The story begins in 1962, with a photo shoot in Vogue magazine. Eighteen year-old model Jean Shrimpton, new to the modeling world at the time, was being photographed by the charmingly sexy photographer David Bailey. What materialized from that one moment in time, that stilled imagery, was a love affair that would forever be imprinted in the history fashion. Shrimpton was Bailey's muse. In her breath-taking simplicity, her presumed naivety stood in contrast to the raw streets of Harlem in which the shoot took place. And almost 50 years later, director John McKay sets on a project to recapture the raw, and honest romance that surrounded the imperfect pair.
The beauty in this idea, for me, is not only in the romance itself, but more importantly it is the setting in which they found each other. This is the story of two young kids, with dreams so big in a crazed, damaged world. And somewhere along the way, they lost their heads to the stars, and fell into each others arms.
There is a certain power attached to the art of photography, and by extension, film, with their ability to capture not only a moment in time, but a story, one of which may have no end or definitive conclusion. McKay describes the pictures of 1962 himself as "so beautiful, so romantic, and atmospheric... There was more than the sniff of a story behind them - young love, bad behaviour, a kind of revolution in the air." I assume that the photos from this shoot are themselves a testament to the kind of realness we can expect this movie to be. The movie will air on BBC4 later this year. Hopefully we'll be able to see it here as well. All this to say that this is just another reason why I find myself to be so captivated by the world of fashion. Not because of what it is so much, but because of what it has the potential to be for different people. And for this pair, it was love.
sources: On This Day in Fashion, The Telegraph , Vogue UK
No comments:
Post a Comment