| Prêt-à-Porter | |
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 US theatrical promotional poster | |
| Directed by | Robert Altman |
| Written by |
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| Produced by | Robert Altman |
| Starring |
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| Cinematography |
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| Edited by |
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| Music by | Michel Legrand |
| Distributed by | Miramax Films |
Release dates |
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Running time | 133 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Languages |
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| Budget | $18 million(estimated)[2] |
| Box office | $46.8 million |
Prêt-à-Porter, released in the United States asReady to Wear (Prêt-à-Porter), is a 1994 Americansatiricalcomedy-drama film co-written, directed, and produced byRobert Altman[3] and shot on location during theParis Fashion Week with a host of international stars, models, and designers.[4]
The film features an extensiveensemble cast, includingAnouk Aimée,Marcello Mastroianni,Sophia Loren,Kim Basinger,Stephen Rea,Lauren Bacall,Julia Roberts,Tim Robbins,Lili Taylor andSally Kellerman.
Models, designers, industry hot shots and journalists gather for Paris Fashion Week, to work, bicker and try to seduce each other. Early on, Fashion Council head Olivier de la Fontaine chokes to death on a sandwich, leaving behind a wife, a mistress and a mysterious Russian companion who has fled the scene.
As the death is being investigated, Fashion Week continues. Injecting herself between the designers, American television personality Kitty gets sound bites from the high-fashion types throughout the length of the show.
Meanwhile, Anne and Joe are two American journalists, thrown together into the same over-booked room. They are meant to cover the show for their respective papers, but skip out on most of the festivities to have a hotel-room tryst during the week.
Three rival magazine editors fromHarper's Bazaar,British Vogue andElle vie for the exclusive services of Milo O'Brannigan, a trendy photographer who sexually humiliates the three; leading them to vow vengeance against him.
Sergei, a fading icon (and the mysterious Russian with Olivier when he died) and Isabella (Olivier's widow) hope to rekindle a romance from decades ago, but as they attempt to be intimate, Sergei falls asleep.
In the end, Fontaine's former mistress Simone sends her models down the catwalk nude in protest of her son Jack's (who incidentally had been cheating on his model girlfriend with another model) sale of her brand. Kitty quits on the spot, as the nudity confuses her. The final scene is of Olivier de la Fontaine's funeral procession, after the police declared him dead from choking on a sandwich.
The film includes variouscameo appearances from fashion industry figures, including designersJean-Paul Gaultier andBjörk modeling for him,Thierry Mugler,Sonia Rykiel,Christian LaCroix,Gianfranco Ferré, andIssey Miyake, and models such asChristy Turlington,Helena Christensen,Adriana Karembeu,Linda Evangelista,Claudia Schiffer,Carla Bruni,Naomi Campbell andTatjana Patitz.[5][6]Cher andHarry Belafonte also make cameos.[7]
Robert Altman was inspired to make the film after accompanying his wife Kathryn to a Sonia Rykielfashion show in Paris in 1984.[6][8][9] "I couldn't believe what I saw. It was such a circus. It was just too theatrical not to want to film," Altman said in a 1994 interview.[2] For research, in the fall of 1993 Altman attended several fashion shows including those of Issey Miyake,Yohji Yamamoto, Jean-Paul Gaultier andYves Saint Laurent.[8]
The film originally had a budget of $12 to $14 million, however, the final cost was estimated at between $18 to $20 million.[10]
It was shot at the 1994 Spring/Summer season ofParis Fashion Week.[11] In reference to the scene in which Simone's models walk down the runway completely naked,Robert Altman said: "The actors knew, but most of the audience didn't, so I got the surprise reactions I was hoping for. Those women were wonderful. However, I think that withoutUte Lemper, the pregnant bride at the end of the show, the scene wouldn't have had that same impact. And without that scene the whole film probably wouldn't make as much sense."[12]
In the United States, the film was released on December 25, 1994 under the titleReady to Wear (Prêt-à-Porter), while the original title was used in other countries.[13][4] The US DVD and VHS title wasRobert Altman's Ready to Wear.
The film wasR-rated by theMotion Picture Association of America (MPAA). However, following an advertisement byColumbia Records for the soundtrack album featuring a nakedHelena Christensen inThe New York Times which also said "See the Movie", the MPAA threatened to rescind its rating unless the company agreed not to use the image advertising the film.[13][14]
For the film's German release, a line referring to German designerKarl Lagerfeld as a "plagiarist" was removed.[15] Though Lagerfeld had filed a court injunction against the film's release in his home country, the film's German distributor, Senator Film, agreed to cut the reference and the release went ahead as planned.[15]
The film had a weak debut at the US box office.[16] By the end of its run, the film grossed U$11,300,653 at the box office in the United States and Canada.[17][18] It grossed $35.5 million internationally[19] for a worldwide total of $46.8 million.
Prêt-à-Porter holds a 24% approval rating onRotten Tomatoes based on 25 reviews, with an average rating of 4.75/10.[20]
Roger Ebert gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four and thought it "should have gone further and been meaner; too many of [Altman's] jokes are generic slapstick, instead of being aimed squarely at industry's targets."[21]Gene Siskel gave it one-and-a-half out of four stars and called it "a true bomb as director Robert Altman, on a very hot streak, improbably finds absolutely nothing funny or fresh to say about the fashion industry and the 'journalists' who cover it with a wet kiss. Lacking a screenplay, Altman's intercutting among boring caricatures grows old quickly, and after2+1⁄2 hours, it may occur to you: 'I could have been shopping.'"[22]Janet Maslin ofThe New York Times wrote that Altman's "laissez-faire satirical style proves ineffectual for shooting fish in this barrel. Fashion is too self-conscious to be skewered so casually".[23] Rita Kempley ofThe Washington Post called the film "a mess" that was "most compelling when Altman turns his camera on the kitschy runway shows themselves ... Perhaps Altman should have made this film as a documentary instead".[7]Kenneth Turan of theLos Angeles Times wrote that the film "sounds like Altman's most recent successes,The Player andShort Cuts. But there is a difference between creative improvisation and absolute chaos, and while those films were delicately balanced balls that magically stayed in the air,Ready to Wear, with a script credited to Altman and Barbara Shulgasser, has a haphazard 'Let's go to Paris and see what happens' feeling that wastes everyone's time and talent."[24]Owen Gleiberman ofEntertainment Weekly gave the film a grade of C− and wrote: "Virtually everything that happens is held up for our ridicule, yet it's never quite clear what we're supposed to be laughing at. The characters aren't really mocked for their attitudes, their obsessions with glamour and money and style. They aren't savaged in any specific, observational ways that could truly be called satirical. They're made fun of simply because they're silly, trivial human beings—walking punchlines in a joke that never arrives. It's like watching an Altman film that's been drained by a vampire."[25]
John Simon of theNational Review saidPrêt-à-Porter was a picture that only a director's mother could love, and that the film, which has a runtime of over two hours, wears out its welcome in ten minutes.[26]
The response from the fashion community was similarly tepid. In a review that was published in December 1994, fashion criticSuzy Menkes wrote: "For fashion folks, the film just didn't come off—either as an extended skit, or as a bitchy or brutal dissection of the industry ... Most people did not think that Altman had done for fashion withReady to Wear what he did to the United States Army inM*A*S*H or for Hollywood inThe Player."[27]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [32] |
| Smash Hits |  [33] |
| Chart (1995) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA)[34] | 12 |
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[35] | 32 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[36] | 25 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[37] | 22 |
| Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[38] | 36 |
| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[39] | 23 |
| USBillboard 200[40] | 29 |
In August 2021, a television series adaptation of the film was reported to be in development atParamount+, withMiramax Television being mentioned as the producer.[41] In October 2023, development on the series shifted to theBBC, with Paramount+ no longer involved.[42]
