Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on December 2012

A few years back I commiserated with the makers of a documentary on Vogue editor Anna Wintour for their reclusive, affected subject’s lack of warmth, charisma or any basic human quality. That is something that cannot be said about the energetic, creative force of nature that is the title tastemaker, a true original. “Pizzazz” was her favorite word. This enjoyable doc by Lisa Immordino Vreeland, a granddaughter-in-law, stitches together interviews with designers, models and photographers, and weaves in vintage footage of the woman herself to create what can only be called a celebration of a life well lived. Born without natural beauty in 1903 during Paris’s Belle Epoque, this school dropout, through an innate ability to recognize the transformative power of beauty and art, rose to become an oracle of culture and couture for five decades, at Vanity Fair, Vogue, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She transcended what is usually referred to as “fashion.” Indeed, she thought it vaguely absurd. Not that I’d get the chance, but I wouldn’t really care to meet Wintour. But it would be a delight to share a beer ⎯ okay, make that a magnum of Dom Perignon ⎯ with Vreeland.