September 20 through the 22 the Miami Fashion Film Festival celebrated its 6th edition with a series of lectures such as Beyond Biba, a portrait of Barbara Hulanicki in collaboration with the Miami Fashion Institute, documentaries such as The Gospel according to Andre Leon Talley and award ceremonies at the Miami Beach Cinematheque.
What’s the Miami Fashion Film Festival?
Bringing attention to the historical interdependence between art and fashion and its influences, the Miami Fashion Film Festival adds to the “fashion is art” narrative with local and international films that highlight fashion design through storytelling, graphics, sound, and motion, in real and digitally imagined environments. Fashion Inspires More in a non-profit organization that expands the fashion dialogue through art, technology and education.
I have been a member at large of the jury for two years and this time I was honored with introducing the 5 finalists that were Made in Italy.
There were some common elements that made them current and actual, despite being produced in different moments by different teams. A raw state of feelings: Love, fear, joy, youth, authenticity, uniqueness. Individuals with strong personalities spanning social, economic and cultural diverse realities, whether in an urban, suburban or natural setting, characters are real, living, working and doing wheelies. The runway is not anymore the glitzy set during fashion week, it blurs to the streets, the desert, the beach, the block where you grew up, the bus, the subway, the body shop, the backstage.
Fashion is a form of art.
And here I am quoting the book: “yes, I take Fashion seriously. Fashion is a loaded word. Fashion is dream, storytelling, a slow process, emotion, inspiration. Fashion is performance, a transmitted and decoded heritage.”
After watching these films, fashion comes across as that silent partner that accompanies other forms of art like dance, film making, painting, music, it’s the background, the contour that unifies craftsmanship, techniques, research, heritage, sartorial skills.
And here I am closing with a quote from esteemed New York Times fashion critic Vanessa Friedman: “the whole point of fashion should be about giving people what they never knew they wanted - what they couldn’t imagine they wanted – until they saw it.”
Once again, I find myself empowered every time I am surrounded by fashion and women who inspire me to do more.