Review: Fashion Babylon
- The documentary by Gianluca Matarrese explores the behind-the-scenes world of haute couture following three characters who gravitate around it
From the glitter of the catwalks to low-cost hotel rooms, in search of recognition and, possibly, money to pay the rent, against the backdrop of a fashion world caught in the transition between two eras, straddling the pandemic – written and directed by Paris-based Italian director Gianluca Matarrese (awarded at the Torino Film Festival 2019 for Fuori tutto, Queer Lion at Venice 2021 with The Last Chapter [+see also:
film review
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film profile], screened at the 63rd Festival dei Popoli in Florence after its world premiere at CPH: DOX in Copenhagen, is a documentary that illustrates the other side of the glittering coin of the fashion system, and it does so by following the exceptional everyday life of three characters who gravitate around it and try to shine by reflected light, between one fashion week and another in Paris, Milan, New York.
Michelle Elie, also known as the 'Queen of Street Style,' is a former model of Haitian origin and an avid collector of monumental dresses. She is not invited to fashion shows but, one way or another, she always manages to get in. The American Violet Chachki, born Jason Dardo, is a burlesque performer, proud and provocative, winner of the seventh season of RuPaul's Drag Race (a reality show centred on a drag queen competition), she is constantly on the move and changes in her car between fashion shows. Casey Spooner is an American artist-musician, fashion influencer ('the show is no longer on the catwalk, it's on my Instagram'), who has realised his dream of living in Paris and going to the most exclusive parties, gets free coats, shoes (and, if it happens, even a handbag for his mother) which he then advertises on his social networks, but does not have the money to pay his rent, unless he sells back any Prada accessory he has received as a gift.
It is Casey Spooner, at the start, who introduces us to the ABCs of fashion shows, starting with the hierarchies and logistical strategies around the catwalks: where you sit, who you are next to and who you have in front of you determines who you are and how much importance you have, a bit like in the court of kings. We then follow Casey together with Violet Chachki in their preparations in the hotel, in the choice of the 'stage' dresses with which they will have to impress and be photographed as much as possible on the fringes of the fashion shows, we see them in their social media feeds followed by a few but affectionate followers; meanwhile, Michelle Elie wears her mammoth, outsized dresses, which struggle to get through the doors, she drags her enormous luggage on the road, and plans an exhibition with all the dresses she has collected. All three find themselves in front of the catwalks. The watchword seems to be 'excess': the important thing is to get noticed, to attract the photographers' flashes and earn a small place in the ephemeral Olympus of trendsetters ('one moment you're a star, the next you're a clown'), between a selfie with Jean-Paul Gaultier, kisses and hugs with Chloë Sevigny, fleeting exchanges of jokes with Céline Dion and a glance at the 'queen,' obviously always in the front row, Anna Wintour.
"Grandeur', 'Splendeur' and 'Décadence' are the three chapters that punctuate the film, which has the gift of rendering, with vivacity and through a few significant episodes, the ambivalence of this world made of luxury, beauty and appearance, but also of frustration and uncertainty, where one goes from the stars to the stables at the speed of a pirouette on the catwalk, and sometimes tears flow from heavily bistreled eyes. Matarrese's film is also an opportunity to reflect on a production model whose speed, in the new post-pandemic world, has been deemed no longer sustainable (see under the entry for Giorgio Armani). It would be curious to explore, perhaps in a later work, whether something of that model (and that frenzy) has actually changed.
Fashion Babylon is produced by Bellota Films with the participation of France Télévisions. International sales are handled by London-based Limonero Films.
(Translated from Italian)
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