Working with Directors Tom & Tabitha and Aldene Johnson Florence’s stylist, we created the set and costume for Florence & the Machine‘s Cosmic Love Music Video. In order to create the cosmic feeling we created an orange rotating forest, an infinity room, with lots of flickering hand painted light bulbs, and finally the light up dress. Her other outfit was designed by Hannah Marshall It was a wonderful experience working on this project as everyone involved did an incredible job.
To see the project in the portfolio click here
Florence in the infinity room in a Hannah Marshall catsuit
The rotating trees in action
This is the under layer of lights and electrics
the final layer of tule to diffuse the light
Final checks florence in the dress
Florence through the monitor
we suspended 50 coloured light builbs in a hexagonal mirror room to create an infinity space
Florence emerging from the rotating orange forest
Florence & the Machine in the forest
Florence ready to go
the painted light bulbs
Natalie Oldham putting the finishing touches to the rotating trees
Setting up the orange forest
As Nicholas Kirkwood walked us through his colorful, Paris in the ’20s-inspired fall collection (yes, part of that has to do with seeing Midnight in Paris he told us), we couldn’t help but pause at a shoe with a face and an actual ponytail attached to the heel. And how did this shoe come about?
The shoe, he told us, was inspired by Jean Cocteau and Elsa Schiaparelli, and the hair came from a wig shop. The hair color is important, too. “It’s like a Florence and the Machine kind of red,” Kirkwood said. “The thing is there were about 12 different reds and I wanted that auburn-y color that she has.”
As for the rest of the collection, Kirkwood used vintage fabrics from the ’60s, frills down the heels of shoes, and covered a pair of boots completely in feathers so they looked like fur. My favorite detail was an enamel and metal bow attached mid-heel on several shoes. “It’s like jewelry for your heels,” Kirkwood explained.
And after watching that model stumble so many times in Giuseppe Zannotti’s shoes at Anthony Vacarrello’s show we had to ask, does he ever worry about models falling in his shoes? This season Kirkwood did the runway shoes for Peter Pilotto, Erdem and Suno. “I had a girl fall in Rodarte,” Kirkwood said, “but quite often [models fall] because they’re wearing shoes that are a few sizes too big.” Still, Kirkwood added, “You definitely think about it. I just try to predict if something is going to be too difficult to walk in before hand. It’s less of a problem now than two years ago–the heels were so high and girls kept falling.”
Those bow heels look just right.
Dizzee Rascal presented Florence Welch with the award for Best Musical Act.
Welch, wearing Erdem (‘who I love’), collected the award and immediately came to talk to ELLE.
We’ll save the best for the post-ESA video, but know this: the Ceremonials singer is going to place her ESA in her kitchen.
FLORENCE WELCH & FRIDA GIANNINI
From the moment her debut album came out in 2009, Welch, the flame-haired frontwoman of the British pop band Florence and the Machine, bewitched the fashion world. Soaring vocals aside, the statuesque performer cut a striking figure in her dramatic, boho-chic frocks, and it wasn’t long before designers were fighting to dress her in their own. “I was captivated by her eccentric style and her willingness to dare,” says Giannini, Gucci’s creative director, who designed Welch’s costumes for her current tour—and also took inspiration from her for the label’s fall 2011 collection. “She embodies the cinematic allure and seductive power that is its essence.”
By Karin Nelson
Photographs by Max Vadukul
July 2011
Welch Wears Gucci’s silk chiffon gown, belt, and shoes. Giannini wears her own Gucci clothes. Welch’s hair by Ben Jones using Bumble and Bumble and makeup by Thomas De Kluyver at D+V Management; Giannini’s hair by Antonio Zinni and makeup by Luciano Squeo. Photographed at Snap Studios, London.
Read More http://www.wmagazine.com/fashion/2011/07/designer-musician-muses-ss#ixzz1Sa218G5Q
‘It has been very exciting to see this dress being worn so soon, while there is still such a buzz around the collection, Florence has real talent and wonderful stage presence. I am delighted that it was worn by such an incredible artist and for such a special event,'
- Roksanda Ilincic
