Les Enfants Terrible

Remaining cool under pressure, staying cool in the heat, in with the cool crowd, being cool with someone, and having a cool attitude, are all about being aloof and controlled. It is emotions whose physical manifestation is about a certain confidence, and it is certainly a mood that fashion and style often exemplify.

This Cellotape story exudes cool, and its emotions are poised, posed, and perfectly placed! Whatever is going on amongst these three, it is not exciting or playful, there is a surface tension and an underlying suspicion that their attitude is covering something up. Each piece, every hair, each image, is balanced and stylish, from shoes to eyebrow. There is no splashing in the calm surface of the swimming pool, no children’s toys for grown ups, and no towels or drinks cluttering the terrace, it is merely a siesta of quietness, an adults only moment of harmony and calm.

As a Cellotape shoot and story, it is less about the use of the title of the Jean Cocteau play, and more about a certain subtext. The underlying tension or relationships between our models is anything but obvious. Who are they meant to be, what are they to each other, and is there love or rivalry between them or are they simply looking wonderful?

Perfectly dressed for the heat of summer, predominantly in cool colours and chic patterns they watch us as much as we watch them. Confident pieces worn by a confident trio there is a linear neatnesss, a lack of fuss or clutter, it is edited to perfection, and we are offered a faultless surface. Yet I can still image unseen dramas, a missing person, an impossible parent, a family inheritance or simply someone waiting to join them. It is a deeply Italian story, it is slightly retro and nostalgic, and our creative team have wonderfully offered us something they captured; a moment in time.

Cellotape and style are permanently synchronised and these images have perfect harmony in terms of chic and style. It is also true that the froideur that comes from perfection is appparent both in the direct gaze, and also the lack of smiles, they are telling us that in this fashion story humour would be out of place. To stay cool in the heat and style one needs to remain unruffled and restrained in one’s movements. The slow motion unfolding of the story may be fashion but it has the gravitas of the beginnings of something we have yet to discover. As I wrote, I finally realised where I had seen such a group before, it is in The Garden of the Finzi-Continis.

Giorgio Bassani and Vittorio de Sica would recognise these aristocrats, and if we observe that there may then be an unhappy future,  that is outside this story. Right now, it is about simply one fabulous stylish moment, it about cool beauty.