FASHION FILM/FASHION IN FILM: A look back at the history of Fashion Films and how the Cinema shaped the Fashion world

Abstract

Recently, the unification of video platforms such as YouTube, Dailymotion, Vimeo and others has remarkably changed the way fashion brands communicate with their audiences. Fashion films have emerged as a new revolutionary tool adopted by luxury brands to construct their brands. The fashion film concept is used in the industry to indicate creative audiovisual projects produced for fashion brands. The designers’ growing interest in the moving image was tossed by the technological possibilities and the now easily accessible electronic and digital production techniques and editing equipment but also, and perhaps more importantly, coincided with the shift of the fashion show towards a theatrical spectacle, a multimedia, multisensory experience. There are some factors concerning the industry that must be analyzed before in order to understand the importance of fashion film. We all known that Fashion used to be a sector mainly based on brick and mortar retail, the initial intention was to sell clothes, shoes, bags and accessories. Basically, Fashion used to be a «Business». But now with all the aesthetically pleasing and creative fashion films that exists and that we see everywhere, including film festivals, can we still consider fashion films as a part of the mentioned «Business»? What are the reasons behind the transition from traditional form of advertising to fashion film ? How and when did the fashion industry gave up on the fact of being just a business and decided to become a kind of Art ? Could fashion film be considered Art ?