As part of the Selfridges ‘Bright Young Things’ launch yesterday evening we bring you, exclusively on Dazed, the gentle disorder of Alan Taylor's SS14. He prevailed with tweed last season and this threads through into his most recent collection along with transparent elements and considered collage. The subtle juxtapositions within his tailoring are offset in this short film, conceptualized and directed by the designer himself and styled by Harry Lambert.
You know that feeling you sometimes get in a gallery: “Did those eyes in that painting just move?” – that’s a sensation when the eerie yet calming soundtrack fades into what first appears as three still images, side by side of one boy in different positions, lonely but at peace, in a setting of surreal familiarity. In Taylor's own words, “I like to fuck with peoples heads a little.”
The aesthetics of the film forms an immediate visual link to the work of Francis Bacon, a fellow Irishman with whom Taylor has previously mentioned as a consistent influence. A modern, cinematic take on Bacon’s painted distorted faces transcend in hypnotic, blurry close ups of the models painted faces. Attention to detail in his tailoring – no doubt a trade picked up after assisting Simone Rocha – is elevated with the attention to detail in the colour palette and still movements.
