Introduction To World Fashion; Videofashion Specials--The Making Of A Model

The brainchild of the founder and former editor of Psycho logy Today, Nicolas Charney, the Videofashion company features four different video lines (Monthly, News, Men and Specials). We watched two of the Specials, and a one-hour combo of the Monthly and News lines. The Making of a Model is an older production, and as such, suffers from comparatively primitive production work: a good portion of the program follows the talking heads approach, as heads of modeling agencies, top-name designers, and models with various degrees of success, are interviewed. Still, while the program is not oriented towards module learning, there is a lot of useful information to be gleaned from the comments made. Introduction to World Fashion is a more recent, and thoroughly professional, overview of the fashion world. The program takes viewers around the world to Paris, Milan, Japan, New York, and London--the fashion capitals--to visit with some of the top names in the industry: Calvin Klein, Yves St. Laurent, Bill Blass, and Giorgio Armani, among others. Special segments on how Japanese theatre has influenced Japanese fashion shows, London's street style look, and a retrospective on 'Coco' Chanel, add depth to a program which gives viewers a real feel for what's happening in fashion for the '80s. The price is a little steep, but the prices lower the more volumes you purchase. Also, larger libraries may be interested in the Monthly and News lines; an introductory one-hour program featuring both lines is available for $89. For more information, write Videofashion, One West 37th St., New York, NY 10018.