(IMO) The Last Emperor of Fashion

"Compared to us, the rest are making rags." Karl Lagerfeld's comment comes towards the end of the movie, but it effectively sums up the way generations of women feel about Valentino's place in the fashion industry.

This evening I finally made it to see Matt Tyrnauer's much praised film 'Valentino: the last emperor'. When everyone (without exaggeration) tells you that a movie is, "brilliant, deeply moving, unmissable," you tend to believe that it is probably something you should look in to. Well I am now one more person encouraging you to see this movie - at any cost.

I am not typically an advocate of films. Those who know me well are aware that I loathe the thought of being confined to a theater seat that has accommodated thousands of derrieres before mine for two hours. I have seen many of the contemporary fashion documentaries - Isaac Mizrahi's Unzipped, Marc Jacobs & Louis Vuitton, Yohji Yamamoto's Notebooks on Cities and Clothes, Karl Lagerfeld's Lagerfeld Confidential. In my mind, none are as entertaining, riveting, or infuriating as Valentino: the last emperor. This movie makes you feel - about fashion, about art, about ownership, about business. You will better understand the unique lives and thoughts of the fashion crowd - and of one great man in particular - after seeing this movie.

The film is a sensational inquisition into the profound depths of fashion as both an art and a business. Those with a love of fashion will cry, laugh, burn with anger, and then laugh & cry again. The business set will relate to Premira's vicious, underhanded corporate takeover that resembles the messy debacles so often splayed across the front page of the business section... but I do not want to give too much away. For those of you who do not have a background in the industry, this film is both an entertaining and informative way to become better acquainted.

Valentino is playing at Film Forum in NYC, and in a handful of selected cities across the US. Whether you see it in theaters now, or on DVD later, it is unquestionably "a must-see for fashion lovers and pop-culture addicts," as the New York Times so perfectly articulated. The below trailer gives you a fractional peek into a magnificent documentary.

video courtesy of fancast

I have tried to come up with the perfect description for this movie for several hours... but after reading André Leon Talley's comments, I cannot get his words out of my head.

“The luxe, rara avis world of the Italian couturier and fashion designer… fused with wit and self-deprecating humor. With great style and editing, the film captures the deep-seated relationship of two men, one a business genius and one a dressmaker who swept through the sixties on the hems of his delicate, feminine suits and fine evening dresses, favorites of Jackie O and Elizabeth Taylor. (Tyrnauer) took a difficult subject – a fashion brand and its founders – and told the story of how fashion as art has to bend to the winds of commerce and modernity.”

– André Leon Talley, Vogue

This film is a beautiful synopsis of one man's beautiful life passion. Even in his own words Valentino admitted, "I love beauty - it's not my fault."