High Fashion

It's my opinion that there are only three kinds of garments: shirts, pants and dresses. Everything else is a variant of one of those three things. "So what are socks, smart guy?", you ask. And my answer is that socks are a variant of shoes, which are not a garment. But if I had to classify them, they'd be pants because they go on the legs. Specifically, the feet part of the legs.
With that, I'm probably not the first person who would expect to be invited to a screening of a "Valentino The Last Emperor", a documentary about a legendary fashion designer. Imagine my surprise when I was. Last Friday night it was screened at Tampa Theatre and director Matt Tyrenauer was on hand to discuss the film and answer questions. I love going to screenings where you can interact with people involved with the making of the film because the process of filmmaking is interesting and different with each film. To me, there's value to these interactions, even if I can't relate to the film itself.
I'm not saying it isn't good; it is. It's actually more about the hilariously complex relationship between Valentino and his partner Giancarlo Giametti (who, to me, looks exactly like Tommy Lee Jones as Clay Shaw in "JFK") than it is about fashion. This glimpse into haute couture showed me a world that doesn't remotely resemble anything I know as real life. Between the amazing clothes, lush homes scattered around Europe (so many of them were featured that I actually lost count) and the kind of things that would upset him, Valentino might as well be from another plant. The fact that Tyrenauer has created a film about a world with which (I'm guessing) no normal person can possibly relate that is still entertaining is an achievement in itself.