LET'S face it, fashion and film of late have not had the happiest relationships (see last year's Pret-a-Porter or rather, don't). Which is why a new documentary called Unzipped has been received with such universal rapture. Yes, it gives an accurate insight into the absurdities and delights of the business, but just as important, it manages to be charming, funny, and completely engaging.
At the centre of this roller coaster film is Brooklyn born designer Isaac Mizrahi, until, now not a name much known on this side off the Atlantic. Now aged 35, fuzzy haired Mizrahi opened his own business in 1987 after working for the likes of Perry Ellis and Calvin Klein. Today he's considered one of the most successful members of American fashion's younger generation, heir in waiting to Klein, Karan and Lauren. Like their work, his clothes tend towards the conservative but as Unzipped demonstrates, Mizrahi's own personality is even more colourful than his favourite pastel designs. A natural performer (during his teens he attended the High School of Performing Arts in Manhattan), in person he also manages to be entertaining, curious and unaffected by all the attention the film has garnered "I still can't get a date which is the most weird thing of all, you know."
While following the designer as he prepares for the presentation of his winter, 1994 collection, Unzipped includes some unintentionally hilarious appearances by members of New York's fashion pack. There's Allure magazine's Polly Mellen, for example rifling through a rack of Mizrahi's clothes and exclaiming "This says Hello to, me very distinctly." Look out too for American Vogue's Candy Pratts Price whose conversational bon mots manage to make the script of Absolutely Fabulous seem positively understated.
Mizrahi himself is no slouch when it comes to the throwaway line. Speaking of Mary Tyler Moore (one of his long time idols) he pronounces "between her and Jackie Kennedy, they shaped this country." Later in the documentary he suggests "It's almost impossible to have style nowadays without the right dog." What redeems him from accusations of total fatuousness, both on film and in person, is a self deprecating wit and an intelligence which is obvious even under the silliest of circumstances. On more than one occasion, for example, he is shown playing the piano in his apartment with demonstrable skill. "Actually, that's where I really did feel like my privacy was being invaded. I had big fights over showing me at the piano it's the part that embarrasses me most." Similarly, he says the inclusion of extracts from his childhood home movies have been "hard to fathom. I don't mind people knowing I'm gay or fat or neurotic. But people knowing where I come from that's very tender for me."
Unzipped was directed by Mizrahi's then partner Douglas Keeve which helps explain the documentary's very personal quality. The designer says he and Keeve split up during the editing because they couldn't agree over what material should be included "in the end, he used to just send me cassettes and then get comments back." But the termination of their relationship appears to have been the only casualty in a film which should, by rights, have left quite a few of its star players feeling distinctly foolish. Mizrahi insists neither Polly Mellen nor Candy Pratts Price minded that he is shown imitating them on screen "Polly loved it, she knows I always imitate her. Anyway," he says lapsing into fashion luvvie speak, "Polly's such a caring person she says things to me that blow my mind." It seems that model Linda Evangelista is completely untroubled that her every appearance in the film should show her complaining about being asked to change next to Naomi Campbell and Carla Bruni, the flat shoes she has to wear and her stomach pains ("I have a cramp and you don't care").
Few of the famous models who turn up such as Evangelista, Campbell and Kate Moss emerge with much dignity. Sensibly, Christy Turlington keeps her mouth shut. But there would never be fear of an awkward silence while Mizrahi is around. An inveterate chatterer, he has a pertinent opinion on every topic, from choreographer Mark Morris to Loretta Young's performance in the 1935 film Call of the Wild which provides inspiration for his winter 1994 collection. This unbuttoned garrulousness is matched on screen by Mizrahi's mother Sarah who thanks to her appearance in Unzipped has become something of a celebrity in the United States. "My mother got offers for a couple of movies and a television show but she's now 68 and she said I don't need to be a cliche at this age."
Mizrahi himself hasn't done badly from Unzipped either. The documentary has greatly increased his reputation in the United States, where he has just launched a secondary diffusion line "and yes, it's helped sales which is a total surprise." And although he insists that he's not especially interested in more trans Atlantic business, his name will now have much wider currency in Europe where to date the market for his clothes has been very limited. But what Unzipped will also achieve is a greater understanding of the demands of fashion, with designers expected to produce fresh collections twice a year and judged afresh at each new showing. As much as the constant humour, it's this perception of the industry's tough realities which lifts Unzipped above other fashion films and has helped it draw a more diverse audience than might have been thought the case. "It's very funny, that's what I'm happiest about," says the documentary's subject. But just as important Unzipped offers the an acute insight into the very funny way in which fashion operates.