Video No. 6042. English Language Pal VHS.
An Exploration of Art on Film.
'Remembrance Of Things Past'.
Karl Lagerfeld once said, "You cannot define fashion. As soon as you do it changes and you are out of fashion." Lagerfeld himself provides the main commentary in this, the first of three programmes on the story of fashion, which starts with the rise of fashion in the 18th and 19th centuries from the work of Charles Worth, the English inventor of Parisian "haute couture" in the mid-19th century, to the evolution of 20th century style and the designs of Donna Karan which cater specifically to the needs of the modern working woman.
The different interpretations of fashion commonplaces such as hairstyles and the shape of the female form itself over the decades are looked at in relation to the changing social backdrop and the evolution of the modern emancipated woman, and the film also deals engagingly with other aspects of fashion such as millinery, embroidery and even fashion illustration.
Using archive footage, and interviews with key figures in the fashion world of today, the programme provides not only a survey of the evolution of fashion in modern times but amusing food for thought about the relationship between self-expression through clothing and social and cultural change.
