DV

The first film today was Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel” written and directed by her granddaughter-in-“law. Over some 50 years she dictated style to the American woman and, indeed, women all over the globe. A blend of archival material, interviews with the likes of Angelica Huston and Lauren Bacall, and a smattering of animation portray her influence on 20th Century fashion sensibility that reflected everything that was going on around her. Perhaps her greatest period was the Sixties when at the helm of Vogue Magazine she made models of all the luminaries and super stars in the performing arts. She spoke of working every day of her adult life but the film left me thinking she was simply playing dollhouse with the rich and famous. It’s an affectionate portrait of an extravagant but ultimately shallow visionary “accidently” caught in the right place at the right time. It is fun to watch and will strum lots of nostalgic strings but ultimately I found her to be an annoying little jingle that I have difficulty getting out of my head.