Fashion in Film: Prêt-à-Porter
May 30th 2008 03:04
Ready to Wear Cinema
Often on this site I talk about films that have influenced real world fashion or started trends. Directed by the late great Robert Altman the 1994 film Prêt-à-Porter (Translation: Ready To Wear) is like a funhouse mirror that is instead a film about the machinations of the fashion world and those who inhabit it.
Filmed on the Parisian catwalks during Paris’ prestigious fashion week it stars a cavalcade of real life models, designers, press and movie stars playing themselves. The satirical story blurs the lines of fact and fiction revolving around the haute couture event and plays out like a behind the scenes expose on the industry itself.
Typically for the multi award winning Director he also manages to wrangle high profile cast members to play fictional characters and the ensemble is of a calibre only matched by his earlier film The Player.
Half the fun of viewing is seeing the fashion and celebrity elite parodying their own personas. Capturing the essence of the image conscious world, there are several interrelated stories constantly in play that together provide an overview of what really happens when the flashbulbs are put down.
From wilkipedia here is a list of the players who appear as themselves:
Harry Belafonte
Björk
Paolo Bulgari
Anello Capuano
Cher
Helena Christensen
David Copperfield
Gamiliana
Elsa Klensch
Serge Molitor
Claude Montana
Thierry Mugler
Tatjana Patitz
Nicola Trussardi
The Designers
Sonia Rykiel
Jean-Paul Gaultier
Christian Lacroix
Issey Miyake
Gianfranco Ferrè for Christian Dior Collection
The Models
Susie Bick
Carla Bruni
Naomi Campbell
Linda Evangelista
Roshumba Williams
Ève Salvail
Claudia Schiffer
Adriana Sklenaříková
Christy Turlington
Disclaimer: Apologies for the lack of images on this post but finding shots from the film is about as hard as finding a fashionista that isn’t obsessed with talking about themselves.
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