Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel takes us through her childhood in Paris, London and New York during the Bell Epoch when things were “truly luxurious” in the 1920’s. It moves on to her appointment as editor at Harper’s after meeting Carmel Snow, then editor in chief, and chronicles her time as the editor at Vogue.
She was a fascinating, vexing editor at Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue, but the documentary sheds light on the fact that she wasn’t particularly a person of scruples. Alex Leiberman fired her for spending too much money, and for being hard to pin to the ground. Her sons didn’t like her, and she barely mentioned them in her memoirs. Interestingly, Andre Leon Talley wasn’t interviewed for the documentary. His was a very personal relationship with Ms. Vreeland, and she was his mentor when he moved to Manhattan before Anna Wintour took the reigns at American Vogue.
They don’t make ‘em like D.V. anymore. And you certainly can’t get away with “faction” in the workplace these days. But despite her tendencies toward the garishly frivolous, some of her mantras still hold water.
“There’s only one very good life and that’s the life you know you want and you make it yourself.”