Dress yourself in red, white and blue-the Brits are coming to Acmi!

Image courtesy HBO

Spring is rolling around once more, and the annual way to celebrate it is with the launch of Melbourne Spring Fashion Week! And what better way to dress than in red,white and blue as we celebrate the newly fashioned film season at ACMI, curated by James Nolen, From Twiggy to Westwood-great British fashion on film. A highlight event in the MSFW calendar, and presented in association with MSFW and Great Britain Arts 13, each year we are presented with fashion films to highlight a week of runway festivities and cultural exhibitions, giving us time to pause and experience fashion from a behind the scenes angle, which is always far more interesting than what is presented front and centre on show.

Get yourself Deeper in Vogue!

DRESSED FOR SUMMER 2013

Courtesy: ARTE France

It's time to dip your fashion toes back into the stylish waters with the biannual Fashion on Film Season Deeper In Vogue. Screening as part of the cultural program of the 2013 Loreal Melbourne Fashion Festival (LMFF), many of the films are premiere screenings in Australia which is all the more reason to head on down to ACMI in Melbourne from Friday 8th to Wednesday 13th March to see them.

Nature, Friends, Wine and Fashion! What more can you want!

Last Friday I did the opposite to what most people would be doing at about 6pm. I left the hustle and bustle of the city noise and bars and headed towards the tranquillity of the mountain backdrops in the Yarra Valley. My fashionable companion on this mini road trip was my good friend James Nolen who had a rather special jacket to launch at the event. As you will see below, it's quite luminous and reflected the backdrop beautifully. We were on our way to a rather unique fashion event, where unlike most which are set in urban surrounds, this one was being held at the picturesque Yering Station Cellar Door Gallery space.

Immerse Yourself Deep In Vogue

Karl Lagerfeld in Fashion Pack: Go Global Courtesy: ARTE, France

Where will you find Karl Lagerfeld, Marc Jacobs, Tom Ford, Jean Paul Gaultier, Alber Elbaz, Isabel Marant, Rick Owens and Mademoiselle Agnes to name a few this Spring? Not the latest runway show, but at the latest offering of films in partnership with Melbourne Spring Fashion Week (MSFW) at ACMI- DEEP IN VOGUE: FASHION ON FILM.

Each year, film curator James Nolen delivers a visual feast of fashion films to coincide with Melbourne Fashion Festivals and this latest offering is not by any means one to skip over in your busy calender of events. 
To kick start you into a fashion mindset, ACMI will be hosting a live event entitled THE BATTLE OF THE DECADES: the 80's vs 90's vs 00's. A free event debated by industry heavyweights as they will no doubt cause a fashion eyebrow to raise as they debate on which of the last three decades were the height of fashion. I've already cast my vote. I wonder if you can guess which decade? Hmmm...

Marc Jacobs in Fashion Pack: Go Global Courtesy: ARTE, France

The film season begins with an Australian Premiere, a three part documentary, FASHION PACK, featuring Golden Eighties (I believe this will be my personal highlight), Anti Fashion and Go Global. A fashion history of the who's who, by French Director Olivier Nicklaus, bringing us interviews and never before seen footage with designers,collaborators, fashion writers and editors and models covering fashion from the 80's, 90's and 00's. 

Raf Simons in Fashion Pack Courtesy: ARTE, France

Anna Wintour in Dressed For Winter 2012/2013 

Courtesy: ARTE, France

Fashion Pack: Go Global Courtesy: ARTE, France

The Day Before:Lanvin Courtesy: ARTE, France

Another first for Australian Screens is THE DAY BEFORE: ISABEL MARANT & LANVIN, taking an inside look into one of France's newest fashion houses and one of their oldest. Feel the tension, the anticipation and the creative excitement build as they have 48 hours to go until they present their Spring/Summer 2012 collections. A must see for those who enjoy a realistic view of the glamorous world of fashion.

Visionaries: Inside the creative mind of Tom Ford 

Courtesy: ARTE, France

If, like me, you heard about this next documentary and got a little bit excited,(understatement) only to be disappointed that it was not shown in Australia, well, your wish and mine has been granted. With its Australian Premiere, VISIONARIES: INSIDE THE CREATIVE MIND OF TOM FORD offers an insight into the fashionable world of this Texan designer and his crisp white shirts. Covering career highlights such as his mark on returning Gucci to a luxury brand and bringing 'sexy' back to fashion, Tom remarks "When I design I want to make the very best thing that I can make;with the most beautiful fabrics, with the most beautiful stitching. Something that I would want." Not a bad ethos to have I say.

Mademoiselle Agnes with Puff Daddy Courtesy: ARTE, France

An absolute highlight for me is the return of Mademoiselle Agnes in DRESSED FOR WINTER 2012/2013. It's like catching up with one of your most vivacious and flamboyant friends who always entertains you, tells you the truth and is frank and honest about anything. She takes you on a guided tour of the last six months worth of fashion parades in a glamorous whirlwind, reviewing and interpreting the collections as only she can beginning with the Marc Jacobs extravaganza show for Louis Vuitton and including Australian expat Catherine Baba presenting her new collection of jewellery for Gripoix. Another premiere screening for Australia, this film will leave you more energised than a triple shot espresso could ever do. Trust me on that one.

Mademoiselle Agnes with Sarah Jessica Parker in Dressed For

Winter 2012/2013 Courtesy: ARTE, France

The fashion fun does not stop here, with an extension of the Fashion on Films season at ACMI, curator James Nolen has selected films free for the public to view on the big screen that will be housed in City Square during MSFW (Cnr Collins & Swanston Streets) 
"We are thrilled to be screening the films in this years collection" says James Nolen. "They showcase true fashion auteur's and their forays which broke ground and pushed boundaries. They are still at the forefront of their game and producing some of the most wanted and talked about fashion today. To be able to have insight into their world brings a new level of context to the wonderful world of fashion." 

For those of you in Melbourne, make sure you mark these dates in your diary as it is a wonderful compliment to the runway shows and events as part of Melbourne Spring Fashion Week 2012. 

DEEP IN VOGUE: FASHION ON FILM screens from the 2-9 September 2012.

For more information and session times/details, visit the ACMI website.

Click! Fashion Photographers On Film

Mademoiselle Agnes and Karl Lagerfeld in Dressed for Summer 2012

If you love fashion, then you will love Click! Fashion Photographers on Film, a collection of films screening at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image as part of the cultural program of Loreal Melbourne Fashion Festival. Curated by ACMI's film programmer and avid fashion lover, James Nolen has selected 6 films centred around fashion photographers offering insight into the eccentric and glamorous world of fashion through the eye of the lens.

Dressed for Summer 2012

Amongst the films screened and featured are iconic figures such as David Bailey, Cecil Beaton, Brian Duffy and Bill Cunningham, most recently portrayed in Bill Cunningham New York. If the subjects of the films themselves aren't enough, the calibre of people interviewed are a fashionable mix from from Truman Capote, David Hockney, Twiggy, Jean Shrimpton, Joanna Lumley, Catherine Deneuve and Diana Vreeland. Also screening is a retro classic Blow Up by Michelangelo Antonioni, set in the vibrant 60's, the film is based on photographer David Bailey and features modelling greats Veruschka, Jane Birkin and Peggy Moffitt.

Anna Wintour in Dressed for Summer 2012

A highlight feature is Dressed For Summer 2012 (Screening with Beaton By Bailey) staring the ever so entertaining Mademoiselle Agnes as she dissects the fashion shows for us with humour, honesty and a casual brazenness that can only be admired. She takes us backstage and introduces us to some of the top designers, takes us front and centre to the shows, the celebrity and the fast paced spectacle. One simply not to be missed, and never before seen in Australia, I'd suggest you mark it in your diary or you will indeed miss it.

Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton in Dressed for Summer 2012

Mademoiselle Agnes helps out a protester in Dressed for Summer 2012

Dressed for Summer 2012

If like Mademoiselle Agnes, you tire out from all the fashion shows and your poor feet can't take the stiletto anymore, take heart that you can still get your fashion fix while sitting back in the comfort of a cinema chair and be transported to a glamorous world. Always a highlight for me and a fabulous addition to the LMFF calender, one that will keep you inspired long after the festival season ends.

Fashion is exhausting sometimes. Mademoiselle Agnes in Dressed for Summer 2012

For detailed listings, further information and session times, check out the ACMI website for details.
Click! Fashion Photographers on Film commences on Thursday the 8th of March and runs till Thursday the 15th of March 2012.