Weekend style movie: "Pret-a-Porter"

The weather this weekend sounds about as pleasant as a cab ride with Naomi Campbell, so if you find yourself shut-in, or generally lazy, try revisiting a movie I hadn't watched since its 1994 release (when I was just a toddler).

Robert Altman's "Pret-a-Porter" is dated to be sure. In fact, everyone in it looks a bit like Lisa Stansfield or has Hugh Grant's rakish hair style, but all of that aside, it's a great education about mid-1990s fashion. You can even see future French first lady Carla Bruni modeling.

Bjork modeling Gaultier in "Ready to Wear"

The number of guest appearances by the French fashion elite is staggering (Thierry Mugler, Sonia Rykiel, Christian Lacroix, Issey Miyake), but most endearing is watching Altman wrap his head around the fashion world, which he does with varying degrees of success.

Casting Tracey Ullman as editor of British Vogue was a stroke of genius, but Altman does have several inaccuracies in the film (the editors of Harpers, Vogue, and Elle would never be seated side-by-side during a Dior show!), but as a crash course in what the fashion week experience feels like, "Pret-a-Porter" feels accurate, right down to random celebrity appearances from Cher and Harry Belafonte.

If you're limited on time, simply fast forward through all scenes with Julia Roberts and Tim Robbins (it has nothing to do with the rest of the movie). Sophia Loren is completely charming, and although the only Chanel we get is Danny Aiello in a pink Chanel suit (insert shudder here), the overlap of fiction and reality makes this a fun trip back to the 1990s.