text summary:

“ cinema and

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

haute couture
”
@barb_leung
 context

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 context
published in ’97 by
Routledge (NY and London)

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 context
published in ’97 by
Routledge (NY and London)
first chapter of Undressing
Cinema

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 context
published in ’97 by
Routledge (NY and London)
first chapter of Undressing
Cinema
and for the visual learner...
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
 that’s the
book cover

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 that’s the
book cover
according to
amazon.com anyway

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 who?

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 who?

this is the author:

stella bruzzi

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 who?

this is the author:

stella bruzzi
she’s a professor of film and
television at University of Warwick
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
 research
specialties?

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 research
specialties?
interested in fashion and costume; gender
and identity in film, particularly masculinity;
documentary film and television
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
 keywords

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 keywords
costume

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 keywords
costume
costume designer

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 keywords
costume
costume designer
couturier

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 keywords
costume
costume designer
couturier
subservient visual role

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 keywords
costume
costume designer
couturier
subservient visual role
functional intermediary

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 keywords
costume
costume designer
couturier
subservient visual role
functional intermediary
simulacra

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 more!

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 more!
semiology of fashion

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 more!
semiology of fashion
technological/iconic/verbal

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 more!
semiology of fashion
technological/iconic/verbal
fetishism

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 more!
semiology of fashion
technological/iconic/verbal
fetishism
designer identity

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 presumably...

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 presumably...
her thesis “the belief that clothes can
function independently of the body,
character and narrative, that through them
alternative discursive strategies can be
evolved that, in turn, question existing
assumptions about the relationship between
spectator and image, not necessarily
problematised through the use of
conventional costumes.” (Bruzzi 3)
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
 old and new

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 old and new
old traditional ethos of costume
design: means of creating looks
complementing narrative,
character, and stars (3)

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 old and new
old traditional ethos of costume
design: means of creating looks
complementing narrative,
character, and stars (3)

new clothing prioritizes over

narrative (3)
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
 history lesson

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 history lesson
cinematic fashion shows

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 history lesson
cinematic fashion shows
fashion films with simply displays of
gowns progressing to story-lined
movies built around the display (4)

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 history lesson
cinematic fashion shows
fashion films with simply displays of
gowns progressing to story-lined
movies built around the display (4)
distance between costume and
couture fashion minimized during the
1930s and 1940s
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
 the costume designer

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 the costume designer

veteran costume
designer edith head image (via)
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
 the costume designer
once the dictator of fashion

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 the costume designer
once the dictator of fashion
hot names included Head, Adrian,
Orry-Kelly and Branton

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 the costume designer
once the dictator of fashion
hot names included Head, Adrian,
Orry-Kelly and Branton
new relationship between stars and
clothes emerged with Sabrina and
Hubert Givenchy

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 the costume designer
once the dictator of fashion
hot names included Head, Adrian,
Orry-Kelly and Branton
new relationship between stars and
clothes emerged with Sabrina and
Hubert Givenchy
demise of costume designer and rise
of couturier
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
 examining Sabrina

image (via)
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
 examining Sabrina
costume designer Edith Head was
given the responsibility of pre-
transformation clothes

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 examining Sabrina
costume designer Edith Head was
given the responsibility of pre-
transformation clothes

Givenchy designed all the “show-

stopping Parisian fantasies” (6)

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 examining Sabrina
costume designer Edith Head was
given the responsibility of pre-
transformation clothes

Givenchy designed all the “show-

stopping Parisian fantasies” (6)

showcase of designs via film

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 examining Sabrina
costume designer Edith Head was
given the responsibility of pre-
transformation clothes

Givenchy designed all the “show-

stopping Parisian fantasies” (6)

showcase of designs via film

film fashion became more intrusive

Wednesday, July 6, 2011
 fashion & the times

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 fashion & the times
Late 1950s to 1980 fluid mutual
relationship between fashion and
costume design with film gradually
becoming a general reflector of
outside fashion and trends (7)

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 fashion & the times
Late 1950s to 1980 fluid mutual
relationship between fashion and
costume design with film gradually
becoming a general reflector of
outside fashion and trends (7)

1960s more harmonious relationship

between couture and street styles

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 exhibitionism & art

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 exhibitionism & art
should clothes “perform a spectacular
as opposed to a subservient visual role
in film?” (8)

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 exhibitionism & art
should clothes “perform a spectacular
as opposed to a subservient visual role
in film?” (8)

and should “those same costumes ...

remain functional intermediaries to
narrative and character, or stand out as
art objects in themselves?” (8)
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 example of Kika

image (via)
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
 example of Kika
costumes by Jean Paul Gaultier

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 example of Kika
costumes by Jean Paul Gaultier
not only “distancing devices but
exaggerated, conventionalized
mechanisms for making the female form
into an objectified spectacle” (11)

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 example of Kika
costumes by Jean Paul Gaultier
not only “distancing devices but
exaggerated, conventionalized
mechanisms for making the female form
into an objectified spectacle” (11)
aesthetic displays and perversely
functional (11)
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
 from the text:

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 from the text:
“This contravenes directly the
traditional interpretation of
adornment, as something which
accentuates and complements the
feminine, but is somehow
symptomatic of how couture as
opposed to the generic fashion
operates in cinema” (13-4)
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
 identity & costume

Pretty Women image (via)

Wednesday, July 6, 2011
 identity & costume
Pretty Woman presents no clear
differences between couture and non-
couture clothing

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 identity & costume
Pretty Woman presents no clear
differences between couture and non-
couture clothing
only importance is the display of
consumerism, as opposed to
individual pieces

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 identity & costume
Pretty Woman presents no clear
differences between couture and non-
couture clothing
only importance is the display of
consumerism, as opposed to
individual pieces
fashion, here, exists as dependent and
casual response to narrative
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
 identity & costume

Funny Face image (via)

Wednesday, July 6, 2011
 identity & costume
different functions and symbols
present in each film

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 identity & costume
different functions and symbols
present in each film
Sabrina places focus on the
significance of each piece

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 roland barthes

image (via)
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
 roland barthes
author of The Fashion System

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 roland barthes
author of The Fashion System

distinctions between real, written, and

imaged garment “useful for oscillating
dialogue with couture” (17)

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 roland barthes
author of The Fashion System

distinctions between real, written, and

imaged garment “useful for oscillating
dialogue with couture” (17)

three different structures for each

item: technological, iconic, verbal

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 roland barthes
author of The Fashion System

distinctions between real, written, and

imaged garment “useful for oscillating
dialogue with couture” (17)

three different structures for each

item: technological, iconic, verbal

fashion requires context

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 simulacra

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 simulacra
representation of something/someone

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 simulacra
representation of something/someone
i d e n t i fi c a t i o n o f i d e a l f e m a l e
conceived through male fantasy

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 simulacra
representation of something/someone
i d e n t i fi c a t i o n o f i d e a l f e m a l e
conceived through male fantasy
notably higher female spectatorship
for these fashion films

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 simulacra
representation of something/someone
i d e n t i fi c a t i o n o f i d e a l f e m a l e
conceived through male fantasy
notably higher female spectatorship
for these fashion films
“clothes more than the woman that
render her perfect and become the
point of identification” (19)
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
 interesting to note...

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 interesting to note...
clothes can be used as a distancing
device (as is the case in Belle Du Jour)
in which assumed bond between
beauty and sexuality is displaced

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 interesting to note...
clothes can be used as a distancing
device (as is the case in Belle Du Jour)
in which assumed bond between
beauty and sexuality is displaced
couture garments need context to be
desirable: link to class and exclusivity

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 interesting to note...
clothes can be used as a distancing
device (as is the case in Belle Du Jour)
in which assumed bond between
beauty and sexuality is displaced
couture garments need context to be
desirable: link to class and exclusivity
differs from Richard Dyer’s sartorial
idea of femininity: sensual fabrics (20)
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
 perfect simplicity

Belle du Jour image (via)

Wednesday, July 6, 2011
 perfect simplicity
when iconic and real are separated, “a
distant, unreal feminine ideal that
could be termed ‘too beautiful’” may
be imposed (18)

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 perfect simplicity
when iconic and real are separated, “a
distant, unreal feminine ideal that
could be termed ‘too beautiful’” may
be imposed (18)
in which case, couture garments can
have an independent identity imposed
on the character, and be alienating

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 perfect simplicity
when iconic and real are separated, “a
distant, unreal feminine ideal that
could be termed ‘too beautiful’” may
be imposed (18)
in which case, couture garments can
have an independent identity imposed
on the character, and be alienating
an example would be Belle du Jour
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
 hurrah, freud!

image (via)
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
 hurrah, freud!
fetishism manifests itself between
“fashion and spectator as a
contradictory impulse that de-
eroticises the body”(24)

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 hurrah, freud!
fetishism manifests itself between
“fashion and spectator as a
contradictory impulse that de-
eroticises the body”(24)
response to the female and the often
perceived masculine gaze

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 hurrah, freud!
fetishism manifests itself between
“fashion and spectator as a
contradictory impulse that de-
eroticises the body”(24)
response to the female and the often
perceived masculine gaze
hysteric confronts masculine imposed
femininity through surface-expression
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
 neglected males

American Gigolo image (via)

Wednesday, July 6, 2011
 neglected males
for a while, male actors were expected
to supply their own costumes

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 neglected males
for a while, male actors were expected
to supply their own costumes
“what I shall wear” has been a
“traditional female preserve” (26)

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 neglected males
for a while, male actors were expected
to supply their own costumes
“what I shall wear” has been a
“traditional female preserve” (26)
American Gigolo illustrates fetishism
in the clothing of the protagonist

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 neglected males
for a while, male actors were expected
to supply their own costumes
“what I shall wear” has been a
“traditional female preserve” (26)
American Gigolo illustrates fetishism
in the clothing of the protagonist
balance between self-promotion and
immersive design necessary
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
 the point of it all
to argue that clothes are not to only
be considered relevant in relation to
the body

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 the point of it all
to argue that clothes are not to only
be considered relevant in relation to
the body
clothing in cinema does not possess
an aesthetic discourse or that it cannot
function independently of narrative
and character (34)

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

 the point of it all
to argue that clothes are not to only
be considered relevant in relation to
the body
clothing in cinema does not possess
an aesthetic discourse or that it cannot
function independently of narrative
and character (34)
clothes; objects of spectatorial gaze
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
 thanks!

web: www.barbaraleung.com
email: me@barbaraleung.com
twitter: @barb_leung
Wednesday, July 6, 2011