For anyone left nonplussed by Pret-a-Porter's dismal efforts, Unzipped is a refreshingly different slant on the fashion world. Winner of the 1995 Audience Award for Documentaries at Sundance, this is a fly-on-the-wall look at the process of producing a major designer collection, in particular the 1994 winter collection of Isaac Mizrahi.
The film follows Mizrahi from deciding on the romantic Eskimo themes of his collection ("no fur pants"), researching costumes at the Louvre and previewing the designs to fashion editors, to model fittings and the spectacular final show. Mizrahi is seen at work, at play, discussing gowns with Eartha Kitt, and chatting to pal Sandra Bernhardt. Endless lines of supermodels named Naomi, Kate, Cindy and Linda trail sulkily through, as the designer flutters around them nipping, tucking and putting in final touches.
Comic relief is provided by the grande dames of the fashion press, loaded down with gold jewellery as they pseudo-intellectualise about the political importance of fashion. Mizrahi himself comes across as unpretentious and eminently likeable, despite an artistic flamboyance that must go with the territory. Much of the sympathy is generated by the affectionate filming of Mizrahi by his friend, Douglas Keeve, a fashion photographer making his feature film directorial debut.
Shot in several formats and stocks, in grainy black-and-white as well as colour, this documentary is almost like flipping through the pages of a fashion magazine and, like Isaac himself, is witty, showy and thoroughly engaging.