‘Diane von Furstenberg: Woman in Charge’ Review: Fashion Revolutionary

“Diane von Furstenberg: Woman in Charge” makes the case for artistic simplicity, for better or worse. The story of an iconic 20th-century fashionista, it takes the form of a traditional talking-head documentary while exploring its eponymous subject: the Belgian designer and princess best known for bringing the wrap dress to prominence in the early 1970s. However, the distinction between von Furstenberg’s sleek, form-fitting design and the movie’s run-of-the-mill aesthetic is that while both approaches are in wider conversation with their respective art forms, von Fustenberg’s (re)invention went against society’s grain in its reclamation of femininity, while the visual approach from directors Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Trish Dalton remains shackled to age-old ideas of what a documentary ought to be.

The film is often informative, but makes for a passively entertaining watch despite the sheer of breadth of life von Furstenberg has lived. She speaks, softly but with conviction, about the value of every kind of experience she’s had, and how grateful she is for having aged — a simple notion that feels practically punk when it comes to how Hollywood’s cameras tend to treat older women. In this regard, Obaid-Chinoy and Dalton meet her on her wavelength, and refuse to avert their gaze from her wrinkled complexion; they make the 77-year-old grandmother look as gorgeous and radiant as she feels.

However, as von Fustenberg narrates her story,…