Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel

(I rented to stream, and like much of my Amazon/Roku streaming this week it took several times to get it going. Don't know what's up, or if its my ATT Uverse but something is broken).I'm not a big one for celebrity bio-pics; if I find myself wondering "Who the hell are the Kardashians, and what did they do?", a quick Google and a Wikipedia entry sates my curiosity. Diana Vreeland (Dee-AHna to you, Dahlinks!) on on the other hand is one of those names and faces that keeps coming around, and with a face like that, in the fashion business, I figured I ought to find out. It turns out that she was quite a talented gal, a regular Woman Of Substance, who came into contact with some of the best talent in fashion, art and culture there was, and she knew how to get them to do their best. Having no degree, Mrs. Vreeland manages to seem simultaneously highly cultured and lightly educated, but knows what not to say and as a result, while some of the stuff she says isn't always bright, she never puts her foot in it.Born in 1903, in Paris (but apparently not learning either French or English before sent to school, I'm rather confused on that part, what DID she speak, or didn't she?) Diana Vreeland came of age in the roaring twenties and then became an editor at Harpers by WWII; and then at Vogue, when after more than a decade Harpers had only upped her salary by $1000. a year. At Vogue she helped put the face on much of the 1960s, being something of a free spirit open to anything new. But, by the 80's she was forced out and came to indulge her life as a celebrity, taking a consultancy job at the Met organizing costume exhibits, which helps to explain why the DeYoung does the same at least once a year.The film conveys its story through late-life TV interviews (Cavett, and Griffin) and for-TV interviews (Jane Pauley and Diane Sawyer) from her living room, which she called a "garden in hell". There are also interviews with various Hollywood celebs who either modeled or worked for her in their early years; various Fashionistas, and of course family---two sons, a grandson and a great grand daughter, who reads from Vreeland's pre-war Harpers series "Why Don't You..." with admirable pronunciation and enunciation for an American child.Oddly enough, I don't remember seeing anyone interviewed as being simply "a friend".The video footage is almost all late-Vreeland; the photos early to mid, with stock video to establish period flavor. And there are the layouts from Harpers, and especially, Vogue. It is here that the uninitiated like me come to see her brilliance. Mrs. Vreeland (that's how she referred to herself) comes across as quite a character, and her family very likeable. The interviews with celebs and fashionistas are tastefully celebratory, not the usual Hollywood brown-nosing excess.Unfortunately, we don't get to hear Vreeland's thoughts on Jane Pauley's get up, which combined a cowgirl's hair-do, with what might have been a cowgirl's outfit, or perhaps a red and white circus tent. Pauley seemed to see Mrs. Vreeland as something of an elderly eccentric aunt to be humored, and frequently rolls her eyes and smiles at the camera for no good reason, unless to identify with her suburban audience, which is probably much more erudite than she could imagine.And then there's Mrs. Vreeland's "garden in hell" apartment, which is furnished on the More Is More principle. Clutter is merely a point of departure; and why have a pair of something if you can get three of them, or five maybe? The polychromatic striped wallpaper is just for background. The whole assemblage suggests a Vreeland inspired train wreck, where an Imperial Chinese Pullman was artfully crashed into a Belle Epoch Parisian boudoir, with Mrs. Vreeland center stage, an erstwhile Mandarin, perched on her couch like a throw pillow come to life, replete with draw-cord tassle ear rings. And rouge. Lots of rouge. "I LOVE rouge!" Didn't she ever.In any case, Diana Vreeland comes across as someone I'd like to have met, if not worked for, which brings to mind "The Devil Wears Prada". In that flick, Meryl Streep plays a Vreeland-esque character based on a more recent Vogue tyrant-diva, Anna Wintour. In one scene, Mrs. Priestly, as she's known, is shown throwing her coats on her assistant's desk, while barking orders, over a series of morning arrivals at the office. Apparently, Mrs. Vreeland did just that to her assistant, Ali McGraw ("Love Story"), who threw it back at her. Mrs. Vreeland then pronounced her to be the rudest person she'd ever met. It seems that while times change, Fascist Fashionista Divas don't, really. In any case, by my count, Mrs. Vreeland has 3 movies with characters based on her, and one went on to become a classic: "Funny Face".So, all in all it was a pleasant 90 minutes. No life philosophy gained. I'm not much of one for rouge, and I don't think it would help me, anyway; and I can't go back and get myself born in Paris, maybe next life. It was informative, though. Helped to fill in some gaps, tie some loose ends, explain some of the recent past I'd not considered.

Pizzazz. Diana Vreeland had a spectacular gift for language, coining words and phrases that painted—in a single, vivid stroke—a feeling, a movement, a fantasy. In the late thirties, as the fashion editor of Harper’s Bazaar, she dazzled Depression-weary housewives with her wildly inventive, often outlandish, suggestions: “Why Don’t You . . . wash your blond child’s hair in dead champagne, as they do in France? . . .• “You gotta have style. It helps you get down the stairs. It helps you get up in the morning. It’s a way of life. Without it, you’re nobody. I’m not talking about lots of clothes.”• “Of course, one is born with good taste. It’s very hard to acquire. You can acquire the patina of taste."• The first rule that a geisha is taught, at the age of nine, is to be charming to other women...Every girl in the world should have geisha training.”• “You know the greatest thing is passion, without it what have you got? I mean if you love someone you can love them as much as you can love them but if it isn’t a passion, it isn’t burning, it isn’t on fire, you haven’t lived.”• “Style—all who have it share one thing: originality.”• “There’s only one thing in life, and that’s the continual renewal of inspiration.”• “Balenciaga often said that women did not have to be perfect or beautiful to wear his clothes. When they wore his clothes, they became beautiful."• “Prohibition. Insane idea. Try to keep me from taking a swallow of this tea and I’ll drink the whole pot.”• “Everything is new. At least everything is new the first time around.”• “The West is boring itself to death! And talking itself to death!”• “I’d like to have been Elizabeth the First. She was wonderful. She surrounded herself with poets and writers, lived at Hampton Court, and drove that little team of spotted ponies with long tails....She’s at the top of my list. I loved the clothes. It took her four hours to dress—we have a lot in common!”• “Where would fashion be without literature?”• “Oh, but I think that thoughtfulness and manners are everything.”• “Lighting is everything in a color.”• “This story went around about me: Apparently I’d wanted a billiard-table green background for a picture. So the photographer went out and took the picture. I didn’t like it. He went out and took it again and I still didn’t like it. ‘I asked for billiard-table green!’ I’m supposed to have said. ‘But this is a billiard table, Mrs. Vreeland,’ the photographer replied. ‘My dear,’ I apparently said, ‘I meant the idea of billiard-table green.’”• “I was the most economical thing that ever happened to the Hearst Corporation. Perhaps they loved me because I never knew how to get any money out of them.”• “A lie to get out of something, or take an advantage for oneself, that’s one thing; but a lie to make life more interesting—well, that’s entirely different.”• “I have a terrible time remembering exactly when my birthday is. Age is totally boring...”• “The best time to leave a party is when the party’s just beginning. There’s no drink that kills except the drink that you didn’t want to take, as the saying goes, and there’s no hour that kills except the hour you stayed after you wanted to go home.”More? See the movie, buy her books. Sorry, Diana, you left too soon.P.S. If we left any good ones out, add them.

This documentary is such a deep and lovely dive into the force of nature that was Diana Vreeland. I should spend more time heaping praise on it, but others have done so and it deserves all the accolades. The director has found a way to decipher an enigmatic and unique personality, and give her the credit she is due for her many remarkable accomplishments. It's nearly a perfect effort but two glaring errors stand out to me.First mistake: It is simply inexcusable that the interviewees are not identified on screen. I am sure there is a reason for this, but regardless of what that reason is, it is a decision that is not justified and should not have happened.Second mistake: The VO actors who recreated the conversation between George and Diana are awful. Just unbearably terrible. It is SO overdone and this not only doesn't serve the film, it is distracting since Diana had such a distinctive voice and this actress misses the mark so entirely that it detracts from the ability to create a mental image of the Diana Vreeland we are getting to know courtesy of the film. I didn't realize it wasn't Diana and George's actual voices until watching the credits, and frankly I was relieved because I didn't want that ridiculous overdone reading to actually be her. Once again, onscreen graphics could have made this a little less painful, letting us know it was a dramatization. Re-casting the voices would be even better.Still the film was great and I will definitely watch it again!

Survey of globe-trotter life - especially NYC - in 1950-80s.

As a writer of fashion fiction I was naturally drawn to this. This is a fascinating look at the life of the creative force that was Diana Vreeland. I do feel it’s a slightly romantic account of her life, but that does not lessen its impact and great interest.We see that Diana had quite a privileged bohemian upbringing and is quite free spirited in her outlook and behaviour. Her early life was spent in London and Paris where she meets Coco Chanel who helps to develop her sense of style before her family move to America at the start of the Second World War.Although very hardworking and with no experience she seems to drift with ease into the world of fashion journalism and takes a unique visionary approach that quickly gets her noticed and promoted. I felt she was a great romantic, everything was her take on something and this was often glamorous, exotic, expensive, glossy and as I say highly romanticised. Her creative force knew absolutely no boundaries and once ensconced at Vogue she was very demanding but had great energy and her fashion layouts while stunning, glamorous and groundbreaking were complicated and time consuming costing a fortune. Ultimately leading to her leaving Vogue.However her visionary talent was noted and she ended up at the Metropolitan museum in New York using their extensive historical and couture collections in a new innovative story telling way, opening up a whole new world of fashion to the public. Diana was an innovator, a leader of style and never a follower of fashion. She was also a force to be reckoned with. I liked her very much.

I looked for it at Youtube and saw it again and then it was hard to find it. I bought it because Diana Vreeland is just such a unique, entertaining, unique person you got to see this film and enjoy her more than once. You will be flappergasted by her ideas, her style and recognize that she did in fact invent what other people copy if they are wise enough to do so and Vogue will never bee the same again with out her. I read her book and the books about her afterwards, because she was just fantastic.She blended Fact and Fiction and invented Faction. YOU will love her if you love uniqueness and brilliance at its best.

3/4 of the film was great, unfortunately at the 3/4 point the film started again from the beginning, faulty copy, no conclusion to Diana’s story. Couldn’t be bothered with the hassle of returning, so that’s my experience of the DVD ☹️

This film has me enchanted and I now must watch it once a month the mind of DV was magical and her eye's saw the world as it is with all it's beauty and not hte selective criticism of the vast majority of the brain dead humans we encounter daily, She is one of 5 people throughout history I wish I could have met and known before her demise.

I didn't know very much about this lady before seeing the DVD on the amazon website, but I really enjoyed watching it. There are lots of interviews with now-famous people and it's really interesting to see how much she achieved without any real training - just pure instinct, flair and style.