Amanda Harlech for Fendi’s aMANda
Italy’s Fendi is taking an untraditional approach to menswear marketing by casting Amanda Harlech as lead in the narrative campaign surrounding the fall/winter 2015 collection.
In “aMANda,” Ms. Harlech plays two contrasting roles, a man and his mysterious love interest, in a voyage of self-discovery framed by Fendi’s latest collections to capture its menswear universe. Casting Ms. Harlech, a fashion consultant and Karl Lagerfeld muse, as the male lead in the cinematic narrative, plays to the notion of gender neutrality and sexually ambiguity currently being explored by high-fashion labels in campaigns and on the runway.
“This movie follows in the wake of discussions of gender roles and equality both within the fashion world and society in general,” said Patrick Poulsen, strategic planner at Vertic. “Fendi demonstrates the brand’s well-known subtle elegant style by using androgynity to connect to a much bigger cause.
“By associating the brand with such a cause, it feels less like a campaign trying to sell something and more like a video trying to convey a meaningful stance on an important subject,” he said. “This will eventually make it more likely that people will share it within their networks.
“As Amanda Harlech has said herself the divide between genders are diminishing every day and the fashion industry has gone from boyfriend clothes to a wider acceptance of androgynity. One has to remember that Fendi, in this video, communicates directly to their fashion conscious target audience, who probably follow several key fashion influencers who break down the gender perception one Instagram picture at a time.”
Mr. Poulsen is not affiliated with Fendi, but agreed to comment as an industry expert.
Fendi was unable to comment directly by press deadline.
A poetic voyage
Directed by Patrick Kinmonth and Antonio Monfreda, aMANda is set on at the Sacra nature reserve in Capalbio on the Italian coast north of Rome. Within the nature reserve is lake Burano where much of the narrative takes place as it divides the land between a wooded area of dunes and a 12th century tower.
Fendi’s six-minute aMANda begins with vignettes of train tracks and a raging fire built in a stone fireplace, before panning to the field adjacent to the tracks. When in full view of the field, the camera moves in on the male character, played by Ms. Harlech, who has her back to the viewer as she says, “fireflies in a field of lipids, this morning I told him my name.”
In the next scene, Ms. Harlech’s male character begins to awake from the sun’s brightness in a barren field. She treks through the field until reaching a bicycle resting against a small stone bridge over a creek.
Bicycle scene from aMANda
As she pedals, the wind catches the suit jacket she wears. Ms. Harlech travels through the countryside as alternate scenes show a woman throwing objects into a fireplace in a dimly lit and smoky room. It is then, that the viewer comes to realize that the other character bares an uncanny resemblance to Ms. Harlech.
The video continues with Ms. Harlech ditching the bicycle in lake Burano for a nearby rowboat. She begins to row toward an unseen destination while the film alternates to the mysterious woman in the smoke-filled room.
While rowing across the lake, the mystery woman is shown standing atop the 12th century tower looking out over the water. As the rowboat makes land, Ms. Harlech removes her sweater and images of the woman continues to haunt the male protagonist.
Upon discovering a horse, Ms. Harlech rides through the countryside and soon approaches the tower. When reaching the tower, Ms. Harlech is seen running up the stop stairs as the tower goes from colored film to black-and-white before fading out to read, “men’s fall/winter 2015-2016” and Fendi’s logo as the closing still.
The Fendi aMANda movie starring Amanda Harlech for a unique take on the Fendi men’s FW15 collection
Posted by Fendi on Friday, October 9, 2015
While styled as a man for the aMANda film, Ms. Harlech wore pieces from Fendi’s fall/winter 2015-16 menswear collection, showing the line in a new light. Throughout the film, Ms. Harlech’s character shows the textures and silhouettes of the season by embracing “the soft and comfortable shapes that distinguish the Fendi Men’s universe.”
The color palette of grey, blue and tobacco tones along with the fabrics’ textures meld with the natural background chosen by the film’s directors. Together setting and collection “creat[es] a dream-like atmosphere; a poem suspended in time.”
In the scenes as the woman in the tower, Ms. Harlech wears items from the Fendi women’s collection for fall/winter 2015-16.
Fendi’s approach for the aMANda film was explained in a statement as being representative of “the modern preoccupation and quest for a new understanding of gender roles. This modern story embodies Fendi’s pursuit of daring creativity and reflects their determination to push the boundaries of fashion and art.”
The movie life
Unlike this campaign for menswear, Fendi’s women effort for this season is less cinematic and more playful.
Fendi showed its lighthearted side with a fall/winter campaign that pairs models with artist Sophie Taeuber-Arp’s geometric sculptures.
The campaign, titled “Arty Puppies” reinforces the theme and inspiration for the collection and the runway show set design, which will also be continued in the brand’s store windows this fall. Creating a consistency from collection concept to campaign leaves a lasting impression on consumers throughout the season (see story).
Fendi’s aMANda is one example of the Italian fashion house exploring its cinematic interests.
In 2014, Fendi filmed a 15-minute documentary to give consumers a thorough look at the inner workings of the company.
The film, which went live exclusively on Fendi.com Feb. 5, follows the creative and executive team as they prepared for Fendi Day last fall, which consisted of their spring 2014 fashion show, a boutique opening and the unveiling of an exhibition. By releasing the full version of the video on its Web site, Fendi is able to increase traffic to its newly redesigned Fendi Life microsite, and encourage a deeper understanding of the brand (see story).
While Fendi has an interest in cinema, the aMANda film may not have enough interaction for consumers to intently watch.
“It is a beautifully executed movie with a drawing sound landscape but in a world of flux, I cannot help but think that six minutes is a stretch for a video that does not incentivize the viewer to stay for the whole duration,” Mr. Poulsen said. “The counterintuitive casting will grab people’s attention and get them to start the video, but there is no call-to-action to lead the viewer closer to a sale or any kind of deeper engagement.
“This kind of one-way communication is still the prevalent type to market products in the fashion industry, but we see repeatedly that the brands that engage the consumers and breaks down the barrier between brand and consumer are the ones that get out on top.”
Final Take
Jen King, lead reporter on Luxury Daily, New York