Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel

Diana Vreeland (1903-1989) was the high priestess of fashion through much of the 20th century, a claim persuasively demonstrated in this documentary from co-directors Lisa Immordino Vreeland (Vreeland's granddaughter-in-law), Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt, and Frédéric Tcheng, which offers both a biographical sketch and an unrestrained celebration of Vreeland's plus-sized personality and impact on the world of haute couture. The vibrant, fast-moving portrait effectively combines archival material with interviews (mostly positive), including substantial excerpts from Vreeland's reminiscences with George Plimpton in preparation for a written autobiography (recreated here by actress Annette Miller). Vreeland emerges as a woman who was driven, imperious, supremely self-confident, and enormously successful but also manipulative and single-minded. As fashion editor to Harper's Bazaar (1939-62) and managing editor of the American version of Vogue (1963-71), Vreeland was a tastemaker without peer, and later as consultant to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute she transformed fashion exhibitions from dusty historical affairs to cultural happenings. She seems to have absolutely believed that—as she puts it here—life is artifice and style everything. That attitude, along with her habit of name-dropping with abandon, makes her less attractive than the gorgeous magazine spreads she presided over. Still, those interested in the history of fashion and willing to spend time with a woman who viewed everything from an Olympian height of privilege will find this documentary to be an excellent introduction to both Vreeland and the rarefied world in which she excelled. Recommended. (F. Swietek)