About Face: Supermodels Then and Now

I finally got around to viewing HBO's documentary About Face: Supermodels Then and Now, a film consisting of a series of interviews with some of the most iconic fashion models discussing their personal and professional experiences. The documentary provides viewers with an overview of the complexity of the issues facing the business of beauty, such as aging, racisim, sexism, and drugs, through the eyes of famous faces such as Beverly Johnson, Isabella Rossellini, Carol Alt, Christie Brinkley, Carmen Dell'Orefice, China Machado, Paulina Porizkova, Jerry Hall, Lisa Taylor, Karen Bjornson, Kim Alexis, Cheryl Tiegs, and Bethann Hardison. 

While some of the reviews of the documentary have criticized the film as barely scratching the surface of these issues, I would have to argue that the documentary was truly fascinating and insightful. With each interview, filmmaker Timothy Greenfield-Saunders captures the essence of each decade of the industry while simultaneously bringing it all together to give the viewer a true understanding of how the business of beauty has changed and how it continues to face some of the same issues. I was particularly drawn to the models' candidness in how they view their own beauty, both from a business and personal standpoint, making the documentary a film any woman can relate to and learn from- model or not.