In this post, I have reviewed 14 fashion films. All of the fashion films, interviews, and documentaries featured in this post are over 30 minutes long.
They are all great films, and I have watched several of them, but not all of them. I am going to eventually watch each one. In order to give you an idea of what the film is about, I watched several minutes of each and wrote a little bit about them.
The Youtube fashion films are grouped into sections:
Fashion Designers/Brands
Eco Fashion
The Fashion Industry's Future
The 14 Fashion Documentaries on Youtube to Watch:
Click on the title to watch the video on Youtube.
Designers/Brands
About:
YSL is considered one of the top fashion designers in the world. In this film, the narrator of the film speaks about "who" YSL was inspired by and "what" he was inspired by. A few things about Yve: public appearances were torture for him, and he loved orchids.
YSL would play with paper dolls at a young age. At 21, YSL became chief designer at Christian Dior. When he first began his own fashion brand YSL, he didn’t have a sufficient amount of money for fabric, fashion collection materials, and to pay employees. Many people worked for him for free. He has been attributed as the most influential designer.
He was part of broadening and influencing the androgynous trend. People considered him a nervous, high-strung artist. In the film, one of the interviewees said that YSL was very nervous and that "nervous people are the salt of the earth" and "high-strung people are the people that create."
About:
Unspoken is a fashion documentary by Hailey Brunson. Throughout the film, Hailey investigates why people wear what they wear. She questions the science of the mind in relation to fashion and fashion psychology. She discusses different designers and how they work.
Hailey believes that understanding how a designer creates is the key to understanding why people wear what they wear. Some of the designers she showcases in the film are Marc Jacobs, Alexander Wang, and Karl Lagerfeld. She lectures about designers and their design aesthetics.
About:
Watch the virtual tour of the exhibition "Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams." Sections of the film are in French. There are English subtitles. The film is an examination of the Dior fashions from history as well as clothes that have been preserved and made by Christian Dior. They showcase the fashion professionals putting the exhibit together, and fixing the clothes on the mannequins. Furthermore, they show the tailors mending the preserved clothes because some of them had holes in the garments.
They have interviewed and highlighted designers that are currently working for Christian Dior, along with interviewing designers that worked for the brand in the past. For example, Maria Grazia Chiuri, the current creative director was interviewed in the video. She has been creative director at Dior since 2016. Over half a million people toured this exhibition. It was located at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris.
About:
This film concerns the history of Cristobal Balenciaga and his fashion brand, Balenciaga. Balenciaga was founded in Spain and is currently located in Paris, France. His father died, so he was brought up by his mother, a seamstress. At a young age, Balenciaga was described as a tailoring prodigy. At one time, he left Spain and moved to Paris, France because of the Civil War in Spain. His brand failed twice in Spain because of the war. In the film, they stated that Coco Chanel had labeled Balenciaga as one of the only true couturiers left.
The narrator in the film communicates how Cristobal closed down the company in 1968. His nephew sold the rights to his business. They feature the many designers that have worked as creative directors for Balenciaga. Some of the creative directors were Michel Goma, Josephus Thimister, and Nicolas Ghesquiere.
About:
This is a documentary about Victoria Beckham and her fashion brand, Victoria Beckham. It initially starts with interviewing the employees she works with. They speak about the foundations of the fashion business and about her brand.
They talk about Beckham’s luxury brand and her well-made quality clothing. In this film, you will see her collections and hear her talk about them. Corseted and fitted gowns were highlighted. Victoria Beckham's fashion business is a British brand, and she is British.
About:
This is a documentary about the history of Karl Lagerfeld. There was a narrator speaking about Karl Lagerfeld, plus, he was interviewed throughout the film. They begin the film with Karl Lagerfeld drawing a sketch of himself when he was a boy, and stating in the film that he would wear bangs and short shorts, but he would stop wearing them because he felt they were "degrading".
He would draw another sketch and talk about the outfit he was drawing, the same outfit he would wear every day—a white shirt, a tie, and a black jacket. In the film, Karl Lagerfeld tells stories about his mom and childhood. They said in the film that Karl Lagerfeld had a collection of 300,000 books! They lecture about how he worked for Jean Patou, Chloe, Fendi, Chanel, and other labels.
Eco Fashion
About:
This film is an investigative documentary. In this film, they speak about fashion brands that violate laws and practice unethical practices. The narrator says clothing prices have decreased. Additionally, they said many of the "cheap" clothes are made in China. The documentary films footage of laborers working at sewing factories. They also drove into a slum area to show where the garment workers live, and they tracked down some of the employees that make below the poverty line and interviewed them.
About:
This film is about ethical and unethical fashion. It is all about the clothes that we wear and how they make an impact on the world. Andrew Morgan, the director of the film, interviews Tansy Hoskins, the author of Stitched Up. Journalist Lucy Siegle is interviewed. Orsola de Castro is interviewed. He also interviewed Safia Minney, fashion brand owner, and fashion author.
He records a video from the news talking about the deaths at Bangladesh's Rana Plaza that collapsed. He interviews employees that work at sewing factories. He shows a lot of his footage of the slums of certain underdeveloped countries.
About:
"Fashion lover" Asseaffeh Barrat is the host of the film, and she presents all of the stages and processes of the fashion production process. She interviews fashion industry professionals.
In this film, they speak about how people are producing and buying fashion at too quick a rate. It is said that about 100 billion garments are produced every year.
About:
This documentary is about how clothes are donated to people in underdeveloped countries and the clothing ends up rotting in the West African mountains. In this film, the Africans say the clothes that are donated to them are "Dead White Man’s Clothes." They state that 40% of the clothing that gets imported to Africa is trash.
About:
“The Next Black” film is based in London. In this video, innovative companies are interviewed. They talk about their futuristic fashion products. The host of the film states: "Shouldn't there be more than style changes and design? Shouldn't there be innovation that alters the entire concept of clothing?" The companies that were interviewed were Studio XO, Matt Hymer of Adidas, Biocouture by Susan Lee, Patagonia, and more.
Future of Fashion
About:
This film was created and presented at “The Business of Fashion” “Voices” conference. It was filmed in Australia. It is all about the future of retail. The moderator: Imran Amed, interviews three retail experts: Armand Hadida of L’Eclaireur, Michael O'keefe, founder of Aesop, and Kim Bui Killa of Pedder Group.
Some information that was spoken about: O’keefe says everything around us is about fashion, so he mixes different things like interior design into his work. O'keefe says producing 5 collections a year is better than 2 collections because people will come to the store and see what's new.
About:
This video is about where the fashion industry is headed. In the film sustainable fashion brands, Vin + Omi (Dorchester Collections) are interviewed. They are based in London. They state that “If you want to build a sustainable fashion company, you have to have a serious pay cut".
In the film, the narrator/host speaks about H&M producing clothes out of fishnets. They also speak about donating clothing. In India, they receive a lot of donated clothing and they do not have enough water to launder it. Additionally, they also talk about tech clothing and clothing that will adapt to your mood.
About:
This is a manifesto by Li Edelkoort. She had a lot of conversations with other fashion professionals that were in pain and overworked. She feels the fashion system is broken and she has solutions and ways to change it.
14. "The Future of Fashion With Alexa Chung"
About:
This film was created by British Vogue. The host of the film is Alexa Chung, a fashion model, and TV presenter. She interviews fashion companies like Linsdey Butler and her brand Veda, and Joseph Altuzarra and his brand Altuzarra.
FINAL NOTE
I hope you have enjoyed this post! I will be sharing more free fashion films in the future.
Want to read more articles? Check them out here: HIGHLIGHTS