The Best Fashion Movies You Can Watch Right Now

This week, producer Ryan Murphy debuts his new show The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story. The series takes a close look at the murder of Gianni Versace (and, for what it’s worth, the Versace family already hates it). We’ll reserve our judgment until we see it, but we will say this: we are living in the golden age of fashion entertainment. Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul Thomas Anderson’s recently released movie about a fashion designer, Phantom Thread, is a legitimate Oscar contender. Dries, the documentary on designer Dries Van Noten, just hit Netflix. And we are finally years removed from the lingering stench of Zoolander 2.

Most fashion entertainment takes a real-life subject and heavily dramatizes it, or turns it into a caricature before blasting it on the screen (see: Zoolander or The Devil Wears Prada). The Assassination of Gianni Versace seems to fall firmly in that camp. Then there are the many documentaries centered around designers or the industry. And then there ar our sentimental favorites: the movies that have absolutely nothing to do with fashion besides the fact everyone on screen is dressed so damn well. We’ve broken the best and the worst fashion-themed movies into these categories to give you something stylish to watch in the lead up to American Crime Story’s premiere on Wednesday.

Modern Movies

Most Likely to Make You Wonder If Your Childhood Actually Sucked
We warned you we’d be discussing both good and bad movies. Limit your interaction with Zoolander 2 to watching the trailer to see all the cool celebrity cameos (plus the death of Justin Bieber).

Most Likely to Force You to Remember Who Adrian Grenier Is
The Devil Wears Prada? In a fashion movie roundup? Groundbreaking, we know. But it still bangs.

Best Picture (Nominee)
Legendary actor Daniel Day-Lewis plays a fashion designer in Phantom Thread, what he says is his last movie ever. It’s widely assumed the movie will be up for all the major awards at the Oscars, and director Paul Thomas Anderson’s penchant for zooming into the molecules of obsessed and twisted men actually leaves us with some glimmers of optimism this time. Sold.

Best Movie Starring Kristen Stewart That’s About Fashion But Also About Murderous Ghosts—Wait, What?
It’s almost unbelievable that Personal Shopper got made and then came and went without much fanfare. Kristen Stewart is a personal assistant to the rich and famous—a very normal and tame plotline—before her recently deceased twin brother comes back to haunt, and to murder. Stewart ends up playing part shopper, part medium. See it.

Classic Films

Best Movie to Watch Because It’s in the Pantheon of Great Fashion Flicks But Maybe Is Past Its Prime
The 1957 film Funny Face stars Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn in a musical about a fashion photographer (Astaire) looking for the next big thing in modeling (Hepburn). It’s worth watching to see two legendary performers teaming up, and worth cringing at its '50s misogyny.

Most Likely to Impress Film Students
It’s a murder mystery baked into a movie about, again, a fashion photographer. Blow Up is the first English-language movie from legendary Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni, and it’s also extremely stylish.

No, This Is In the Correct Category. Why Do You Ask?
Just like Blow Up, Zoolander also takes a microscope to the loneliness and isolation bred by modern life—just with way more atomic wedgies.

Documentaries

Best Pronunciation of “Dior”
Dior and I tracks the mad dash that ensues after popular menswear designer Raf Simons takes lead creative duties at Dior with just eight weeks to design a full couture show. It’s worth watching just to hear Simons’ lovely Flemish pronunciation of Dior.

The Magazine Junkie Doc
The September Issue in-depth look at what it takes to put together Vogue’s vital, well, September issue. Watch is so you can say smart things like, Grace Coddington, to me, really stole the show! If this doesn’t satiate your need for docs with Vogue at the center, check out In Vogue: The Editor's Eye and The First Monday in May.

Most Likely to Become the Godfather of Sneakers
Sole Man isn't fashion movie so much as a fascinating documentary about how sneaker deals wormed their way into the college basketball landscape, the making of Jordan Brand, and the characters working to make these massive money moves.

Blessed by Yeezus
Some of hip-hop’s biggest stars—including Kanye West, Pharrell, Diddy—weigh in on rap’s fashion influence. The birth of whole movements and brands is recounted in Fresh Dressed.

Most Likely to Make You Appreciate Capital-F Fashion
The documentary Dries, a recent addition to Netflix, follows Belgian fashion designer Dries Van Noten for a year. Van Noten makes some of the most unique and beautiful clothes in the world, and you get to see him conceptualize and design four seasons over the course of the movie. The designer also invites viewers into the garden that no doubt inspires his love for floral prints.

Just Great to Look At

The Best Vision of the Future
Blade Runner director Ridley Scott managed to create looks in 1982 that still look futuristic in 2018. Harrison Ford (Rick Deckard) wears dope shearling jackets on screen alongside Sean Young’s (Rachael) mammoth fur coat. The new Blade Runner: 2049 isn’t too shabby in this department either.

The More Likely Vision of the Future
Because as a collective society we’ll probably never dress as cool as Blade Runner characters, I’ve resigned myself to the high-waisted pleated pants future seen on Joaquin Phoenix in Her.

Actually Stylish Underneath All the Bullets
If you erase the war, death, and persistent sense of doom,Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk film is really just Harry Styles, Tom Hardy, and Fionn Whitehead enjoying a lovely seaside romp in an aces lineup of sweaters and coats.

Movie With the Most Unexpected Swerve—And We Aren’t Talking About Fashion
In The Talented Mr. Ripley Law, Matt Damon, and Gwyneth Paltrow are beautiful people wearing beautiful clothes, at least for a moment, on a beautiful Italian vacation. Even when everything goes to hell, though, the fashion remains solid.