Set within the Art Deco interiors of Eltham Palace, MANNERS is a female-led fashion film exploring femininity, autonomy and the ways women have challenged the roles prescribed to them.
Directed by Aisha Schliessler and styled by LENY founder Isabella Hoelk, the film draws from the language of 1920s and 1930s etiquette manuals. Throughout a series of cinematic vignettes, outdated rules of expected behaviour are read aloud as the women on screen subtly reinterpret, undermine and rebel against them through wit, gesture, and dress.
At the centre of the film’s inspiration is Virginia Courtauld, the progressive socialite and tastemaker who once lived at Eltham Palace and commissioned its iconic Art Deco renovation. Fearless and unconventional, Courtauld was known for her philanthropy, outspoken views, and resistance to the social expectations of her time. Her infamous snake tattoo, an extraordinary act of self-expression for a woman of her position and era, became a powerful visual symbol referenced through serpent-inspired jewellery worn on screen.
“We both came away feeling that there was a woman here whose spirit was still somehow present in the space"
Filming within Courtauld’s former home felt like an homage to her. Against the formality of a traditional English setting, MANNERS imagines its characters carving out small acts of freedom: smoking where they should not, sitting as they please, dressing for themselves.
Upon first visiting the location, Aisha and Isabella noted, “We both came away feeling that there was a woman here whose spirit was still somehow present in the space. We wanted to pay tribute to the bravery it must have taken to be outspoken, opinionated, and individual at a time when women were given so little room to be those things. As women working in creative industries ourselves, that idea felt personal to us both.”
The film arrives at a moment when traditional ideas of femininity and domesticity have found new visibility in popular culture. From the rise of the “tradwife” aesthetic to a renewed romanticisation of conventional gender roles, many of the same questions surrounding how a woman should look, behave and live remain present today, simply recast through a different lens. MANNERS looks back at the social codes of another era to consider what has changed, what has endured, and the ways women continue to negotiate the expectations placed upon them.
For LENY, MANNERS marks an exploration of storytelling beyond clothing alone. As the brand grows, we want to create space for projects that bring together fashion, film, art and ideas, particularly through female-led collaborations. Created with the support of Fujifilm, the film allowed us to realise that ambition on a larger scale while remaining independent and creatively led.
Here, the clothes do more than dress the characters: they help to create them.
