nunu

When it comes to design, fashion designer Bernhard Willhelm may emphasize an idea over practicality, but at the end of the day, he’s someone who understands the fundamental concepts at the root of dressing and the psychology behind the urge to costume one’s self. He speaks to the peacock in all of us, that desire to preen and to move our bodies in mysterious and rapturous ways.

On Feb. 1, just before the start of New York fashion week, Paris-based Willhelm flew to town for his first New York event, held at the Tribeca Grand hotel, to present “Men in Tights,” a new fashion-based film. Based around his Fall/Winter 2008 menswear collection, Willhelm produced the innovative short in collaboration with Nick Knight, London-based fashion photographer and founder of SHOWStudio, a website that gives a behind-the-scenes look at the fashion world with some of fashion’s most influential figures.

Willhelm, who also designs a women’s collection that will be shown in two weeks during Paris fashion week, is not as well-known in the United States as he is in Japan – his biggest market - but he does a boast quite a cult following here nonetheless. Many of them were on hand for the New York screening. Maybe they know Willhelm in name only, or maybe they’ve even worn one of his madly patterned, tribal gear for young urban warriors, gods and goddess - pieces from his collections regularly sell out at downtown emporium Seven New York.

“Men in Tights,” is a thoughtful piece and an innovative way to brand a collection. Reminiscent of sixties or seventies video art, or perhaps a dance documentary, it is not so much about fashion as it is about the body underneath the fashion, the basis of Willhelm’s provocative fall/winter 2008 men’s collection.

“We wanted to discover how important the link between the body and fashion is, so we didn’t focus so much on the fashion,” Willhelm said. “The film is about isolation, repetition and moving gesture, which is what dance is all about.”

Choreographed by Damien Jalet, the film is a sequence of meditations on the male body – a finger ballet along a floating staircase a segues into a man wearing only underwear walking down those same steps. A split screen with a silent soundtrack shows bodies in contortionist-like poses. A disco floor forms the backdrop for a bird’s eye view of striped sock-covered legs moving in rhythm, as though forming a human washing machine.

Amongst the fashion cognoscenti, Willhelm’s collections are as much performance art as they are presentations of new clothing. His forthcoming women’s collection, which will take place in Paris on Wednesday, Feb. 27, will be in the form of an installation as he’s done with previous collections, said Willhelm. Willhelm hinted that for fall/winter 2008, the will focus will be on costume and folklore, in particular costumes from England.