Uncanny Valley: A Film by Thomas Alexander

As part of the highly anticipated SMC Postgraduate Class of 2025 Exhibition, Uncanny Valley, a striking new film directed by Thomas Alexander, set the tone for an ambitious and conceptually rigorous showcase of postgraduate work. Commissioned specifically for the MA Costume Design for Performance students at London College of Fashion (LCF), this immersive installation unfolded across the curved staircase of the main atrium, creating a cinematic experience that blurred the lines between costume, performance, architecture, and digital image.

Projection-mapped across the building’s sweeping central staircase, Uncanny Valley drew audiences into a haunting and technically masterful world that interrogated the tension between the human and the nearly-human. Named after the psychological phenomenon in which humanoid forms - too lifelike to be ignored but too artificial to be accepted - evoke feelings of discomfort, the film engaged this eerie emotional response not just in its visual language, but in its use of cutting-edge digital techniques that placed bodies in uncanny dialogue with space and screen.

Created using LCF’s state-of-the-art photogrammetry rig, 126 high-resolution cameras captured the costumes from all angles, to create ultra high-resolution 3D scans of the performers. These were animated and manipulated using elements of AI, bringing to life digital figures that hovered between realism and artifice. The result is a fast-paced, visceral piece, elevated by Alexander’s distinctive colour grade and visual style, which has been honed through years of work at the highest levels of fashion and commercial image-making.

This boundary-pushing installation would not have been possible without the school’s exceptional facilities and a collaborative approach that brought together a wide array of talent, including the Alexander Whitley Dance Company, digital artist Maria BBrito, and the MA Costume Design for Performance Class of 2025, whose experimental and evocative costume work was at the heart of the project.

For Creative Director Bex Cassie, Uncanny Valley represents not only a collaboration between trusted creatives, (she and Alexander are long-time friends and collaborators) but also her wider vision for the school: a space where technical ambition, critical thought, and creative innovation intersect. The film served as both a centrepiece and a manifesto for the show, reflecting the themes of transformation, identity, and the digital body that ran throughout the exhibition.

Thomas Alexander, the director behind the work, brings a unique background to this kind of hybrid project. Splitting his time between London, Paris, and LA, Alexander’s visual language has been shaped by his early documentary work photographing underground music scenes and military training exercises, experiences that instilled a sense of urgency and emotional depth in his work. His later transition into studio photography saw him assisting iconic names such as Harley Weir, Tim Walker, and notably Nick Knight, under whom he worked extensively on major fashion campaigns and experimental projects for clients like Burberry, Fendi, Maison Margiela, and Yeezy, as well as publications including British Vogue and AnOther Magazine.

Bringing nearly a decade of experience across photography, film, and 3D production, Alexander fused these disciplines into a single, coherent vision for Uncanny Valley. A vision that not only encapsulated the mood of the show, but speaks to the future-facing ethos of LCF’s postgraduate programmes.