Screened as part of NZIFF 2017

House of Z 2017

Directed by Sandy Chronopoulos

The meteoric rise, fall and rise again of the prodigiously talented fashion designer Zac Posen is documented with sympathy and a little suspense in a many-storied documentary, packed full of his splendid creations.

USA In English
90 minutes DCP

Rent

Producers

Jana Edelbaum
,
Rachel Cohen
,
Sandy Chronopoulos

Photography

Konrad Czystowski
,
Nadia Hallgren
,
Mark Klassen

Editors

Hollie Singer
,
Madeleine Gavin

Music

Eric Stamile

With

Zac Posen
,
Susan Posen
,
Alexandra Posen
,
Stephen Posen
,
Naomi Campbell
,
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs
,
André Leon Talley
,
Paz de la Huerta
,
Claire Danes

Festivals

Tribeca 2017

Elsewhere

Presented in Association With

Viva NZH

“As good looking and stylish as its subject, House of Z is a portrait of the artist as a young man. Famously well connected, Zac Posen rode a rocket ship to fame and success at the age of 21. But his is a cautionary tale of what happens to those whose PR machines are steps ahead of reality. As quickly as the handsome Zac made a name for himself, he found himself on the receiving end of damaging gossip, bad reviews and dropping sales. Told with the help of a star-studded cast, including Puff Daddy, Naomi Campbell and Claire Danes, this all-access story charts the rise and fall – and rise again – of a fashion world wunderkind.”— Aisha Jamal, Hot Docs

“‘Fashion has a dark side. Not all runways and lipstick and fishtail gowns,’ Posen says about his chosen milieu, and while House of Z is aesthetically quite straightforward, it receives a jolt of unique energy from Posen’s own front-and-center participation in this portrait... He comes across as a young man humbled by failure and appreciative of the opportunities he still has, not to mention now capable of viewing his past through a more mature, objective lens...

In Posen’s continued dedication to making dresses in his atelier – and by personally draping gowns over female bodies, as the foundation of his process –House of Z captures the way in which direct hands-on engagement is vital to an artist’s continued relevance, and vitality.”— Nick Schager, Variety