COLLABORATION

EACH OTHER X WOODFALL FILMS X ROBERT MONTGOMERY: THE NEW TRINITY

WORDS

by KRISTOPHER FRASER

PHOTOGRAPHY

COURTESY of PURPLE PR

Woodfall Films were trailblazers of British cinema. The films spoke to working-class culture, and brought the idea of the everyman to the big screen for the first time. Films such as The Loneliness of The Long Distance Runner, A Taste of Honey, Kes, and Saturday Night and Sunday Morning were all voices of outsiders, anti-heroes, rebels, and those who had been long ignored by mainstream culture.

The films are a favorite of poet Robert Montgomery, whose poem “SAFE AND WARM HERE/ IN THE FIRE EACH OTHER”, was the inspiration for the name of contemporary unisex brand Each Other by fashion designer Ilan Delouis and artistic director Jenny Mannerheim.

Despite these T-shirts taking inspiration from 60s films, Mannerheim believes they can resonate well with today’s customer.

“Fashion collaborations are an alternative to printed matter like books and magazine,” she said. "Only highly intellectual consumers are still buying into book and magazines. Culture and art today have moved into mainstream consumerism and social media. Fashion collaborations are in the beating heart of contemporary culture.”

The collection includes six genre defining images set with iconic quotes, all selected by Montgomery himself in collaboration with Steven Hess of Woodfall films, and John-Paul Pryor, the cultural director of Mortimer House. Both British cinephiles and Robert Montgomery fans will be able to appreciate this collection.

When Pryor and Hess reached out to Each Other regarding the collaboration, Mannerheim immediately suggested reaching out to Montgomery because she expected him to be excited about the project. Kes and The Loneliness coincidentally happened to be two of his favorite films, so it was a match made in heaven.

Each Other X Woodfall Films X Robert Montgomery

Although the references are from the 60s, their messages are still important to today. The edits that John-Paul, Steven, and Robert chose for the T-shirts were truly major markers in film history. Between 1959 and 1976, Woodfall’s films were nominated by 19 awards panels for 126 awards, winning 58 of them. Tom Jones, Woodfall’s 1963 global blockbuster garnered 10 Academy nominations, winning four. Closer to home, Woodfall received 49 BAFTA nominations winning 12 and 14 nominations and 4 wins at Cannes.

“The impact Woodfall Films had on British film and film marking in general cannot be overestimated,” said Mannerheim. “The company represented a watershed, transforming the subject matter, aesthetic style and production process of British cinema in ways that were to inspire future generations of practitioners and movie-goers alike.”

T-shirts were seen as the perfect medium for this collaboration because as she puts it, “What’s more fabulous than a white unisex T-shirt. It can fit and seduce anyone from man to woman, from rich to poor, from old to young. It was an obvious choice for all of us.”

“Clothes have become a media where we can express ourselves and promote our ideas or contents.”

– Jenny Mannerheim –

John-Paul Pryor, Steven Hess, and Robert Montgomery

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