I was surprised that Nicholas Steele and his talented team of collaborators (headed by Saint and Philip O'toole) released this romantic fashion industry tale with a garbled soundtrack. The dialog is barely intelligible, leaving one with Saint's often hypnotic score but detracting from a solid drama.
But even in its injured state, "Design for Desire" appealed to my senses as the apotheosis of the style of Adult filmmaking pioneered by Andrew Blake and Cameron Grant, or whoever were using those pseudonyms in the '90s. The fabulous erotic visuals paired with New Age musical score washes over the viewer and has made for a small but loyal cult of fans.
Steven St. Croix, outfitted with snazzy costuming, is egotistical corporate titan Joel Lawrence's head designer, working on a key campaign. Besides Joel's unintelligible opening statement to stockholders (a victim of the soundtrack ineptness over at Ultimate Pictures/Adam & Eve) the show gets off with a bang as Steven is filming a campaign video starring Felecia and Isabella making Sapphic love in exotic outfits.
Their silver breast plates, silver lame eyebrows and makeup is startling, and the overall erotic effect on the money.
St. Croix's nemesis is a new designer brought in to usurp his place at the company and for the campagin, in the person of ultra-busty Kristal Summers, quite a sight to behold. Her introduction is in a chartreuse mod latex outfit right out of "Modesty Blaise" or perhaps a Mike Myers spoof of same, and from her the minimalist plot thickens.
Steele emphasizes the various sex scenes, also featuring strong sex from the likes of Adriana Sage (humping Dale DaBone in an elevator) and especially a staircase threesome of Zora Banks, Kristal and Mark Davis.
Upshot of the story is a surreal twist in which St. Croix discovers that the nightmares he's been having revolve around the strange possibility that Kristal doesn't exist, and is actually merely his alter ego, made clear (or cryptic) in a scene where a mysterious woman in a mask sitting on a chair in his dreams turns out to be himself. (The movie is based on O'toole's short story "The Woman Inside", making the self-discovery theme clear.)
Not to worry, St. Croix gets to hump Kristal (himself??) before this revelation, and his money shot is slow motion spunk thrown onto her breasts from off screen -cheating the viewer but perhaps fitting the mysterious nature of O'toole's screenplay.
But even in its injured state, "Design for Desire" appealed to my senses as the apotheosis of the style of Adult filmmaking pioneered by Andrew Blake and Cameron Grant, or whoever were using those pseudonyms in the '90s. The fabulous erotic visuals paired with New Age musical score washes over the viewer and has made for a small but loyal cult of fans.
Steven St. Croix, outfitted with snazzy costuming, is egotistical corporate titan Joel Lawrence's head designer, working on a key campaign. Besides Joel's unintelligible opening statement to stockholders (a victim of the soundtrack ineptness over at Ultimate Pictures/Adam & Eve) the show gets off with a bang as Steven is filming a campaign video starring Felecia and Isabella making Sapphic love in exotic outfits.
Their silver breast plates, silver lame eyebrows and makeup is startling, and the overall erotic effect on the money.
St. Croix's nemesis is a new designer brought in to usurp his place at the company and for the campagin, in the person of ultra-busty Kristal Summers, quite a sight to behold. Her introduction is in a chartreuse mod latex outfit right out of "Modesty Blaise" or perhaps a Mike Myers spoof of same, and from her the minimalist plot thickens.
Steele emphasizes the various sex scenes, also featuring strong sex from the likes of Adriana Sage (humping Dale DaBone in an elevator) and especially a staircase threesome of Zora Banks, Kristal and Mark Davis.
Upshot of the story is a surreal twist in which St. Croix discovers that the nightmares he's been having revolve around the strange possibility that Kristal doesn't exist, and is actually merely his alter ego, made clear (or cryptic) in a scene where a mysterious woman in a mask sitting on a chair in his dreams turns out to be himself. (The movie is based on O'toole's short story "The Woman Inside", making the self-discovery theme clear.)
Not to worry, St. Croix gets to hump Kristal (himself??) before this revelation, and his money shot is slow motion spunk thrown onto her breasts from off screen -cheating the viewer but perhaps fitting the mysterious nature of O'toole's screenplay.