Prada's 'Trembled Blossom' animated film got its start in L.A.
STYLE NOTEBOOK
The out-of-the-box short was inspired by the drawings of artist James Jean and directed by James Lima, both of L.A.
IT'S almost unbelievable that "Trembled Blossoms," the four-minute animated film that has taken on a life of its own on the Prada website and arty comic sites, has its roots in a tiny piece of decoration -- an Art Nouveau-themed flower and nymph drawing that Los Angeles illustrator James Jean did for the wall of a store. Miuccia Prada was so taken with the piece that it informed her runway collection -- the lolling organza dirndl skirts with Jean's tendrily drawings, the romantic flared pajama pants and tunic tops with petal-shaped collars, the painted tulip heels -- and the entire spring fashion season. Then came the idea to produce an animated short based on the illustration, which is another L.A. story.
In the erotically charged film, a hummingbird punctures the center of a flower. A nymph emerges from the blanket of winter to begin her journey through a lush forest. Then, out of this dreamy, Dali-esque imagery comes something totally commercial -- a pair of crabs morph into those tulip-heeled shoes, a fish transforms into a striped handbag, and the blank canvas of the nymph's body is covered in a sinuous dress.
The film has received more than 200,000 hits on the Prada website since it was released last month and has also been posted on YouTube and art blogs, crossing the worlds of film, fashion and fine arts.
True to the designer's outsider spirit, there is much about the film that is unconventional, including the four-minute format and the relaxed pace, a breath of fresh air in the age of quick cuts. The film combines cutting-edge motion capture technology with classic animation, achieving a dreamlike quality that recalls "Destino," the unfinished animated short Salvador Dali made for Disney in the 1940s, which was recently completed and shown at the Dali exhibit at the L.A. County Museum of Art.
"Trembled Blossoms" was released first on the Internet and was later transferred to film stock to be shown at parties at the Prada epicenters in New York, Beverly Hills, and next month in Tokyo. Now, the Internet release is making it difficult for producers to enter the piece in traditional film festivals.
The film, directed by Pasadena Arts Center grad James Lima, was produced in Los Angeles. But it had its origins at the Soho store. Early last year, design firm and frequent Prada collaborator 2x4 commissioned Jean to create an illustration for wallpaper there, based on the idea of a graphic novel.
