Dream's World

A luxury Italian fashion label and a lawn bowls club in Margate seem like two elements destined never to meet – except in one of the extraordinary worlds created by director Tom Dream. 

Blurring the line between fantasy and reality, documentary and fiction, Dream’s work is rich in unexpected encounters: mixing real-world cast with models and talent from the worlds of music and social media into the fashion sector. Add to that an aesthetic that’s nostalgically stylish rather than faddishly fashionable, whimsical but not too weird, and it’s easy to see why brands like Gucci, The North Face, adidas Originals and Mango are queuing up to collaborate with the director, who is signed with RSA/Black Dog Films.   

Above: Summit Ascent Service, directed by Tom Dream.

Fashion film wasn’t a niche that Dream set out to specialise in. Music is his passion – he’s created soundtracks for most of his films and plays in a local band, Pigeon, in his spare time – but “[fashion film] is the place where all the things that I’m interested in converge. Anything I love in music has a strong style element. I've always loved the worlds that artists create as much as the music, down to the art direction, styling and set design.” 

His 2021 film for Gucci x The North Face, Summit Ascent Service presented by High Snobiety, is a perfect example. Launching Gucci’s capsule collection with the outdoor clothing brand, the feel-good narrative follows a group of friends setting off from a quirky mountain-top station by steam train – which just so happens to be manned by one of TikTok’s biggest stars, trainspotter Francis Bourgeois. 

The original plan was to shoot in Switzerland, but Covid travel restrictions meant moving production to Oakworth station in Bradford instead. “It was a stressful week, because Gucci were hard-set on it having an Alpine feel, and I thought there was no way we were going to achieve it there,” says Dream. But through a combination of painstaking set design – handmade tickets, vintage French signs and shots of hand-painted, snow-capped peaks through the window – and wardrobe (puffer jackets and bobble hats), the team successfully evoked a whimsical, Wes Anderson-esque Alpine world.

Above: Behind the scenes shots from Myramid, Knotted Gold, and DIY Kultur!

Doing star jumps in the station-master’s office and pushing the refreshments trolley in a peaked cap, Bourgeois’ turn as the train conductor is as quirky and delightful as the setting. 

Was it challenging to direct a social media treasure, more used to filming himself for an audience of 2.7 million? “Francis was all anyone was talking about at the time, so the fact that we'd got him to do the shoot felt really surreal,” says Dream. “But that’s something I love – bringing talent from other areas into a completely new world – so I knew how I could work with him on the day to get an interesting performance. He’s a really creative guy, and had lots of his own ideas, so we created an environment where he could express himself – and it felt like a real collaboration.” 

Although, he laughs, “the first thing Francis said was how disappointed he was that I’d chosen a steam train over a diesel train.”

...if you’re going to make documentaries, you can still make them creative and fun: it doesn't have to be serious journalism, it can still feel like a creative medium.

This was Dream’s second gig for Gucci, following on from his breakout film Knotted Gold, a visual poem set in Margate and co-directed with singer-songwriter Arlo Parks as part of Dazed’s Absolute Beginners initiative. 

Featuring local characters decked from head to toe in Gucci threads, alongside beloved Isle of Thanet landmarks like the kitschy, 1950s ice cream parlour Morelli’s and the crumbling, grandiose Walpole Bay Hotel, and accompanied by a synthesised soundscape inspired by tinkling ice cream vans and music boxes. It’s a love letter to the faded delights of British coastal towns – gently blurring the boundary between fact and fiction. 

Above: Tom Dream's visual poem Knotted Gold, features Arlo Parks and local Margate stars, such as musician Falle Nioke (above). 

It's a style very much inspired by his mentor, music video maestro and filmmaker Julien Temple, known for his sprawling, half-fictionalised rock ’n’ roll documentaries. Dream’s uncle, a DP, got him his first job as a camera assistant on London: The Modern Babylon in 2012, and Dream went on to work with Temple for several years. 

“[Temple] showed me that if you’re going to make documentaries, you can still make them creative and fun: it doesn't have to be serious journalism, it can still feel like a creative medium,” he says. “Looking back, I can see how much of an influence he’s had on the way I like to work. He worked in a real DIY style, with free rein from the BBC – they’d just give him a budget and say off you go. We all mucked in and did a bit of everything – there’s a real creative energy that comes from just four or five of you being in a van, travelling around.” 

I just wanted to shoot as much as possible; there was a real sense of freedom in Margate. People were supportive.

Moving out of the capital – where he’d been working as a runner at Pulse Films – to Margate was a chance to nurture that aesthetic in an environment that felt more creatively open. 

Part of the original wave of DFLs (Down From London-ers) who fell for Margate’s faded seaside charm, cheap rents and burgeoning creative scene, Dream started filming promos for local bands like Art School Girlfriend and Thandi. “I just wanted to shoot as much as possible; there was a real sense of freedom in Margate. People were supportive.” 

At the same time, he was renovating a 1970s location house with his now-wife, TV presenter and interiors influencer Whinnie Williams. One of the first artists to hire it for a music video was Arlo Parks, and the rest is history.   

As his star has risen and jobs have got bigger, the challenge, says Dream, “is trying to hold onto these ideas, to put them into a treatment and sell them into a client – making sure that the things that made you all excited in the early stages are still there when you get on set.” 

Above: Hornbach - DIY Kultur!, directed by Tom Dream. 

Last year, he shot a commercial for a major European fashion platform which was “the most soulless experience I’ve ever had. I just felt like a cog in the machine. There are so many layers of people, which means extra layers of approval for every tiny decision, to the extent that any sort of spontaneity or creativity is rinsed out before you even start the job.”

The pursuit of creative freedom is why Dream has been building a small collective and studio of his own, joining forces with like-minded collaborators who’ve been with him since the beginning.

For Dream, who was used to a more hands-off approach from clients (“[Gucci] basically gave us as much product as we wanted and said do what you want”), it felt like a step backwards – especially when fashion film as a genre seems to be moving in a liberating new direction, with projects like Summit Ascent Service exploring the intersection between editorial, commercial and fashion. “You’ve got artists, musicians or fashion designers building a small collective or community of other people that align with their vision, and they’ve got their own creative momentum. Brands are beginning to recognise that, and want to support, rather than try and engineer it – because they get more out that way.” 

Above: MYRAMID, directed by Tom Dream. 

The pursuit of creative freedom is why Dream – who is currently signed to RSA and Black Dog Films - has been building a small collective and studio of his own, joining forces with like-minded collaborators who’ve been with him since the beginning, including movement director Ted Rogers and composer Steve Pringle. 

Their latest project Myramid, for Turkish fashion brand Raisa Vanessa, was created for New York Fashion Week and portrays a giant game of chess played by models. “The clothes were really glamorous but sort of artificial, and I thought it could be fun to reflect that in the art direction and set design, with large surrealist props,” says Dream. “We’re using every opportunity to figure out how to make [the collective] work with different styles.”  

This year is certainly shaping up to be a busy one for Dream and his team. There’s a new fashion film for adidas Originals, featuring “some legendary childhood football heroes” alongside models and fans; as well as a short for high-street giant Mango, shot on board a cruise ship during a five-day trip around the Greek islands. Two more examples of the mixed-up, boundary-blurring worlds that Dream so loves to create – which is starting to look like the new face of fashion film.