Video Concept

The initial concept for this video was to shoot a model running away from the camera in slow motion, wearing a billowing dress. Initially I had wanted to film it in a corridor (preferably one in an old cinema or a vintage looking hotel). However, getting permission for this proved hard and so I decided on an outdoor location for the shoot.

The idea for simple black and white shots of the model running from camera in slow motion actually came from Katy Perry's music video for 'Waking up in Vegas'. There is a really quick glimpse of her running away in slow motion down a casino corridor. Chanel's advert for their No.5 perfume (named "The One Night Stand") features Nicole Kidman exiting a taxi in slow motion and running from camera in a beautiful evening gown that billows as she runs. This also provided inspiration for my own shoot. Both Nicole Kidman and Katy Perry look glamorous, expensive, exciting - and ultimately, you want to be her. Who is she? Where is she going? Why is she running away? I wanted this feel for Garbo's promotional video and I wanted my viewers to ask these same questions about Garbo. It would be the first time anyone had seen anything about the company and so I wanted the viewer to be curious about it. I wanted them to want to be the girl in the video. I wanted them to want to know more about her. I wanted them to feel that, if they shopped at Garbo, they too could be transformed into a glamorous woman being chased by admirers through beautiful gardens.

The video ended up having a real romantic, flirty feel to it. It is very subtle in its message. I didn't want any dialogue in it at all. I wanted the viewer to take from the video whatever they felt the story meant to them. I have asked several people who watched the video what they thought the story behind it was. Many of them shared my vision - that this was a glamorous woman inviting a male admirer to follow her through passageways and gardens. You never really find out why she wanted to be followed, or even where she ended up. It is like a 'grown-up' Alice in Wonderland in some ways - the girl is the White Rabbit asking us to follow her into her world filled with glamour from a time gone by. Others thought the video looked "very perfume ad-ish" - but again, surely the purpose of these adverts is to make you want to be the woman in them?.....Someone else added, when asked what they thought the video was about, "Who cares? All I was thinking about was that dress and how good that girl looks in it!". The video ends with a shot of her 'admirer' looking at her from afar. It is meant to show a sense of mysteriousness - what would have happened if he had caught up with her? Vintage clothing in itself is very mysterious. You never really know where it has been, who it belonged to, what stories are tied up in its fibers. Although Garbo's garments are not genuine vintage - they take influence from a time that is so different to modern life. The clothes are an escape away from modern life, back to a more mysterious place in time - a time before everyone posted what they had for breakfast on Twitter!

The video title - "A Thread In Time" - is a play on words (as is "Garbo". Obviously you would think the company's name is down to Greta Garbo, an iconic actress whos career spanned throughout the 1920s, 30s and 40s - which, mainly, it is. If you think 'Greta Garbo' you don't think modern. You think classic Hollywood glamour. However, the word 'Garb' also means clothing. These two things tie in pretty nicely with a glamorous vintage inspired evening wear company I'm sure you'll agree.) "A Thread In Time" also refers to Garbo's vintage credentials. A thread in time, evokes a feeling of time gone by - in this case Vintage. 'Thread', again makes you think of clothes. 'Time', because Garbo's focus is on a specific period in time.

The model coincidentally ended up looking rather similar to Veronica Lake - another gorgeous movie star of the 1940s. It was probably the long blonde hair with that distinctive Lake wave that did it!

The look is purposefully overtly glamorous. Not only does this make the viewer aspire to be like that - it also confirms in the mind of the viewer that Garbo's look isn't an 'every day' one. It isn't casual. It isn't low-maintenance. Wearing a piece from Garbo is meant to feel like an occasion - it should make you feel like Veronica Lake or Greta Garbo and co.. You should feel like a bona fide Hollywood movie star.

The message then that this video should send out (however you interpret the story) is a simple one - put on a piece from Garbo and become your own movie star - .....and then maybe get someone to chase you through a garden....