Trembled Blossoms

USA, 2008. Director James Lima. 4min 47sec.

We end with another fashion film, this time one commissioned by Prada at a time when major fashion brands were still largely bypassing online moving image as a viable marketing or creative vehicle. Trembled Blossoms is based on the ink drawings of illustrator James Jean, whom Prada initially approached in 2007 to make murals and illustrations for their Spring/Summer 2008 collection. In what was an expansion of this collaboration, director James Lima brought Jean’s floral motifs to life in a series of delicate, ‘slightly scandalous’ fantastical vignettes which play out to the soundtrack of Cocorosie. The film’s landscapes, nymphs, and blossoms dissolve and reform, their parts and surfaces echoing the patterns of Prada’s fabrics and wallpapers. Here, the natural beauty of flowers is inseparable from fashion as man-made body covering: flower petals become textiles, and textiles become petals.

Past screenings

Grounded: Fashion’s Entanglements with Nature – London
Saturday 31 May 2025, 15:00 | Rio Cinema