed by posthumanist and futurist thinking and aesthetics, I interviewed Nirma about her exploration of digital aesthetics.

    On your website you stated that you originally studied fashion design, and worked as a design educator and digital fashion media producer. Could you let us know more about your background in fashion and the digital?

    I am trained as a fashion designer at Durban University of Technology (DUT) and did the young designer ‘thing’ for a while before starting to lecture fashion theory in 2007. Then in 2013, I went off on a sabbatical to train as a fashion photographer and fashion filmmaker at the London College of Fashion (LCF). My interest in the digital stems from my upbringing – my father who was a science teacher got the family one of the first personal computers to be commercialized, the ZX Spectrum and I grew up surrounded by cameras and gadgets. I think these were incredibly formative in who I became although my passion for the digital crystallized only when I undertook my second Masters at LCF – an institution spearheading research in digital fashion.

    How did you get into making fashion films?

    My first Masters at DUT researched aspects of construction of the fashion image so the interest was always there. The definitive trigger was watching the fashion films broadcast via digital platforms such as SHOWstudio in the early 2010s. I realized there was something new and exciting that was happening in the fashion world and I wanted to be part of it.

    Could you please provide some context on the fashion film world you are a part of?

    The fashion film world is open and accessible to anyone with a cellphone and internet connection. Submission to fashion film festivals are equally accessible to everyone from anywhere in the world. In my case, I have found that the LCF network is especially supportive of its alumni and I am slowly developing a network in South Africa where there are small circuits of progressive thinking. I must say that Johannesburg is at the forefront of this especially in terms of digitality.

    Looking at your fashion films ‘Future Body‘ and ‘Labtayt Sulci’, they have a similar look in terms of the colours used and the kind of flow created through your direction and music. Do you have a particular style you try to stick to aesthetically?

    I am glad that this is noticeable. I am trying to explore a particular sensibility and aesthetic that will hopefully become something of a signature across my portfolio. Having trained in fashion, I understand it very well and for the productions that I am now conceptualizing and directing, I have a very definite idea of how they should look and feel. For my personal projects I try embed a futuristic feel as well as create fashion identities which are alternative but at the same time relatable in a wider context.

    Image from Future Body

    On your website you state that ‘Future Body’ was about exploring digital aesthetics with your fashion films. Could you please expand on this? Is your current work a continuation of this?

    My personal projects all explore digital aesthetics. Our times are defined by the wider macro technological changes. Very much like how the Age of the Machine in the 1920/30s engendered a whole new aesthetic and design language that defined the fashion of those eras. The tools that the digital provides for both producing and viewing media undoubtedly affect how we both construe and project ourselves. My work interrogates how we conceptualize fashion and fashion identities in environments shaped by these tools. There are significant ontological and epistemological questions that have emerged with innovations in digital imaging and ultimately the concept of aesthetics – these I hope to investigate via further studies andmy current personal projects which are also practice-based research.

    On your website you also state that you work “explores discourses of the future and digital aesthetic in fashion new media” – could you please expand on this?

    Fashion media is not about representation anymore. It has become about interactivity and embodiment with technologies such as Virtual Reality, Augmented reality and Mixed Reality. We understand that historically fashion has not been just about the clothes on our bodies, it was and still is about ways of beings and serves to takes us to different places and different times. With these new media tools, these capabilities are surely augmented, extended..In what ways? My work speculates on that.

    Your latest fashion film ‘Labtayt Sulci’ showed at the Berlin Fashion Film Festival 2017. Could you please reflect on the experience. Was the first time you were part of a fashion film festival?

    It was exciting to have Labtayt Sulci show at a public screening at BFFF this month. I have previously shown at London Short Film Festival and Aesthetica Short Film Festival (UK);but also Melbourne Fashion Festival along with the work of artists such as Bart Hess and Hussein Chalayan whose work I look to for inspiration.

    Labtayt Sulci has a dreamy, surrealist and slightly futuristic look and feel. Could you please expand on the kind of direction you wanted for the film?

    Labtayt Sulci is inspired by NASA’s explorations of Saturn’s moons by the Cassini expedition. Digital renders of Enceladus by NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute are the most evocative ice-blue textured surface with accounts of this being an icy crust over a warm ocean that may have hold extra-terrestrial life. These images of Enceladus (one of which opens Labtayt Sulci) are digitally rendered, not entirely realistic, but really captured my imagination. I remember then also seeing Mann’s World,which was shot in Iceland in Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, and making the visual link between Enceladus and this. Labtayt Sulci was therefore partially filmed in Southern Iceland’s glaciers. I wanted the landscapes to be natural (as opposed to the synthetic world in Future Body) and to tap in the natural sublime while still looking digital. Keywords for art direction included ‘otherworldly’, ‘atmospheric’, ‘exobiological’, ‘ice moon’.

    Image from Labtayt Sulci

    It’s incredible how you are able to transform the graceful body movements of the model into these glitchy movements while still maintaining a softness. Could you expand on how you achieved this?

    A combination of video and sound editing possibly provides the alchemy to translate movement such as this in the fashion films. Casting and directing of actual fashion models for live action filming ensures that is there is inherently grace. Strategic post-production manipulation / VFX help achieve cyborg/alien sensibilities that challenge traditional ideals of beauty. The identities are open to interpretation – they retain anthropomorphic qualities for most and are therefore relatable and accessible in the context of popular fashion but then also encode sub-text which provide alternatives to stereotypical womens’ identities in fashion media.

    The music elevates the mood you create in these films. Could you please expand what informs your sonic choices for these films, particularly the film you showed in Berlin?

    The sonic landscape sometimes informs the way in which the fashion film is actually cut. In my case I select the audio in preliminary stages and use it as a guide but then also simultaneously edit it to fit the non-narrative structure the productions take. ‘Labtayt Sulci’ in particular utilizes 4 electronic soundtracks, which immerse the audience in an ambient surreal environment on an elemental journey from ice, atmosphere and mist to aquatic and subterranean on a hypothetical Enceladus.

    Image from Labtayt Sulci

    Your work appears to be informed by posthumanist and futurist thinking and aesthetics. Am I correct in saying this? What particularly about these frameworks do you find interesting and how do you think your films help you to explore these?

    Yes that is correct. As a consumer of fashion images, I became tired of normative sexualized or decorative roles that women have in mainstream fashion editorials. I could not relate to these on a personal level. As an image-maker I therefore went on to use my areas of experience in teaching fashion / contextual studies to underpin my fashion media work with theory. I have a subjective interest in science fiction as genre; fashion identities that are constructed in my projects therefore hinge on notions of a cyborgian or exobiological other. Hybrid identities – human/machine discourse projected onto the ‘other’ or on the female body is transgressive. Perhaps not overtly, but it certainly goes against the entrenched norms stemming from a ubiquitous but invisible patriarchic system. We read that in theorist Donna Haraway’s work, and experience it in daily life where ‘tech’ and ‘space’ are gendered as masculine. I suppose that what I find interesting about these frameworks is that their rejection of hegemonic structures of power via fiction, speculation and futurism literally provides uncharted territory to create compelling and aspirational narratives.

    What are you working on at the moment?

    An exciting transmedia project that looks at (pan-)African digital identity and futurism.

    Check out Nirma’s latest fashion film ‘Labtayt Sulci’ below

     

    Credits for Labtayt Sulci (2016)

    Photography and Direction: Nirma Madhoo
    VFX: Alastair McColl
    Model: Maxine at Anti-Agency | Akhona Sibisi at Ice Durban
    Styling: Hangna Koh
    Fashion: Yun-Pai Liu + Siwon Lee + Sasha Louise + Lien Lieu

    Costume: Shari Akal Fowles  |  Shoes: Iris van Herpen x United Nude
    HMUA: Holly Jordan + Kat Krupa-Ringuet + Wadene Ngubane
    DP + Camera: Kit McKenzie + Nick Morris + Jimmy Reynolds
    Additional Camera: Hung-Chun Wang + Shayne Chipps
    Production assistant: Khristopher Morgan
    Video Editing: Nirma Madhoo
    Image Credit (Enceladus): NASA | JPL | Space Science Institute 2008
    Special thanks to:
    London College of Fashion, Global Outlook Award 2015
    White Light Ltd London | Arcanum Glacier Tours Iceland | Arcanum Guesthouse Iceland

    Credits for Future Body (2015)

    Photography and Direction: Nirma Madhoo

    Featuring Alice Hurel from First Model Management, London
    CGI | 3D modeling | animation: Jenne van der Meer | Devon Fay | Joy Fay
    Costume Design: Adriana Restrepo | Leanne Broadway
    Fashion: Dioralop
    Shoes: Iris van Herpen for United Nude
    Stylist: Hangna Koh
    Make-up Artist: Kat Krupa Ringuet | Josie Chan
    DP: Nick Morris | Nicholas Stylianou
    Camera Operators: Nick Morris | Nicholas Stylianou | Hung-Chun Wang
    Grip | Gaffer: Hung-Chun Wang
    Production Assistant: Yang Ruijia
    Audio Technician: Andrew Sutherland
    VFX | Post-Production: Alastair McColl | Nirma Madhoo

  • The Fashion Lab Johannesburg – High Fashion, High Art

    As its name suggests, the Fashion Lab is an experimental space dedicated to pushing the boundaries of clothing and style. Founded in Johannesburg in 2014, it has used the workshop format to create cutting edge clothing which meets high fashion with high art.  The workshop has an egalitarian ethos ” developed for anybody wanting to learn new skills, develop additional techniques or just experiment and explore to further their existing ability. Mentors are all experts in their specific fields, and have lots of practical and professional experience that they love to share”. Participants have worked on everything from drapery to textiles to doing fashion shots with smartphone cameras.

    The Fashion Lab Johannesburg 2

    Along with teaching, the Lab has given birth to numerous striking collaborative projects. In 2014, they produced the ‘L’afrique C’est Chic’ shot for GQ Magazine, a celebration of contemporary African style.  Its participants have experimented with music photography, producing stylised and baroque shots of local band The Sextons and rapper Gigi Lamayne. Photographed by Richard Thompson, Lamayne looks regal in silver and black dresses and headpieces. It’s an incredible futurist piece which looks like character designs from some yet unconceived science fiction epic.

    The Fashion Lab Johannesburg Gigi 2

    Perhaps the most ambitious work produced to date is the short film Feral. The key theme of the work is fear- ”Fear of Time. Fear of Change. Time waits for no one.” The two minute film focuses on two dancers wrapped in an arcane power struggle. Alison Sischy Smith, in a skeletal white costume and Kieron Jina, in coffin black, writhe and snake around a set full of masks, puppetry and headgear. The result is supremely effective- more a plunge into the psyche than a conventional fashion piece. The success of this film shows the strength of the Fashion Labs collaborative ethos.  Linking together different creative people in a workshop space allows their collective imagination to soar.

    The Fashion Lab is on Facebook and Feral can be viewed below.