“Dior and I” an intimate look into the world of Haute Couture

I have always thought that Haute Couture was the ultimate in chic, elegance, luxury, craftsmanship and so very French. It doesn’t exist here, the land of casual dressing and sneakers. So when I went to Paris to model it was a dream of mine to walk in an Haute Couture fashion show, if just for a moment I could wear those sublimely elegant and expensive dresses and imagine I was a worldly Parisian lady from another era. And luckily, I did! For a moment I was that lady, walking the runway for Torrente Haute Couture, terrified to trip, but very proud none the less.

This weekend I went to see the new film, “Dior and I”, an intimate peek into the world of the Haute Couture house, Dior. Interspersed with a narrative from Christian Dior’s autobiography, we are transported between eras as we have a glimpse into the inner workings of today’s couture house and the debut of designer Raf Simons as he takes the helm as creative director, and has only 8 weeks to design his first Haute Couture collection for Dior.

One can feel the immense pressure the designer and his team of collaborators have to pull off a collection in such a short time. It is a delight to watch the talent of the seamstresses of the Dior house work their magical hands, stitch after stitch, and to discover the amount of effort and time is devoted to the Haute Couture line.

If you have ever wanted to delve into the real behind the scenes of fashion, this film is a must see. The director, Frédéric Tcheng, does a fantastic job at getting inside the working world of a “maison” and giving the audience a glimpse of the efforts and craftsmanship that go into these clothes, the personalities of the men and women who work there without giving it the slightest glamorization that many fashion films do.

It is utterly fascinating, and not just if you are enamored with fashion, but for anyone interested in viewing the secretive world that is “La Haute Couture”.

Now showing in Miami at O cinema Wynwood. and Sunset Place.

Coming to theaters in France in July.