Film Review: The First Monday in May

Director: Andrew Rossi

Producers: Fabiola Beracasa, Dawn Ostroff, Sylvana Ward Durrett

Cast: Anna Wintour, Andrew Bolton, John Galliano, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Karl Lagerfeld, Baz Luhrmann, Rihanna, Kar-Wai Wong

Running time: 1 h 30 min

Andrew Rossi’s The First Monday in May opens with a question, posed by Anna Wintour herself, “Does fashion belong in a museum like the Met?”, and responds with a compelling confirmation. In a focus on a such a historically glamorous event like the Met Gala, the temptation to indulge in celebrity sightings and grossly expensive posses looms. While Rossi is not immune to this temptation, he is still able to weed through the crowds and tell the story of redemption and passion in curator Andrew Bolton. The film follows the creation of Bolton’s hugely successful exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, “China: Through the Looking Glass” and the corresponding fundraising event held by Anna Wintour.

            In order to communicate the power of such an event and establish Bolton’s inner context, the film looked back to his earlier exhibition, “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty”. Following McQueen’s recent suicide, Bolton took a risk with Savage Beauty that paid off dramatically. Bolton’s quick work was seen by many of his contemporaries as opportunistic but Bolton was never interested in being safe or even being liked. The success of Savage Beauty established fashion in the Art-with-a-capital-A realm and redefined exhibition making, giving it new life and a push toward modernity. For the first time, costume exhibitions were being reviewed in the New York Times and judged against traditional art forms like painting and sculpture. Bolton’s curatorial triumph with McQueen also established a high bar against which all of his later work would be judged. Much of this film is about Bolton stepping out of his own shadow and competing against his own legacy to create something just as beautiful and revolutionary. The flashier features of the film, including more than one appearance by Justin Bieber, distract from this story and ultimately hurt the film. There also appeared to be two centers, one around Andrew Bolton and one around Anna Wintour, that made the film feel disorganized. Much of this tension can be attributed to the wide public interest in Anna Wintour and Rossi caved in to this, allowing her to steal too much of the spotlight. Bolton’s story felt much more compelling narrative. As a passionate genius from humble beginnings, I found myself rooting for Bolton and his conceptions of fashion as an art form. The odds that Bolton and Wintour run up against in the organization of the exhibition and the gala seem fairly superficial, like finding the right place to seat Jessica Chastain and deciding how much is too much for a private Rihanna concert, but also explore more significant themes like determining the direction of modern and learning how to pay homage to a culture while avoiding appropriation.

            This film also explored a lot of the damaging assumptions and stereotypes that stifle creativity and create misunderstanding. The subject of cultural appropriation demanded to be discussed when considering a work inspired by the art of the East, a frequent target of cultural pillaging and misrepresentation. While this film acts in defense of the authenticity of Bolton’s intentions, it makes no attempts to bury the issue of the West’s tendency to represent the East as a caricature. The film goes on to draw an interesting parallel between the trope of the “dragon lady”, the empowered and malevolent Asian woman in cinema, and Anna Wintour, the editor-and-chief of Vogue magazine. While the comparison is not exactly congruous in its racial implications, it shows how little we have achieved culturally in our ability to respect women in power. Characters in film like those played by actress Anna May Wong allow for the dismissal assertive women as bossy and domineering. There are entire movies, like The Devil Wears Prada, dedicated to showing how mean Anna Wintour is. This film shows the offensive nature of the assumptions made about the personality Anna Wintour, a topic that would never be discussed about a male executive.

            This documentary introduces a lot of interesting concepts like the role of commerce in art, the dangers of cultural appropriation, and the political limitations of modern China. Unfortunately, further exploration into these ideas are compromised in the interest of celebrity cameos and insider gossip. Visually, however, this film consistently nails it. The cinematography captured all of the light, sound and color that made the immersive experience of Bolton’s exhibition so revolutionary. The score is playful and helps to move the story along, like the shots of Anna Wintour giving out orders to the sounds of military flute music.

            The visual experience of The First Monday in May makes up for the brief treatment of thematic content and provides insight into the world of fashion as it emerges into a new form of high art.