Top Ten Designers in Paris
+ Introduction
Saturday 5 December 2026, 15:50
Ciné Lumière
Dir. Vivian Ostrovsky, Nicole Deschaumes, Evelyne Ragot, Olivier Guiton, Jérôme de Missolz, Philippe Grandrieux as Soft Ware Productions France, 1980
67 min
French with English subtitles
With a sense of incredible proximity and texture, this film is structured around ten catwalk presentations by leading designers in Paris in 1979, including Issey Miyake, Karl Lagerfeld, Angelo Tarlazzi, Tan Giudicelli, Jean-Paul Gaulthier, Marithé and François Girbaud, France Andrevie, Claude Montana, Kenzo and Thierry Mugler. Shot on Super 8 and 16mm film by a group of six collaborators, Top Ten Designers brings together scenes of contemporary Paris, candid interviews and catwalk footage captured so close-up that clothes and models alike illuminate the screen with aesthetic vision and lively gesture.
With an introduction by Laura McLean-Ferris.
With special thanks to Vivian Ostrovsky, Séverine Moreau, Diane Gabrysiak and Laura McLean-Ferris.
Laura McLean-Ferris is a writer and curator based in Paris. Her work has appeared in 4Columns, Artforum, ArtReview, Bookforum, frieze, Flash Art International, Mousse and many book and catalogue publications. She was the recipient of a 2015 Creative Capital | Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant, and her short-form collection The Lacustrine was published in 2016. Formerly, she was Chief Curator at Swiss Institute, New York, where she worked from 2015 to 2021.
Vivian Ostrovsky’s films range from exuberant short montages to diary and portrait meditations and projected installations. Born in New York and raised in Rio de Janeiro, she studied film with Éric Rohmer at the Sorbonne in Paris and with Henri Langlois at the Cinémathèque française. Before turning to filmmaking, she played a key role in promoting women’s cinema and championing experimental and avant-garde film. She continues to advocate for other artists’ work as a supporter and curator.