In the year of Hunger Games and Star Trek sequels, Matthew Miele’s documentary Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf’s may well prove the most dystopian of them all. A compelling celebration of success featuring a stream of celebrity endorsements, name-dropping and displays of unapologetic materialism, Miele’s film is an extended advertisement in all but name. Exploring the history of Manhattan’s elite department store Bergdorf Goodmans and how it came to be an American institution, the unrelenting fawning reveals the influential power of fashion on those rich enough and status-obsessed enough to buy into it.
The Emperor may not be wearing any clothes – but Bergdorf Goodman will be the ones to flog nudity as this season’s overpriced must-have.
It begins interestingly enough as Miele interviews fashion’s Who’s Who, allowing designers such as Michael Kors, Vera Wang and Christian Louboutin to explain how Bergdorf drives trends. Much like the Vogue documentary The September Issue, Miele also turns charismatic staff members into key characters, including sardonic personal shopper to the stars, Betty Halbreich.
But as Miele reveals sales assistants can earn $400,000 a year and unquestioningly allows interviewees to refer to $6,000 jewel-encrusted shoes as the epitomising the aspirational nature of the American Dream, the wealth worship becomes slightly sickening. The recession is discussed for less than a minute, and no non-celebrity shoppers are seen shopping, demonstrating the film’s unthinking acquiescence to the store’s brand of utter elitism.
If interviewee Joan Rivers is right and “people who take fashion seriously are idiots,” Miele’s prostrating PR film may be the stupidest offering of the year.