Runway

The 38 Best Fashion Documentaries to Watch Ahead of the Spring 2025 Collections

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Courtesy of Apple TV+

The best fashion documentaries have the power to delight and inspire, as well as to confirm career aspirations. In recent years, some of the world’s most prestigious maisons have opened their doors to the cameras, and the results are as fabulous as the gowns created within them. Take Dior and I, an emotive, sensitive look inside the Christian Dior Paris HQ, as Raf Simons prepared for his debut back in 2012; or Martin Margiela: In His Own Words, which offers a rare insight into the mind of the famously private designer. Then there are the documentaries which focus on the industry’s most impactful models and muses, from Christy Turlington in 1995’s Catwalk to Bethann Hardison’s own poignant Invisible Beauty. Ahead of the spring 2025 shows kicking off next month—and in anticipation of Vogue’s Forces of Fashion conference, which this year will nod at the history and power of the runway show—brush up on your fashion history with our pick of the best fashion documentaries to date, below.

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    Catwalk (1995)

    Catwalk follows the supermodel Christy Turlington over the course of the spring/summer 1994 shows, whizzing from backstage at Versace in Milan to attending fittings for Chanel in Paris. Turlington is not alone on the journey, with Catwalk offering an intimate look into the early years of the careers of household names such as Helena Christensen and Kate Moss, too, as well as glimpses of industry titans like John Galliano and Gianni Versace at work.

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    Unzipped (1995)

    This must be one of the best fashion documentaries of all time. Unzipped, directed by Douglas Keeve, revolves around the work of his then boyfriend, designer and ’90s fashion wunderkind Isaac Mizrahi. The documentary focuses largely on the follow up to a negative fashion review Mizrahi received about his spring 1994 collection, and the making-of the fall lineup that ensued. Still, Unzipped is a must-watch as an endearing and in-depth portrait of one of fashion’s most entertaining, brilliant, and mercurial designers.

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    The First Monday in May (2016)

    Director Andrew Rossi takes on the challenge of documenting the mysterious yet enchanting process of putting together both the Met Gala and the exhibition it celebrates, in this case 2015’s “China: Through The Looking Glass.” Rossi focuses largely on the role of Andrew Bolton, who is under pressure to deliver a knockout exhibition with the success of “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty” looming over his shoulder. The First Monday in May is equal parts a riveting examination of what happens behind closed doors ahead of the Met Gala and a compelling analysis of why the work of Bolton and his team at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is crucial to expand our understanding of fashion as an anthropological tool.

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    The Gospel According To André (2017)

    “He was so many things he wasn’t supposed to be, and they couldn’t get around it,” expresses Whoopi Goldberg in The Gospel According To André, the ultimate portrait of André Leon Talley, the iconic Vogue editor and fashion’s biggest champion. From the beginning of his career at Andy Warhol’s Factory in the 1970s to posts at WWD, W, and Vogue, this feature charts the career, and, most importantly, enduring legacy of Leon Talley with insight by André himself in addition to Anna Wintour, Tom Ford, Manolo Blahnik, and more. A favorite? “He’s the Nelson Mandela of couture, the Kofi Annan of what you got on,” as said by will.i.am.

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    The Super Models (2023)

    Linda, Christy, Naomi, Cindy. Apple TV+’s The Super Models documents the meteoric rise and seemingly perpetual ascension of Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell, and Cindy Crawford as four of fashion’s most iconic muses. Starting with their breaking into the scene in the early ’80s through the evolution of their lives and careers now as entrepreneurs, activists, humanitarians, and mothers, this four-episode series is a treasure trove of fashion history told in the shape of personal anecdotes and recollections.

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Written by Vogue Staff