The Captivating Story Behind Andrea Brocca’s Alta Moda Fashion Film
The world’s youngest couturier speaks exclusively to Bazaar Arabia about the inspiration behind his visual and creative masterpiece
Fashion and film are deeply intertwined, each possessing the power to evoke deep emotions in the watcher or wearer, characterised by a striking visual element, and brought to life thanks to a dedicated team of experts helmed by one visionary director or designer.
The best fashion and film projects masterfully interlace diverse elements in a harmonious symphony of artistry, technique, and emotion—and, if done with enough heart, soul, and finesse—constitute timeless masterpieces to last season upon season, year after year, be it in your wardrobe or in the limelight.
Andrea Brocca, the world’s youngest couturier, has undoubtedly mastered the art of fashion in film, most recently unveiling a breathtakingly beautiful project in honour of his Alta Moda collection. The half-Italian, half-Sri Lankan, Emirati-raised couturier and artist’s visual identity is reflected in every aspect of the film which, down to its geographic location in London, is autobiographical to its core, insofar as it tells a sentimental story of its creator.
The Alta Moda collection, explains Andrea, is “captivated by the timeless allure of an ancient era— Mythology, Roman culture, the Renaissance and the opulence of Art Deco. These are worlds which have birthed infatuating tales that shaped my childhood and enlightened my fascination with timeless beauty. From Caravaggio’s artistry and drama to Tiziano’s masterly use of colours to Peter Carl Faberges legendary jewellery and Pompeii lost affrescos. I aspire to merge these worlds to eventually create my own.”
Having already styled the likes of Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus, and being associated with luxury fashion giants such as Bottega Veneta and Prabal Gurung; the Central Saint Martins College of Art graduate appears to have accomplished it all. But the truth is, there’s no limit to what this trailblazer is yet to accomplish in the world of fashion, and his most recent film offers us a taste of the boundary-pushing brilliance and creativity that is to come.
We caught up with the pioneering couturier to better understand his creative genius.
The Story Behind Andrea Brocca’s Fashion Film
Harper’s Bazaar Arabia (HBA): What was the inspiration behind the dress and the shoot?
Andrea Brocca (AB): I’ve always wanted to create something visual in a city at iconic locations. It reminds me of Helmet Newton’s work in the 70’s or 90’s perfume advertisements. We had just launched the collection in London and as I spent my entire university life here; it does hold a lot of significance to me, I have a lot of beautiful memories in the city.
I wanted to do something different but also something fun and innocent. The look book shoot took a long time to prep and was much more serious, I wanted this to be light and much more nonchalant. We decided to do this very spontaneously, there usually isn’t a lot of time to do things like this, because we are so busy with running the business side of things. It really was a bit of a now or never situation.
Visually, I also wanted to do something very feminine because I wanted to show my audience that as a brand we have many different facets; we don’t just design for one type of women. I sat down with my team and we decided let’s use look 6 from the collection, it’s big, flamboyant, pink and it will also move beautifully on camera.
The fuchsia also set the tone for our research, I knew exactly what I wanted it to look like. It was the end of summer and the weather was quite beautiful especially for London; we thought let’s just go for it, we decided on shooting at the iconic London landmarks. We have nothing loose and what’s the worst that could happen, you really can get away with a lot in London compared to other cities and we loved the added risk element.
HBA: How involved were you in the actual directing/filming process?
AB: Extremely involved. Brand identity is everything to an emerging brand, it sets the tone for everything you put out to your audience. While you don’t have access to a lot of big resources like other more establish brands do, you have complete control over your visual narrative and that’s ultimately what helps your grow your story, audience and the business.
HBA: Where was the video shot and why did you decide to shoot it at that particular location?
AB: I left London at the beginning of Covid during my final year at Central Saint Martins and I never really got to say goodbye. Launching this collection in London was my way of celebrating my time here as London really shaped me as a designer but also celebrating the start of a new chapter as my brand enters a new era.
We decided to use these locations as London is so rich in history and therefore very grand. I think the idea of just running around London at iconic landmark locations in a 50 meter couture gown is such a simple idea, but in my eyes very glamorous and captivating. We weren’t trying to come up with a visually edgy or a fresh concept, we focused on that for our look book. We just had this incredibly dramatic gown that I knew would be great for capturing movement, so I thought let’s create an entire concept around this look. Shooting in front of Buckingham Palace just seemed like a no brainer to us
HBA: Were there any challenges you faced when it came to the making of the video?
AB: Oh my goodness so many, we got kicked out of Trafalgar Square! London was absolutely packed, everyone was filming us and staring but that wasn’t really challenging, it more so added to the adrenaline. There was a huge race in-front of Buckingham Palace and I think at one point maybe over 150 people were filming us. So many of the roads were closed so we couldn’t get to our driver so we had to walk from location to location and Georgia, our model, had to walk barefoot! It was honestly so much fun, we had been so stressed from prepping for the look book that this really didn’t feel like work, we all had so much fun doing this.
The one thing I think we all regret is we really wanted to shoot in-front of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, but it was so packed on the day we couldn’t get anywhere near it, but I think that would have been a cool shot.
HBA: Will we see more fashion films from Andrea Brocca in the future?
AB: I hope so! I think there is definitely a time and place for everything, this was a very spur of the moment situation. However, it came at the perfect time so hopefully we’ll get something come up in a similar way for the next collection.
For more information, visit AndreaBrocca.com.
Images supplied.