Film: House Of Z

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Image result for the house of z
The documentary, featured on Netflix, followed the career rise and fall of the designer Zac Posner. I recognised the name however was not overly familiar with his work, I did however then recognise him from being a judge on Project Runway. The documentary trailer seemed to show drama and huge scandal in his career so I was very excited to watch.

"Not all models and lipstick and fishtail gowns"

The first part of the documentary followed Zac from childhood, it showed his passion to create clothing for dolls and showed how this developed into a real passion for the fashion industry. His family all got involved in this and helped him to create his first collection using their own money, it featured at the 2001 Gen Art show and got a lot of media attraction due to Posens own connections, for example his best friends mother was actually Anna Wintour so many industry high ups were there.


I think that the documentary highlighted very nicely the uncertainty that people felt about Zac himself, it was no doubt that his clothes were impressive, it was his personality that left me and others doubting. He came across a little too arrogant however this then seemed fair as his career sky rocketed, allowing him to expand his business with investors such as P Diddy (Sean Combs.)
As the brand grew, the issues did too. Around 2007, the once positive press suddenly turned against Posen, both his business and his personality as a designer. Posen’s family had a falling out over the brand, the designs began to get slated and labelled as too over the top and unoriginal. He had lost sight of what made him talented in the first place.



I do think this was a very important message about being true to yourself rather than just sticking to the trends of the catwalk, this was his downfall and could be the downfall of so many others. The effects of the recession also hit, buyers no longer could carryout such large risky orders, this effected Posen’s income greatly. As a way to try and appear more consumer friendly he worked to do a collaboration with Target and, as he called it, ‘whored himself out’ through advertising and sponsorships. Ultimately, he was unhappy because it was not what he wanted from his life.


I really did want Posen to turn it around during the 2014 fashion week show and was very grateful when he managed to take a step back, revaluate his style and managed to create a ‘make or break’ collection that worked to make him be remembered as an amazing and skilled designer. The media supported him and so did anyone that had doubted him. It was a huge win for him personally and after following the whole journey I was very pleased to see it. The documentary even made a point to highlight how happy he was now, designing dresses for many big influencers and working in a way that he really enjoys.
The documentary was not as drama-packed as the trailer showed it to be, however it was very insightful into what a difficult industry fashion is. Your work and your character are judged frequently and any slipups are highlighted hugely on those catwalks.

I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in that side of the industry.


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Thank you so much