When a designer unveils a collection, the recurring question is usually where does the inspiration come from? And in a high percentage of cases, the answer alludes to cinema, music, art. The relationship between these three worlds is much closer and deeper than it may seem because both sectors feed off each other in a constant symbiosis that creatively enriches all parties involved. The visible faces of cinema and music rely on fashion as a tool with which to define their image, while designers nourish their imagination with movies and songs of all kinds.
Perhaps the most representative example is found in the figure of the recently deceased Vivienne Westwood and the punk counterculture, to which she provided some defined aesthetic codes thanks to her bold vision of fashion. In the field of cinema, Audrey Hepburn’s relationship with Hubert de Givenchy is well known, whom she met in the fifties on the set of the film Sabrina, the first of many in which the French dressmaker would create the costumes for the Oscar-winning actress. Or Catherine Deneuve with Yves Saint Laurent, creator of Deneuve’s bourgeois look in Belle de Jour.
The visible faces of cinema and music trust in fashion as a tool with which to define their image
Currently, the most obvious link between fashion and film-music is found in the lucrative contracts that wealthy houses, eager to connect with the widest possible public, offer celebrities. However, beyond the choice of actresses and singers as ambassadors for the most influential fashion brands in the world – Harry Styles for Gucci, Dua Lipa for Versace, Penélope Cruz for Chanel… –, the catwalk is conclusive proof of how a movie or musical movement can set the trends.
The vaunted remake of Barbie, the film directed by Greta Gerwig with Margot Robbie in the leading role, has brought with it a flood of collections with bubblegum pink, a color linked to the Barbie universe, as the protagonist. the aesthetics barbiecore, As this type of monocolor outfits has been baptized, it has been one of the most successful trends of the last season. Without forgetting the resurgence of science fiction on the big screen (from the second part of Avatar to Dune) and, with it, in the proposals presented in the big fashion capitals.
Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling filming scenes from ‘Barbie’
In the case of Chanel and its spring-summer 2023 collection, the influence of cinema is quite literal. For this season, Virignie Viard has been inspired by the film of the nouvelle vague Last year in Marienbad (Alain Resnais, 1961), an absolutely casual choice since Coco Chanel herself was the designer behind the costumes for the film. In fact, Karl Lagerfeld –creative director of the house until his death in 2019– he had already winked at the tape in his spring-summer 2011 columbus.
The connection of fashion with cinema and music becomes important in many cases from the precise moment of conceiving a signature or making a garment. In Spanish fashion we find several interesting examples of independent brands whose vision is strongly linked to the cinematographic and musical universe.
For this season, Virignie Viard has been inspired by the nouvelle vague film ‘Last Year at Marienbad’
For example, 404 Studio, the firm founded by the designer Anaïs Vauxcelles, finds the inspiration for each and every one of its collections in cult films. Its knitted and crochet designs, worn by singers Dua Lipa and Halsey, draw on the aesthetic universe behind titles such as the savage planetthe French animated film directed by René Laloux in 1973 or the surrealist the holy mountainby the Chilean-French Alejandro Jodorowsky, released in the same year.
404 Studio, founded by designer Anaïs Vauxcelles, finds the inspiration for its collections in cult films
The Valencian singer Helena Goch is the founder behind Goch, a brand that, as it could not be otherwise considering the profession of its designer, is inspired by the power of music to devise its proposals, made in Spain. Grunge Opera is the title of the autumn-winter 2023 collection, a bet orchestrated through the contrast of styles: the baroque and theatricality of opera against the transgression and ease of grunge. At Joplin Atelier, music was at the beginning of everything. And no, the name does not refer to the iconic Janis Joplin, but to a city in Missouri where the sisters Laura and Aida Molano decided to create the brand after a stop at a karaoke in that town.
The designer Anaïs Vauxcelles finds the inspiration for each and every one of her collections in cult films.
The spirit of Route 66 permeates its collections, defined as a mixture of “dust storms, rock aesthetics and a road trip nostalgic”. Of course, his last campaign, Route 3, is an ode to the American Midwest in its most theatrical version, with easily recognizable references and western-inspired dresses that don’t fall into clichés. It is clear that this season music sets the pace of trends and fashion is seen on the big screen, like in the cinemas.
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