Dior et moi

Like most people, my exposure to haute couture comes mostly from Vogue magazine and the "what are you wearing" interviews done on the red carpet. I expected this documentary to be a red carpet parade of elegant Dior couture, but instead saw a film that spends the majority of its time in the atelier (workroom) of the House of Dior to chronicle the less elegant process of creating a couture collection. The creative process takes us from Raf Simon's vision as the new artistic director for the House of Dior, to a complete couture collection, and it is a thrill ride. There is a necessary tension in Simon's need to be true to his own vision whilst being true to Dior and the film does a wonderful job of finding those synergies between Simon and Dior, both in their collections and as people. Layer that with a wonderful study in creative collaboration as the craftspeople who work at the atelier (some for 20 or 30+ years) meet and learn how to support Raf and his first ever couture collection. I have a new appreciation for the art of haute couture after seeing this film. If I only had the budget!

Dior and I is one of the best fashion documentaries, up there with "Iris" or "The September Issue." It covers the months leading up to the new designer's first collection. It really builds up the stakes of Raf Simons and his staff coming into Dior on relatively short time period until his debut fashion show, and gives you lots of insight into what couture really is, and the characters of the tailors working on constructing the designs really shine through. And of course there are lots of beautiful clothes and flowers, and shots of Paris. Worth watching if you're at all interested in fashion, but also a well made documentary for fans of the genre. Features some good content on the history of the company as well. A fascinating glimpse behind the scenes of one of the best known fashion houses.

This is a very entertaining film in its own right, but that which I enjoyed about it most, as a common working guy, with no artistic pretensions worth speaking of, is the way in which the various key characters featured have all managed to convince themselves that what they do is essential to some great endeavour! Well, mes amis, you are only fancy-dan dressmakers, and if you gave up and went on to a different job, you would soon be replaced! The school jumpers my Ma used to knit for me were as valuable as what you do- pity no-one ever had a 350,000 euro account with her! But, as I said, a very entertaining film, and these are not the only people who think highly of themselves - film critics fall into the same trap (not that I am one). General Yen

"Dior and I" (2014 release from France; 90 min.) brings a close-up look at the fashion house of Christian Dior as it exists today. As the documentary opens (in 2012), the CEO of Christian Dior introduces a new creative director to the staff, a Belgian guy named Raf Simons. Raf is new to the "haute couture" as his background really is in "pret-a-porter" (ready to wear) and mostly for men on top of that. So this is a daring choice, and not one without risks. On top of that, Raf only has 8 weeks to come up with a new collection. And as if that isn't enough, Raf's use of French is okay but not fluent (he hails from Dutch-speaking Antwerp, Belgium, home of many other notable fashion designers). How will Raf do? Will his first collection be a success? To tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: first, this is the latest documentary from writer-director Frédéric Tcheng, who most recently brought us the delightful "Diane Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel". Second, the challenges that Raf Simons is facing are significant from the get-go. Not only because of the ridiculous time constraints (normally a new collection gets started on 4 to 6 months out, not 8 weeks), but also because of Simons' personality, which isn't the easiest, and his transition to designing haute couture for women, rather than pret-a-porter for men. Along the way, we get to know many other characters, including Pieter Mulier, another Dutch-speaking Belgian who came with Raf and is his trusted right-hand man, and of course the French atelier workers. The tension builds up as we get closer to the deadline for presenting the new collection. Watching how Raf deals with the pressure on the day of the collection's premiere, that alone is worth seeing this documentary for.

I recently saw this at the Landmark E Street Cinema in Washington DC. The matinée screening where I saw this at was very well attended, somewhat to my surprise to be honest. But I guess it just shows there really is an audience for a top-notch documentary on fashion. If this is your kind of thing, I'd readily suggest you check this out, be it in the theater or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray.

This film is in some ways hilarious because the subject of the film, Raf Simons, has no idea that the film exposes him as a complete loser. He grew up in Belgium but does not speak French fluently. He is the newly appointed artistic director of Dior but does not know how to draw. So why is he the creative director of a prestigious fashion house? Apparently because he steals all of his ideas from artists (even Jeff Koons, the con artist par excellence!) and calls everything produced under his direction "sublime". What a fraud. What a loser. I should probably stop watching films about alleged creative geniuses. What a sham. What a scam.

Several famous people appear accidentally, as it were, including Anna Wintour, Sharon Stone, Isabelle Huppert, Donatella Versace, Dianne von Furstenberg, and Harvey Weinstein. The producers are probably now wishing that the latter had been absent on the day of the show...