Dior and I is alternately melancholy and uplifting

    1 of 2 2 of 2

      A documentary by Frédéric Tcheng. In English, French, and Italian, with English subtitles. Rating unavailable.

      An unusually atmospheric tour of high fashion’s inner world, Dior and I is alternately melancholy and uplifting. It initially follows the mood swings of founder Christian Dior, who apprenticed with (wartime collaborator) Lucien Lelong and had only a 10-year reign at his own house before dying, somewhat mysteriously, at age 52.

      Directed by young veteran Frédéric Tcheng, who also worked on excellent docs about Valentino and Diana Vreeland, the film deploys archival footage and recollections from Dior’s memoirs. That material shadows the recent arrival of Raf Simons—presumably the I of the title—who comes from the ready-to-wear world and previously specialized in menswear. A quiet Belgian who unexpectedly speaks better English than French, Simons has an introspective nature that’s balanced by outgoing assistant Pieter Mulier, who forms an instant bridge to the middle-aged women who basically run the workaday departments at Dior.

      The hivelike Paris atelier is a surprisingly multicultural environment, even if Simons himself has gained a reputation (unmentioned here) for avoiding nonwhite models. The parallels with CD fade as the focus shifts to mounting Simons’s first big show, for which the designer, inspired by artists ranging from Jeff Koons to Gerhard Richter, fills an entire house with flowers. The star-studded event itself is impressive, but the work that goes into it—supported by an unusually apt combination of classical music and electronic beats—provides enough human drama and aesthetic pleasure to make the movie’s 90 minutes fly by with elegant ease.

      Comments