California Apparel News

Diana Vreeland has been called the “empress of fashion.” And attendees at the Costume Council of LACMA’s Monday night screening of the soon-to-be-released documentary film “Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel,” now have a deeper understanding why.

The crowd, which included designers, editors, members of the Costume Council and the Vreeland family, were given an incredible look into the life of the legendary fashion editrix of Harper’s Bazaar and editor-in-chief of Vogue.

A visionary in every sense of the word, Vreeland almost single handedly created the idea of fashion editorial as we know it today. From the stunning photos she created with photographers Richard Avedon, David Bailey and Louise Dahl-Wolfe to discovering talents such as Twiggy and Lauren Bacall, Vreeland left an indelible mark on the fashion world. She became a celebrity herself, forged relationships in Hollywood, partied at Studio 54 and was a fashion advisor to Jackie O.

The documentary, which premiered at the Venice International Film Festival and the Telluride Film Festival, was produced and directed by Lisa Immordino Vreeland, wife of her grandson Alexander. It includes live footage of interviews with Vreeland herself and insights from her children and the who’s who of fashion and entertainment - Avedon, Diane von Furstenberg, Angelica Huston, Veruschka and Manolo Blahnik just to name a few.

The movie documents Vreeland’s childhood during the Belle Epoque with her socialite parents, her strained relationship with her mother, her marriage and family life and her eventual rise above the challenges to become one of the most fashionable women in the world. When asked how does one become Diana Vreeland, quips like “The first thing to do is arrange to be born in Paris. The rest happens naturally,” set the tone for the lively film. Surprising accounts of her daring life in New York’s ’Roaring ’20s,’ her friendships with celebrities including Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty and personal fittings by Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel were some of the gems revealed in the movie. Vreeland’s final legacy was revitalizing The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York with dramatic exhibitions that have since established the notion of “fashion as art.”

I caught up with the producer and director, Lisa Immordino Vreeland to find out more about the film which will open in theaters on Sept. 21.

What inspired you to make the film?

I felt that she had been misunderstood for so many years. And I really wanted to discover who she was. And I think that it was just a great journey for me to do it. I think that there was a reason that she’s always been on top in the fashion world and I felt that we need to revisit that.

There are so many fashionistas in the world today and she is the original.

There was a reason that she was always set aside and no one has touched her for so many years because she is the ’empress of fashion.’ And I think that it’s been exciting to be able to revisit [it ] with her and to really show it to a younger generation.

What was the most surprising thing you discovered about her while making the film?

Her - and this wonderful oracle side of her. And this sense of openness that she had that she could take so much in. [It] was so much a part of her success. It was her way of telling us a story and it was a story of history. I really found that very inspiring. I think the film is going to inspire a lot of people.

She re-invented herself, what do you think she did that shifted things for her?

I think that when you grow up and you have a difficult strained relationship with your mother, she had a certain set of cards given to her. I think that she knew that she needed to pick herself up and move forward. I think that what was really fascinating was that she had an extraordinary childhood. She was exposed to wonderful things. But there was a very deep-seated talent there. She had to move forward. And she had a lot of disappointments throughout her life. She did - career-wise as well. And she kept going. She didn’t complain and she was still inspiring. She had quite an amazing attitude.

Tell me about her as a visionary.

I think everything that she looked at she looked at with a certain kind of vision. I think that the sense of openness gave her the freedom to look at things with abandon. And perhaps that could have been her downfall at Vogue was because she didn’t think about the commercial side, she just thought about the beautiful images that she could create and the stories that she could report. I think that for her in a very weird way, she always wanted to teach us something. She wasn’t trying to do it in a serious way…this was her message