Hillier Prof. Zaitseva Wins Fashion Film Award

Polina Zaitseva, an adjunct professor in the Hillier College of Architecture and Design, won an international competition for fashion and beauty films this month.

Showstudio.com, operated by noted photographer Nick Knight, runs the contest known as the Film Fashion Awards. Zaitseva flew to London as a finalist and said she didn't expect to win.

"To be honest it was such a huge and very unexpected surprise because I was competing with hundreds of fashion films, coming from fashion designers and agencies. The award means accomplishment of course. It means that your work is being acknowledged and that feels wonderful," she said.

The film runs about 1 minute and 40 seconds. It depicts extreme close-ups of lipsticks being sliced with scalpels and forceps, while set to the music of composer Edvard Grieg.

Zaitseva said she found inspiration for her film, Before and After, by the lengths people go through to look attractive. "I wanted to tell a story of sadness, irony and surprise of what can happen," she said. "Red hot gets a botched job! This film is about plastic surgery basically."

"I believe that it's pure curiosity that inspires good work. I started working with macro lenses last year, shooting nature and found objects. Then I moved on to my cosmetics. I wanted to get way too close and personal with textures, substances and product design," Zaitseva continued.

"After making a few short films with products, I decided that the next step would be a dissection and destruction of makeup, the classic symbol of beauty and attractiveness."

Zaitseva said she plans to keep experimenting with films about the coexistence of beauty and ugliness.