House of Z is a documentary on the life of Zac Posen, globally for his technique in artisanal craftsmanship, anatomical construction and textile manipulation and his beautifully made cocktail dresses and ballgowns.

The documentary takes you through Zac’s career in chronological order. It starts off by showing snippets of his childhood, old videos and interviews with relatives. Some of the videos show Zac as a small child making hats and expressing his creativity with his artistic family at such a young age. Zac’s Father was a painter, he painted realist art with fabrics. Zac said the idea of draping fabric over a form was always in his nature because of his Father’s work, introducing him to pattern making. Zac felt like he didn’t fit in in normal school, he was dyslexic and not academic. He joined Saint Ann’s high school, it had no rules and encouraged creativity and individuality. This is where he became inspired. Zac then started interning and the Metropolitan Museum. By this point, he was obsessed with fashion and had his eyes set only on Central Saint Martins. This is where he caught the eye of celebrities such as Naomi Campbell.

‘In our household, creativity and imagination was a religion’- Zac’s Mother (Susan Posen)

Zac’s career set off when he set his heart on making a fashion house. He brought this dream to reality and set up a studio in his living room. He became a ‘Force in American fashion’. Celebs here there and everywhere were wearing ‘Zac Posen’. However, he started to realise that the perception of his wasn’t actually the reality and he was living it because he was feeding the beast. He was thriving off the things people were saying about him and needed to be brought back to earth. The more money he gained, the bigger buzz the shows expressed. Zac started listening to his design team and higher celebs rather than his Mother and Sister that were there at the beginning. His designs went from being beautiful, carefully cut dresses to bigger, untasteful garments to please publicity. A much more theatrical approach was taken. The recession then hit. Brands were cutting back on expenses, Zac had less money available to him to less money to spend on his materials. He had run out of capital. Zac then left for Paris, however he received bad press here also. People that he looked up to began to say he had come into fame too early and lost touch with the reason he became a designer in the first place. Posen brainstormed  in a bid to bring his career back to life. He created only 25 designs for a show in New York, an incredibly small amount because the common amount of garments for a collection is 35-75. The show was a success and Posen’s company began to make money yet again.

I really enjoyed this documentary, it really put emphasis on the fact that you should follow your passions but not forget your roots. Posen hit fame at a very young age and hadn’t had time to mature in himself, he let popularity and the need to fit in get to his head and he forgot about the people who helped him get there in the first place. This documentary confirms the stereotypes of the fashion industry being very cut throat and smoke and mirrors however suggests that being true to yourself can go a long way.

-Kirsty