I own one DVD and it’s The Devil Wears Prada. The movie’s mix of not-so-blind Vogue references, coming-of-fashion montages and shiny black towncars all set to a pop, Madonna-heavy soundtrack is cinematic umami for the style-obsessed’s soul.
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The jewel box does look a little lonely under the flatscreen though so I was happy to audition Matt Tyrnauer‘s new designer documentary Valentino: The Last Emperor on Monday night for the second spot in my home screening rotation.
The movie has been dangled in front of Toronto’s fashion community for a while. After debuting in North America at the last TIFF, it closed Toronto’s LG Fashion Week in March and finally arrives in theatres this Friday (at the Yonge and Dundas AMC and the Royal Cinema on College).
Tyrnauer offers up oodles of runway footage, behind-the-scenes bitchiness and multiple laugh-out-loud moments thanks to his supporting cast of red lipped supermodels, cranky Italian seamstresses and rambunctious pugs. But it’s the retelling of the love story between Valentino and his business partner and companion Giancarlo Giammetti while Valentino is being forced out by his company’s new, penny pinching owners that makes the film tender and timely.
At the screening, Tyrnauer shared scenes that didn’t make the theatre edit but will appear on a DVD this fall. Anecdotes included how he hired male models to be sound men so Valentino and Giammetti were eager to be miked every day and how Valentino had no idea who Martha Stewart was when she visited him at his French chateau and was equally stumped when she asked how he kept his moat so clean?
The dish definitely wet my whistle for the year’s other big fashion film release. The September Issue debuts in, wait for it, September and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t watch its trailer on a daily basis. A visit with Anna Wintour and friends at Vogue as they edit together the thickest magazine of the year is a guaranteed third addition to my library.
