Diana Ross in Mahogany.Courtesy of Everett Collection
Mahogany (1975)
As far as portrayals of fashion designers on-screen go, they don’t get more decadent than Diana Ross’s turn as the American design student Tracy Chambers, whose clothes become an unlikely hit in the salons of high society 1970s Rome. Directed by Motown Records’ Berry Gordy, the film’s celebration of fashion at its most flamboyant and excessive also features a political message that remains relevant to this day, as Tracy is torn between her love for a Black activist fighting gentrification in her hometown of Chicago, and the glamorous but ultimately empty promises of her modeling career in Europe. Also featuring a soundtrack for the ages, Mahogany is a campy—and surprisingly conscientious—fashion fantasy.
Marcello Mastroianni and Sophia Loren in Prêt-à-Porter.Courtesy of Everett Collection
Prêt-à-Porter (1994)
In Robert Altman’s sprawling, starry, and very much satirical ode to the fashion industry, nothing is quite as it seems. Employing the filmmaker’s signature mockumentary style, there are celebrity cameos from the likes of Julia Roberts, Sophia Loren, and Lauren Bacall, all playing various fashionistas descending on Paris Fashion Week in the wake of the death of Olivier de la Fontaine, the head of the city’s fashion council. While the film was both a critical and commercial bomb, the initially bemused response of the fashion industry has softened over the years into affection. As a document of the thrilling heights of the 1990s runway show, there’s no better film to watch.