Before A Fashion

‘Before A Fashion’ is a short artists’ film exploring the uniquely performed relations between bodies, materials and state of creation only to be found among young people studying fashion design. It describes how ideas around ‘manner and style’, key terms defining fashion and embracing specific qualities such as the way that we stand, sit or move, are tightly intertwined with the entire design and making process.

The film originates from extensive observations of fashion design students, staff and learning methods at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, in form of endless photographs and drawings. It translates real experiences and gestures - a mix of clear procedures seemingly stemming from a former world and more intimate, instinctive gesticulation - into refined scenarios. Underlining this notion the presented clothes have been designed to mimic distinct acts of performance by a recent Saint Martins fashion graduate and key-performer in the film.

Usually, the focus in the field of fashion and performance lies on the performance of the wearer and the specifically designed and worn garments. This new project includes the performance of the fashion makers and examines the interrelated performances of body, material and physical and psychological state of creation within the fashion design process as a whole.

The word ‘before’ in the title ‘Before A Fashion’ relates to fashion students whom Anna-Nicole Ziesche portrays within the film; their work and development before they ‘go into fashion’, and perhaps before they ‘become a fashion’ just like the journey of the dresses they design.