PARSONS PRESENTS FASHION IN FILM: MELODRAMA

Series Uncovers the Essential Role of Fashion in Crafting Dramatic Film

Imitation of Life (1959)

NEW YORK, October 20, 2010—Parsons The New School for Design presents Fashion in Film: Melodrama, a series of film screenings exploring fashion as a key to the melodramatic imagination. Speakers John Epperson, Tom Kalin, and Evan Calder Williams will revisit a trio of camp classics that exemplify the essential role of fashion and style in dramatizing cultural, social, and political taboos in film. The series is presented by the Master of Arts in Fashion Studies at Parsons, which places fashion within a contemporary, global context that recognizes its significance as a cultural, social and economic force.

Each film is free, open to the public, and will screen at the historic Tishman Auditorium at the New School, 66 West 12th Street, New York. For more information, visit www.newschool.edu/fashioninfilm.

Tuesday, November 2, 7:30—9:30 p.m.
Imitation of Life (Dir. Douglas Sirk, 1959)
Introduced by John Epperson
John Epperson, the creator and performer of Lypsinka, returns this season to introduce Douglas Sirk's final film, which features Lana Turner in a career-defining role and gowns by Jean Louis. "Imitation of Life may be the most important movie ever made," Epperson has said. Following the screening, Epperson will hold a Q & A with Susan Kohner, who plays the pivotal role of Sarah Jane in the film.

Tuesday, November 9, 7:30—9:30 p.m.
Lili Marleen (Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1981)
Introduced by Tom Kalin
Tom Kalin, director of the award-winning films Swoon (1992) and Savage Grace (2007), will introduce Fassbinder's dark satire of a star's rise to fame in Nazi Germany. The film stars Hanna Schgyulla and Giancarlo Giannini and features costumes by Barbara Baum. Lili Marleen is now recognized as a masterpiece of the New German Cinema for the way it dramatizes cultural and political narcissism through fashion, music, and stylistic excess.

Tuesday, December 7, 7:30—9:30 p.m.
The 10th Victim (Dir. Elio Petri, 1965)
Introduced by Evan Calder Williams
Evan Calder Williams, author of Combined and Uneven Apocalypse will introduce Elio Petri's prophetic sci-fi fantasia starring Ursula Andress and Marcello Mastroianni. On a TV game show set in the future, beautiful people in search of fame and fortune kill or be killed while aiming for the biggest product placement possible. Pitted against the stunning and Courrèges-clad Andress, is Mastroianni the hunter or the hunted?

Fashion in Film: Melodrama is presented by the School of Art and Design History and Theory at Parsons, and curated by Jeffrey Lieber, Assistant Professor of Visual Cultural Studies.

The MA in Fashion Studies at Parsons The New School for Design is a new program for emerging scholars who want to engage in the interdisciplinary analysis of fashion in its complex manifestations as object, image, cultural practice and concept. Students gain a critical understanding of fashion and its global intersections with identity, history, and culture in the contemporary world. For more information, please visit http://www.newschool.edu/fashionstudies.

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Media Contacts:

Gabriella Mangino
212.229.5667 x4399
[email protected]

Deborah Kirschner
212.229.5667 x4310
[email protected]