Zac Posen did not have final cut.
“It’s scary,” Posen said, a few days before “House of Z,” a documentary following his meteoric rise as a 21-year-old fashion wunderkind and, subsequent, very public humbling, premieres tonight at the Tribeca Film Festival. He signed over his rights and put his faith in director Sandy Chronopoulos after working with her five years ago on a segment for Canadian TV as part of a charity event through Rogers Communications. “Sandy and I had built a level of trust,” he said. “I thought she was smart and sensitive.”
But she didn’t go easy on him.
“House of Z” is not a glossy “Dior and I” or “September Issue.” While ultimately redemptive, the documentary offers an unfiltered, at times unforgiving, look at Posen’s history. “Fashion has a dark side,” warns Posen in the opener. “It’s not all runways, lipstick and fishtail gowns.” There is a fair amount of that, but the film features just as much struggle, including a spate of bad collections, negative press and stifled resources that drove a painful rift between Posen and his mother, Susan, and sister, Alexandra, with whom he started his business.
The film is well-done, set with a compelling narrative arch and
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