As part of the house’s SELF project, Wong Kar-Wai has drafted in Hong Kong-based image-maker Wing Shya to direct a new short film, set in Shanghai
Wong Kar-Wai, the celebrated auteur known for his masterful films that include In the Mood for Love, Chungking Express and 2046, has curated the latest chapter of Saint Laurent’s SELF project, following in the footsteps of Daido Moriyama, Vanessa Beecroft, Bret Easton Ellis and Gaspar Noé. SELF, now in its fifth iteration, aims to capture Saint Laurent through the eyes of artists selected and admired by Anthony Vaccarello, the house’s creative director. “SELF represents the self-expression and conveys many different facets of the Saint Laurent attitude,” the house says.
This latest chapter, curated by Kar-Wai and directed by Hong Kong-based filmmaker, photographer and artist Wing Shya – known for intimate portraiture taken amid saturated Hong Kong landscapes – is titled A Night in Shanghai, set in the city where Kar-Wai was born. The film, which will premiere at the Yuz Museum in Shanghai’s art district later this month, promises to be “a story about the introspective search for ourself,” according to the house. “Ju Xiaowen is walking on the wire, trying to find the balance in real life by comparing the past and the present... looking for who she is and moved by the desire to express herself.”
Of the project, which will be open to the public at the museum from November 22 to 24, Kar-Wai says: “Saint Laurent is unique, distinctive among high fashion. Anthony loves art and his designs worn gorgeously, and stays independent. Saint Laurent is always about ‘breaking the balance’ in this era, like no one else, the brand is brave in expressing itself.”
“Wong Kar-Wai envisions individual feelings; his art is like a vivid dream projected into real life, which emphasises the contrast between the fragile aspect of humanity and reality,” adds Vaccarello. “It was a very instinctive process based on mutual respect and admiration, in the movie you can find and feel the Saint Laurent fantasy taking shape as natural consequence.”
Watch the trailer below.