Advanced Style began as a blog by New York street photographer Ari Cohen. Cohen photographed women over the age of fifty, dressed in flamboyant, often eccentric ensembles, aiming to prove that beauty and style have no expiration dates. The documentary follows seven women, with ages ranging from mid-sixties to ninety-five, all of whom have a very personal sense of style and are driven by their strong-willed nature and free spirits.
There's no doubt that each and every one of the seven women chronicled here, has led a fascinating life. Whilst they all have very different personalities, they share a common love of clothing and the self-confidence that a well put-together ensemble brings to them. I found one or two of them rather tedious to be honest, pretentious even - I felt almost sickened by the superficiality of Lynn when she suggested that it is "unacceptable" for women to go out in public without polished nails and makeup on - however there were definitely a few standouts.
The 82-year-old Jacquie Murdock, for instance, was once a dancer in the Apollo Theatre, and despite her deteriorating eye-sight, often returns to greet the staff and embrace the memories. The most inspiring of the women however, and the highlight of the documentary for me, was Ilona Smithkin. Ilona makes eyelashes for herself out of her own hair, is a fantastic sketcher, still teaches art classes and generally has a great outlook on life. Oh and did I mention that she's ninety-three?
All of this amounts to a remarkably positive look at ageing , showing women that it can be embraced just as easily as it can be repelled. Although, whilst we do get to peer through a window into the fascinating lives of these older women, I feel the film could have afforded to delve deeper. Ilona's emigration from Poland in the 1930s, for instance, is only ever just touched on. It may be a bit much to ask for from a 75 min documentary, but for those, like myself, who have little interest in the fashion but are still intrigued by the lives of these women, it may have just strengthened that extra dimension that the film seeks out to achieve.
With so much of the activity occurring on the streets of New York, there is certainly plenty of beautiful skyline cinematography to savour over. However, quite often, I found that the clearly low budget style of filmmaking here became too much of a distraction. I presume this was mainly shot on DSLRs, with a shallow depth-of-field and therefore occasionally falls out of focus. It also was most likely not stabilised in any way as the handheld footage becomes unbearably shaky at times.
Advanced Style is an often very interesting fashion documentary, filled with fantastic people and relatively daring subject matter, whilst still remaining positive in it's overall message. However I feel that it really isn't quite daring enough and should have been willing to explore its subjects personal stories in more detail for the sake of a slightly longer running-time.
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