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"She gave style advice to Jackie Kennedy, popularized the bikini, and brought the work of Cristobal Balenciaga into the halls of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Diane Vreeland (1903-1989) is considered one of the most influential and iconic women of the 20th century, and a new documentary created by her granddaughter-in-law is a reminder of her enduring impact on fashion, art, beauty, and popular culture.\n\nAfter catching the attention of the editor of Harper's Bazaar, Carmel Snow, at a party in 1936, Vreeland became the magazine's fashion editor. Her eccentric \"Why Don't You?\" column inspired readers to take chances, and in the sixties, Vreeland herself took a big risk when she took over as the editor in chief of Vogue. Vreeland transformed the magazine into a youthful, provocative title with spreads on The Beatles, Twiggy, and emerging photographers like David Bailey. Under her eye, models became celebrities, and celebrities became models.\n\nWhen Vreeland left Vogue in 1971, she became the special consultant to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute. She garnered criticism for spraying the galleries with perfume and crafting sets based on fantasy and drama (rather than historical fact), but she drew massive crowds and popularized the Institute. Part of Vreeland's legacy is that her exhibits provoked people to see fashion as art.\n\nLisa Vreeland captures all of this and much more in her debut documentary film. We sat down with her and spoke about the art of filmmaking and what she hopes young people take away from Diana Vreeland's life.\n\nThe film will be released on Friday, Sept. 21 in New York and Los Angeles, and nationally in the following weeks.\n\nWhat inspired you to make this documentary?\n\n \"I always felt that Diana Vreeland was slightly misunderstood. Everybody thinks of the very extroverted Diana Vreeland with the red cheeks and the red nails, and I wanted to redefine her. It started as a book project, and then I decided I should work on a film.\"\n\nWhat were some of the challenges in creating this film and working with footage from decades ago?\n\n \"This was my first film, and we had the great joy of having the whole century to play with because she was born in 1903 and died in 1989. We also had her three different careers at Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, and the Costume Institute, so we used those as our major markers. We worked with film footage for what we could find, but what was important was the archival\u2014the photographs within the magazines themselves. We worked with a special effects company. You cannot have a film on Vreeland be some pedantic slow-paced film, and it's not at all. It's snappy.\"\n\nOne of our favorite parts of the film was the spotlight on how Vreeland celebrated physical quirks such as Barbara Streisand's nose. How did this impact people's perceptions of beauty?\n\n \"Her sense of openness was a big asset. This was a society woman who worked really hard, but she had this openness to both low culture and high culture. In the sixties, there was a new energy, and she reflected it in the pages of Vogue and understood that beauty was different. She also knew that beauty was not just about the physicality, it was about the person inside. And she appreciated celebrities and let models become personalities. Life was changing at that time, but she got it and she put it in the pages.\"\n\nWhy do you think she's had such an enduring impact on the fashion industry? \n\n \"The title of the film, The Eye Has to Travel, is about the mind traveling. It's about being driven by your passion and letting that be your real incentive. She celebrated the century she lived in, and she wanted us to celebrate along with her. She was very consistent in trying to teach us and expose us to things, and she's continuing open our eyes.\"\n\nHow did Vreeland confront change and adversity?\n\n \"She had a lot of hardships and there were a lot of things that went wrong in her life, but she didn't let them take her down. She was so positive, almost to a fault. Her son recently told me a story about how he had to take her to the airport to meet Jackie Kennedy to go to Russia, and he brought her to the wrong airport. She didn't even get mad; she just made it into a total adventure. She had a positive outlook on life. I certainly know that I could benefit from that.\"\n\nWhat was she like as an editor in chief?\n\n \"She always said it's not about 'me;' it's about 'we.' This film is a celebration of the industry\u2014it's not just about her point of view. You're looking at the pages of creation and of a team of people. It takes a team to collaborate on a magazine and she got that really early on.\"\n\nWhat do you hope that a younger generation learns from this film?\n\n \"I hope young people become inspired to believe in themselves and be driven by their passions. The curiosity to learn more and to see more\u2014that's what I hope. Mrs. Vreeland's done that for legions of people before, and I think she will continue to do it now with this film.\""^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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