Cross Disciplinary

A musician, a filmmaker, and a fashion duo embark on collaboration that is brought forth in a short nine-minute film.

- Kames Narayanan

SEASON AFTER SEASON, designers create collections that are often an extension of the world that they have conceived. At the respective fashion weeks, the garments, presented alongside elaborately orchestrated sets, then take the wider audience on a journey into the space within which the clothes live — a privilege granted exclusively to a select few.

Beyond runway presentations, collections and their inspirations are also brought to life in campaign films. For Kenzo’s Carol Lim and Humberto Leon, their latest creative ambition pools together indie-rock front woman Karen O and lauded English film director, Ana Lily Amirpour, in lending a visual vocabulary to the brand’s Spring/Summer ’18 collection.

Presented through their contemporary lens, the nine-minute film references the story of a male photographer and his muse from 1966 cult film “Blow Up”. Playing out to O’s melodramatic soundtrack written specifically for this collaboration, the short film takes its viewers in with a dark, unexpected twist.

O herself makes a cameo in the film, alongside a predominately Asian cast including actress and model Kiko Mizuhara. Here, the creators of the film discuss its theme, the conceptualisation process and the parallels that it draws from the collection itself, which is inspired by model Sayoko Yamaguchi and musician Ryuichi Sakamoto.

How did you begin the process of working on “Yo! My Saint?”

O: I met with Carol and Humberto and the team in February just to get a sense of the influences, themes, and ideas of the work. Humberto do you usually have a storyline with the collection?