Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel (2011)

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Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel: Directed by Lisa Immordino Vreeland, Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt, Frédéric Tcheng. With Diana Vreeland, Richard Avedon, David Bailey, Lauren Bacall. A look at the life and work of the influential fashion editor of Harpers Bazaar, Diana Vreeland.

“This is an art history of the twentieth century as seen through fashion, its most glittering art form. Weaving together video footage, magazine layouts, and first-hand accounts, the filmmakers trace the life of DV, one of fashionu0026#39;s all-time most imaginative thinkers.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBorn rich (u0026#39;but uglyu0026#39;, as her mother would have said) in Paris at the turn of the century, she partied her way to New York. When Carmel Snow noticed her chic outfit in a nightclub, she offered her a job at Harperu0026#39;s Bazaar. Thus began a fabulous self-created career, first at HB through the thirties forties and fifties, and then at Vogue in the sixties. There, she launched photographers like Richard Avedon and David Bailey, and put designers like Yves St Laurent on the map. She discovered an endless succession of models like Verushka and Iman, who turned notions of beauty inside out. And she originated idea of celebrities as models, studding Vogue with wonderful shots of Cher, Mick Jagger, and Jacqueline Kennedy. She also spent staggering amounts of Vogueu0026#39;s money pursuing fashionable subjects around the globe; they she fired her in 1972. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eShe was not idle for long- soon the Metropolitan Museum persuaded her to help launch the Costume Institute. There, she was able to bring her extravagant sense of fashion to a wide audience, and, not incidentally, throw some great parties.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe best thing a documentary can do is pick a fascinating subject, and clearly, DV was a LOT of fun. A Whou0026#39;s Who of actors, artists, writers, and fashion luminaries signed on to supply their recollections, both then and now. Her interviews with George Plimpton, Jack Paar, and Dick Cavett are lavishly excerpted, as well as material from her sons and grandchildren. (Her granddaughteru0026#39;s reading aloud from a vintage issue of Vogue is definitely a high point!) u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe wealth of material here is stunning- and the filmmakersu0026#39; skill in handling it is a triumph.”

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