This morning Shine Collective broke the news that they will shutter their retail operation in order to focus on doing films under the moniker Shine Films; a joint venture with Shine Collective and Drury Bynum films. 

This news came as a shock seeing as shine is a leader Baltimore's fashion scene. Style Magazine recently heralded the owners of Shine, Jamie Campbell And Melissa KIrby as, "The first ladies of Baltimore's boutique scene..."

Shine has the knack to understanding what's new and now. Every first Friday Shine opens it doors to it's customers and hosts its First Friday Socials, where they invite local Artists to come in and display their creations amongst Shine's wares.

As well as throwing awesome events, Shine began to create awe-inspiring videos with Drury Bynum films to showcase their selection of fashion finds. Shine paved the way for forward thought in the Baltimore boutique market and will continue to inspire with their new venture. 

Shine Collective has always been about curating fresh talent for retail. Shine Films will draw from a new pool of talent consisting of writers, directors, photographers, editors, models and producers for high quality, short format video and blogging. Their venture is a natural evolution of the next phase in fashion, film and online media.

I had the pleasure of interviewing the ladies to get their perspective on fashion’s latest craze; the fashion video.

Devin Morris: Why do you think that fashion films have become so popular as of recent?

Shine Collective: The medium of video has improved vastly over the last few years- not only with accessible high quality cameras, but in terms of viewing video online. With faster Internet speeds, viewing video has become easier and the quality better. The marriage of fashion and video is a natural one. People want to see [fashion] in motion. They want to see all angles, how it lays on the body and move- not just in still life.

DM: Are fashion films a good way to advertise?

SC: Of course! What better way to tell your story than through motion picture? The amazing thing about technology now is that we don't have to spend millions of dollars on film, crew and production. We are a tight staff- a filmmaker/director, editor, creative director, production organizer and a few assistants. That's all it takes to make one of our films.

DM: Do you feel that the onslaught of print publications now utilizing the web more regularly to reach a larger number of readers plays a part in the usage of the films?

SC: Definitely. It's the next wave of online media and bloggers. The iPad is a perfect example of this convergence taken to the next level. Magazines are now able to incorporate film and animation into their content and create an entirely new medium.

DM: In the coyly titled "Travel Noir" you transformed the Baltimore landscape into a Parisian sunrise equipped with modern day Coco Chanel on hand. How did the idea to transform Baltimore into Paris come about?

SC: The beautiful Beaux Arts style of Penn Station just lent itself to that. Sometimes Baltimore looks like Paris, sometimes Beirut, and sometimes, just Baltimore. That's what's great about filming here- this city is a little chameleon and you can really move about with a camera without too much bother. It was one of those magic moments where everything came together naturally.

DM: How will Shine Collective utilize fashion videos in the future?

SC: We plan to ramp up our production for not only Shine, but for other clients in the fashion industry. So far, we've been producing on a shoestring, so our intent is to find others to invest in our talents and build our roster. Ultimately, we want Shine Films to be synonymous with Haute Cinema.