A fashion adaptation of 'A Clockwork Orange'.

Email Newsletter (interactive video at the end of post)

'A Clockwork Orange' is a controversial and contrasting piece; Alex is a civilised, primal savage who's interests are art, Beethoven, rape, violence, and murder. Following my perception of the film, I believe that the overall conclusion is the conflict of two minds: the intellectual creative side of man, vs. the primal side. We clearly see this conflict in the scene where Alex chooses to defend himself against a Beethoven bust statue, with a phallic object. 

I have decided to approach this theme through fashion. My theoretical adaptation of Kubrick's 'A Clockwork Orange' would be that all of the characters are costumed in theatrical, haute-couture fashion, inspired by Jean-Paul Gaultier and Alexander McQueen. Fashion has always been considered a depiction of someone's status and wealth - particularly obvious in the 1600's where fabrics, dyes and embellishments along with choice of garments would depict such things. Thus relating to the theme of the film, fashion would equal the creative, intellectual, cultured side of the brain. However, the film would contrast this by using 'savage-beauty' and very theatrical, anarchist makeup/fashion accessories to bring out the primitive, primal side. 

Billboard design

I resulted in depicting haute-couture fashion through theatrical makeup - due to practicality and accessibility. Using black card and an old eyelash case, I was able to D.I.Y some abstract false lashes for the top and bottom of one eye, in order to redesign the effect in the original film. This, along with the black smoky eye-shadow, helped to create the 'savage-beauty' appearance, which was also emphasised with the feather-texture.  
I reversed the gender within the film, to see how it would affect the meaning and perception of the footage, as many feminists have disputed the film to say that it has acts of misogyny. Also I feel that in contemporary fashion, females are a typically commercial way to sell, and thus will attract my 18-35, female target audience. 

Postage stamp designs and packaging

I decided to opt for high-contrast black and white photographs for aesthetic style, as well as to exaggerate the idea of contrast and conflict (also the dark humour within the films content). I also

utilized pastel orange/peach as I was highly influenced by fashion magazines, Vogue in particular, and to also tie back to the title 'A Clockwork Orange'. VUE CINEMA was created in the DubielPlain font, which was the closest to the 'Vogue-font' that I could find, as I wanted my designs to look like a fashion magazine cover. Avenir Black and Baskerville were often used as they are more convenient for smaller sizes. 

Magazine jacket

Magazine spread

I thought that creating a mini-magazine would be a unique adaptation of cinema brochures; it also allowed me to be active with fashion-publishing. The postage stamps and billboard were designed like a special-edition magazine, while the interactive newsletter was inspired by Vogue's publisher, Conde Nast. All of the designs are sleek, and clean, while the photographs are a bit more dark and grungy. This allowed me to reflect the contrast in the film with my contrasting design elements and to also make the design works easy to read, but with an interesting punch.  

Entry ticket/coffee sleeve