Fifty years ago, fashion photography as we know it today changed forever with the release of Blow-Up. The film caused a stir with its portrait of London in the swinging 60s, casual sex, drugs and rock'n'roll, including an incendiary, performance by the Yardbirds. Antonioni's camera follows fashion photographer Thomas around London in his smart convertible Rolls Royce, wearing white jeans (which started a trend), blue gingham shirt and a sports jacket. His boredom is apparent in everything he does, from photographing professional models (Veruschka and Jill Kennington included) to teasing would-be models, going to a rock gig or a fashionable party... Until the moment he develops a roll of film with pictures he's taken, hiding among bushes, of a couple in a park. The more he looks at the pictures, the more he becomes convinced he's captured what could be a murder. He then endeavours, though ultimately without success, to find the mysterious woman, played by an always outstanding Vanessa Redgrave, in an effort to solve the enigma.
Antonioni saw the London scene as a perfect setting for his story. He consulted local journalists to help build a picture of the life style of the most fashionable young photographers. David Hemmings's character is a composite of elements that reference David Bailey, Terence Donovan, David Montgomery, and John Cowan, whose studio became a principal set.
The films costume designer Jocelyn Rickards (1924-2005) designed costumes for 17 films between 1958 and 1971. She moved seamlessly from the realistic aesthetic of Look Back in Anger, The Entertainer, to the stylish costumes of Bond’s in From Russia with Love (1963) and The Knack (1965) to the fashion-forward designs which characterised Blow Up (1966).
She described working with Antonioni on Blow Up as “a real test of strength” as the director wanted her to “predict fashion for two years ahead and create clothes which would be just verging on fashion when the film was released” (1977). Rickards rose enthusiastically to the challenge, visiting the Paris fashion houses to research the latest developments in fabrics. The director was deeply impressed by the results. He “went into ecstasies about my clothes” the designer recalled, and said “I should have got an Oscar”
Rickards was meticulous in her preparation without being slavishly wedded to verisimilitude. Her design process started with scribbles on sheets of semi-transparent paper, which she would refine through multiple drafts into a final ink and watercolour drawing, accompanied by extensive annotations and meticulous instructions about cut, finishing, and seams.
For Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow-Up (1966), she fashioned the women's dresses only, creating stunning outfits for Vanessa Redgrave and Sarah Miles in the style of Mary Quant and Rudi Gernreich.
The writer and critic Philippe Garner, claims that Antonioni’s attention to detail has played a fundamental role in the film’s continuing success. “From its pervading atmosphere to the characters themselves... The character of Thomas, for example, is a kind of cut-and-paste amalgam of David Bailey, Terence Donovan and John Cowan – three of the era’s most prolific fashion photographers. Antonioni's research in building Thomas’ character was painstaking; he spent many hours talking to journalists Francis Wyndham and Anthony Haden-Guest to glean detailed references. “He was after a very specific thing: what do they wear, what do they eat, what do music do they listen to, what cars do they drive?” says Garner. “He didn’t want gossip, he wanted to build a picture out of quantifiable details. He watched some at work and he moved in those circles just to observe the way of life of the people living in that fashion scene.”
This fastidious attention to detail extended even to the props used; the documentary photographs Thomas captures of Jane (played by Vanessa Redgrave) in the park were in fact taken by Don McCullin, while the film was largely shot in John Cowan’s studio. “Actually, [Antonioni] was visiting the studio to meet Terry Donovan, who had rented John Cowan’s studio for a shoot for Mary Quant, and that’s how he chanced to be in there. He loved the space, and kind of knew that was where he wanted to shoot the film.”
As for its depiction of the 60s, Garner industry says that the film is very accurate in its depiction. "It tapped into the ambiguity of it – it doesn’t allow itself to be seduced by the fashionable gloss and polish. I think what one needs to remember about that moment in 60s culture is that it was a very small group of people who were making a difference, who were in the news, on television, in the press and in the media, coming to represent this idea of this exciting, expressive city. So yes it was happening, but it was happening for a very select club."
For more on the inception and influence of Blow Up see here
