Divine Proportions

 Paris Filmmaker Benjamin Seroussi Reinvents the Golden Ratio

 A Vitruvian woman comes to life in Benjamin Seroussi's new fashion short, Divine Proportions, inspired by the disparate environments of a doctor’s office and a model casting session. “I wanted to have a scientific approach to the character,” says the director. “When you have an X-ray, the doctor manipulates all kinds of equipment to take a picture, and when a model goes to a casting, she has to show her profile, hands and teeth.” The idea evolved into an exploration of the body with regards to the Golden Ratio, updating a Renaissance mingling of art and science for a 21st century aesthetic in this piece, which premiered this weekend at Diane Pernet’s A Shaded View on Fashion Film Festival. Seroussi, who studied film at UCLA and has worked with brands including Bulgari, Pierre Hardy and Louis Vuitton, found and even made the various instruments and contraptions that helped to convey his vision of human geometry. Australian "New Face" Lorelle Crawford strikes poses in outfits by designers Maxime Simoens and Alexandre Vauthier behind measuring mirrors built by the French filmmaker, before being enveloped by a halo of light borrowed from Le Deun Luminaires and finally, spinning in a NASA-built orientation device. “I’m always looking for equipment that puts the body in different situations,” he says. “I wanted a girl who wasn’t afraid of going into a gyroscope."