MISS REPRESENTATION

As the fashion world is all about image and beauty, Miss Representation offers a counterpoint to this dogma. Written and directed by San Franciscan Jennifer Siebel Newsom, this remarkable film examines the way media shapes the societal roles of women through the significance placed on youth, beauty, and sexuality, rather than on women’s power. Stories from teenage girls and provocative interviews with politicians, journalists, entertainers, activists and academics, like Condoleezza Rice, Nancy Pelosi, Katie Couric, Rachel Maddow, Margaret Cho, Rosario Dawson and Gloria Steinem build momentum as Miss Representation accumulates startling facts and statistics that will leave the audience shaken and armed with a new perspective.

The hallmark of modern luxury is the shoe. Expensive footwear has been at the forefront of the American consciousness since the late 1990s with the beginning of Sex and the City. The series made Manolo Blahnik and Jimmy Choo household names, while consumers became anesthetized to footwear with three and four-digit price tags. Luxurious and decadent, footwear can be counted upon to create a frenzy among collectors, fashionistas and housewives alike. Julie Benasra’s documentary God Save My Shoes takes a candid look at the footwear craze by interviewing shoe fanatics and designers from around the world. Capitalizing on the fervor for footwear, Sofia Coppola tapped Manolo Blahnik to create the opulent shoes for her 2006 film, Marie Antoinette. Who better to design for the excesses of Versaille than the man responsible for the modern court shoe?

"When the producers called, I dropped everything," Blahnik said. "When I was a boy, my mother read a Marie-Antoinette biography, and I have read Antonia Fraser's version. They said 'make them sexy', but I wanted to do something very academic." He began by studying original 18th-century shoes in Paris and at the V&A Museum. The shoes, along with costume designs by Academy Award winner Milena Canonero, create a true feast for the eyes!

What makes women fanatical about footwear? Shoes signify power and femininity and can transform the wearer in a way that other clothing can’t, which is what Julie Benasra explored in her documentary God Save My Shoes. Benasra talks to FashFilmFest co-founder and shoe lover Kim Mitchell Stokes about the film and other themes around footwear.