As some of Queerguru’s roots were once in the ‘London fashion scene’, we are used to writing/reading about the wealth of new, highly innovative, and creative designers who made the city the ‘young’ fashion capital of the world.  In the exciting 1980s, the Brits, individually and collectively, were the ‘new romantics’ and purveyors of punk; the talented Body Map Duo and designers like Pam Hogg, Rachel Auburn, John Crancher, and Dean Bright set the pace.  At the time, it seemed they were leading the world, but sadly their moment in the spotlight never brought financial stability, and these ambitious talents ended shutting up shop at an alarming rate.

The global fashion world may have owed them a debt for the wealth of new ideas they were quick to ‘borrow and develop’ for mainstream businesses, but none of them would acknowledge it, financially or otherwise, and seemed happy to see these potential geniuses fade away.

These thoughts resurfaced now with the release of ‘threeASFOUR: Full Circle,’ a new documentary by Sean Ono Lennnon that feels like fashion repeating itself, where high fashion clashes with business lows.  This time, however, the three designers are in business in the US: Asfour has Palestinian roots and was born in Lebanon; Gil was born in Israel; Donhauser comes from Tajikistan with German and Russian heritage. Their partnership offers a lived example of people creating across identities often treated as irreconcilable.

Fair enough, Lennon didn’t set out to profile the business, as he connected the designers with his mother, Yoko Ono, to translate her drawings into wearable pieces, but his camera simultaneously highlighted how fragile the business is, as the designers’ commitment to making extraordinary clothes kept colliding with the ordinary demands of staying in business.  Letting Ono in was either an act of bravado or sheer stupidity, as he captures much of its tension in the push-and-pull of collaboration. Like when, Asfour presses for greater experimentation while Gil and Donhauser argue for wearability, bringing a central question into focus.

How can artists make their work commercially viable while staying true to their vision?  The best part of the documentary is the moments that can make you forget everything for a second, but I was still clutching the seat armrest as tight as hell all the way through 

If only it was just a fairy tale after all ….. and money really grew on trees. But kudos to Lennon for keeping us on the edge of our seats until the final credits rolled, and then letting us go unscathed