The Night Porter

Last year I was given a photo shoot brief based on the interlinking of industries like film and fashion. Think of The Great Gatsby, when the news that there was to be a remake the fashion industry churned out 20′s inspired collections. And with Miuccia Prada designing the outfits for the remake, the 20′s art deco style has been inspirational to all creative directions

 Films like Pulp Fiction, Trainspotting and A Clockwork Orange are good examples of films that have inspired fashion time and time again. Thinking of the shoot we thought decided to base our shoot on The Night Porter. The film is about a WW2 concentration camp survivor, who fell in love with a Nazi officer who tormented but loved her. The narrative deepens when 13 years later, when staying at a hotel in Germany with her husband, she meets him again, he is the night porter at her hotel. After their reunion, they continue their sado-masochistic relationship in love and go on the run from both her husband and his ex Nazi’s friends  that know about their past.

With regard to the fashion industry Marc Jacobs has been the most recent designer to be influenced by the 70′s cult film. Louis Vuitton A/W 11 was full of references to the film

It is evident Jacobs has been influenced key signifiers like the commissar hat, cigarette at hand and the large structure sleeves all connote the film. Not to mention the mise-en-scene which again signifies the film. The checkered flooring and the porter letting the girls walk past is perhaps the clearest signs this is inspired by The Night Porter.

Taking this into consideration we broke down our shoot into parts. Whilst in a Nazi camp the actress (Charlotte Rampling) was made to perform in front of the soilders, wearing masks and their uniform we wanted this is to be of our shots as it is a major signifier for the film. In contrast, we noticed a key motif in her clothing throughout the film, she wore a lot of white lace and satin. Rampling played the victim from when she was in the concentration camp to when he was reunited with her tormentor. The white clothing connoted her innocence and purity. So this was a main aim to pursue in our shoot and is shown through the two other poses we chose for the shoot. One focused on when she was at her wits end and was being dragged around and clothed like a rag doll, almost nonhuman like. The last scene being her utter desperation for her basic rights, in the film she ends up being starved and at one point she gorges on a jar of jam, which happens to be one of my favourite shots of the shoot.

Here are a few examples of the final images from the shoot: