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Review

This delightfully playful documentary romp through the fashion world with designer Mizrahi is a sure-fire crowd pleaser due in large part to his irrepresible and engaging personality.

The film's action centers around the swirl of creative energy Mizrahi and staff are pumping into preparing his fall '94 colllection, which is inspired by Nanook of the North and Call of the Wild. Amidst the chaos, Mizrahi (a boyishly cute, chubby Jewish queen from Brooklyn who sports a Medusa-like shock of hair) lets loose a barrage of bitchy, yet not too vicious one liners, social critiques and, of course, barbs at other designers.

The film culminates with the Big Show in New York, which, in Mizrahi's case, is a brilliant piece of performance art featuring a transparent scrim that reveals the backstage chaos to the gathered celebs - it is an exquisite stroke which elevates Mizrahi's presentation to the level of guerilla theatre. As filmed by Mizrahi's former lover Keeve, Unzipped is as raucous and raw as its subject; its at times annoyingly jagged camera work is saved only by masterful, zippy MTV-of-the-era-paced editing.