Watch this short film: INFLUENCERS

Images from 'Influencer' website press release kits.

'How does a form of influence and trend become contagious?'


It's all shown in this short documentary released by R+I Creative.


Have to thank my friend from my course, Nadia who shared the trailer and the film for 'Influencers'


The series of films (so far, only one has been released) by Davis Johnson and Paul Rojanathara covers how influences from music, fashion, products...etc...becomes part of our everyday lives.


This is stuck in my mind from the film (which is an excerpt from Malcolm Gladwell's bestselling book, 'The Tipping Point'): 'The tipping point is a biography of an idea, and the idea is very simple. Ideas and products and messages and behaviours spread just like viruses do...'



INFLUENCERS TRAILER from R+I creative on Vimeo.

Something to kick off the start of a new day... "Fire In Your New Shoes"

I found this video from a random posting on Facebook and been quite addicted to the song

It's one of the song I like to hear when I am walking.

This song is by Kaskade which features Martina of Dragonette

"Fire In Your New Shoes" 

I love a good "old fashion" reverse playback (well semi-reverse in this case...)

Yes, I watched Sex and the City 2...

So then, I've finally watched the movie. This is what I think...

Sex and the City 2 was not as bad as the movie critics claimed it was. Fans of the series will still like elements of the movie. However, there were parts of the movie and the styling of the outfits which gave me a bit of goose bumps.

These parts I sort of cringe...

Liza Minnelli's dance number, 'Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)' sort of gave me the goose bumps but I realised, she actually made an effort. She tried her best pulling off the dance number.

The Irish soundtrack used to show the Irish nanny that Charlotte hired was pretty cheesy that it actually made me cringe (nothing wrong with the music, I just hated the way it was used in the movie)

Sarah Jessica Parker's character, Carrie was a little annoying that I almost got fed up with her. It was like she wants to create another problem for herself...perhaps she got bored...that's why she went overseas? By the end of the movie, she 'grew up' after a little blunder and set back in Abu Dhabi...

The styling...what can I say...I didn't like it at all... It’s ‘tackyville’!!!

Seriously, who would wear something like in the middle of a desert!? No wonder why Samantha was having hot flashes (in another manner)!

Oh my...Samantha...are those spikes necessary?

Seriously, what's with the spikes?! It's either I don't like the dress or I don't really like Miley Cyrus in general... Who do you think wore this dress better? Let me know!

I guess the movie did portray on how some ugly truths on how some people would act if they were in a completely environment...by being amused (and perhaps making fun of) by a culture and behaviour that is 'unusual' to them... It did bring some negative aspects of the characters in the movie....

The writers for the movie might have been somewhat insensitive but....I mean seriously, do we need to see Carrie, Miranda and Samantha poking fun at the women eating chips under her niqāb? This part was unnecessary...which I guess prompted the critics to call this issue ‘racist after the movie was released last week (a little more insights of this issue at the end of the entry). Perhaps this was one of the reasons why UAE didn’t want the production team to film the movie (the movie was filmed in Morocco)? Perhaps way they portrayed Samantha’s behaviour in the movie (which was unacceptable, even though she was really frustrated...Miranda was at least a bit more prepared and considerate to the situation)... However, there is a true element for one scene where some of the ladies, would wear designer outfits underneath their niqāb (this is apparently true as I was once told that this is actually done!).

I did enjoy seeing the movie with my friends...especially one who got excited and sort of gasped at one scene (kissing involved with Carrie and a certain someone)...the situation was hilarious!

I liked how the movie started with a little flash back of how the ladies dressed up almost 20 years ago (with some flashback of styles of the late 80’s). The story was interesting at the start until the ladies decided to go to Abu Dhabi... I guess I wish they focused more in New York like they did in the first movie (which I thought was a lot better)...

Hee hee...I don't get the elbow band on Carrie's outfit...I guess it's what they call 'fashion'!

Wow! That cassette Walkman brings me back memories! I think I've still got mine somewhere in my house in Singapore!

 Oh my...this hairstyle brings me back memories...ten year back...when I had my hair cut like this and I got teased at a gathering...

The settings, the interior of the movie, Carrie and Big’s apartment was nicely done...perhaps if I ever get my own place...I would consider using my hallway as a library.

I’ll love to stay and be served in a room like where the ladies stayed in ‘Abu Dhabi’...though I guess might be a little intimidating when you have butlers on call almost everywhere you go...

Lastly...I would love to fly in the airplane class they sat in on the way to Abu Dhabi...I know there are some airplanes with a bar inside...imagine such luxury on the plane on a 13 hour flight....

Oooo! Cosmos in the plane!

This is the only outfit (dress by Christian Dior (John Galliano) I liked in the movie...though actually, it was worn in Season Three's episode, 'What Goes Around Comes Around'.

Overall, I still think the movie isn’t that bad...I could re-watch some of the parts of the movie...and skip a couple of scenes to the end... Who know what they will show next (though I thought it should have stopped at the first movie...)....perhaps a prequel?

...and yes, I still don’t like that outfit I last mentioned (Dior t-shirt with Zac Posen skirt), even after seeing it at the big screen!

Further reading: Sex and the City 2: A Disaster of Cultural Stereotypes

 http://womensrights.change.org/blog/view/emsex_and_the_city_2em_a_disaster_of_cultural_stereotypes

  

Please note that the article does not mean I support or do not support these views...I am showing this article from a ‘third person’ point of view.

That one outfit which I don't like from Sex and the City 2...

I've been reading the reviews about Sex and the City 2 and it does not look like the reviewers has taken it well, what about the general public? What were the content of the movie that it had to be banned in the UAE? Wait and see...


However, I'm wondering why are magazines raving about this look? 

...I think it doesn't look stylist or appealing at all! I guess I'm not into the outfit because it screams TACKY and partly, I'm not really into t-shirts which spells out any brand names...logos placed in a subtle manner like Lacoste is the best... What went through the minds when they decided to put together this ensemble??? Sure, the skirt is from Zac Posen but seriously, this should be left out at any territory, during all times of the day! Apparently, it was suppose to be to a partial homage to the outfit (tank-top and tutu) at the opening sequence of the television series...

This "me likey"!


Don't get me wrong, I love the series and the styling back then (some bits in the first movie) but I have a feeling, I will be disappointed with the movie as I hated the promotional trailer...


...as for these dresses from 'Halston Heritage' (which Sarah Jessica Parker (Carrie Bradshaw) is chief creative officer for this as well)...

Pictures from 'Red Carpet Fashion Awards'

The words chanting in my mind now are...'Product placement....product placement...product placement...' . I swear I saw something similar at H&M in a camisole top...


However, I'll be watching the movie to see if the reviews are accurate...


Link up: Daily Mail Online - How Sex And The City sold its soul: Since Carrie & Co hit the big screen they've turned into man-obsessed morons


This is was interesting to read though it's just one point of view... The article is kind of harsh and expect some spoilers of the second movie.

At the moment, the movie, "Coco Chanel et Igor Stravinsky"

Last year, I mentioned about "Coco avant Chanel" (two links from the two underlined words).

Here is another movie called "Coco Chanel et Igor Stravinsky" which was presented as a closing film for the Cannes Film Festival 2009.

This movie was set in 1913 onwards, before the first issue of the perfume, Chanel no 5. The movie features parts of Igor Stravinsky's ballet, The Rite of Spring.

Even though it's a little late and was released last year, I thought of posting a movie trailer which I think looks a bit more impressive than "Coco avant Chanel" (which to be honest, I wasn't fond of the movie...I liked a few scenes)...but then again, like all movie trailers, it entices you watch the movie and make it seem good. Whoever has watched this movie, let me know what you think.

At the moment, A Single Man

Near the end of 2009, fashion designer Tom Ford made his first debut as a film director, producer and screenplay writer for the movie, 'A Single Man'.

Also, a little trivia from IMDB: "Tom Ford explained in a Fresh Air interview that he created a back story for George's suit based on the George character. He decided that George would have had his suit custom made on Saville Row on a trip home to England, which informed its cut and color. He also decided that, since 'old-school' British people of wealth tend to be thrifty with clothing, that his suit was a few years old. Ford even went as far as putting a label on the inside of the suit with his name and the date that it was made for him (1957)."

Image from: http://bartboehlert.blogspot.com/2009/12/single-man.html

Official website: http://www.asingleman-movie.com/#/home

Thoughts: This is not the usual genre (drama) I would normally watch. The music got my attention as I was chewing gummy colas in the cinema. I loved the mood and the music incorporated in this trailer...believe it or not, I like Colin Firth! I really hope the movie is as good as this trailer. Many movies these days have really good trailers but the outcome would not be as good as originally intended.

The video below is a short trailer and a trivia about the suit below the video. The film has been released in America. It will be released in the UK on the 12th of February.

'A Single Man' is based on a novel by Christopher Isherwood. The novel is set in Los Angeles a month after the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. This story centres on an English professor, George (played by Colin Firth) who, after the sudden death of his partner (Matthew Goode) tries to go about his typical day. He tries to figure out his life after his partner's death and as his close friend Charley (Julianne Moore) consoles him and his young student (Nicholas Hoult) interacts with him.

Everyone's talking about 'The September Issue'

After watching the movie, 'The September Issue', I realised that I might have a copy of the magazine back in my house in Singapore. The copy of the magazine was printed back in 2007. I remember on my way back to Milan (I was studying there for around a year) from Singapore, I took out the magazine from my backpack while waiting for the plane to take off. While reading, I remember the lady next to me gasping 'Oh my! What a huge magazine! I've never seen anything like that!'. I never thought how much work and how huge that September of Vogue was until I watched the movie.

Part from the movie (from the DVD I bought)

I really liked the movie as it was not overly exaggerated like 'Devil Wears Prada'. Sure, it looks tough but it seems pretty real and made me see another side of Anna Wintour. Grace Coddington who we now can see is one of the great brains behind the whole magazine. I had thought that there would be a huge concentration of bitching in the movie...seeing 'Devil Wears Prada' but in fact, I was glad that I was wrong about this!

The actual September Issue that went to press in 2007 and it was super heavy to carry around!

Watch the movie (I've read from FashionNation that the movie is showing at two cinemas in Singapore) or buy the DVD (I bought mine from HMV in London but all of you can get the DVD from Amazon.com). It's not only for fashionistas, it's for everyone to understand what goes on behind the scene and the human emotions that goes into the magazine.

Coco Avant Chanel (Trailer with English Subtitles)

Remember in April, I mentioned that in France, they released a movie about Coco Chanel (click here for entry)?

Here is the trailer with the English subtitles...however, I am not entirely sure if it is translated correctly though I guess international audiences can get the gist about the movie. Enjoy!



P.S. I was told (from a friend living in Paris who has seen the movie) that the only scene memorable from the movie was when she starts constructing her first collection.

Fashion Predictions back in the 1930's for the Year 2000

Apparently, in the 1930's this was what people thought we would wear by the year 2000. Can you spot anything relevant to today's trends? 'Outi' from OutsaPop Trashion spotted it... A little something from Marc Jacobs as stated: http://www.outsapop.com/2009/04/future-fashion-visions.html

So, basically, what goes around comes around...? Source: http://hautemacabre.com/2009/04/in-the-year-2000/

Preview: 'Coco Chanel' Movie Trailer

(French Poster from IMDB.com (released by Warner Bros. France)

I was browsing the Yahoo France website and I saw the movie trailer for "COCO AVANT CHANEL" ("COCO BEFORE CHANEL" in English).

Here's Audrey Tautou as the legendary Coco Chanel. (Picture source: www.screenrush.co.uk)



This movie from Warner Bros. France takes place during her childhood and her early adulthood.

...so far, there are no subtitles for this trailer...so to those who don't understand French, just appreciate the visual aspects...

Poster for International Release (only a few release around Europe is known for now)

France and Belgium will release the movie on 22nd of April.

One comment: The story looks promising though I hope they will also show more fashion in the film.

Link up here:

Official Movie Website (in French only): http://wwws.warnerbros.fr/cocoavantchanel/index.html

Official movie pictures are shown at this link (in case you are eager to see the pictures fast!): http://www.screenrush.co.uk/film/galerievignette_gen_cfilm=128901.html

Featuring: 'How It Ends' (The Three F's, 'Film, Fashion and Furniture').

Even though this video is almost a year old (a little late to show this I must admit), I thought it would be interesting to post it on this website.

In 2008, here was a collaboration with the local (Singapore) designers, each group, a fashion designer/brand and a furniture designer. This was done under the project called 'Blueprint'. This video was shown together with a fashion show during the Singapore Fashion Festival 2008.

Excerpt from 'designsingapore.org':

"The shared influences between the designers have seen the creation of multi-dimensional and transformational new designs with product designers drawing inspiration from the fashion designers collections for the Singapore Fashion Festival 2008. Arising from the partnership, the fashion designers have also drawn competencies and strengths from the product designers to produce new works for their fashion showcase."



The video was featured in Italian as this whole project was also shown during 'Salone Internazionale Del Mobile' (the furniture fair held in Milan annually) on the same year.

I recommend everyone to watch this video on high definition (HD) on YouTube. Just place your cursor on the triangle located at the bottom right of the YouTube video screen of this post and click 'HD' (after pressing the play button).

Preview: JCDC Versus LEGO

Do you know or recall this?


...or these?


Jean-Charles de Castelbajac (also known as JD/DC), the Moroccan born and French through nobility fashion designer is known for his imaginative designs as presented above... Fancy watching a fashion show with some familiar figures?

This is a CGI animation of a LEGO fashion show by Fabrice Pathier (Four H) (http://vimeo.com/user546241). The clip features designs by Jean-Charles de Castelbajac (http://www.jc-de-castelbajac.com/). You will recognise some of the clothes from his past of the creations (well except you won't find the teddy bear coat...)...and also a familiar face we all know from Vogue!

Preview: Making the handbag (Hermes)

How's the Hermes handbag made?



...so that's why it cost so much!

Featuring: Wallace and Gromit sports designer looks!

Yup, indeed, as the headline mentioned, Aardman's Wallace and Gromit are in designer wear...for the poster campaign for UK's Harvey Nichols. The campaign is to promote the opening for the branch in Bristol. The advertising campaign is created by DDB London with photography by Giles Revell.

Wallace is styled in Paul Smith while Gromit wears a pair of Ray Ban sunglasses and purple silk scarf by Duchamp


Lady Tottington is styled in Alexander McQueen, Christian Louboutin (love the shoes!) and Zagliani.

Wallace is styled in Alexander McQueen, Dolce & Gabbana and Giorgio Armani while Gromit wears navy silk Paul Smith scarf.


Making of the Campaign



Now who would have thought they would sport a sharper look?

Resource: Creative Review (http://www.creativereview.co.uk/crblog/wallace-gromit-model-for-harvey-nics/)

Preview: One 'Western Spaghetti' Coming Up (with alternative ingredients)

It's been a long time since I've seen any stop-motion animation feature since Wallace and Gromit. I saw this video 'Western Spaghetti' by PES from the blog, 'Apartment Therapy' and thought I should share what I watched here.

I love how they used these alternative 'ingredients' into this 'spaghetti dish'!


http://view.break.com/534274 - Watch more free videos

Anyone hungry for pasta now?

Preview: 'FLY Editorial'

Those who are familiar with 'FLY' (http://www.insidefly.com/ or http://www.myspace.com/insidefly), then this might be old news for you. However, I thought of mentioning this here since it's one of the things I like to collect and observe (after magazines of course!).

'FLY' is a series of limited edition DVD that consists a collection of art, fashion inspired short films, interviews, documentaries and music videos (not shown on MTV, VH1 or any other music channel!). This entry will feature some clips and trailer (that I can find on the internet so far). Just keep reading...and view at some of the screen shots from FLY's website.


I remember hunting down their very first DVD which was called 'The Zero Issue'. Apparently, it has been sold out and also impossible to find until I saw it at a bookstore one day. I didn't care about the cost and just bought it! Since then, I've been addicted with getting more of their series since it was released (around 2006 I think!).


So far, I've only got 'The Zero Issue' (beige cover on the left shown above) and their second DVD; 'Words Remembered' (cover in the middle). I hope to get hold of their latest DVD called 'What A World, What A World' (cover on the right).

The list of collaborators and features are so huge that I can't name it all! Also, the DVD is so packed that I have not even have the time to finish the ones I have at hand! Here's a few collaborators (not in any category or order) just to get the gist of it.

Karl Lagerfeld
Gray Scott
John Malkovich
Prada (clothes)
Yves Saint Laurent (clothes)
Zac Posen (clothes)
Psapp
Aphex Twin
etc...!!!

For more listings and description, download their media-kit: http://www.insidefly.com/press/media-kit.pdf

Here are the video clips I mentioned! Enjoy! (I could not find the trailer for 'Words Remembered' so you'll have to find it on their website to view it!)


'The Zero Issue' Trailer


'Lucifer's Milkmaid' by Gray Scott


Explaination of 'FLY' DVD (Source: Cool Hunting)


'What A World, What A World' Trailer
I love this scenario (located somewhere halfway through the clip)

[Lady in a black dress emerges from the doorway with a cigarette between her fingers. She does not take a smoke from it, she just poses...]

Man: I love it! What is it?

Lady: Givenchy.

P.S. To get some of the videos free, download the podcasts from iTunes under the name 'Fly' and the artist name 'Fashion Films' or just go to http://www.insidefly.com/podcast/podcast.html (if it's possible)...or simply, go to http://www.myspace.com/insidefly just to view more videos!

P.P.S. I really recommend viewing all of the features and contents as most of the free downloads are limited in length...and most of you would want more after seeing these clips...believe me! You can purchase it online at http://www.microcinemadvd.com/

P.P.P.S. Watch out for the new release this Fall (2008)!