Iris

At their best, fashion films are essentially human stories: take, for example, Raf Simons' quiet, personal struggles and ecstasy experienced in the process of designing his first haute couture collection in Dior And I, or the eccentric existence and almost heartbreaking devotion of fashion photographer Bill Cunningham in Bill Cunningham New York.

Iris, directed by Albert Maysles, who exposed Big Edie and Little Edie to the world in Grey Gardens, promised something similar; behind the scenes insights into the process by which New York christens its fashion stalwarts 'icons'. Although Iris Apfel's dry, Queens drawl and exuberant approach to life at the age of 93 is fascinating, and the tender moments between Iris and her husband Carl as they travel between their Manhattan apartment and home in Palm Springs, shopping and thrifting, despite their advancing years, are truly lovely, the film doesn't have quite the sense of narrative crispness or gravitas of other documentaries of the oeuvre.

The documentary tracks Apfel's rise to widespread fame in her 80s after a lifetime of notoriety as an interior designer, textile manufacturer and fashion collector. In her own words, and through the stories of friends and colleagues, among them Harold Koda (curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art) and photographer Bruce Weber, we are led through her life as a headstrong fashion innovator whose bespoke textiles company Old World Weavers opened doors to a world of travel and glamour. The catalyst to her next "career"is a Met retrospective exhibition of her wild collection of vintage designer clothes and couture costume jewellery that puts her on the covers of magazines and on talk shows.

"I think that people can't imagine having the kind of life that she has," jewellery designer Alexis Bittar surmises at one point, encapsulating the charm of the documentary — a subtle, sensitive portrait of an uncompromising, fearless and, above all, fun life in the fashion world.