SIX UNDER-THE-RADAR FASHION DOCUMENTARIES TO SINK YOUR TEETH INTO
January 24, 2023 | Bryan Ho
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"... there are many obscure and underground masterpieces ... of fashion media. Many of these fashion films have been overlooked or buried deep within the internet, waiting to be uncovered. The collective all contain multitudes of information—with some following the genre formula to a satisfying tee—while others break free and surprise us. Nonetheless, all are educational and inspiring while keeping you engrossed during its run time. Below, Vogue has compiled a curated list comprising of these hidden gems."
“CALENDAR GIRL” PROFILES RUTH FINLEY
March 11, 2022 | Thom Powers
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IN NEW FASHION DOCUMENTARY CALENDAR GIRL, THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF THE LATE RUTH FINLEY TAKE CENTER STAGE
March 8, 2022 | Lilah Ramzi
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"It's evident that the ever-smiley Finley presided over her calendar with an iron fist in a velvet glove. Fashion Calendar was more than a way to prevent a fashion scheduling pickle; it was an exercise in diplomacy and a chance to ensure both established names and young talent got their 15 minutes of fame within the same week."
"Calendar Girl is not just a paean to Finley, it’s evidence of the warp-speed acceleration of the industry and its need to do away with the way things were."
‘CALENDAR GIRL’ REVIEW: A PORTRAIT OF AN ANGEL OF FASHION
March 8, 2022 | Glenn Kenny
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"This affectionate portrait is also well grounded. Finley is remembered as a hard worker among other hard workers. Despite the extremes often associated with the fashion industry, in Finley’s narrative, there’s very little haughty self-regard or hyperbole on display."
CALENDAR GIRL
March 8, 2022 | Sheila O'Malley
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"Christian D. Bruun's fascinating documentary "Calendar Girl" follows Finley as she closes up shop in 2014, readying for the calendar transfer. A tiny smiling dynamo, Finley still attended New York Fashion Week every year (as many shows as she could get to), and is a legend in that small world. "Calendar Girl," an engaging and sneakily profound film, explains why."
"This oral history style leads directly to the deeper themes: the world in "Calendar Girl" may be high-fashion, but it was a small world, a cozy world even, where personal relationships were everything. What do we lose when we lose that personal touch?"
CALENDAR GIRL (2020) OPENS TODAY
March 8, 2022 | Steve Kopian
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"This is a wonderful look at a woman and an industry over the course of 70 years. By watching Ruth go through her paces and reflecting back on her life as she sells her business we get a real inside look at more than just a woman and an industry but the history of every everyday life since we see the clothes that we all wore."
MOVIE OF THE WEEK March 11, 2022: CALENDAR GIRL
March 6, 2022 | Jennifer Merin
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"The devil may wear Prada, but Ruth Finley — the spunky powerhouse behind the fashion industry-defining Fashion Calendar (who’s far more angelic than devilish, anyway) — isn’t really one to play favorites when it comes to haute couture. She’s always loved it all: The creativity, the pageantry, the gorgeous clothes. Her decades-long career at the heart of New York City’s fashion scene is the subject of director Christian D. Bruun’s affectionate documentary Calendar Girl."
"Christian D. Brunn’s Calendar Girl is part of the fashion documentary tradition that includes Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel, The September Issue and Unzipped, among many others. It’s tangentially about fashion; what makes it so compelling and important is its true subject, Ruth Finley."
INSIDE THE PREMIERE OF CALENDAR GIRL—
THE LONG-AWAITED RUTH FINLEY DOCUMENTARY
March 6, 2022
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"For nearly seven decades, if you wanted your designs to walk down a catwalk at NYFW, a call to Finley and her Fashion Calendar publication was in order. All this to say, for a film centered on dates and timing, there was really only one way to RSVP. Finley had literally made time in the calendar for much of New York’s brightest stars (in the film, we hear from Diane von Furstenberg, Bill Cunningham, Carolina Herrera) so everyone happily turned out for the event."
DESIGNERS AND FASHION EXECS CELEBRATE
NEW RUTH FINLEY DOCUMENTARY
March 6, 2022 | Rosemary Feitelberg
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‘CALENDAR GIRL’ DOCUMENTARY HIGHLIGHTS RUTH FINLEY’S CONTRIBUTION TO NEW YORK’S FASHION SCENE
March 4, 2022 | Rosemary Feitelberg
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CALENDAR GIRL REVIEW
March 4, 2022 | Sabina Dana Plasse
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"There’s always a person considered the glue or the brain trust to how things operate on a grand level in any thriving industry. This individual is usually unknown to the world but worshiped by those on the inside. Ruth Finley, the subject of Christian D. Bruun’s Calendar Girl, is exactly that kind of person."
More impressive is how the writer-director presents Calendar Girl as a biopic. Bruun not only focuses on Finley’s role in the rise of fashion designers and the billion-dollar business it has become but also examines how the fashion industry evolved to its point of decadence and privilege."
What some others are saying
“I loved loved loved the doc! It's fantastic!”
NY1 | Sharon Johnson
"This documentary is so beautiful and inspiring, featuring some of the most influential people in fashion."
IRISH FILM CRITIC | Malika Harris
"The inspiring message of the movie is timeless."
CULTURE MIX | Carla Hay
"Calendar Girl director Bruun was also the film's cinematographer, and he brings an unpretentious intimacy to this fashion documentary, in contrast to so many other documentaries about fashion influencers that tend to lean into 'larger than life' pomp and circumstance."
CULTURE MIX | Carla Hay
"The structure of Calendar Girl is remarkable. From the general ideas on the art of scheduling for the fashion industry, the documentary moves closer and closer to Ruth Finley’s life and her as a human being, to then open the film up again to questions of business ethics, technology, and the importance of archiving."
EYE FOR FILM | Anne-Katrin Tietze
"It's a great film! I found this portrait of fashion icon Ruth Finley to be absolutely fascinating."
UNPAID FILM CRITIC | Seth Shire
"If you want to learn about a wonderful person watch it, if you love fashion, you NEED to watch it."
BATTLE ROYALE WITH CHEESE | Alex Cole
"'Calendar Girl' is most intriguing when going back to when Finley and the CFDA's founder Eleanor Lambert were carving out careers for themselves in the 1940s, taking advantage of a rare industry where women could attain positions of power and in some cases, chart their own career path."
MOVEABLE FEST | Stephen Saito
"Christian D BruUn has done a brilliant job of using Ruth herself to tell her story, and her beauty of soul pervades through and draws the viewer in through this unique character."
BATTLE ROYALE WITH CHEESE | Alex Cole
"Truly inspirational piece about a woman who took power when it was not easy to be a woman taking power. Beautiful movie."
MOVIE CITY NEWS | David Poland
"It's a charming movie."
WALL STREET JOURNAL | Brenda Cronin
"I loved the movie. I remember starting at WWD and getting the calendar way back in the day, so it was a nostalgic watch for me."
ELLE | Véronique Hyland
"A solid documentary, easy to watch, interesting and definitely something fashion lovers will revel in."
BATTLE ROYALE WITH CHEESE | Alex Cole
"Insightful overview of Finley as a businessperson, mother, and beloved influencer, as well as how she fits into the larger cultural context of the fashion industry."
CULTURE MIX | Carla Hay
"Timeless. It’s a nice peek into a rarified window."
EASY READER NEWS | Neely Swanson
"I loved the film. An emotional farewell to fashion’s old guard. Calendar Girl shows viewers a stark contrast between the unglamorous, behind-the-scenes, analog nature of Finley's role and the absolute power she held over who got to show when during New York Fashion Week."
FASHIONISTA | Dhani Mau
"This is the third film in as many years about a tiny woman named Ruth who was well-liked and achieved extraordinary things in a time where it was far easier for men to be recognized and hired. Like Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Ruth Finley commanded respect from those around her who she physically looked up to but who turned to her for guidance and approval."
MOVIES WITH ABE | Abe Fried-Tanzer
"I liked it a great deal. A wonderful look at a woman and an industry over the course of 70 years. A delight and recommended."
UNSEEN FILMS | Steve Kopian
"In the interviews with Finley, that personable, charming personality is on full display."
FILM THREAT| Bobby LePire
"Finley is the film's secret weapon; charming, self-effacing and joyful about an industry that she loved. Keep an eye out for it."
CINEMA 365 | Carlos deVillalvilla
"The remarkable Ruth Finley … is lovingly profiled in Christian D. Bruun's entertaining Calendar Girl."
FLIP SIDE REVIEWS/FILM FESTIVAL TRAVELER| Kevin Filipski
"This delightful and colorful woman (who died at age 98 in 2018) is, in a very real sense, a walking talking history of fashion in Manhattan, and it's great to see her immortalized on film."
FLIP SIDE REVIEWS/FILM FESTIVAL TRAVELER| Kevin Filipski
"Finley was a pillar of fashion's old guard, and as we navigate a new era of radical change for the industry and how it operates, it's nice to look back at an old one — and bid it a respectful farewell."
FASHIONISTA | Dhani Mau
“Women were supposed to get married, have kids, and stay home. I constantly just had to prove what I was doing was right.”
RUTH FINLEY
