Prada, Valentino, Chanel and Vogue: Fashion & Film a Profitable Mix?

The Carrie Bradshaws of this world are racking up credit card debt for high end fashion gear and might be the same ones adding to movie ticket sales in a specific area. Is there a correlation between those who wear the latest trends and the popularity of fiction and non-fiction films that have fashion in the foreground? If we take a look at the numbers, all indicts oui, there is money to be made if the narrative or docu subject is somehow related to haute couture.

We can start drawing parallels with the story of a small-town girl who gets a job working for a major fashion magazine. 2006’s The Devil Wears Prada cost an estimated 35 million to make, and grossed 325 million worldwide, while the book to film adaptation of Confessions of a Shopaholic with Isla Fisher in the lead took in a domestic take of about 45 million and grossed over the 100 million mark. Where the numbers really become indicative of a possible trend, is with the March release of Valentino: The Last Emperor. Released by Truly Indie, Matt Tyrnauer’s not exactly fly-on-the-wall portrait is one of the better money-makers of the year for documentary films: it has grossed over 1.5 million going with a city-by-city type of release.

Meanwhile in Europe, Anne Fontaine’s Coco Before Chanel is enjoying a profitable run with over 1 million tickets sold in France and is one of France’s most profitable imports (remaining a top box office getter in several sized markets) which bodes well for Sony Pictures Classics eventual release of the film in September. SPC might be thinking along the same lines and is perhaps the reason why they picked up the other Chanel biopic: Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky.

We have every reason to think that R.J Cutler’s The September Issue – a documentary on Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour’s preparations for the 2008 fall-fashion issue will bring the fashionistas in droves. Roadside Attractions releases the doc on the 28th of August in time for, you guessed it, the September issue of Vogue mag. Bring on Dior, Gaultier, Armani, Versace and Gucci.