I was watching the documentary Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel this week, and it sent me down the rabbit hole of inspiration. I love that feeling you get from watching creative people do what it is they do best—especially when they dress really well when doing it. Plus, the concurrent Google searches and screenshots are always entertaining. It’s the perfect activity to counteract the malaise of a hot summer weeknight.
From Dior and I to Bill Cunningham New York to Franca: Chaos and Creation (a personal favorite), here’s a roundup of the best fashion documentaries to screen this summer and to study ahead of a very busy Fashion Month. A bonus? Most of them are about 90 minutes—the perfect viewing time.
Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel (2011)
The film tells the story of Diana Vreeland’s incredible career, including 26 years as fashion editor for Harper’s Bazaar. The voiceover made to mimic Diana Vreeland’s voice is hilarious, but the substance is incredible.
Available to stream on Tubi
Franca: Chaos and Creation (2016)
Once the late editor in chief of Italian Vogue was diagnosed with cancer, her son decided to film himself interviewing his mother. It spawned a documentary cataloging her incredible, provocative work in the fashion industry.
Available to stream on Netflix
Dior and I (2014)
Dior, the Raf Simons years: Get a look inside the storied French fashion house of Christian Dior in the lead-up to Simons’s first couture show as creative director. You really see how everyone from the front-facing leads to the highly skilled artisans in the atelier have a hand in the final beautiful work.
Available to stream on Netflix
The First Monday in May (2016)
A depiction of the lead-up to 2015’s Met Gala following the “China Through the Looking Glass” exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The First Monday in May reveals what really goes into fashion’s biggest night.
Available to stream on Tubi
McQueen (2018)
McQueen explores the boundary-breaking designer Lee McQueen’s incendiary ascent to the top of the industry, acknowledging both his highs and lows. You can see his earliest collections through to his work at Givenchy and the launch of his own brand, including some of those incredible runway shows he put on in the early 2000s.
Available to stream on Tubi
Dries (2017)
Oh, to be in the audience of a Dries Van Noten runway show. Now that Van Noten himself has stepped down from his namesake brand, the Dries documentary outlines the legacy he left behind—every playful print and luxe brocade he clashed. One of my favorite parts is the glimpse inside his insane home and gardens, both a resplendence of color.
Available to stream on Amazon Prime
Bill Cunningham New York (2010)
Learn the idiosyncrasies of the man behind the lens—the man being Bill Cunningham, the extraordinary New York Times photographer whose work paved the way for the documentation of street style as we know it. Go inside his residence at Carnegie Hall—he was one of the last artists to live there—where he slept amongst his film. Then ride along as he bikes to work, which he was still doing at 80, in his iconic blue chore coat.
Available to stream on Apple TV+
Notebook on Cities and Clothes (1989)
In a rare conversation between two outstanding creatives, director Wim Wenders speaks with Japanese fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto about the creative process, deconstructing the relationship between cities, the way we dress, and cinema.
Available to stream on the Criterion Collection
The September Issue (2009)
In the fashion world, magazines’ September issues are the pinnacle of their year’s work. A glimpse into the world of fashion media before it was fully saturated by the dot-com boom, The September Issue follows Anna Wintour as she and her team prepare American Vogue’s 2007 September issue.
Available to stream on Amazon Prime
Unzipped (1995)
A delightful watch, Unzipped, directed by Isaac Mizrahi’s then-boyfriend, Douglas Keeve, takes you behind the scenes of Mizrahi’s preparation for his 1994 fall runway collection. It’s a bit of glamour and a lot of mayhem.
Available to stream on Apple TV+
Catwalk (1995)
This ’90s documentary follows supermodel Christy Turlington as she is fitted for and walks the shows of Chanel, Versace, Dior, and more, from New York to Paris, during the 1994 spring/summer season. The runway collections are larger than life, but my favorite part is the off-duty model style—very minimal ’90s.
Available to stream on YouTube
The Gospel According to André (2017)
First, read his book The Chiffon Trenches: A Memoir, then follow up with fashion journalist, magazine editor, and industry legend André Leon Talley’s preceding documentary, The Gospel According to André. The documentary takes you from his roots in what was at the time a segregated North Carolina to his more contemporary work at W, Women’s Wear Daily, and Vogue.
Available to stream on Tubi
The Super Models (2023)
The Super Models is a miniseries that examines the prolific careers of Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, and Christy Turlington—the original supers—as they changed the game of modeling, changing their role of mannequin to that of personality.
Available to stream on Apple TV+
Invisible Beauty (2023)
A documentary by Bethann Hardison and Frédéric Tcheng, Invisible Beauty examines Bethann Hardison’s career trajectory as a pioneering Black model, then modeling agent and activist—an untold story that serves as the perfect complement to the aforementioned The Super Models.
Available to stream on Hulu
Valentino: The Last Emperor (2008)
Valentino, the artist of couture and purveyor of glamour, founded his eponymous house in 1959 and announced his plans for retirement in 2007. This film follows the legendary designer through the last two years of his prolific career.
Available to stream on Amazon Prime
Martin Margiela: In His Own Words (2019)
Dubbed the “Banksy of fashion,” Martin Margiela is as elusive as he is beloved. Even though he uses his own voice to tell his story of operating his eponymous label from 1989 to 2009 in this documentary, only his hands are filmed. And yet, we’re still bewitched.
Available to stream on Apple TV+
The True Cost (2015)
If you’re going to absorb yourself in the fashion world, you have to cut the glamour with a bit of hard truth. That’s what The True Cost attempts to do by exposing the ugly side of the industry, shedding light on its impact on both people and the planet.
Available to stream on Tubi
L’Amour Fou (2010)
Roughly translated, the French phrase “l’amour fou” means crazy love. This film depicts legendary designer Yves Saint Laurent’s storied career and unbridled passion for dressing women, as told by his partner in life and business, Pierre Bergé.
Available to stream on Apple TV+
Wonder Boy (2019)
Olivier Rousteing was appointed to French fashion house Balmain as creative director in 2011, when he was just 25. Aptly titled, Wonder Boy documents both his professional and personal life as he searches for his biological parents.
Available to stream on Amazon Prime
Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf’s (2013)
Giorgio Armani, Candice Bergen, Manolo Blahnik, Isaac Mizrahi, Vera Wang, Joan Rivers, and more reflect on the New York landmark that is department store Bergdorf Goodman in Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf’s—and what exactly goes into creating those iconic window displays.
Available to stream on Tubi
Manolo: The Boy Who Made Shoes for Lizards (2017)
The name Manolo Blahnik is synonymous with the world of luxury footwear. Manolo: The Boy Who Made Shoes For Lizards chronicles Blahnik’s illustrious career as he moved from self-professed “cobbler” to the world’s most famous shoemaker.
Available to stream on Amazon Prime
Helmut Newton: The Bad and the Beautiful (2020)
The late photographer and provocateur Helmut Newton exposed the female form like it had never been seen before in his work. This film attempts to uncover the themes and influences that shaped his legendary portfolio, with cameos of everyone from Anna Wintour to Grace Jones.
Available to stream on Apple TV+
Twiggy (2025)
Twiggy, or Lesley Lawson, has one of the most recognizable faces of fashion—and it dates back to editorial spreads from her initial rise in the 1960s. Nicknamed for her iconic and industry-shifting “twiggy” figure, the young ingenue’s haunting gaze captured the lenses of fashion’s greatest photographers and editors. An added bonus? It’s told from her own point of view.
Available to stream on BFI Player
House of Cardin (2019)
For an indulgent dose of retro futurism, indulge in House of Cardin, a chronicle of Italian-born French fashion designer Pierre Cardin’s work—and catch a glimpse of his famous geometric shapes and space-age silhouettes.
Available to stream on Apple TV+
Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist (2018)
Vivienne Westwood was without a doubt one of fashion’s greatest designers. But she also refused to remain silent on topics about which she has strong opinions. This film exemplifies both Westwood’s integrity as a designer and her principles as an activist—plus, so much great clothing.
Available to stream on Tubi
7 Days Out (2017)
Haven’t you ever wondered how the great fashion houses like Chanel conceptualize their larger-than-life fashion shows? One episode of the series 7 Days Out follows the Chanel team, led by Karl Lagerfeld, in the week preceding their Spring 2018 haute couture fashion show at the Grand Palais—this one inspired by the gardens of Versailles.
Available to stream on Netflix
Iris (2014)
One of the most unique and certainly the most recognizable faces in fashion, Iris Apfel became an icon for her bold style, mixing everything from vintage to couture. The documentary Iris pays tribute to her devotion to fashion as she advises models, haggles with buyers, and selects her own ensembles.
Available to stream on Apple TV+
Halston (2019)
Halston’s career is both a creative triumph in American ready-to-wear and a cautionary tale in selling your own name. The documentary charts designer Roy Halston Frowick’s ascent to fame in the 1970s—with appearances from friends, Studio 54 regulars, and icons in their own right Liza Minnelli and Elsa Peretti—to his battle with corporations and licensing deals.
Available to stream on Apple TV+
Colette Mon Amour (2020)
Colette was one of those magnificent stores that make shopping feel like the most important creative endeavor one could embark upon. Colette Mon Amour looks into the days leading up to the closing of the Parisian concept store.
Available to stream on Vimeo
High & Low—John Galliano (2023)
A complicated presence in the fashion world, John Galliano has a story that’s full of ups and downs, highs and lows. High & Low—John Galliano shows the designer at his best, a creative talent few can rival, and reckons with him at his worst, overcoming public controversy around his regrettable actions, and then best again in how he overcame that struggle.
Available to stream on Amazon Prime
Marc Jacobs & Louis Vuitton (2007)
The Marc Jacobs Louis Vuitton years, from 1997 to 2013, were a fashion match for the ages. Marc Jacobs & Louis Vuitton explores the symbiotic partnership between two mega sources of creativity.
Available to stream on Tubi
White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch (2022)
Mention Abercrombie & Fitch and you’ll realize everyone has a story associated with the early-aughts super brand—and they’re not always good. White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch tells a number of those stories: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Available to stream on Netflix
You Might Also Like
-
4 Investment-Worthy Skincare Finds From Sephora
-
The 17 Best Retinol Creams Worth Adding to Your Skin Care Routine
