Image: www.acmi.net.au
‘Being fresh is more important than having money,’ advises Kanye West, one of a host of famous faces imparting their pearls of wisdom about the value of fashion in the hiphop world. With Pharrell Williams, Nas and Sean Combs, West offers his thoughts among Fresh Dressed‘s opening remarks — and equally typifies and defies the approach that follows. Though the documentary delves further into the history of its subject than sound bites from celebrities, it also stays light and breezy, content-wise, in trying to touch upon as many facets as possible of a varied and complex topic.
Indeed, a lack of information isn’t a charge that can be leveled at television producer turned filmmaker Sacha Jenkins or his big-screen debut, nor a lack of a sense of importance. In charting the evolution of a style heavy on all things bright, oversized and graffiti-heavy that has both adapted over time and remained distinctively linked to its subculture, Fresh Dressed covers its basis as an offshoot of gang outfits, its genesis into popular consciousness from the 1970s onwards, and its interplay with recognisable brand names — and in a film that considers the difference between following trends and finding authentic sartorial freedom, that really is just the beginning of its topics.
Accordingly, Jenkins accumulates a string of interviewees sharing memories of phases gone by, archival footage demonstrating the clothing of the times, and animated interludes splicing the two together. His approach is as conversational as it is empowering and educational; however there’s never any doubt that breadth trumps depth. An appropriate, uplifting soundtrack also acts as a cohesive force. In fact — and far from surprisingly — music is as much as crucial as anything that adorns any person within Fresh Dressed‘s frames, both in looking back and in depicting the current state of hiphop.
That’s not to downplay the details, be it the use of denim jeans and jackets as canvases, or advice about building your outfit from your sneakers up. It’s just that when the film stops to spend time with pivotal figures, such as Harlem designer Dapper Dan — described as ‘Tom Ford before Tom Ford’ — it shows the wealth of content that could furnish full chapters or more. Exploring the explosion that occurred when the likes of Cross Colours broke into the scene in the 1990s proves similarly intriguing, as well as a candidate for further discussion, particularly in furthering concepts of consumerism, mainstream crossovers, runway domination and market saturation. Leaving audiences wanting more may not be the feature’s intention, but it becomes the end result.
Thankfully, the recurrent thematic threads weaved throughout, including the influence of aspiration and a sense of attainment, and the impact upon expression and identity, help patch over any fraying areas. They’re the stitches that keep the less embellished parts of the entertaining yet too-often simply off-the-rack compilation that is Fresh Dressed together.
Rating: 3 stars out of 5
Fresh Dressed
Director: Sacha Jenkins
US, 2015, 85 mins
Australian Centre for the Moving Image
29 August – 12 September
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