Style Watch: Harmony Korine for Proenza Schouler “Act Da Fool”

To showcase their Fall 2010 line, Proenza Schouler teamed up with legendary cult filmmaker Harmony Korine to create Act Da Fool. With the influx of short fashion films in early 2010, designers now seem to be stepping it up a notch in the video department – and in my opinion Act Da Fool takes the cake (followed by Poppy de Villeneuve’s How You Look At It and David Lynch’s Lady Blue Shanghai).

Watch Harmony Korine’s Act Da Fool here

Q & A with Harmony Korine:

How did the collaboration with Proenza Schouler come about?

Transistor radio and Morse code. They asked me and of course I said yes.

What about Proenza Schouler’s fall collection inspired “Act Da Fool”?

The patterns and paint drips on their clothes spoke to me. I said “go fuck up the world, burn shit, blow it up, eat mud, snort glue, drink a lot of malt liquor and eat some fried chicken, watch some strippers throw down the booty and find god.”

How familiar were you with Proenza Schouler before the film?

Very familiar. I think they are great.

From what I understand, you don’t work too often “in” fashion, for lack of a better word. What about Proenza Schouler appealed to you?

I just like them and I always really like what they do.

Where was the location for the film?

The projects of Nashville. A school for the blind. A school for kleptomaniacs.

Why did this location make the most sense for “Act Da Fool”?

It just had to be that way.

What was the casting process like for the film? How did you decide on this group of characters?

I just asked around. I wanted to know who the greatest living delinquents were. These girls appeared.

How much of a “character” did you intend Proenza Schouler’s clothes to play in the film?

In the same way Groucho Marx’s moustache plays a role in his face.

Jack and Lazaro told me that they were inspired to do a short film, in part, by 90s-era music videos from the golden era of MTV. What are some of your favorite music videos?

Anything from 2 Live Crew or the Geto Boys.

Towards the middle of the film, the narrator says, “It’s us against the world” – which is both a very romantic and nihilistic thing to say. It reminds me of those old girl groups from the1960s, like The Crystals, who sang wistfully about being abused by their boyfriends and stuff like that. Do you see the film as being optimistic or more pessimistic, like when the narrator calls the earth “a big ball of shit”?

It’s actually a religious movie. It’s like my version of The Ten Commandments.