Those who follow fashion will love this film; those who don’t will love it more. Ever the contrarian, Klein took a French TV commission about the “New Creators” of couture and ripped the hem of haute. We get the “creators”—Gaultier, Claude Montana, Agnès B, François Girbaud, Kenzo, Azzedine Alaïa, et al.—but also a dozen fancy-filled episodes exploring why people wear what they do. The designers collude with Klein in elaborate skits ranging from ballet to comedy, from street theater to slapstick. In one sequence, Gaultier dresses everyone at a market, from the butchers to the housewives, taking fashion from the high to the low. In another, supermodel Grace Jones trades witticisms with Linda Spiering, changing Alaïa outfits every third line. In yet another episode, top runway mods are jammed into a tight white box that serves as a peep show. Their confessional musings lead us poignantly into the world of perfected surface. With radical cheek, Klein shows a flair for fashion that is definitely not off the rack.

—Steve Seid

• Photographed by Klein, Gérard de Battista. Music by Serge Gainsbourg. (84 mins, In French with English subtitles, Color)

Preceded by short:
Contacts (William Klein, France, 1983). Klein the master photographer eloquently peruses a number of his contact sheets, making sense of his beautifully conceived “rectangles of disorder.” (14:20 mins, B&W)

• (Total running time: 98 mins, 35mm, From Walker Art Center)