"The passion burns deep"

Continuing my journey back through time to some of the defining films of my teenage years, I watched St Elmo’s Fire recently.

Made in 1985 and directed by Joel Schumacher ("Lost Boys", "Flatliners"), it involved virtually every hot brat packer of the time: Demi Moore, Andrew McCarthy, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Ally Sheedy and Judd Nelson.

The film tells the story of a group of friends that have just graduated from Georgetown University and their adjustment to their post-university lives and the responsibilities of encroaching adulthood. Some of them do not handle their new life well: Lowe is a drunk constantly in trouble and milking his wealthy best friend (Mare Winningham) for all she is worth and Moore is a credit card/drug abuser living an ‘apparently’ glamorous life. It’s all typical of the American yuppie generation of the mid-80’s with their cheesy politics, outfits, belief in advertising as art and cocaine addictions.

The soundtrack is too tacky for words, featuring such 80’s masters as Airplay, Fee Waybill, Elefante (who?) and the irritatingly unforgettable theme song "St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)" performed by David Foster.

It is incredible to watch again for a few reasons: Demi Moore, pre plastic surgery and still with her puppy fat, Rob Lowe destroying his life (not sure any man should be born that beautiful, but that is beside the point) and the apartments these kids live in - particularly the one Judd Nelson and Ally Sheedy own with its giant Nike add covering an entire wall of their loft – yes, this was what was covetable in 1985. Didn’t we also want to look like Demi in her homage to Madonna (all corsets and fur and teased hair) and the pearls … god these girls wore them and they wore them well, usually teamed with a Holly Hobbie lace collared long dress – remember those? It seems frump fashion really rocked hard in 1985.

See it now if you consider yourself a true 80’s fan, but be a purist and only rent out an old boxy ‘video’ if you can get your hot little hands on one.

The Artist

Time for another style icon alert and what has taken me so long to discuss Tilda? It's craziness.

Not only is Tilda Swinton an amazing actor, she is transformed into a living artwork when she dons various designer pieces and she has a husband and a younger live-in lover. If that's not a winning combination, then what is?

In terms of her art, there is really nothing she cannot achieve in film – it really seems to be her moment. She is one actor who authentically manages to straddle both the alto and more pedestrian worlds of film with mesmerizing turns in earlier offbeat films such as "Love is the Devil" and "Caravaggio" to more popularist fare such as "Michael Clayton", "Burn After Reading" and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". She has come a long way since working with Derek Jarman and Sally Potter (think "Orlando" where she plays the title character in both male and female guises).

Right now in film she's back to the risky arena where she stars as “Blonde” in the new film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch, "Limits of Control", the story of a mysterious loner, a stranger, whose activities remain meticulously outside the law. His journey, paradoxically both intently focused and dreamlike, takes him not only across Spain but also through his own consciousness.

Right now in fashion, she's taking risks too, appearing swathed in liquid cranberry Haider Ackerman at Cannes, immediately after every fashion editor worth his/her salt raved about his recent collection. Personally, I think it an absolute crime that she is often placed on worst dressed lists as since when has Prada or Lanvin been deemed distasteful?

All fashion brutality aside, this amazing creature is 100% deserved of our complete admiration as she embodies a kind of utopian ideal of true life, fashion and craft 'original'.

Yearning for more? Grab yourself a copy of the latest "AnOther" magazine, where she graces the cover ... and speaks.

Hirdy Girdy

Muccia Prada continues to stun with her inclusive philosophy of art, fashion, design and architecture – exactly what The Crystal Plumage gets turned on by.

Her latest incredible project sees her again working with Rem Koolhaas to create the Prada Transformer in South Korea.

In a recent interview in Interview magazine, they both take great pains to inform us this is not merely a “pavilion” … it is a space that is mutable: its 3 sides are shiftable by cranes to suit the intended purpose e.g. cinema, art or fashion. It is essentially a metal structure consisting of 3 shaped "walls": hexagon, circle, cross and rectangle and covered with material used to wrap abandoned planes. Genuis!

As Prada herself says:

"What makes this project so radical is this kind of ever-changing shape and form according to requests ... But this flexibility and changeability was crucial. The conent could be done any place, but the real invention is the architecture. The architecture is the only work that really defines a new way of doing things. I think this point is fundamental."

I think this is what impresses me the most about Prada as a designer. She isn't primarily focused on having her dresses worn at the latest Hollywood premiere … she really falls into the category of “visionary” and works with others at the top of their fields, such as Koolhaas to conceive her fantasies. Prada sets the pace, she doesn’t just attempt to keep up.

With evenings in the Transformer where famed directors discuss their favourite films and the infamous touring “Waist Down” skirts installation feature, who wouldn’t want to enter this bizarre futuristic tardis.

Next stop for this "amorphous" structure is Milan – could you include Sydney or Melbourne please, please, pretty please?

For more information or timetables for events see: http://prada-transformer.com/.

“It only looks like the good life”

I recently had a mad yearning to revisit one of my favourite films of the late 80’s, “Less than Zero”.

Featuring the hot young brat packish actors of the time: Robert Downey Junior, Jamie Gertz, Andrew McCarthy and James Spader and with its title taken from the 1985 best seller from Brett Easton Ellis (he of "American Psycho" fame), it extinguishes any fantasy we ever had of the young and rich of LA.

It is somewhat disappointing that Ellis’ books are never translated to screen with quite the same level of darkness that leaves you completely hollowed out – which is exactly the point Ellis is trying to make – societal greed and lack of humanity is pointless. So, we miss out on the snuff movies, abortion, kiddy sex and odd dead body featured in the novel, but then American Psycho hardly reached the heights of its promised translation from page to screen either.

However, all is not lost … not only do we witness the destruction of these smug rich kids’ lives, but we get to see it done stylishly. The interiors are all fashionably lit and in colour tones you could die for: all peaches and greys. Robert Downey Jr descends into the depths of despair yes, but he does it in style – wearing Commes des Garcons sandals and socks and an array of their shirts and jackets and to a soundtrack that will stir the emotions of any kid who lived through the 80's.

A literary sequel is in the works to be titled "Imperial Bedrooms", which, like "Less than Zero" is a title taken from an Elvis Costello song. It will be in our hot little hands in 2010.

Hopefully this time we will get our style with a little more hard core nihilism.

"Be wonderful and be strange"

... says Susie Bick in the latest I-D Magazine to hit our shores.

It is not often you stand at Borders and are moved by a magazine. But yes, I-D managed to conjure up such feelings yesterday.

All fashionistas … be kind to yourself and buy a copy, which has soul stirringly devoted its entire edition to Britain’s top models, both current and historical: from Jourdan Dunn to Twiggy … you get the drift.

I purchased the Susie Bick cover, as I absolutely adore her gothic aesthetic and current come-back status – someone please bring back women like this in fashion on a permanent basis – out with those emotionless Russian skeletors please!

You will be enthralled by all the inside gossip style interviews with Kate Moss, Agyness Deyn and Stella Tennant, not to mention the styling – all molten black and white imagery and spectacularly sculptural clothing selected by uber-stylist Edward Enniful.

Very pervy, delicious stuff indeed.

Astral Travelling

This divine collection first came to my attention last season. It is the mash-up of varying fabric patterns that provides the thrill.

No surprises, it has also come to the attention of the gorgeous Thea from Blonde Venus, Brisbane, Australia who will stock Peter Pilotto this season.

So, who is Peter Pilotto? Peter Pilotto and Christopher De Vos are the designers behind the Peter Pilotto label. Pilotto is half-Austrian, half-Italian and De Vos is half-Belgian, half-Peruvian. They met whilst studying at Antwerp's prestigious Royal Academy of Fine Arts in the year 2000.

Is it my imagination, or is Anouck Lepere their muse? She seems to be constantly swathed in these fabulously trippy clothes.

Big question - are the clothes in store yet?

Down in the Valley

I recently jetted down to Sydney to see the new show “Uncanny Valley” by one of Australia’s most interesting artists, Hany Armanious (showing at Roxlyn Oxley 9 in Paddington throughout the month of April).

As Amanda Rowell writes in the press release, “Everything is not as it seems” and she means it. This show requires a constant visual adjustment as you are repeatedly challenged to believe in what you see – what appears stone, is polystyrene, what appears metal, is gold, wood is resin and so on. It’s a mind fuck of the highest order.

So what does it all mean? Rowell explodes the mystery: “Uncanny Valley is a robotics term that describes the threshold crossed when a robot has become so lifelike in its appearance as to be almost indistinguishable from its human model, precipitating a sudden drop – on the graph – in the hitherto increasing levels of empathy of the human toward the humanoid.”

There are constant tricks and turns of order: Lagerfeld is a maker of models, a bare plinth is an object of worship ... it is a spiritual, historical, witty labyrinthical world Armanious conjures up for us to behold.

As Adam Jasper boldly asserts in this month’s “Art World” magazine, Armanious “is the real deal”. But, how do we know? What is he made of? Do androids dream of electric sheep?