Fashion is a tricky topic when it’s related to cinema. It can be timeless (lush period pieces like Age of Innocence). It can be dated (every movie made and set in the 1980s). Either way, however, fashion can become much more than just a part of the set dressing. It can become a part of the lexicon of a film.

Annie Hall – Perhaps no other film in history has had such a meaningful impact upon the fashion zeitgeist than Woody Allen’s 1977 comedy opus, starring Allen and the brilliant Diane Keaton. Annie’s dressed-down, boyish style, designed by Ruth Morley, affected the entire spectrum of women’s fashion. From starlets to punk rockers, the look revolutionized the way women dressed and remains a part of the cultural and fashion landscape to this day.

Blade Runner – Ridley Scott’s 1982 noir/sci-fi classic took the nihilism of punk rock and the gloom and doom of goth and melded the two in a way that forever altered the cosmetic detailing of nearly every futurist film since. From Blade to Dark City to Underworld, the sexy, gothic chic look of Blade Runner, designed by Michael Kaplan, Charles Knode and (an uncredited) Jean Giraud has penetrated the collective consciousness of speculative fiction.

Pret-a-Porter (Ready to Wear) – From films that feature fashion to films about fashion. Robert Altman, the master auteur behind countless cinematic benchmarks, attempted to delve into the behind-the-scenes world of all things couture. Featuring a typically rich Altman ensemble and sporting a who’s-who of mid-‘90s fashion celebrities, Pret-a-Porter (1994) certainly had the proper façade of insider cinema. Unfortunately, there is very little substance on display and the many non-actors muddle up the flow of Altman’s jazzy aesthetic. An average episode of Project Runway has more insight than this well-meaning film.

Unzipped – A year later, Douglas Keeve delivered this much more successful documentary about the rebirth, of sorts, of Isaac Mizrahi, via his fall 1994 collection. Keeve’s no-frills expose reveals the chaotic joy, as well as the icy placidity, of contemporary fashion design. Mizrahi is shrill and heroic, often in the same instant. Unzipped is a classic of the genre and as much fun as a trashy daytime soap. Gossip and Capital “D” Drama, as it turns out, are indeed, as revenge, dishes best served cold.

Rick Curnutte is a freelance film critic and the creator and editor of the online film quarterly The Film Journal at www.thefilmjournal.com.