FILM, MASTERCLASS
Masterclass: Fashion Narratives on Film
Studio 1, ACMI
Review by Maria Dunne

Kristy Barber and Tim White’s Masterclass: Fashion Narratives on Film on creating and producing fashion narratives, as part of ACMI’s Intermix program, was both engaging and relaxed. It was well suited to their audience of 15-25 year olds and established a strong sense of what it really means to make fashion films.

Their partnership started in 2010, and since then they have created 3 fashion films and are hoping to release their next one by the end of this year. Kristy Barber is a designer who started the famous Kuwaii brand. Tim White is a director who she has partnered with in recent years and has had many viral successes such as for STA’s ‘Move, Eat, Learn’ campaign, which gained over 30 million views online across YouTube and Vimeo.

When they started in 2010, the fashion film genre was virtually non-existent. Apart from the big-budget foreign films, fashion in film seemed to have no audience. When meeting on a hot summer day (after sending countless emails to each other), they clicked instantly due to their vision towards what fashion films could be.

These visions have been made into films by help from their family and friends. The community of people that helped them made their first film seem especially easy; which as they found later on, would not always be the case. Near the Light, their first film, gave Kuwaii a lot more exposure. It used the natural environment to encapsulate the distinct story the collection told. Barber spoke especially about how her clothes needed to include a lot of movement which she accomplished in this film through the dancer.

Like many projects this had its dilemmas; even with a budget of approximately 500 dollars however, this first film was carried out smoothly. Kuwaii Palladian (2014) which had a bigger budget was considered to both as the most demanding of the two. This was due to issues with the music and a model being unable to attend the shoot. Both felt ashamed and disappointed of the final product due to the stress and tension involved in getting this piece created. However, once they revisited it again the following year they entered and won awards in Miami, Rome and at the VAMFF Cultural Program.

We were finally left with a pleasant summary by Tim White to “find some cool people to collaborate with”, and to “build community” through creating and producing.

Although Tim White was unfortunately in America and could not contribute to last year’s film, the relationship between the two can be described as one that will last a lifetime. The Intermix workshop was charming and informative, enhancing each 15-25 year old in the audience on the whole experience.

Creatives aged 15-25 can find future Intermix events here.