Fashion and film have flirted their way through the twentieth-century and continue to do so into the twenty-first. Their courtship has always been one of high glamour and fabulous fantasy. But relationships are always complicated and such is the affair between fashion and film.  At one point we saw a simple romance between a beautiful actress and a gifted designer, but now bloggers and stylists are involved.  Designers want to direct and directors want to design. The fact remains that we, the audience, are still smitten with the romance between fashion and film. They complement each other in what seems like the most natural of unions. And crucially, the collaboration is more than just aesthetics; it continues to be a sign of the times and a unique expression of contemporary culture. But what was it that first sparked the affair? Who saw who first? And why do they make such a great couple?

A Match Made in Movie Heaven: Designers and their leading Ladies in the 20^th century

In the first half of the 20^th century the most prominent costumier in Hollywood was American ex-school teacher Edith Head. Head won 8 Academy Awards in the 40s and the 50s for Best Costume and dressed the likes of Ginger Rogers. Yet things first began to heat up between fashion and film when the 26 year old Hubert de Givenchy was asked to work on Sabrina in 1954. Here he met the actress Audrey Hepburn. Givenchy went on to dress Hepburn in eight of her films including Funny Face (1957) and Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) Fittingly, the ‘rags-to-riches’ narrative of many of these films is reiterated by the fact the Edith Head designed Hepburn’s character’s costumes when she was the chauffeur’s daughter or the bookshop assistant. Yet when her character’s ‘Cinderella’ transformation takes place the French courtier is whisked in to design a unique jaw-dropping dress. Givenchy and Hepburn became such good friends that in 1957 Givenchy created a fragrance called “L’interdit” exclusively for Hepburn. The relationship between Givenchy and Hepburn is as magical as the films themselves with Givenchy starring as Hepburn’s Fairy- Goddesigner. Constantly waving his magic wand and producing couture gowns, the collaboration helped elevate Hepburn beyond the status of an actress to a certified Hollywood starlet whose life was as glamorous off screen as on. We mere mortals are enthralled by such a collaboration because of what it represents: Givenchy and Hepburn allow us to indulge in our own fantasy of a glamorous life, filled with fabulous dresses and dreams that come true. The love affair between designer and actress has become one of the great romances of Hollywood.

The next great designer and leading lady duo arrived in 1962 when the 29 year old Yves Saint Laurent met actress Catherine Deneuve on the set of Luis Brunuel’s Belle De Jour. The film is filled with beautiful shift dresses, jackets to-die-for and elegant post box hats. During the film the pair began what would become a lifelong friendship, with YSL famously calling Deneuve his ‘muse’. He continued to dress her in numerous other films including Mississippi Mermaid (1969) right through to The Hunger in 1983 and she also wore much of his collection off screen. The partnership between designer and actress is so fundamental to the YSL brand that even today under the direction of Stefano Pilati, the collaboration is referenced by the YSL ‘Belle De Jour’ clutch bag.  YSL and Deneuve embody 70’s chic and ultimate cool unlike any other pair of their age. Seen in trendy Paris haunts or collaborating on cult films, this relationship, like Givenchy and Hepburn embodied fantasy and aspiration but with a cooler and edgier allure. One step ahead of the pack, these two were leading the way in style both in the cinema and on the street. Deneuve oozed sex appeal whilst YSL was the awkward genius who understood how to dress a woman like no one else.

The impact of such designers on cinema was not just helping to cultivate the ultimate Hollywood star but the clothes and the character signify a moment in time: an epoch or an era. The relationship between designer and actress is a passionate affair based also on the thing that I love most about fashion: how fashion can be a symbol of a culture, embodying hundreds of social and cultural references in the length of a seam or the hang of a shirt. The whole of 1960s’ Paris can be seen in Belle de Jour’s red cropped jacket and her patent black Mac.

Enduring Love: fashion and film today

Collaborations between fashion designers and film stars are perhaps now more high profile off screen. The House of Givenchy has very much maintained its ties with film stars, memorably dressing Gwyneth Paltrow the year she won her Oscar for Shakespeare in Love and blubbed her way through her acceptance speech. Who wears what on Oscar night is arguably more exciting than who wins what. The red carpet with floor-sweeping gowns and glistening diamonds is an ode to the original glamour and the fantasy of Hollywood. As New York Times journalist  Jessica Michault puts it: ‘The choice by many celebrities to wear one-of-a-kind ensembles…shows that the movies are still a sort of dream factory and the stars are still symbols of that dream’.  Hollywood puts on their ‘Sunday Best’ as a nod to the days of Givenchy and Hepburn and YSL and Deneuve.  The grandeur of the Oscars and Cannes in the 21^st century unquestionably derives from the iconic relationships with classic courtiers and Hollywood stars that helped create part of the mystique of cinema. The tradition continues echoing how closely bound fashion designers are still with the industry. At this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Cavalli and Armani dressed many of the members of the juror’s panel in one-of-a-kind creations.

Yet although some traditions hold fast, new types of liaisons between fashion and film are blossoming. Coco Avant Chanel was a film about a fashion designer, whilst also this year we saw a fashion designer make a film. Tom Ford co-wrote, produced and directed A Single Man starring Colin Firth and Julianne Moore which premiered in September at the Venice Film Festival. The first review of the film, from Grazia called it ‘an hour and a half in the drama of a Ford catwalk… [with] swelling opera music straight from a haute couture show’. The lines between fashion and film are becoming progressively entangled. Infamous Diane Pernet of cult blog ‘A Shaded View on Fashion’ launched ‘A Shaded View on Fashion Film Festival’ in 2008 with the co-editor- in-chief of Zoo magazine. Fashion photographers such as Nick Knight have a go at realising their motion picture ambitions and style icons and actresses such as Chloe Sevigny get in on the action. The lines become even more blurred when Karl Lagerfeld and the House of Chanel produced a short film to promote the fragrance Chanel No. 5 as well as the release of Coco Avant Chanel. Audrey Tautou who played Gabrielle Chanel in the feature film is also the leading lady in Lagerfeld’s film. Christian Dior were quick to follow suit when they released the Lady Dior short film online. With opening credits and an Oscar-nominated Hollywood actress, Lady Dior reminds us how synonymous the drama and fantasy of high fashion and the silver screen really are. Or, put in another way, fashion and film have clearly got to the point where they are like a couple who have been living together for so long that neither can one remembers who owns the sofa or who bought the kettle.

And of course, the prominence of the stylist in contemporary fashion culture adds an interesting twist to the plot or perhaps the third wheel. The rise of Sex and the City and its culmination as a film saw it become the fashion film of our times. It was even reported that designers had moved forward the release date of collections in order to ensure their appearance in the film. But it wasn’t a designer who took credit; it was the stylist, Patricia Field who is perceived as the genius behind the fashion icon Carrie Bradshaw. Sex and the City was a film about ‘Labels and Love’ – but it was also about a woman with individual style. Have leading ladies fallen out of love with their Fairy- Goddesigners? I don’t think so. Carrie Bradshaw is perhaps more in love with Manolo Blahnik than with Mr Big and now Manolo has even designed a pair of shoes called ‘Carrie’ in her honour, whilst all Big could do was buy her a pair.

Happily Ever After?

But what will happen next? Will this affair last? Can it survive the demands of modern life? Will they spawn any kids and what sort would they produce if they did? I think the future love child of fashion and film will be online. Films will be downloaded and Hollywood Boulevard will be deserted whilst films and film stars move into cyber space. Sally Potter’s recently released Rage was all about fashion and was the world’s first interactive multi-venue premiere (debuting on mobile ‘phones, DVDs and online), hinting at the way we may watch films in the future. I have visions of interactive films where we the audience will be able to chose which dress the heroine will wear the night she meets her lover. Digital and interactive seem like the perfect offspring of the Hollywood “dream factory” helping to enhance our fantasies and letting us further indulge in and even co-direct the fairy tale romance of fashion and film. Like Romeo and Juliet, or Carrie and her Manolo’s, it really is a great love story.