4B - Thursday, November 15, 2012 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com BOLLY WOOD COLUMN Alternative & cinema is more than its music LSA sophomore Anna Fuller and 'U' alum Sarah Gibson coordinate the company's photo shoots. Old styles reworked into high fashio by Ella Sven Detroit-based and "Sven" from her family's last Though Sv name before arriving at Ellis spent more company sells one- Island. clothes herse Swenson attributes her more time de of-a-kind creations inspiration for the company to ning the rew Ells "old to fas In Sven, launc line in Wh in De online featui vintag dress "an El Tho nates "Ella" her days of antiquing with her ByLENA.FINKEL mother as.a child. "(My mother) For theDaily always managed to find (her) way to the vintage clothes and a Swenson wants to bring gowns," and it wasn't long before world craftsmanship" back she had amassed a collection. hion. - Shesaid she realized as anadult 2010, Swenson started Ella that the vintage clothes "were a clothing company, and totally useless and un-wearable." hed a companion fashion So she pulled out her sewing n the early spring of 2012. machine and went to work. tile the company is based "There's something so incred- troit, all clothes are sold ible about vintage - the details e. The current. collection that are there you just can't find res reworked and original today," Swenson said. ge pieces with a focus on Today, Swenson continues to es, which Swenson calls, shop at vintage and thrift stores, lla Sven signature." as well as estate sales to find e company name origi- clothes for her line. Additionally, from Swenson's family. customers will ship clothes to be being her grandmother revamped. ment. Local then contrac ing, buttons, on the garme take a range o depending o Swenson said than 15 hours garment. All of thec a-kind due to for the fashion duction. Swen unique clothi something ve that one piece The dresse $550. Despite some of the pi a college stud great custome wenson previously "I've been a college student time sewing the before, I've been a career woman If, she now spends where I've been making money signing and plan- and can pick out whatever I orking of each gar- wanted. I wanted to have some- gown-makers are thing that was affordable for ted to add bead- everyone," Swenson explained. lace and sequins She relies on a growing staff nts. Each item can to help run Ella Sven, which f time to complete, includes gown makers, photog- in its condition. raphers, models and interns. she once did more LSA sophomore Anna Fuller sof beadwork for a began interning with Ella Sven a year ago. She mainly assists with dresses are one-of- styling on photo shoots. Swenson's distaste Fuller said through working n world's mass pro- with Ella Sven she "has a whole ison said she values new appreciation for reworked ng because "that's art," adding that she enjoys ry special to have, working with Swenson. that reflects you." "You can really see her passion s range from $55 to for it and it's really driven my pas- the high prices of sion," Fuller said. "Seeing some- eces, Swenson said one who's so genuinely interested ent would still be a and dedicated to what she's doing r for her. is really inspirational." University alum Sarah Gibson acts as creative director for Ella Sven, which involves creating the ideas for the photo shoots and designing the sets. Moreover, Gibson helped ini- tiate Ella Sven's photo shoots in unpopulated areas of Detroit. "You see the abandoned building, see the beautiful mold- ing and you transform it to make it beautiful," Gibson said. Swenson added that the city serves as a great background for her garments because they fit the "tousled glamour" of the clothing line. "There's something really offbeat about the fact that we're shooting in abandoned Detroit, in buildings that are falling apart," Swenson said. "There's something disheveled and dis- torted about that." Though Swenson plans to continue shooting her line in Detroit, she doesn't plan to stay in Michigan forever. Her long- term goal is to open a store in New York and eventually sup- ply other stores with a similar vision. Hoping to build a "fashion empire," she said: "You can have good-quality merchandise that's responsibly made for the same price as clothes that aren't." She calls this idea "fashion for a cause." Her more immediate plans are to add nearly 1,000 new items online, she said. While most cur- rent garments are smaller sizes, Swenson said that the new items will range in size and style. Whether it's in her impend- ing collection or any future gar- '"' _nents, Swenson explained she will keep the clothes "at a high fashion level where it doesn't look recycled" Through her use of old-world craftsmanship, Swenson wants to redefine the fashion industry. "The fact that there could be a company that offers everything, and at the high fashion level with COURTESY OF ILASVEs old world craftsmanship, that's what I want," Swenson said. Sv ov ho romant so the t myself. legitim cinephi Bollyw: like Ho lywood a thrivi indepei film ge though tend to "artisti "altern: excelle: wood is My f terpiec adaptat speare' visiona Bhardw Othello Prades rative o itics th more t nal wor ever re comfor the latt entirely adaptat I SI Sp Bhar in his c gifted surpris Khan. I Bipash: excusi deliver worthy lents of respect lar, is a to life D and sub her lov Kha evil as] puppet of ever] utter ru returne leading upset a his rep: makes I more a gettabl film his Beyo is excel I watch filmma recent phyt ea artistic an audi actuall home l of his d The du Prades ern, bu of dark Shakes Bhar house t the filn score a placed i e made it pretty clear mally, it makes no earthly sense er the past few weeks to have Bianca singing and danc- 'w much I adore cheesy ing amidst one of lago's plans, ic Bollywood movies, but "Beedi Jalaile" was one of ime is ripe to assert the surprise hit songs of 2006 as a and remains popular today. ate Few cinematic moments can le. compare to the haunting sound sod, of "Jagja," ("Wake up") as sung 1- by Omkara to the lifeless body of , has his lover just moments after he 4 ng . has killed her. A chilling musi- ndent cal score accompanies almost all nre, PROMA action in the film, contributing we KHOSLA to the haunting feelingthat can't call it be shaken even in the lightest c" or moments. ative." These films are as I could go on for hours about nt as commercial Bolly- the gritty, artistic brilliance of terrible. "Omkara," but there are dozens avorite is the 2006 mas- of other films in this genre of e "Omkara," a modern Indian film that deserve men- ion of William Shake- tion. The reason they remain s "Othello." Under the overlooked, however, is because ry direction of Vishal many tackle complex social or vaj, "Omkara" brings political subject matter that to modern-day Uttar "mainstream" audiences do not h, India, ina thrilling nar- take kindly to at the movies. f love, deception and pol- Take, for example, Deepa at resonated with me far Mehta's 1998 masterpiece ian Shakespeare's origi- "Earth." Truthfully, I would 'k. I saw "Omkara" before hesitate to call this a "good" ading "Othello," and my film, because that implies that it t and understanding of can be viewed more than once. I er text can be almost would not watch "Earth" again ycredited to Bhardwaj's because I was so shaken by the ion. ending. But it was an incontest- ably well-made film, one I would recommend everyone watch - if Did y"onlyonce. It addresses the hor- yOU rors of India's partition in 1947, know that agruesomeconflict thattends to get overlooked in historical hakespeare context when juxtaposed with the apparent thrill of Indian )oke Hindi? independence t I noticed a similar theme in one of this summer's alterna- tive films, "Ishqzaade," about dwaj brings out the best a Hindu boy and a Muslim girl ast, from the already- who fall in love against their Ajay Devgan to the family's wishes. Apart from the ingly villainous Saif Ali obvious parallel to "Romeo and Even Kareena Kapoor and Juliet," the film focuses more on a Basu, who star almost the religious conflict between vely in worthless films, the households and the irratio- quality performances nal stubbornness of both sides in of the onscreen equiva- refusing to make amends. 'Desdemona and Bianca, At least the Montagues and ively. Kapoor, in particu- Capulets see reason over their revelation as she brings children's dead bodies; the Dolly's tender innocence Qureshis and the Chauhans , isequent anguish when actually shoot down the young er turns on her. lovers until Parma (Arjun n is a revelation of pure Kapoor) and Zoya (Parineeti Langda Tyagi (Iago), Chopra) have no choice but to eering the destruction end things on their own terms. It yone around him with leaves the audience with another ithlessness. He has since unsettling message: All over d to playing conventional India - and the world, no doubt men, butI can't even be - people are punished for some- t this lack of diversity in thing as benign as whom they ertoire. If anything, it love. Like "Earth," "Ishaqzaade" Langda stand out even left me shaken by the capacity s one of the most unfor- of human beings to perpetrate e performances in Hindi hatred based on arbitrary divi- tory. sions. nd that, the film itself At some point this discus- lently made. Each time sion of excellent cinema took a it, a new aspect of the turn for a human interest piece, king stands out. Most but my point is this: Bollywood ' y, it was the cinematogra- is more than fun-filled musi- ch shot is so carefully and cals and mindless entertain- ally composed that from ment. Indian cinema happens ence viewpoint it's like to house the films that have y being there in Omkara's impacted me most significantly, eading up to the events films with distinct social and isastrous wedding night. political motifs that need to ll, warm colors of Uttar be acknowledged. Alterna- h tint the film like asWest- tive Indian films do not have t it never loses that edge as large an audience as their ness which underlies Hollywood counterparts, but pearian tragedy. their artistic and cultural merit dwaj, the artistic power- remains invaluable. hat he is, also composed n's brooding background nd surprisingly well-. musical numbers. Nor- Khosla is livingthe alternative life. To join her, e-mail pkhosla@umich.edu. TWEET BRIGHT LIKE A DIAMOND. FOLLOW DAILY ARTS! @michdailyarts 4 4 Swenson sees students as the ideal customer for her collection.