Coinciding with the London Fashion in Film Festival (1 – 12 December), Flash Projects in London is exhibiting iconic original vintage photographs by Jean Clemmer, exploring fantasy, sensuality and haute couture in 1960s Paris.
The exhibition captures beautifully the utopian dreams of an era, exploring the realms of science fiction and fantasy. Erotic images of models as muse for French couturier Paco Rabanne’s famed futuristic rhodoid and aluminium chain-mail jewellery, the photographs were both styled and created by Clemmer, depicting nude female models ‘dressed’ in Rabanne’s ‘unwearable’ fashions, culture of sexual freedom of the 1960s at its apex in 1969.
Intrinsically involved with Salvador Dalí’s later flamboyant realisation of Surrealism, Jean Clemmer was the artist’s personal photographer for 20 years and was close friends with the French poet, writer, artist, and man-about-town Jean Cocteau. His radical collaborator Paco Rabanne’s designs were featured in iconic 1960s films such as Barbarella (1968) and his clothes worn and loved by stars suchas Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Brigitte Bardot and Francoise Hardy.
Canned Candies: The Nudes of Jean Clemmer runs from 26 November – 18 December.
More info at www.flash-projects.co.uk
