Media

Mademoiselle C Looks at Life, Post-Vogue

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“Must like fashion,” or at least, “must like music videos about fashion” could be the tagline to Mademoiselle C, a documentary about the life and times of the former French Vogue editor-in-chief Carine Roitfeld. The model-turned-stylist-turned-editrix-turned-visionary abruptly left the magazine at the end of 2011 after 10 years. Although such a sudden departure could be career suicide, Roitfeld was rumored to be a replacement for Anna Wintour and her decades-long reign at American Vogue. Mademoiselle C explains what Roitfeld has been up to ever since her Vogue exit—mostly doting on her first grandchild, hosting a lavish benefit, and putting out her own magazine, CR. It’s hard not to compare Mademoiselle C to R.J. Culter’s 2009 documentary The September Issue that beautifully opened the tightly guarded doors to the house of Vogue. Both films focus on fashion publishing under the dictatorship of a female editor. The September Issue exposed what it was like to publish such an iconic magazine, and it still left many viewers coveting the Vogue lifestyle. Mademoiselle C, however, shows the reclusive style guru as the antithesis to the infamous fashion queen, and Roitfeld comes across as quite goofy and actually relatable. The film dethrones the “muse” title that so many fashion trendsetters have given her.

Highlights