X. Model and the
World of Fashion
Chytilová’s Ceiling and Klein’s Who are You, Polly Magoo? make two powerful comments on 1960s fashion and cinematography. Both are prime examples of cinema d’auteur but each has a strikingly different vision and sensibility: one is an introspective essay, the other an uncompromising parody. Filmed in Prague and Paris respectively, they are loaded with sharp insights into the fashion world that complement those of Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow Up (1966) set in London. Like Antonioni, Chytilová and Klein approach the fashion and the surrounding media world critically, treating it as a sign of the vacancy and self-indulgence of contemporary society and human relationships within. Both Chytilová (a mannequin in the early 1950s) and Klein (an on-and-off fashion photographer) were fashion industry insiders, and thus ideally equipped to thoroughly investigate their subject; in this case a fashion model as a character type. Yet for both directors the model remains something of a mysterious, otherworldly creature. As Ginette Spanier, directrice for Pierre Balmain, put it, “They [mannequins] have very little to do with life as usually lived on this planet…”
→ Read Peter Hames’ essay ‘Vera Chytilová’s Ceiling’ here.
→ Read Pamela Church Gibson’s essay ‘Qui Êtes-Vous, Polly Maggoo?’ here.
→ Read quotes compiled by Inga Fraser, ‘Model and the World of Fashion’ here.
Who are You, Polly Maggoo?
Sunday 14 May, 14:00 | Ciné Lumière | Duration: 102'
Who are You, Polly Maggoo?, the 1967 winner of the French Prix Jean Vigo, remains a quintessential film by one of the wittiest and most versatile veteran artists and fashion image-makers. Particularly inspired are Klein’s outlandish fashion scenes and his understated commentaries on film and filmmaking, best exemplified in a sequence showing media’s manipulation of “raw material” through cunning editing. Highly stylised, sarcastic, hilarious and heart-achingly sharp, Klein’s first full-length feature film offers no moral maxims. In a method truly worthy of fashion, it merely lays the surface out for the viewers to figure out.
Followed by William Klein in conversation with writer and journalist Paul Ryan and film and fashion theorist Pamela Church Gibson.
Ceiling (Strop)
Saturday 20 May, 16:00 | ICA Cinema | Duration: 42'Chytilová’s Ceiling makes a powerful comment on 1960s fashion and cinematography. It is a prime example of cinema d’auteur and an introspective essay. Filmed in Prague, it is loaded with sharp insights into the fashion world that complement those of Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow Up (1966) set in London. Like Antonioni, Chytilová approaches the fashion and the surrounding media world critically, treating it as a sign of the vacancy and self-indulgence of contemporary society and human relationships within. Chytilova did not forget her own experiences as a model, or her intention to provide a critical examination of the fashion world. The boredom of the model's life is repeatedly emphasised and seen from a feminist standpoint.
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