For his Spring/Summer 2010 show, Gareth Pugh chose to present a video of his new collection in lieu of a traditional runway show. The video, directed by Ruth Hogben debuted yesterday and was streamed live through SHOWstudio. This is a strategic move for both parties: SHOWstudio is trying to solidify itself as the eminent innovative fashion video company, and Pugh is exercising serious artistic control by only allowing his consumers to experience his clothes through his vision. A strange mix of artistic and opportunistic, this is a designer take on the viral video. Can video, no matter how beautiful, replace the dynamic reality of a runway show?
Like Pugh’s A/W 2010 campaign, the video features alien, rhythmic dancing, a billowing cone dress, mirrored images and a magnetic, eerie futurism, but instead of echoing the Metropolis theme of the otherworldly being presented to society as in Hogben’s A/W ’10 video, the new campaign seems to capture an immersion in another world. I can’t help but compare the electrode-covered woman to Lady Gaga in Bad Romance—doctored and reborn into an ominous, sensual, high-fashion world where she learns how to strut her stuff while wearing white. The video also includes a nod to Alice in Wonderland when a girl with long blonde hair and a full skirt falls into the scene. My absolute favorite parts are the (in?)human kaleidoscopes.
The collection is killer, of course—it is based strongly in chevron shapes and silhouettes, as in fall, but rippling metallic gowns and ethereal silk prints render 2011’s iterations brighter, more feminine and very appropriate for spring.
Hogben’s video nicely captures the clothes’ drama and movement for the most part, but some scenes too literally model the garments: compared to abstract, spidery kaleidoscopes, a minute each of a spinning cube and a model walking falls flat. It no doubt could have been shorter than its eleven minutes. Still, the video is sublime overall. I can’t wait to see what Pugh and SHOWstudio do next!
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