Fashion designer Gareth Pugh and legendary British filmmaker/photographer Nick Knight, have teamed up once again to create fashion film This is not a show, a showcase of Pugh’s new SS18 collection for London Fashion Week.
The pair have also enlisted the talents of choreographer Wayne McGregor and French performance artist Olivier de Sagazan, to help create the visually stunning 16-minute film.
This is not a show begins with a darker tone, as Pugh and Knight lather themselves in clay and paint, like a hellish horror movie scene. This part of the film is undoubtedly the work of de Sagazan as it borrows from one of his previous instalments, ‘Transformation’. The film continues with more twisted clay scenes, eventually transitioning to a dark room of distorted dancers. Enter, Pugh’s SS18 collection adorning the streamlined figures of various models. The contorted, crashing musical accompaniment and swirling synthesisers only add to the overwhelming edge-of-your-seat sensation.
The film mirrors the colour scheme of the collection: flashing reds, gold and black throughout various different scenes. As for the clothes, they feature more daring designs, as Pugh sticks to his previous themes of defying the industry through the use of dangerous red, haunting black and alarming gold.
Pugh and Knight held a screening on the British Film Institutes IMAX screen – which measures 26 metres by 20 metres, roughly the height of four double decker buses. The pair decided to use the IMAX screen to help add to the impact of the film, Pugh recently told Dazed magazine,
“with film, you are able to create an immersive where people can essentially lose themselves. Especially showing it somewhere like the IMAX – there’s potential to really get under peoples skin”.
The pair previously collaborated way back in 2009 for another performance film called Cutting Edge which was filmed onsite, and featured on Knight’s fashion broadcasting website Show Studio.This particular piece featured a live stream of Gareth Pugh working on a dress, which was later modelled by Raquel Zimmermann.
Feast your eyes on the film below, and let us know what you think about Pugh’s latest collection!
