Cybèle’s Fashion Film Project Goes Live!

In a first for her label, renowned NZ fashion designer Cybèle Wiren has joined forces with multi-disciplinary creative studio Special Problems to create a film of her spring /summer 09/10 collection, Serpentine.

"One of the key points of inspiration for the collection was a film clip of Loie Fuller’s Danse Serpentine, found on YouTube, so it seemed so appropriate it to re-interpret the collection in moving image,” says Cybèle.
“It is also a great way to present a collection internationally as the format is so accessible and at the same time as we are screening it in Tokyo, we are launching the film online.”

Cybèle is currently in Japan, as the outcome of her 2008 Air NZ Export Award. The opportunity for an event in Tokyo to mark the delivery of the collection in store, and the fact that she is there in person presented the original impetus to make the film.

Says Cybèle "I love how the shapes and fabrics of the collection move and flow - like they do on the body when worn, it's always exciting to see the clothes in motion. Mediums outside of fashion (art, sculpture, design) are always a constant inspiration for my work.”

Primarily known for their work with musicians Midnight Juggernauts, Bionic Pixie, and the Mint Chicks, Special Problems took to the project with vision and a strong empathy for the collection.
“We loved the open-ness of Cybèle and her team. That kind of breathing space gives the process much more vitality and energy,” says Campbell Hooper, the film’s director.

Set to the hunting tune of Scott Walker’s Cossacks Are, Cybèle’s serpentine muse showcases key pieces in the collection, twisting and turning in a mirrored void as slow graceful plumes of smoke float through the frame.

“The Scott Walker track was in mind from the beginning and it informed the emotional tone of shoot. In some way the element of smoke seems to hold the song within it - like the smoke is the ghost of the music. The main idea was to get across a feeling of levitation, suspension and suffocation,” says Hooper.

The film screens tonight, projected in the front window, at a cocktail event held for Cybèle at American Rag Cie’s Aoyama Tokyo store to a select guest list of Japanese celebrities and fashion titles.

Film Credits:
Directed by Special Problems
Model – Derya at 62 Models & Talent
Styling – Chris Lorimer
Make-up – Amber D for MAC
Hair – Lauren Gunn for Stephen Marr using Kevin Murphy
With thanks to White Studios, Chaos & Harmony, Sarah Hough and Natasha Guttenbeil