It’s Fashion Week around here and I’m feeling in the spirit (despite the fact that I’m running a fever and it’s also memorize your twenty amino acids week [hoped I would make it through this BS/my BS without having to do that, but Biochemistry said “Oh no, huehehehe])
Anyway…
There are trends, which I could talk about. But maybe later. Because if I get started ranting about dancewear as a trend (DANCE ISN’T A TREND, IT’S A WAY OF LIFE) it will never end. (And can someone please tell me what the point is of dancewear being a trend if people still try very hard not to make eye contact with me if I walk to a ballroom performance in a rhinestoned-meshy-purply Latin dress, a full face of stage makeup, and Converse? I need a little leeway here!)
Addendum to my advice regarding not getting harassed on the street: It’s amazing what wearing an obnoxious and scandalous costume and a whole lot of makeup can do for a person. Or you can always take this route.
I told you I would get sidetracked.
On to the main event: My favorite (and therefore objectively the best) fashion documentaries!
(So maybe I lied when I said I would stop posting about clothes for a while.)
(Also really abusing the parentheses this post)
In no particular order:
- Vogue: The September Issue
Anna Wintour, Grace Coddington, and Hamish Bowles are great characters, and this is essentially a film starring Grace’s hair, Hamish’s accent, and Anna’s… well, everything. It’s very interesting to see how a Vogue issue (particularly the gargantuan September issue) gets put together. Lots of guest appearances by fashion people and lots of guest appearances by fashion people’s crotchets and issues (celebrities, they’re just like us!)
An aside: Grace Coddington draws pictures of cats and she just released a perfume in a cat-inspired bottle. And the fragrance is passable!
- Valentino: The Last Emperor
Do it for the pugs. Do it for Martha Stewart. And you know, Valentino too. He’s a funny little piece of peach pie, I like him. And his pugs. Again with the amusing dropping of the famous names and faces. And the unveiling of their little persnickets. Martha Stewart goes off investigating the kitchens when she’s invited to Valentino’s house party- LOVE. Less about the brand, this is more of an investigation of Valentino as a person.
Quote: “Apres moi, le deluge” (Yep, I still refuse to use proper French accents)
- Bill Cunningham New York
Bill Cunningham died on June 25th this year. This movie captures a sense of his abundantly cheerful good nature and sense of joy at capturing the looks and combinations he saw on the street. He lived very simply, with his eternal blue smock and smile. Did he live and breathe fashion? Maybe. But I think it would be more accurate to say that he lived and breathed the spirit of New York City.
A bit maudlin? Maybe so, but watch the movie and you too will want to ooze love all over Bill.
- Dior et Moi/ Dior and I
Back in 2012 Raf Simons was announced as the new artistic director of an already well established fashion house- Maison Dior (he has since resigned). Dior et Moi tells the story of the mad dash to his first haute couture show. While ostensibly a film about the struggles Raf Simons overcomes to unite his generally minimalist aesthetic with the ornate and ‘designed’ look of haute couture and Dior’s haute couture history, the film is much more about the timeless foundations of Dior’s look and brand: the part that stays concrete and unperturbed beneath the fluid exchange of artistic directors (Sorry, Raf). This would be the house’s atelier of seamstresses, many of whom have been working there for decades. Their pride in their craft and sense of community is beautiful to watch, but the most perfect moments come when they let it slip that they think Raf needs to step off, because he’s a babe in the woods and it’s time to let the real pros handle things.
Meh: Vidal Sassoon, L’Amour Fou, Diana Vreeland: The Eye Must Travel, Lagerfeld Confidential, Vogue: The Editor’s Eye
Remaining to see: Iris, Advanced Style, Just for Kicks, McQueen and I, The True Cost.
In BOLD are movies I have since watched. In RED are ones that are joining the favorites list.
As always, perfume was a big part of this past weekend’s NY trip. Mom and I are both big fragrance hobbyists/I’m trying to turn it into a career. And the shops in NYC are so excellent- so here’s the lowdown on what we got up to (and the samples I carried off!) 
List Mimsy 
