A few weeks back, I was in a Twitter conversation with Wendy Brandes (@WendyBrandes) about how she had missed seeing Polly Mellon at the 92 Street Y as part of their lecture series on Fashion. During the course of the very short conversation, one of my favorite documentaries of all time came up: Unzipped
It was the 90s. It was fashion. It was everything.
I had always been a devotee of fashion and the fashion industry. How many young men get up at the crack of dawn on Saturdays to watch Style with Elsa Klench before heading off to tennis practice? Or Fashion TV with Jeane Becker? Or Tim Blanks’ tour de force Fashion File? And I would be remiss in not mentioning House of Style, BTW the show is coming back and TODD FREAKING OLDHAM IS DOING CAMEOS, which has left a long lasting impression on this man. So needless to say when I hear about a new documentary about the creation of Isaac Mizrahi’s 1994 Fall collection, I’m in. More than in actually. Since I don’t drive at this point, I actually figure out how to get to the one movie theater in the city that was showing this movie via the city bus, that’s how determined I am to see this.
On to the movie itself. It basically shows concept to runway of Mizrahi’s Fall ’94 collection. Shot entirely in black and white, the director (then Mizrahi’s boyfriend) shows us fashion. From where the inspiration hits (watching of all things The Call of the Wild) to meetings with pattern makers, to fittings with the models (we’ll get to them shortly), and then ending with the rave reviews of the collection, nicely book-ending the film which opens with what had to have been a set up shot of him reading the previous season’s horrific reviews of his collection. In between the actual work of designing is where the life of the movie is. Mizrahi goes between absurdly melodramatic to deadly serious to high camp throughout the film, which makes me love him all the more.
As someone who works in a semi-creative field, I can tell you, inspiration comes at the oddest moments and from the oddest things for me. The genus for one project in particular came from of all things a shoe, or can someone walk across what I was working on a in a heel. So when I say that Mizrahi’s creative and design process fascinates me, that is an understatement.
Through the film, there are amazing cameos from all sorts of people. Eartha Kitt, Sandra Bernhard, Mark Morris the dancer, Roseanne Barr, and Faye Dunaway are just a smattering of the celebrity friends that appear in the show. Then we get to the FASHION people. It is a who’s who of fashion for the early 90s. Anna Wintour had yet to take the scene in a huge way in the states, but people familiar with fashion will definitely recognize these names. Polly Mellon makes an appearance and steals every scene she is in with her breathy Jackie O voice full of quiet explantion points. Candy Pratt also shows up to give advice to Isaac during his early showings of what the collection will be and be regaled of what the Ouija Board had to say about the collection. And then there’s the Paris round table/tarot card reading/ kiki with Andre Leon Talley, John Galliano, and, I believe, Zang Toi. All the boys are chain smoking and talking about fashion things. To this day I will squeal when that scene comes on. Plus Kevin Aucoin! That man was a genius who is still missed.
Then there are the models. The triumvirate is there of course: Naomi, Christy, Linda. There’s also Veronica Webb, Yasmin Ghauri (of early Victoria Secret catalogues back when they sold actual clothing items), a very young Kate Moss, she with the mole Cindy Crawford, Karen Mulder, French Canadian tatted up Eve Salvail, Amber Valetta, and Shalom Harlow (Don’t say Eskimo, say Inuit.). And how can I forget former First Lady of France, Carla Bruni Sarkozy, is in this as well. It’s a parade of beauty that walks like horses and whines like an engine that needs oil. I’m looking at you, Evangelista.
The runway show speaks for itself:
Whenever I am having a bad day, I queue this up on Netflix and watch it. It never fails to amuse or get my mood back up. Go watch it and enjoy.
Image: Wikimedia Foundation
