Rating: 
Summary: The best fashion film ever
Review: Fictional films have never captured the hilariousness of the industry like this one does. Linda Evangelista especially stands out. She played the "supermodel" to the hilt. You could see what made her such an effective model; she really knew how to come up with a persona for the camera. Polly M. is incredible character too and the appearance by Eartha Kitt is unforgettable. When it comes to the fashion industry and the movies, fact is stranger (and funnier) than fiction.
Rating:
Summary: hilarious behind-the-scenes look!
Review: Isaac Mizrahi is a funny fantastic guy -- he made me want to move up to New York and work for him, even though I have no interest in the world of fashion design. This flick -- done largely in black and white -- follows fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi as he puts together his Spring 1995 collection for a fashion show. He decides on Native Alaskan chic as his concept and goes about designing clothes and sets, hiring models, etc. The movie is peppered with snippets of his life, his friends, meetings with famous people (Eartha Kitt, Sandra Berhardt, Naomi Campbell, Roseanne) and not-famous people (Irving, a highly amusing man he knows and meets out on the street). We even meet his mom --- and who knew that Linda Evangelista was so obnoxious at fashion shows about what shoes he made her wear? When Mizrahi talks about something in pop culture, a scene from the movie is spliced in to depict it. He even does an amusing rendition of Mary Tyler Moore throwing her hat in the air in the park. The movie is captivating and a hoot from start to finish. The best thing is knowing that this is not a character but a real person, and despite his celebrity, Mizrahi is fantastically real.
Rating:
Summary: The end of a wonderful era in fashion
Review: This documentary was made at precisely the right time. By 1994, you had to be under a rock or lost in a forest in Papua New Guinea not to know who the supermodels featured in this documentery were. They were all at the top of their game at this time. The second thing going for this documentary is that this was Isaac's best collection ever- in fact, one of my favorite collections by any designer, since I started following fashion in the early 90's. Isaac Mizrahi is a funny and engaging character. He's both humorous and diplomatic. He displays the latter quality during that scene where that alterna-model, Eve, does a runway walk for him. This being high fashion, you would have expected some really snotty remark about how AWFUL her runway walk was. Instead, Isaac is very polite to her, though the camera is absolutely unforgiving. Anyone who says that designers who don't take models into consideration when they design the collections is self-delusional. Back then, the models were so iconic and womanly, and the designs reflected that. (Think of Gianni Versace's designs during this time, for example). Nearly all of the top models of the time are featured her, especially (sigh) Linda Evangelista. That name alone is beautiful beyond compare... The supermodels missing include Claudia (yawn) Schiffer, and Christy Turlington. There is a very brief scene where Christy describes a Jean-Paul Gaultier show, but it's brief, and she's cut off abruptly. Maybe Isaac was mad at her for not walking in his show! Linda Evangelista really steals the show here. Her best "scene" is when she complains about the microphone in her face, with a haughty Brit accent, and then stares alluringly into the camera. It's a fashion moment- Linda conveys her knowledge that she's the best, most stunning supermodel ever... Although this documentary would seem to have limited appeal, it is a great addition to your collection. Great fashion and great models are featured here. This documentary just wouldn't be the same today! (Well, Isaac's no longer designing, and I'm sorry, but Giselle will never reach the heights of Linda Evangelista!)
Rating:
Summary: Unzipped, Amazing
Review: This is a film, that I've watched over, and over, and over. Because I never get enough of it. Everyone in this film is crediable to watch --- and you get a honest (and funny) look at the models, and major players in the Fashion World. This film gives an eye-opening look at the "true" nature of creating a collection, and the adversity a designer can face. Issac, reveals his sincere soul in this movie.
As Polly would say; It opened my eye.....and it erases, everything!" Miss Kitt, had me cracking up, Issac, gives an amazing collection. Niomi, showed the down-to-Earth side of her beautiful nature -- and is embeccable. Linda, had me rolling with laughter --- while (funny) plucking Issac's nerves during his show. And Kate, placed her signature into runway 'walking'. And Issac's mother ---- with an inspirational and supportive mother like her, you can't go wrong in life. His "94 Fall\Winter collection is superior. Katty, Polly, and Leon are "key" personalities like no other. And I couldn't conclude this review without mentioning; Sandrah Bernhard's adds' "flavor" and her opening song --- at the beginning of the film, and the opening song for the fashion show --- sets' the theme of the entire film. This film will make you feel; Mighty Real.
Rating:
Summary: Good
Review: This was amusing. One critic said, "All this tension over a fashion line of eskimo-fasihon-knock-offs." But that's kind of what makes it fun, that people are so intense about something so frivolous. Yeah, the term "fashion genius" is a contradiction in terms, but sometimes you have to have some cotton candy in your life. Isaac doesn't have that bitchy edge that so many cup-cake designers have, so is amusing and likable. Despite the publicity this movie brought him, his company folded. He said--before his company went under--that when someone praised this film to him, he'd rather they'd said, "I bought one of your jackets at full-price." Isaac then went after the movie business. He didn't fair well there, I guess, because last I read of him, he's doing a one-man stage show about his life. (As a heterosexual male, it was kind of unbelievable, too, to see Isaac hugging and pinning the most striking fashion model women alive--Christie Turlington for one--and remain sober-faced and unaffected. If I were hugging Turlington, I'd faint from joy!) A good suppliment to this is the book THE END OF FASHION that describes in one section the demise of Isaac's label. For one thing, he DID have big-selling items, and the retailers would beg him for more. But he played the artist-image a bit too much, and refused to repeat things, and only did new things that inspired him. Well, he inspired himself right into bankruptcy. But this film, documenting when the company was still going, is great fun to see.
Rating:
Summary: Sticks in the mind like velcro pants
Review: Unzipped is intentionally and unintentionally hilarious. It's real life caught on celluloid, even though few of our lives revolve around putting on a fashion show, chatting with Sandra Bernhardt (thank god), or having to deal with capricious super-models. Mizrahi is eccentric and entirely loveable. I bought this movie for my wife who LOVES fashion and hair and, well, all that dreck. Still, I enjoy this movie too. While not taking itself too seriously, the film exposes much of what passes for normal conversation and attitude in the world of the rich and fashion paranoid. In the end, the designer, though flamboyant, comes across more as an artisan. He's really dedicated to his trade and loves the path he's taken. His Jewish "coffee-talk" mother hovers around the picture as an eternal reminder that the famous Mizrahi was once just a little boy who liked to shop for fabric with money he pinched out of her purse. The film is also a valuable reminder to those of us who covet fame and fortune. Oftentimes, when you gain fame, whether as a designer, a writer or a musician, much of your time is suddenly taken up with the marketing and selling of your product. This leaves you very little time to do what you really love.
Rating:
Summary: unique, wildly entertaining documentary...
Review: You can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't really remember hearing about any fashion documentaries before "Unzipped." I have heard about (and seen) documentaries about theatre, the ballet, actors on location during a filmshoot, artists and musicians. Of course, fashion is, in and of itself, a form of theatre, as well as a dance with actors (aka models) and artists (aka fashion designers) on location, presenting to us, the unsuspecting audience, high drama incomparable to none. I am speaking, of course, of the runway show. The high drama that goes into the preparation for this "clothing revue" that can make or break the career of a fashion designer is truly brought to the foreground, through the eyes of Isaac Mizrahi, the irrepressible New York fashion designer.
This film presents to us a glimpse of the kind of blood, sweat and tears that goes into preparing for a major fashion show. Also, we get a better sense of Isaac Mizrahi, the man, and not only Isaac Mizrahi, the artist. We learn of his penchant for Mary Tyler Moore reruns, quoting obscure lines from cult films, wildly practicing classical piano in the privacy of his own home, where his inspiration comes from for themes in his fashion collections (the Inuit documentary, "Nanook of the North," wallpaper from a French bistro, and 200 year old French evening wear, consulting Tarot card readers, just to name a few examples). We learn that he used to steal money from his mother's purse to purchase material in order to make designs when he was four years old. All of these charming (and curious) personality quirks are presented with broad humor, full acceptance toward his eccentric and unusual tendencies and are also woven with footage from his studio, with his numerous assistances, in the company of models and celebrity friends (including Sara Bernhardt, Roseanna Arnold, Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford and the internationally known dancer and choreographer, Mark Morris).
Though, I can already tell you, this film might not be for all tastes, it was definitely to my liking! It's great for a laugh and you even learn something about the fashion industry! I am really glad that he has made his fashions affordable for the rest of us who can't afford to fork over $500 for evening wear.
Rating:
Summary: Thoroughly enjoyable (what a difference a season makes!)
Review: You'll read "Party Movie," "Outrageous," and "Wickedly Funny" on the outside of the keep case, but the movie "Unzipped" deserves a much more dignified description as a smartly filmed and edited documentary with an alluringly exotic flavor. Isaac Mizrahi's talent, creativity and personality are wonderfully revealed in this excellent view into one small, but glamorous corner of the fashion world. "Unzipped" revolves around the making of a fashion show, beginning with Isaac reading the reviews of the just completed (Spring 1994) and ending with him reading the reviews of the one we see him create (Fall 1994, the subject of the movie). I became enamored of so many aspects of this movie: Isaac's passion for all things glamorous, his acute attention to detail in cinematic portrayals, his relationship with family and business associates, the modeling experience, and the show itself. The filming alternates between black-and-white to color, in a manner which differentiates between intimacy and all-access reportage. There is so much that meets the eye. I truly believe that anyone would be interested in Isaac as a person inasmuch as his creative character fits so perfectly into the realm of design and glamour. His presence is at once dominating and yet so dependent upon the whims of a fickle business filled with unpredictable turns of events. Ideas come from everywhere: movies, television, dreams, and images of performance art. The viewer literally sees a fashion show evolve from concept to performance, and witnesses all the twists and turns in between. From Amber to Yasmeen, virtually all of the top models of the mid-90's are involved. But, the best "behind-the-seems" experience is what Altman couldn't capture quite right in "Pret-a-Porter": the backstage goings-on prior to, and during, the actual fashion show. Although only 73 minutes (and no DVD extras), it's pure enjoyment all the way through.
Rating:
Summary: Thoroughly enjoyable (what a difference a season makes!)
Review: You'll read "Party Movie," "Outrageous," and "Wickedly Funny" on the outside of the keep case, but the movie "Unzipped" deserves a much more dignified description as a smartly filmed and edited documentary with an alluringly exotic flavor. Isaac Mizrahi's talent, creativity and personality are wonderfully revealed in this excellent view into one small, but glamorous corner of the fashion world. "Unzipped" revolves around the making of a fashion show, beginning with Isaac reading the reviews of the just completed (Spring 1994) and ending with him reading the reviews of the one we see him create (Fall 1994, the subject of the movie). I became enamored of so many aspects of this movie: Isaac's passion for all things glamorous, his acute attention to detail in cinematic portrayals, his relationship with family and business associates, the modeling experience, and the show itself. The filming alternates between black-and-white to color, in a manner which differentiates between intimacy and all-access reportage. There is so much that meets the eye. I truly believe that anyone would be interested in Isaac as a person inasmuch as his creative character fits so perfectly into the realm of design and glamour. His presence is at once dominating and yet so dependent upon the whims of a fickle business filled with unpredictable turns of events. Ideas come from everywhere: movies, television, dreams, and images of performance art. The viewer literally sees a fashion show evolve from concept to performance, and witnesses all the twists and turns in between. From Amber to Yasmeen, virtually all of the top models of the mid-90's are involved. But, the best "behind-the-seems" experience is what Altman couldn't capture quite right in "Pret-a-Porter": the backstage goings-on prior to, and during, the actual fashion show. Although only 73 minutes (and no DVD extras), it's pure enjoyment all the way through.
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