Just watched this HBO documentary called "About Face" which is a collection of clips and interviews that features many well known and top notch famous supermodels. It showcases and displays how each started their work young and gradually the beauty developed and for sure the age and becoming old started to happen. Yet as most tell the life of a model comes as a price from a lot of sex to drugs binges, it's a heck of a lot of fun early on, but when the age hits the beauty is reworked and retooled with plastic surgery and Botox procedures. Still mostly it's just a beauty face of retooling and reworking and the love and fresh attitudes of the ladies still remain the same as they all live and love longer and enjoy much of the stuff from their early years as Jerry Hall stated even though older she still likes to wear sexy silk lingerie! Overall good doc that shows the life and ups and downs of supermodels as it gives a good history of how beauty does age and grow old only to be reworked and retooled. And the clips and interviews with Jerry Hall, Beverly Johnson, Christy Turlington, and Paulina Porizkova are good and memorable.
4 Reviews
Fascinating.
djdanrobbins22 August 2015
Warning: Spoilers
Here's my spoiler: the point of the documentary is to take a current photograph with legendary women who define the term supermodel.
Leading up to the photograph, however, the film is filled with monologues from each individual telling her own story or most memorable shoot. To hear some of these women speak -- some of whom its the first time I've ever even heard their voice -- captivated me. So much that I have watched this about 20 times since it first aired.
As their stories are being told, the photos they reference are cut onto the screen.
Maybe to a lot of people its a fluff piece ... about something that there isn't a great deal of interest in. I have spent hours completely enraptured listening to these women speak. Most of these women I have loved as they were still on the runway ... others (i.e. Carmen Dell'Orefice) I've seen pictures of but not heard anything about them until now.
A definitive work for anyone even remotely interested in fashion -- as told by the women who were there to help build the industry from the ground up. Bravo HBO for letting this be made. Its not anything you can really see anywhere else.
Leading up to the photograph, however, the film is filled with monologues from each individual telling her own story or most memorable shoot. To hear some of these women speak -- some of whom its the first time I've ever even heard their voice -- captivated me. So much that I have watched this about 20 times since it first aired.
As their stories are being told, the photos they reference are cut onto the screen.
Maybe to a lot of people its a fluff piece ... about something that there isn't a great deal of interest in. I have spent hours completely enraptured listening to these women speak. Most of these women I have loved as they were still on the runway ... others (i.e. Carmen Dell'Orefice) I've seen pictures of but not heard anything about them until now.
A definitive work for anyone even remotely interested in fashion -- as told by the women who were there to help build the industry from the ground up. Bravo HBO for letting this be made. Its not anything you can really see anywhere else.
The Best Documentary I Have Seen in 10 Years - The Title is PERFECT
smitron-3754229 August 2015
Warning: Spoilers
About Face - GREAT Doc about the past lives and current lives of the Models we grew up with in the 80's.
The Documentary is so factual, true to the point, and gives insight to the Industry in the 1980's.
I was blessed to have a met a beautiful Cosmetics Gal Super Hottie, and we fell in love, 1980. I was in the F&B Club Business, and worked until late every night. Whenever we could steal time away, she would be excited to tell me EVERYTHING she learned about the Cosmetic, Fragrance and up and coming Models. Which Designer hired a new face, etc. I was a SPONGE for information. We were so HOH for each other. For the next 6 years I could "Name" any fragrance a woman was wearing, or the "Style" of Makeup she was wearing.
We were in a whirlwind of an emerging Fragrance and Makeup revolution.
I was engaged to, what I considered, a local Supermodel in SF Bay Area from 1980 -1986. She was, earlier, a contributing writer for Teen Magazine. She worked in Cosmetics at Bullocks for Calvin, Estee, Lauren, and could backup her associates Counters in Bourgeoisa, Polo, Lancome, Clinique, YSL, Dior, Jovan, Giorgio, Brut, Drakkar, Revlon, of course Channel Co Co, Paloma Picasso, Cartier, Arden, Fendi, Givenchy Ysatis, Dior, Pavlova, Laroche, Geoffrey Beene and Grey Flannel, Giorgio (Yuk), Anais Anais, Fendi, Guess, Elizabeth Taylor Passion and Diamonds, Revlon, Coty, Krizia, Clarins, La Perla, Claiborne, Vanderbilt, Jovan, Ritz, Max Factor, Anne Klein, DKNY, Gloria Vanderbilt, Tatiana Diane von Furstenberg, Gucci, Faberge, L'Air du Temps Nina Ricci, Jean Nate, Revlon, aka Revco, JHL (Joseph H. Lauder).
The lifestyle of most of the girls in the Cosmetic Departments during that era was very similar to this documentary. The only difference in this documentary is that the Professional Models look and act more mature and in better control of their well being today, versus the Cosmetics girls. The Professional Models no doubt had Mentors and other professionals to guide them as they aged the past 30 years. Back then, it was all about "Face". This documentary gives us a real look "Back" in "About Face".
Great Memories revisited with this Documentary "About Face".
-RS
The Documentary is so factual, true to the point, and gives insight to the Industry in the 1980's.
I was blessed to have a met a beautiful Cosmetics Gal Super Hottie, and we fell in love, 1980. I was in the F&B Club Business, and worked until late every night. Whenever we could steal time away, she would be excited to tell me EVERYTHING she learned about the Cosmetic, Fragrance and up and coming Models. Which Designer hired a new face, etc. I was a SPONGE for information. We were so HOH for each other. For the next 6 years I could "Name" any fragrance a woman was wearing, or the "Style" of Makeup she was wearing.
We were in a whirlwind of an emerging Fragrance and Makeup revolution.
I was engaged to, what I considered, a local Supermodel in SF Bay Area from 1980 -1986. She was, earlier, a contributing writer for Teen Magazine. She worked in Cosmetics at Bullocks for Calvin, Estee, Lauren, and could backup her associates Counters in Bourgeoisa, Polo, Lancome, Clinique, YSL, Dior, Jovan, Giorgio, Brut, Drakkar, Revlon, of course Channel Co Co, Paloma Picasso, Cartier, Arden, Fendi, Givenchy Ysatis, Dior, Pavlova, Laroche, Geoffrey Beene and Grey Flannel, Giorgio (Yuk), Anais Anais, Fendi, Guess, Elizabeth Taylor Passion and Diamonds, Revlon, Coty, Krizia, Clarins, La Perla, Claiborne, Vanderbilt, Jovan, Ritz, Max Factor, Anne Klein, DKNY, Gloria Vanderbilt, Tatiana Diane von Furstenberg, Gucci, Faberge, L'Air du Temps Nina Ricci, Jean Nate, Revlon, aka Revco, JHL (Joseph H. Lauder).
The lifestyle of most of the girls in the Cosmetic Departments during that era was very similar to this documentary. The only difference in this documentary is that the Professional Models look and act more mature and in better control of their well being today, versus the Cosmetics girls. The Professional Models no doubt had Mentors and other professionals to guide them as they aged the past 30 years. Back then, it was all about "Face". This documentary gives us a real look "Back" in "About Face".
Great Memories revisited with this Documentary "About Face".
-RS
Timeless Beauty Personified
jenrobinette15 September 2023
The women featured in this documentary are beautiful inside and out, and, thus, represent truly timeless beauty. My mother always said, "pretty is as pretty does." My mother sold Estee Lauder cosmetics in Department Stores back in the day. Isabella Rossellini and Paulina Porizkova were the faces of Estee Lauder. Their photos looked absolutely perfect...always. To see them talk about how they were called "ugly" as well as "beautiful" was surprising, heartwarming, and reassuring. The historical and cultural perspectives presented in this documentary are priceless as are the women behind them. I highly recommend it!
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