Sep 22, 2008

How I love to be Unzipped.


There are some documentaries that you watch a gazillion years ago and you still ache to see them again. I have many favorites - some I even own, but this one, for some strange reason, I don't have. Yet. It is Unzipped. The story about Isaac Mizrahi preparing his 1994 collection. Let me rephrase that. Preparing his incredible, outstanding, fucking amazing collection.

Wait, wait. You can think this is a chick documentary... I can gladly say au contraire my friend. For any of you out there who acknowledges the fact that fashion design is art as well sure will testify that this is a very cool flick about the creative process. Isaac has just delivered a show that got awful reviews, and he is on a path to redeem himself. Funny. He thinks he did a great job but still, the powers that be thinks he sucked. How damn familiar... (Clients? AE? CD? Yeah...)

How does a designer gets inspiration? Do they, as famous as they are, get insecure about their work? How much or how little do other people affect their work? Do family and friends actually understand creative frustration? Working long hours? Having a deadline that won't move? You cannot believe how similar fashion design and advertising are. Isaac, like us, has his ups and downs with his profession. And we get to live it with him all the way to this amazing show.

What I love about this film is the fact that it's all filmed in a fucked up black and white film, colors only appear when clothes come in the picture. Another thing is that this man has seen every damn flick, tv show, art show... and it shows. He can remember every little detail and utter every single line from the movies that he grew up with perfectly. Like Joker wrote in a recent post, in Unzipped you see useless information turned to inspiration.

A couple of years ago I had the pleasure of attending a fashion show. At first I went thinking that it was going to suck, thinking that I was going to be surrounded by pretentious pricks and waste my time. How damn wrong was I? Very much so. It was like watching a great play. Yes, I did get surrounded by people that shit way differently than the rest of human kind, but for some reason, the show outshined them. And the show I saw was a very unknown designer, so I cannot imagine how it would be like to get to catch a Lagerfeld, Armani, or an Oscar de La Renta.

Besides, how cool is Isaac? He's funny. Damn funny. He's the kind of dude that I would love to have as a friend. Down to earth when he needs to, flamboyant when he has to. And, he smokes Merit. Ah, the pleasure. Is he talented? Let's just say this. It's 2008. I have just ended watching it and let me tell you, his 1994 show is still extremely current. How many designers out there can achieve such a feat? My point exactly.

1 comments:

RestrictionsApply said...

Whoa... Flashback. I saw this in theaters back in the day... Yes, it's a very good film, for boys and girls.

This movie, and Devil Wears Prada, have instilled in me a sense of respect for fashion, even though I dare not spend more than $30 on shoes

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