neverblack’s Insignificant Being

By Jenna Hawkins / January 27th, 2012 in Fashion / New Zealand / 441 views

Inspired by Maurice Sendak‘s classic children’s tale Where The Wild Things Are and the decadence and decay of 70s documentary Grey Gardens, New Zealand label neverblack‘s Winter 2012 collection, An Insignificant Being fuses natural fibers with extravagance to bring the juxtaposing stories of fantasy and reality to life.

neverblack designer Jeremy MacLaurin described the neverblack consumer to Portable as “melodramatic, broody and unforeseen,” and the film as a way to “add a new dimension to the label…taste for beautiful garments and also an appreciation for amazing fabrics, for us these two aspects should go hand in hand.”

This is highlighted by a collection in which moss green, camel and navy are the backbone to the muted color palette, with luxe fabrics such as angora mohair, silk crepe and merino wool permeating the designs.

Shot with a mixture of Super 8 film and 5d footage at New Zealand’s iconic Port Waikato, director Dan Max explained to Portable how he was able to achieve such a whimsical fashion film”

Super 8 film was shot at 16 frames per second as opposed to the normal 25 FPS. This helped to give it the dreamy, flickery effect. Every now and then I would also open the back of the film compartment up and let light leak in. This created the orange flickers over some of the shots. The shoot was all hand held for a looser feel and this combined with the super 8 techniques and grade gives the viewer a feeling that they are outside looking in, of being in a distant memory.

Set to Futile Devices by Sufjan Stevens, models Imogene W and Jasper wander the beautiful surrounds in a moment of insignificance and solitude bringing to life the aesthetic of neverblack’s Winter 2012 collection.