Fashion on Film

When I mentioned in a previous post that the Sundance Channel was going to be airing the Loïc Prigent documentary Marc Jacobs & Louis Vuitton, I had no idea they had a whole week of fashion films and documentaries lined up to coincide with Fashion Week. How exciting!

The week will kick off on Monday February 4th with Signé Chanel, the five-part documentary miniseries, also directed by Loïc Prigent, that reveals the making of Chanel's Fall/Winter 2004-2005 collection. Karl Lagerfeld may sketch the designs but it is the seamtresses who actually create the vision painstakingly by hand. I loved this documentary and found myself sitting on the edge of my seat wondering if they could pull it all together before the fashion show! You'll also come away with an appreciation of the craftsmanship that goes into Chanel and why it deserves to be so expensive!

At 8:00pm on Monday, February 4th, filmmaker Loïc Prigent focus on Marc Jacobs, called the most influential designer of his generation, in Marc Jacobs & Louis Vuitton. This witty portrait follows Jacobs as he balances roles as artistic director of venerable French house Louis Vuitton and his own eponymous American line, in meetings, preparing collections and at high-profile shows. Keep your eyes open for his many celebrity friends!

On Tuesday, February 5th, filmmaker Douglas Keeve of Unzipped fame, follows the finalists of the Vogue/CFDA Fashion Fund competition in the fall of 2004 in the documentary Seamless. I love any movie where you get to see and hear Anna Wintour in action, as well find out how young designers manage to stay afloat in the fashion world.

On Wednesday, February 6th you can watch the cheekily titled film, Karl Lagerfeld is Never Happy Anyway, and learn more about the man who defined high fashion at Chanel, Chloé and Fendi during the 1980s and 1990s, continues to be a major influence on international taste and style. Known for his bold and witty creations, Lagerfeld mixes the chic and the sensual to produce clothing with “intellectual sexiness.” German documentary filmmaker Gero von Boehm’s career profile and lively interviews present a creative snapshot, capturing of one of the last kings of the fashion world working tirelessly at what he loves.

On Thursday, February 7th, airs the critically acclaimed documentary, Yves St. Laurent: 5 Avenue Marceau 75116 Paris. "In this companion piece to his biographical profile Yves St. Laurent: Time Regained, filmmaker David Teboul peers behind the doors of one of the world's leading fashion houses. As he prepared his last women's collection in 2001, St. Laurent allowed cameras to observe the evolution of his vision for the first time. During roughly eight weeks, St. Laurent's simple black-and-white drawings are transformed through many iterations into glorious, colorful reality. A rare and revealingly intimate glimpse of the creative process in action." I saw this film years ago and was amazed at how much work goes into creating one dress. You will be amazed!

And the pièce de résistance, and the film I am most excited to see airs on Friday, February 8th. It is Unfolding Florence: The Many Lives of Florence Broadhurst by Australian filmmaker Gillian Armstrong who "delves into the fascinating enigma of flamboyant designer Florence Broadhurst, renowned for her colorful and inventive wallpaper patterns, who was found murdered in 1977. What Armstrong reveals in this innovative and spirited life examination is the story of a mysterious woman of many faces who was endlessly reinventing herself."

So I suggest you break out the popcorn and settle in for a fashionably fabulous week of films or set your TiVo to capture it all while you attend fashion week! Either way, you can't go wrong!