''Advanced Style'' is a 2014 American

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

directed by Lina Plioplyte. The film details the history and values of the fashion blog of the same name, curated by street photographer Ari Seth Cohen, through the lives of seven unique New Yorkers whose style have guided their approach to ageing. The film was released theatrically, digitally, and on DVD in the United States on September 26, 2014, by Bond/360.

Synopsis

Seven New York City women, aged 62 to 95, are profiled in the film. All the women had been photographed by Cohen for his blog and through their fashion challenge convention ideas about beauty, ageing and obsession with youth. The film unpacks the private lives of its subjects and their personal philosophies on fashion, body image and self-confidence. ''Advanced Style'' also documents the history of Cohen's blog, which had been originally started to cope with the loss of his maternal grandmother. Cohen explains that he believes beauty should not be the domain of the young, a statement agreed by Simon Doonan, Iris Apfel and

Dita Von Teese Heather Renée Sweet (born September 28, 1972), known professionally as Dita Von Teese, is an American vedette, burlesque dancer, model, and businesswoman. She is credited with re-popularizing burlesque performance, earning the moniker "Queen ...

who cameo in the documentary. The film also charts the women finding newfound fame due to Cohen's blog, which culminates with an appearance on ''

The Ricki Lake Show ''The Ricki Lake Show'' (also known as ''Ricki'' or ''The New Ricki Lake Show'') was an American first-run syndicated talk show hosted by Ricki Lake. The series also marked her return to talk television after leaving the genre in 2004. After sev ...

''.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 89% based on 38 reviews, with an average rating of 6.90/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Colorful, witty, and uplifting, ''Advanced Style'' celebrates life and pays tribute to those who flout convention." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, it has a weighted average score of 66 out of 100, based on 11 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Writing for the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'', Sheri Linden wrote, "The way the women occupy Cohen and Plioplyte's spotlight is a lesson in aging well, a lesson that begins with the refusal to play by the rule that says to grow older, especially for women, is to fade into the shadows."

References

External links

''Advanced Style'' blog
maintained by Cohen * {{IMDb title, 3268030 2014 films 2014 documentary films American documentary films Documentary films about New York City Documentary films about old age Documentary films about women Films about fashion in the United States Women in New York City 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language documentary films