Top Ten Designers in Paris

With a sense of incredible proximity and texture, this film is structured around ten catwalk presentations by leading designers in Paris in 1979, including Issey Miyake, Karl Lagerfeld for Chloe, Jean-Paul Gautier, Kenzo, and Thierry Mugler. Shot on Super 8 film by a group of six collaborators, Top Ten Designers brings together scenes of contemporary Paris, candid interviews, and catwalk footage shot so close-up that clothes and models alike illuminate the screen with aesthetic vision and lively gesture.

With special thanks to Vivian Ostrovsky, Diane Gabrysiak and Laura McLean-Ferris.

Laura McLean-Ferris is a writer and curator based in Paris. Her work has appeared in 4Columns, Artforum, ArtReview, Bookforum, frieze, Flash Art International, Mousse and many book and catalogue publications. She was the recipient of a 2015 Creative Capital | Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant, and her short-form collection The Lacustrine was published in 2016. Formerly, she was Chief Curator at Swiss Institute, New York, where she worked from 2015 to 2021.