VI. Taking Stock

The devil is in the detail and, err… no, it doesn’t always wear Prada. Travel with us through time and space to explore cinema’s stock of looks, sartorial attitudes and gestures that, however subtle or unexpected, are essential to the crime genre.

Chaired by Ken Hollings, a London-based writer whose work appears in a wide range of journals and publications including The Wire, Sight and Sound, Strange Attractor, Frieze, Blast and Nude, and in the anthologies The Last Sex, Digital Delirium, Undercurrents and London Noir. He has written and presented critically acclaimed programmes for BBC Radio 3, Radio 4, Resonance FM, NPS in Holland and ABC Australia. His novel Destroy All Monsters was hailed as ‘a mighty slab of trippy, cult, out-there fiction, mind-bending reading’.

The Killing Game

Thursday 15 May, 14:00 | ICA Cinema

Discover through this talk the glamorous futuristic atelier of illusions created by director Elio Petri in The 10th Victim, a “style film” and a complex artistic achievement with subtle political undertones aimed at satirizing consumer society and modern lifestyles.

Anna Battista is a writer, journalist and lecturer. Her articles about culture, fashion, lifestyle, politics and social issues have been featured in publications internationally.

I Want That Mink!

Thursday 15 May, 14:45 | ICA Cinema

One of film noir’s prominent features, if not a necessity, is of course the femme fatale. This talk will argue that one garment in particular was singled out in film noir as an ultimate symbol of luxury, imbued with ominous importance as a burdensome object of desire — the mink coat.

Petra Dominkova is Lecturer in Eastern European Cinema at East and Central European Studies, Charles University, Prague. She is also a PhD candidate in film studies.

Looking Sharp

Thursday 15 May, 15:30 | ICA Cinema

This talk will consider what it takes to look sharp, building a special case for the turned-up collar, and will show how the cinematic body can be both displayed and shielded through the usage of garment and the play with its shadow.

Barry Curtis is Emeritus Professor of Visual Culture at Middlesex University, and a visiting tutor at the Royal College of Art. Claire Pajaczkowska is Senior Research Tutor in the School of Fashion and Textiles at the Royal College of Art, London.

Five Types of Stain

Thursday 15 May, 16:30 | ICA Cinema

The bloodstained garment is a classic feature of detective fiction, cinema and TV, serving as trace, symbol, clue and narrative device. This talk will probe at the semiotics of stained clothing (with more than a glance at its prehistory in Christian iconography and primal shame), and consider its role in the construction of cinematic and novelistic narratives of crime and deduction.

Kitty Hauser has won several prestigious awards for her writing and criticism in art and visual culture. Her book Shadow Sites was published by Oxford University Press in 2007.

Sopranos’ Bada Bing – More than Gangster Bling?

Thursday 15 May, 17:15 | ICA Cinema

Forget about the iconic Hollywood gangster figure that, coiffured and manicured to perfection, relies for his on-screen magic on sharply tailored bespoke suits as well as powerful images of masculinity. Embrace instead the Sopranos, the cult TV mafia series. This talk will argue that unlike the forcefully persuasive figures of the gangster movie stereotypes, Sopranos’ characters have little image connection with gangster films, and more in common with the moral dilemmas found in Shakespearean plays.

Lorraine Gamman is Professor in Design Studies and Director of Design Against Crime Research Centre at Central Saint Martins College. She is also author and co-editor of several books spanning design, feminism and popular culture.

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