As the Woolmark celebrates its golden anniversary, The Woolmark Company has teamed up with British animator Cyriak and Australian musician Ben Ely, of multi-genre band 'Regurgitator', to produce a snapshot of the past five decades of wool and fashion, in a film titled 50 years of fashion and music woven together.
Known for his surreal short web animations, Cyriak has taken footage from The Woolmark Company’s archives to showcase a kaleidoscopic mash-up of fashion from the 1960s through to today, and highlight the role wool has had within the global fashion industry.
50 years of fashion and music woven together from The Woolmark Company.
“Condensing a journey through 50 years of fashion into one minute was always going to be a surreal experience, and in a way the models at fashion shows seem like living photographs to me, so it made sense to create a dream-like living photo-montage out of them,” explains Cyriak.
“The idea was to divide the film into sections representing decades from 1960 to the present, each decade having a different look that somehow mirrored the period, while also being modern. I wanted it to be a kaleidoscope of fashion imagery that was visually intense but still retained recognisable moments from well-known designs and models from the past.
“I'm happy for it to be a minute of hypnotic visual excess, but hopefully it will also strike a subliminal chord with people who are familiar with the 50-year history of the Woolmark brand. It was a very interesting project, one of those happy times when the final video was more or less exactly how I imagined it.”Presented to the tune of Ben Ely’s composition, the musician from Australian indie rock band Regurgitator has mixed musical genres to complement each decade of visuals.
“I think it will surprise anyone who watches this as it is very much grounded in reality with the images and music, though it bends and breaks a lot of barriers with its genre-hopping and psychedelic imagery,” Ely says. “It’s the perfect entertainment for our short attention-span modern world.
“I just followed my instincts in regard to styles of each era. I usually start with a drum track and build it from there. I discovered as long as the tempo and the key signature were the same, then the different parts seemed to fit together fine. It was a bit of a roller coaster ride but I like it like that.”
Since it was first created in 1964, the Woolmark symbol has acted as a guaranteed mark of quality. With more than 5 billion products displaying the iconic logo, the Woolmark symbol has become the best-known textile brand in the world. The symbol’s strength is in its simplicity: five black bands criss-crossing to form a skein of wool. So powerful is the meaning behind the mark that it has not been altered since its creation.
“Name of Film emphasises some of the most important and leading global designers and how they have used wool to determine trends and influence their generation during the past 50 years, as well as draw attention to the natural excellence of Australian Merino wool,” says The Woolmark Company’s Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer Rob Langtry.“For 50 years, the Woolmark brand has strived to showcase the extraordinary versatility and innate luxury of Merino wool, creating a fleece that to this day is coveted across the globe. It is a symbol of trust, a bond between Australian woolgrowers and discerning customers, one that resonates with generations young and old, and one that we are very proud to celebrate in 2014.”
FASCINATING LOGO DESIGNER MYSTERY SIDENOTE: The actual Woolmark logo is credited as being designed by Italian graphic artist Francesco Saroglia, when it first launched in 1964 in Britain, the US, Japan, Germany, Holland and Belgium. The design was the result of an international competition to come up with the logo - an op art piece inspired by a ball of wool. This article link blow posits the notion it was actually designed by Franco Grignani who also did this incredible series of science-fiction book covers for Penguin.Whatever the case the mystery can only add to its weight of the logo itself being is one of the best there is.
