High-end fashion, MTV and genuine artistic impression all combine together to celebrate the debut couture fashion collection by fashion house Bophonysse and their visionary designer Badra. Here is director Harvey Marcus’ Coral Clear.
As the resident fashionista and best-dressed member of the Screen Critix team, it fell to me to review a very different type of short film than we are accustomed to seeing here. Coral Clear is a mixture of so many different film styles it is difficult to know where to begin. The short can be considered a documentary, an advertisement, an exhibition, a visual showcase, and even a music video.
The director, Harvey Marcus, is an award-winning filmmaker whose background lies in fashion magazines; these include the biggies like Elle, Marie Claire, Japanese Vogue, InStyle, and Lula. If IMDB is anything to go by, Marcus doesn’t seem to have a great deal of experience with film. A heart-warming documentary about survival, struggle, and success on a North London High Street called ‘Beneath The Clocktower’, and a dark sex comedy about female identity called ‘Then There Were Three’are his only listed credits on there. However, this does mean that we are given a unique perspective on the content and some interesting visuals which give both a narrative and documentary feel to proceedings.
The stars in all of this are of course the designs by Badra, who, using their Berber and Algerian heritage, manages to translate traditional North African fashions into luxurious evening and bridal wear. There are twenty-six different garments on show during the film’s 3 minutes and 41 second run time and each of the designs is bursting with detail. Vivid silks, bejewelled with bright beads and covered with hand-painted images highlighting the themes of women and nature. Vibrant primary colours explode out of the screen, blues, greens, whites, but it is yellow that is the key colour throughout the short, symbolising the sun and life in North African culture. Marcus’ direction gives the whole collection an Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein Pop Art texture.
Emphasising the drama of the piece is the poem that gave the collection its name – Coral Clear by Evon Adeji. We hear the poem spoken in voiceover and, alongside the images, it transports us to another world. “Are we lost in the plainness? Consumed by the darkness? Forced into boxes that can’t contain our vibrancy.” This becomes the main theme of the short – a type of mantra. Can clothing transcend its usefulness? Can it not only help us to feel and look good but can it also give us the confidence to break our chains, look beyond our limitations, and stand out in a heavily populated world? The score also plays its part in helping to create the drama, tension, and excitement of discovering new things. Starting from a single piano tone the music grows to become a whole orchestral movement neatly fitting in with the entire theme of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly.
Coral Clear is a fascinating insight into how a brand new company can make a splash in a hugely competitive field by using film to make a statement, and it is no surprise that Coral Clear was recently nominated as Best Fashion Lookbook at the London Fashion Film festival.