Trend Beacons

Jean Paul Gaultier : Freak & Chic

December 2018 •French

Inspired even as a boy by the Folies Bergere, the legendary Paris cabaret venue, couturier Jean-Paul Gaultier always wanted to stage a show there. "But what story can I tell?" he muses in this doc about the six months of preparation that went into the show. "Mine." Combining fashion with film, dance, theater, and unapologetic over-the-top-ness, the revue offers a 40-year career retrospective of the designer who is practically never spoken of without using the phrase enfant terrible. Notorious among cinephiles for his costumes for The Fifth Element and The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover and among pop fans for Madonna's pointy cone brassiere, he also incorporated teddy bears and S&M fetish gear as design motifs. In the show, the fanciful and outrageous meets the naughtily witty (a skit sending up Vogue dragon lady Anna Wintour) and the poignant (a tribute to his partner Francis Menuge, who died in 1990).

Fashion As A Social Control

January 1976 •English

A look at the ways fashion has been used to socially control women in Canada, both historically and in the 20th century.

Fairy Tales

February 2015 •Chinese

After sharing her clothing designs on social media, working-class country girl Fairy Wang becomes an internet sensation. She soon discovers that fame isn't always a good thing.

Packed Lunch

January 2005 •English

What is it about Speedos? Well here Australian director Tim Hunter is on a mission to find the answer to the question of why so many gay men can't seem to get enough of hunks in tight fitting trunks? Although somehow I think the answer can be found in the question! Anyway in a bid to discover the truth, Hunter has carried out a series of interviews with men who have more than a passing interest in this briefest of garment, including that of Speedo designer Peter Travis, who here relates his part in the history of 'the male equivalent of the Wonder Bra.'

Exposure | Fashion Collection 2023

November 2023 •English

View the creations from the 2023 graduating cohort of fashion designers, thinkers, curators and researchers of Massey University.

Traceable

September 2014 •English

Traceable follows Laura Siegel, a fashion designer who takes a critical look at the fashion supply chain and fast fashion industry, travels through India in order to meet and work together with the artisans who create the majority of the clothing that we wear. The film explores our growing disconnect of how and who makes our clothing, thus instilling a need for traceability in the fashion industry.

Civilisations: The Gardens of Babel

January 2001 •English

Mesopotamia was the site of the Sumerian civilisation, which flourished at the confluence of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates. From 5000 to 2000 BC, the Sumerians flourished in a hostile environment by developing agriculture and irrigation and they opened up the trade routes of the ancient world. It was the Sumerians who invented writing and the wheel, and they first divided time into minutes and seconds. In the end however the Babylonian civilisation took the place of the Sumerians. However their heritage and myths live on in the Mediterranean and Western worlds to this day.

The Story of Funk: One Nation Under a Groove

December 2014 •English

A documentary on funk and P-funk and the bands and artists that made it all happen: James Brown, Sly Stone, George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Maurice White and his Earth Wind & Fire, Average White Band, Kool & The Gang and lots more. It tells the story of black American music and how it evolved from funk to more main stream to disco to hiphop to contemporary R 'n B and its impact on society. Music and live footage from the bands, interviews with artists and band members of Kool & The Gang, Earth Wind & Fire, George Clinton and lots more.

Le Paris des mannequins

October 1963 •French

A photoshoot on the roofs and in the streets of Paris, under the astonished eyes of the inhabitants.

Dior and I

March 2015 •French

Behind-the-scenes documentary revealing what goes on inside the colourful, privileged, and sometimes stressful Christian Dior fashion house.

Yohji Yamamoto: Dressmaker

June 2016 •English

Yohji Yamamoto | Dressmaker is an intimate and delving portrait of one of fashion's most revered stalwarts. For a man who creates clothing as armour, Yamamoto opens up as never before to share the core values that shape his life and work. Interviews with family, friends, employees and confidants reveal further insight about this complex and enigmatic figure.

Harry Styles: The Finishing Touch

January 2023 •French

Hit after hit, pop-icon Harry Styles, once the centerpiece of the world's biggest boy bands has grown into someone who isn't afraid of self-expression, continuing to reject the traditional confines of masculinity.

Riveted: The History of Jeans

February 2022 •English

Riveted: The History of Jeans reveals the fascinating and surprising story of this iconic American garment. At any given moment, half the people on the planet are wearing them. They have become a staple of clothing the world over, worn by everyone from presidents and supermodels to farmers and artists. More than just an item of apparel, America’s tangled past is woven into the indigo blue fabric. From its roots in slavery to its connection to the Wild West, youth culture, the civil rights movement, rock and roll, hippies, high fashion and hip-hop, jeans are the canvas on which the history of American ideology and politics is writ large.

Dans le vent

October 1963 •French

Short subject on how fashion is created-- not by the great couturiers, but on the street.

The September Issue

August 2009 •English

A documentary chronicling Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour's preparations for the 2007 fall-fashion issue.

The Bikini Open 5

January 1991 •English

THE BIKINI OPEN is a special-event, retro series featuring the best swimsuit, fitness, bikini, and modeling competitions from the early 90s.

Fashion Victim: The Last of the Guccis

January 1998 •English

It centers on the scandal of the most famous fashion family of the last century. Starting with Maurizio Gucci's murder and ending with the prosecution of ex-wife Patrizia Gucci, this documentary delves into the family's past, tracing the company's history from its humble beginnings to its heyday and its demise and rebirth under its Arab owners.

A Living Culture

September 2022 •English

A short documentary with funk, fashion and noise, with intimate stories from students and artisans from New Zealand and India pursuing a responsible fashion future.

Kim Kardashian Theory

January 2024 •French

Révolte dans la mode

December 2016 •French