Fashion and Film: Commerce and Art

With Melbourne Spring Fashion Week\'s runway shows program just released, you would be forgiven for thinking that the most inspiring fashion will be found on the runways this September. But a series of films on some of fashion\'s most influential are another key element of this year\'s Melbourne Spring Fashion Week and provide a different kind of insight and inspiration.

Curated by ACMI\'s James Nolan, the Fashion Icons on Film series explores the lives of four designers whose impact on the global fashion industry is definite and tangible even today. These four documentaries explore the very different careers of Barbara Hulanicki, Yves Saint Laurent, Ralph Rucci and Roy Halston.

Barbara Hulanicki, the creator of iconic British fashion house Biba, has been credited with revolutionising fashion retail in the UK and changing the long held perception that the English were collectively unfashionable. Since the closure of Biba in 1975, Hulanicki has gone on to a successful career in architectural design, turning her magic touch to art deco hotels and mansions in her adopted home of Miami Beach.

The recent documentary on legendary designer Yves Saint-Laurent, Célébration has attracted it\'s fair share of controversy thanks to an injunction against its distribution in France. The film was shot in the later years of Saint-Laurent\'s career and shows a new side of the legendary designer who became head designer at Dior at just 21 years of age.

The darling of the 1970s jet set, Roy Halston dressed some of the biggest names of the decade and was a poster child for the glitz and glamour of the disco era. Now experiencing a renaissance thanks to Sarah Jessica Parker and the Sex and the City films, Halston was a master of the strategic partnership, designing uniforms for the entirely glamourous airline stewardesses of the 1970s.

Though he may not enjoy the same level of celebrity as some of his contemporaries, Ralph Rucci is celebrated by big names in the business for his thoroughly artistic approach to fashion. Also a celebrated exhibited painter, Rucci was one of the first American designers to be invited to show at the Paris Haute Couture shows.

His film portrait is narrated by Rucci client and American icon Martha Stewart.
As audiences (and indeed, anyone working successfully in fashion today) will know, treading the fine line between commercial success and artistic integrity is critical. These four films touch on these points brilliantly.

For Hulanicki, Biba was an exercise in successful branding, with vastly reduced profit margins enabling the company to expand their market and their product offering - from clothing and accessories all the way to branded food.

The impact of their concept store model is still visible today with retail giants like Topshop in the UK and Colette in Paris replicating their success. Impressively, Hulanicki still managed to live a thoroughly fashionable life, following her artistic pursuits all the way.

Saint-Laurent too, changed the fashion landscape, as the first designer to expand upon his high fashion repertoire to show a ready-to-wear collection and challenged the norms of the time, introducing his iconic Le Smoking tuxedo jacket for women.

Halston broke new ground, with his high-low collaboration with JC Penney making fashion accessible to all, yet his creative vision was so clear that he remains an icon of an entire decade of fashion and dressed some of the most famous beauties of the period. Rucci is notable in his refusal to compromise on his design vision for the benefit of commercial success, perhaps sacrificing greater celebrity for authenticity.

By retaining creative control as sole designer of his fashion house he is ensuring that the product that is distributed in his name remains of the highest possible quality.

The way these designers apply their creative approach to all areas of their lives makes them icons of more than the fashion industry. Fashion - as the ultimate combination of commerce and art - is a great place for innovative creative thinkers to make their mark. And for these four names, it is their forward thinking approach that sets apart from others, makes their lives so compelling to watch and ensures their impact will continue to be felt for years to come.