Flake's Alexander McQueen fake

Interesting new tv spot by iconic British chocolate bar maker Cadbury Flake, which airs tonight in the UK. Produced by an outfit called Fallon, according to Creative Review the clip was directed by Baillie Walsh and features Russian model Yulia Lobova, who is suspended mid-air dressed in a flowing yellow dress that was fashioned from 200 metres of fabric. The dress was designed by British couturier Antony Price, who just told vogue.co.uk that "The idea came from looking at the edges of the Flake bar and the look of a Portuguese man of war jelly fish... It took a while playing around with the frills of the dress to make it look like Flake bar edges. I do think this form of pleating is very directional - it may well creep into my next collection." Frockwriter can't help thinking that there may have been another source of inspiration for the concept - one a little closer to home for Flake and Price than Portugal.

Below is a video of the finale of the Widows of Culloden Fall/Winter 2006/2007 show of the late, great British designer Alexander McQueen, who took his own life in February.

Staged in Paris in March 2006, the show concluded with a spectacular, ghostly illusion of Kate Moss that was projected inside a giant glass pyramid in the centre of the stage. Wearing a diaphanous ballgown - that is not too dissimilar to the Price/Flake version - Moss appeared to float in the air inside the structure.

Although dubbed a life-sized "hologram" by many, McQueen's longtime show producer Simon Kenny later told me that it was in fact a Victorian era parlour trick called Pepper’s Ghost.

UPDATE 09/06/10 at 3.25pm: Creative Review updated its story overnight to point out that the Flake ad director Baillie Walsh in fact also directed the clip of Kate Moss for McQueen's show in 2006. "I'm not sure how Walsh can be 'stealing' his own work" notes CR editor Patrick Burgoyne, responding to comments that the Flake clip is a ripoff of McQueen's 2006 catwalk stunt (comments that were posted after frockwriter's post FYI). On closer inspection, however, the McQueen illusion was created with the assistance of several production houses, including not only Simon Kenny's Souvenir Scenic Studios, but also Glassworks and Gainsbury and Whiting. But who actually came up with the idea?

UPDATE 14/06: Evidently McQueen's company believes he did. The company is now considering legal action against Cadbury.