The Best Fashion Films To Binge Watch This Fashion Month
Fashion and the big screen go together like bread and butter- how many trends have been started by what Hollywood’s biggest names have worn on screen? But for this list, we’ve put together the best films about the fashion world itself, from the high pressure of modelling to the absurdities of some of its inhabitants.
The Devil Wears Prada
A perennial favourite, The Devil Wears Prada is approaching its 20th anniversary (shocking, I know) but remains both popular and relevant. Anne Hathaway plays the lead character Andrea “Andy” Sachs who ends up in the world of fashion magazines, taking a job under demanding editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep). Miranda is both feared and respected for her power in both the fashion world and outside of it, so Andy’s new job won’t be easy. With Emily Blunt also playing senior assistant and rival Emily Charlton, who Andy doesn’t get on with, the film has more memorable quotes than you can think of (“gird your loins”) and is still one of the best fashion films around. A sequel is set to be developed in the new future.
Watch on: Disney+
Funny Face
A classic starring the widely imitated but never equalled Audrey Hepburn, 1957’s Funny Face sees young bookstore worker Jo Stockton (Hepburn) be plucked out of obscurity and placed into the world of high-end modelling. Screen legend Fred Astaire plays the fashion photographer who discovers her and who works for editor Maggie Prescott (Kay Thompson), something of a precursor to Miranda Priestley. It’s also a musical, and Funny Face is as worth watching for the dance numbers and choreography as it is for the outfits and classic Hepburn style.
Watch on: Sky Cinema
High & Low: John Galliano
The documentary High & Low is essential for anyone interested in fashion (which if you’re reading this, you probably are)- this film which was released last year looks at the life and career of John Galliano. The fashion designer has been both highly successful and highly controversial, and the docufilm charts his career from its beginnings in London and Paris, his ascent to work with Dior, and how he fell from grace after a drunken rant caught on camera.
Watch on: Prime Video
Mrs Harris Goes To Paris
Set in the 50s, Mrs Harris Goes to Paris follows the eponymous Ada Harris (Lesley Manville), a widow working as a cleaning lady in London. She becomes completely obsessed with a stylish couture Dior dress and becomes dead-set on getting her own version of it, improbable as it may seem. Of course, this won’t be easy, but Ada is prepared to go all out working, gambling and more in order to secure enough cash to make her dream a reality. Before she knows it, she sets off on an unlikely adventure to Paris, as she makes a bigger mark on the prestigious House of Dior than she would have ever expected. Isabelle Huppert, Lambert Wilson, Lucas Bravo and Jason Isaacs also star.
Watch on: Netflix
Zoolander
Zany comedy Zoolander is one big send-up of the fashion industry but remains popular thanks to a nearly endless stream of memes spawned by it. Male model Derek Zoolander is down on his luck after a series of mishaps including being booted from the fashion spotlight by rival Hansel McDonald (Owen Wilson). However, he’s found and recruited by mogul Jacobim Mugatu for a new campaign, giving him a new lease on life. However, the campaign is actually a plan by Mugatu to find a model who can be brainwashed into assassinating the prime minister of Malaysia to get weaker labour laws in the country. With plenty of cameos (David Bowie chief among them), Zoolander is more relevant now than it was on release. Blue steel faces at the ready.
Watch on: Netflix
Phantom Thread
Acclaimed director Paul Thomas Anderson’s film Phantom Thread stars master of method acting Daniel Day-Lewis in his (so far) final screen role. Set in the 1950s, it follows the gifted designer Reynolds Woodcock (Day-Lewis), a meticulous and obsessive man taken by a waitress who enters his life and turns it upside down. The strong-willed Alma (Vicky Krieps) is different from the women he’s known in the past, and she soon becomes his muse and then lover. But their relationship will not be as smooth as either would hope for. Also starting in the cast are Lesley Manville, Camilla Rutherford, Gina McKee, Brian Gleeson and Julia Davis .
Watch on: Sky Cinema
The Dressmaker
Kate Winslet leads this film about, you guessed it, a dressmaker, who takes a trip back to her small Australian hometown. Tilly (Winslet) arrives to find that her ailing mother doesn’t even remember her. As she gets used to being back in the town, shadows of her past begin to creep up on her- notably, the fact that she was blamed for the death of a young schoolgirl who was her age, causing her to be sent away. Skilled with a sewing machine and intrigued by the handsome Teddy (Liam Hemsworth), a local, Tilly is determined not to forget about her past and how she was treated, and sets about to seek revenge and right wrongs.
Watch on: Apple TV
Dior and I
Another documentary, Dior and I is a French language film all about the hugely influential house of Dior. Specifically, it centres around designer Raf Simons and his work with Dior during his debut season and all the work that entails. As the newly appointed creative director, Simons has only eight weeks to create a haute couture collection ready for the world to see and is assisted by Dior’s best creative minds. There’s a lot of pressure for Simons to deal with in the modern Dior machine, though he finds he’s experiencing some of the same worries Dior did in years past.
Watch on: Apple TV
Fashion
A Hindi language film starring Priyanka Chopra Jonas, the story follows Megha Mathur (Chopra), a small-town girl who sets out to follow her dream of becoming a supermodel only to find herself in the middle of the best and worst of the fashion industry. With a soundtrack featuring some Bollywood bangers, strong female characters, and a ton of melodramatic moments and big fashion looks, the movie was a sensation when it came out – and while it’s a film that has not aged particularly well, and has some somewhat cringeworthy moments, if you’re in it for the fashion, you will not be disappointed.
Watch on: Netflix