Fab Fashion Films & Videos

With L.A.'s 90-degree heat today, all I want to do is sit back and watch marvelous fashiony film features that don't require any actual movement on my part. These are some great, varied style-related videos I've stumbled upon recently:

[the secret world of haute couture, via youtube]

This series about the rarified world of haute couture, "The Secret World of Haute Couture," is terrifically fascinating. Haute couture is custom-made fashion--not just runway looks that people bought for thousands of dollars at Neiman Marcus, but designer looks that are actually custom-fitted and sewn for their incredibly deep-pocketed customers. Obviously, this is a tiny group of women (interesting that men's suits are much more often custom-made, and it seems less of a big deal). We hear at the beginning of the video that "the haute couture is like a secret club, and many of the members don't want to let you in." It is an entirely different world of fashion from the one most of us inhabit, yet we all know about it and it is sort of the driving fantasy behind much of the fashion industry. I am SO FASCINATED to finish watching this documentary and get a peek into the very secret world of women who spend 5 to 6 figures on custom designer pieces and talk about things like their "voyage into haute couture." My, my, my. Watch! Discuss!

A Peek Into YSL....

I recently was talking about fashion-designer documentaries on Cathy Horyn's NYT On The Runway blog (which is always, always good food for thought), and afterward I had to add "Yves Saint-Laurent: 5 avenue Marceau 75116 Paris" to my Netflix queue. Now that I've watched the first half at home (apparently, once you lie down on the sofa to "get more comfy" while you watch TV, all subsequent watching is replaced by sleeping), I'm happy to report that not all design processes are like the big factory-like atmosphere in the design studio where I've been working. This film, shot understatedly by author David Teboul (who did a book of the same title) depicts the behind-the-scenes process of Yves Saint Laurent creating his Spring 2002 collection in his Paris studio. He determines the direction of the collection, and the feeling of it--the shapes, the silhouettes, the style--and his posse of serene, middle-aged-to-elderly ladies go off and design brilliant pieces to correspond with his vision. They then show him their prototypes, and together they edit, often stopping to tell each other just how marvelous or exquisite or perfect the item in question is (in very sexy French, of course). It's amazing how personal and intimate this design process is, and it really does restore a bit of my faith in the fashion industry and reassure me that it's not just a giant hype machine, after all. The one low note for me was the excruciatingly thin house model that YSL was using to try the garments on. I could count the ribs from her neck to her waist, and I could barely look at the gorgeous clothes she was strutting around in because looking at her was causing me physical pain. Ay yi yi. Eat a baguette, honey. Anyway, it's lovely to see YSL himself and observe his love for fashion and beauty and his appreciation for the beautiful work in his studio. I'm looking forward to seeing the last half of the film where things get closer to the deadline and we see the runway collection taking shape.

Last but not least, here's a fun WhoWhatWearDaily video tutorial on "How To Wear Shorts!" You thought you knew, huh? Step in, pull 'em up, remember to zip? Oh, BORING. Clearly, as fashion folk, we must make it way more difficult and spend all kinds of time puzzling over the BEST way to wear shorts in different situations. Here, two charming ladies with lots of makeup on and nervous smiles tell us how to look posh in shorts, which generally veer dangerously far into dweeby territory. You know what, though: once you get over the nervous smiles and heinously expensive shorts they feature, the points they make are actually useful. Because, come on, it IS really hard to wear shorts without looking like you're going on a hike to Dweebsville, so we can use all the help we can get.

Speaking of the heat and how-to questions, here's my current quandary: what kind of shoes do you wear in the summertime? I love the idea of open shoes that keep you cool, but flip-flops are just too open for me. I feel like my feet are getting coated in grime every step I take, and they make your heels all callused if you wear them often. Is it time to finally give in to the gladiator sandal trend? If Style.com had its way, I'd be running to Barneys to fork over a mere $165 for these Givenchy Jelly Gladiators. (Now, what was it about designer brands being, erm, high quality? If these lacked a Givenchy logo, I doubt Payless could charge over $9.99. Or am I being a spoilsport and missing some essential postmodern commentary on the hype behind fashion that these shoes actually make? Know what--I don't really care. Jelly shoes make your feet stink anyway.). What's your fave solution?