93% Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel

All Critics (42) | Top Critics (17) | Fresh (39) | Rotten (3)

Vivid, delicious trip through the heyday of fashion mags is a must for followers of clothes, print design, and high society.

Vreeland comes across in the movie as something of a cross between Auntie Mame and Godzilla. She was a true original in a world where knock-offs abounded.

The film, written and directed by Vreeland's granddaughter-in-law, mainly rests on the strength of its subject.

Makes a compelling case for the late Diana Vreeland as the 20th century's pre-eminent tastemaker, not to mention one of its most extravagant personalities.

The movie has a lot going for it.

[The film] squeezes an impressive amount of information into a relatively brief running time, yet it's blandly straightforward in its use of talking heads and archival footage.

[A] warm portrait of the world's first true fashion maven.

It can be hard to keep up at points -- not with the plot, but with the amount of inspiration that Diana can still strew over an audience.

As a biographical documentary, Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel is complete and satisfying. As a leading character, Mrs. Vreeland is entirely entertaining.

Vreeland's attention to detail, her love of new and exciting images, her devotion to and ability to identify, that ethereal thing called style, come across loudly and clearly.

With her lacquered black hair and Kabuki-like face, one-time 'ugly duckling' Vreeland was her own work of art and, as the film reminds us, she was one of the most important and amusing self-made works of art of her century.

[An] entertaining bit of hagiography ...

An entertaining and visually apt, if less than deeply probing, portrait of an imperishable fashion icon.

In an age where documentaries are becoming the place to go for those interested in investing their time & money in the company of thoughtful and watchable subjects, The Eye Has to Travel is yet another welcome addition to that list.

It's informative and not uncritical, touching as it does in an affectionate manner on her authoritarian personality and her somewhat cavalier attitude towards matters of fact and the history of fashion.

Fashion aficionados aren't the only viewers who can appreciate this energetic documentary about the life of Vreeland.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/diana_vreeland_the_eye_has_to_travel_2012/

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