Harmony Korine’s High Fashion Short Film

The indie director makes a short for Proenza Schouler -- but will it make you want to buy their clothes?

Never one to go with the crowd (which in this case would mean making a perfume ad), Harmony Korine has created “Act Da Fool,” a short film for high-end clothing brand Proenza Schouler.

You’re have to watch it here, there’s no embed function. It’s very reminiscent of “Trash Humpers,” disconnected, low-res late afternoon imagery of abandoned cars in lots, discarded mattresses and shopping carts, and footage of a group of girls wearing Proenza Schouler outfits, spray painting graffiti, drinking 40s and hitting old tires with sticks as an echoey voiceover intones “I believe that the earth is a big ball of shit — that’s why the dinosaurs died out. And everyone gonna die sooner or later. That’s why I love cigarettes so much.”

It’s dreamily hypnotic, but does not fill me with an immediate urge to purchase a $550 pair of Proenza Schouler for J Brand hand-painted high-waisted jeans. But that’s probably not even the point. Who can understand the complexities of marketing these days? From an interview with Korine about the film on the site:

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

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