I’m thankful the Paris Fashion Week this is season is partially digitalized because I cannot imagine Marine Serre capturing on runway, what she just unfolded in her short fashion film Amor Fati for her SS21. If this is the direction of communication, then I’m ready!
The film directed by Sacha Barbin & Ryan Doubiago opens up to spatial clinical whites in a Cronenberg-esque body horror setting. Immeditately, we see more hats, shoes, bags, accessories work into the story before the sci-fi setting transcends into a modern dance. As wanders then see a meeting of tribes, colors hues mute into a spicy, Dune-like mood, before taking a surrealist turn with a scene reminiscent of Un Chien Andalou. The interpretation is open, but this is what Marine Serre shared:
“The title, AMOR FATI, is an invitation to actively embrace all of life’s pleasures and adversities without judgement. The choice to create a film for this season’s collection reflects the exceptional circumstances that we are living in. The urgent need for change and adaptation is explored through the cyclical visual narrative of the film, where the characters seamlessly mutate as they move through three symbolic environments – a laboratory, a natural landscape and an underground water-world – each charged with layered narratives and accumulative emotions. Two chameleonic figures transition through these different worlds as their garments and appearances adapt to the situations they encounter. There are three associated ‘clans’: close-knit groups of people who both shape and support the central characters’ journey, as keepers of their fate. This transition reflects a human being’s mobility in real life, where one has the power to change their style or mode of being, to transform or to blend in, building personal narratives through the garments that they choose to wear.”
The powerful cast is led by the Iranian-Dutch singer Sevdaliza and the French artist Juliet Merie, Marine’s close friend and collaborator, with music by composer Pierre Rousseau.
The collection is made up Marine Serre’s sharp tailoring, boldly announced through a duo-colored ‘moon lozenge’ jacquard weave. Alongside the separates-based suiting range, biodegradable nylon and recycled moire serves as the base for hyper-functional, multi-pocketed utilitarian garments and iconic accessories in a monochrome palette. Intimate silhouettes are made of regenerated carpets in terracotta hues. Repurposed tailoring fabrics are granted a contemporary second life through sleek menswear pieces, while fiery red and jet-black athletic garments offer a wardrobe that enables free movement.
The palette shifts through optical knitwear in kaleidoscopic sapphire and cobalt blues. Sinuous forms are influenced by the organic world, with MARINE SERRE’s classic regenerated denim updated through a laser engraving of the ‘moonfish skin’ pattern, which also appears in recycled jersey fabrics, creating a utopian augmented body. Follows a series of Red Line futuristic pieces, such as shield visor made of regenerated carpets, and the survival harness crinoline that consciously delimits the body space.
