I guess you had to be her. I admit there's a decent story here, with plenty of elements of interest even for the unfashionable among us. But the film has issues, chief among them being its desire to have things both ways. The story is dismissive of fashion and its world, but also argues in its favor at certain key moments. When our heroine becomes more accepting of her new milieu--and even starts feeling sympathetic towards her antagonist--she is not celebrated for her growth but criticized as a sellout in run-of-the-mill dramatic conflict generation. All of which leaves the viewer...where? Who knows? Are the personal failings of those shown as antagonists worthy of condemnation, or justified by their positions in the the fashion world's hierarchy of prominence and importance? Again, who knows? That lack of a firm, determined perspective isn't fatal, but the film suffers because of it. With movies as with people: looking good matters, but the advantage can be undone by flaws in deeper concerns.
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