Fashion at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival
Bill Cunningham New
York and A Man's
Story are both documentaries about fashion, but
they focus on different facets and personalities of the
industry.
Bill Cunningham New York(presented in this year's New Horizons
Competition) chronicles the life of the 82-year-old fashion
photographer, who is most famous for hisweekly columns in the
Style section of The New York Times: "On the Street," in which he
identifies fashion trends as he spots them emerging on the street;
and "Evening Hours," his ongoing coverage of the charities that
fill the cultural life of New York.
Cunningham has been working on these columns for decades, and shows
no signs of stopping.
Twelve years in the
making, A Man's Story
(presented in the Documentary Competition)provides an insider's look
at the career of renowned British fashion designer Ozwald Boateng.
The film was directed by Varon Bonicos, who has been filming
Boateng since 1998.
Born in London in the late
1970s to Ghanaian parents, Boateng was inspired by the immaculate
suits his father wore. He opened his first studio on the Portobello
Road in 1991, and launched his Savile Row shop in 1994. Boateng has
dressed David Bowie, Russell Crowe, Matt Damon, Jude Law, Daniel
Day Lewis, Anthony Hopkins, Lenny Kravitz, Spike Lee and Brad Pitt,
among countless other stars. In addition to suiting up the elite,
Boateng has been wardrobe designer for films including The
Matrix, Tomorrow Never Dies, Hannibal, Eastern Promises… He
has also demonstrated a talent for film, and opens each fashion
show with a short film depicting the essence of the
collection.