Perfect x Istituto Marangoni: An exploration of interpersonal relationships across the 1970s.
In a series of mentorship workshops with Katie Grand and Istituto Marangoni, MA fashion students were able to dive deep into the world of fashion styling and production, learning the key elements and principles of creating fashion imagery and moving image. Students were split into 5 groups and asked to create and present a creative project, encompassing across different types of media. Sharing their mood boards and inspirations, the groups collaborated and presented their ideas which touched upon mirroring reality with the Metaverse, human connection and pain, the distorted future, intimacy and movement.
In their final project, Dana Toucedo, Dominika Geregova, Savannah Stander, Helena Lachowicz and Enrique Férnandez Zeka explored the interpersonal feelings amongst the act of connection. Transporting back to the 1970s. Their goal was to spotlight the sense of fluidity behind connection and project the thoughts and feelings behind unique relationships, some of which unconventional for the time. Speaking to Perfect, the team shares their creative process, alongside the preparation of research leading up to the filming of their project titled Lost in Connection.
Perfect: What was your initial idea for this collaborative project and what were your starting points?
Team Lost in Connection: Helena had been interested in interior design, particularly from the ‘60s and ‘70s. She had a vision she had been sitting with but hadn’t previously found the opportunity to execute. She pitched the idea and found a team who wanted to work together to develop it further.
Enrique had a vision to create something sensual and passionate so we brainstormed how we could bring the two ideas together. We wanted to create something controversial, something that sparked the viewer's curiosity. We decided we will create a story of an ‘unconventional’ three-way relationship set in the ‘70s.
Perfect: What was your creative process like and how did the idea develop?
Team Lost in Connection: Quite quickly we decided we wanted to create a short film. We wanted to challenge ourselves and use this opportunity to our advantage. We knew it would be too challenging to create a film with acting as none of us had any experience, but we needed to produce something worth watching, something meaningful and unique. We decided the film would have subtitles that would be an abstract expression of one of the characters point of view. Enrique, who is a passionate writer, took full creative control in writing the script.
The inspiration behind the story was visceral illusion, coming from the main male character. His love towards the female is falling apart and he won’t stop extolling the figure of the second male. Helena carefully crafted the set, inspired by the late ‘60s and ‘70s, mirroring a vision of the ‘American dream’ coming home from a corporate life in North America. The location had its setbacks and many of us, including Katie, were doubtful of the success of finding an appropriate set and furniture and props to go in it.
We wanted to break with the social boundaries established at that period in time, and focus on how the main character feels. Vibrant and delusional, the imagery filmed and the subtitles act as the spectator’s narrator. Full of symbolism and personal interpretations, the script reflects a journey of self-discovery which many can allude to.
Savannah was able to scout a very talented stylist Gregory Russill who helped pull and source costumes clothing from the era to make our project convincing of the time period. Savannah was also able to source clothing from Consigned Sealed Delivered (CSD.shop), which elevated the looks to make them more high fashion.
Savannah also scouted a talented videographer, Rowben Laninton, who helped pull the whole idea together. We had some setbacks on the day with one of the models not turning up and one of our team members Enrique having to step in. We had an improvised director Kiara Matharu who worked together with Enrique and Rowben to direct and coordinate the whole filming process.
Perfect: How did you work as a group?
Team Lost in Connection: As a group we collaborated well to a great extent. We joined our minds together to formulate a core mission. Once our mission and goal were aligned, we could individually contribute our expertise in different sectors during the creation of our project piece. Each of the members come from different backgrounds who all have individually unique strengths. We teamed up as collectively, we could combine our strong points and create something magical together using the guidance from Katie. In conclusion, we worked brilliantly together and agreed we would all do this again in a heartbeat! It was such an exciting, fun and thrilling experience to be a part of.
Perfect: Working with Katie Grand, what are your takeaways from this mentorship project?
Team Lost in Connection: The regular meetings we have had with Katie were helpful in order for our group to initially define our idea; at our first meeting we presented a variety of inspiration, both visual and emotional. We were able to present our workload timeline at our second meeting with Katie and explain our plan to execute the idea. In the remaining meetings we have always provided an update on our work up to the point we have had “the shooting day” in February. Our biggest takeaways from this mentorship project are the fact we appreciate the complete autonomous freedom in the creative process, learning responsibility for our own creative project, creating and following precise task division and last but not least - stepping out of our comfort zone of a fashion business students and exploring our full potential in a much more creative assignment than what we are used to.
Perfect: What are your individual goals going forward?
As we all embark on our individual journeys after graduating in September, each one of us have different goals and aspirations to where we see ourselves. Savannah will be continuing her progression into the Fashion Tech industry, Enrique will dive into the world of visual communication and marketing, Dominika will enter the consultancy industry while continuing to work on her own business specialising in interior design “Gereg Studio”, Helena is to continue her creative endeavours in creative direction and photography, while working on her fashion brand aiming to create a community for wellness and mindfulness, and Dana will start working in buying and merchandising.
