Why so many designer docs are in fashion

After decades of runway shows in New York, the brand is trying something new. In August, the brand released a documentary, “A Sense of Beauty," following co-creative directors Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia as they complete their pre-fall 2024 collection. Episodes show the designers at work in their Midtown Manhattan office, visiting a painter’s Brooklyn studio and observing the work at an embroidery and hand-beading factory in India.

The documentary, which is available on YouTube, offers an alternative to the industry-standard runway show. “As we think about how we engage with customers, it seemed to me this documentary was a great way to do it," said CEO Alex Bolen. It’s also the latest addition to a ballooning genre of nonfiction fashion films.

Director R.J. Cutler’s 2009 glimpse behind the scenes at Vogue magazine, “The September Issue," kicked off the trend of fashion documentaries, which has accelerated in recent years. There was last year’s multipart docuseries “The Super Models," about Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington, and “Invisible Beauty," which explored the career of model and activist Bethann Hardison. Designers Diane von Furstenberg and John Galliano also recently got the documentary treatment.

“Fashion is a multibillion-dollar industry, so it’s a no-brainer that there would be content based on it," said Fabiola Beracasa Beckman, a producer of “The First Monday in May," about the creation of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “China: Through the Looking Glass" exhibition in 2015 and more recently, “Diane Von Furstenberg: Woman in Charge," released in June.

Though it’s called a fashion documentary, some brands produce these films and series to market their products and pull back the curtain on what makes a dress worth several thousand dollars. “I wanted to show our clients what goes into each collection," said Kim, the Oscar de la Renta designer. Since 2012, Chanel has produced its own “Inside Chanel" series of short films exploring the brand’s history, iconic products and the life of its founder.

Other projects are purely journalistic. The director Reiner Holzemer’s 2019 documentary “Martin Margiela: In His Own Words" offers one of the few on-screen interviews with the elusive Belgian designer (whose face never appears in the film). Aside from having his subjects’ cooperation during the filming, Holzemer prefers his autonomy throughout the production and editing process. “I only do it when I’m really independent—I have carte blanche," he said.

In some cases, a documentary’s subject may use the project as an opportunity to reframe their narrative. Last year’s “High & Low: John Galliano" delved into the designer’s early life and ascent at legendary French houses Givenchy and Dior, before his highly publicized fall from grace. (In 2011, a video surfaced showing an intoxicated Galliano making antisemitic statements.) The film was produced in association with Condé Nast Entertainment.

Months of labor go into crafting a fashion collection that typically concludes with a 10-minute runway sprint. Bolen, the Oscar de la Renta CEO, considers the process a “poor investment," especially if there’s potential to win an audience’s attention for the length of an entire film. “A Sense of Beauty," which cost approximately $450,000 dollars to produce, is the brand’s alternative. A fashion show can run upward of $1 million.

He hopes the series is both more cost effective than a runway, and memorable: “Without being one of the 100 shows in a week that people have forgotten about five minutes later."