“I probably shouldn’t say this” she whispers to me from behind her famous dark glasses, “but I almost wish I’d never met Andy Warhol. I had such high expectations and he was kind of a disappointment. I preferred the illusion.”

From the outset I knew my interview with Diane Pernet would be an interesting one.

But who exactly is Diane Pernet? Diane has been a master of numerous trades. She actually began by going to film school, then evolved into a cult fashion designer of 80s New York, which she followed up with fashion criticism, writing for the likes of Elle magazine where ‘Dr Diane’ dished out fashion advice and catwalk critiques. But her activity of the last five years has seen her diversify even further, reaching a global audience on a daily basis: Diane is the author of “A shaded view on fashion” – a fashion blog which attracts an impressive 6,000 global readers per day, and she is the Director and Producer of a film festival of the same name which debuts in Paris each September and then travels to various countries worldwide.

I ask her which of her different roles has been the most satisfying and she confirms that in the past it was probably the fashion design, but now she is firmly committed to the film festival. And sure enough, even if I can’t really see her eyes behind her dark glasses (it is these very glasses that gave birth to the ‘Shaded View’ concept) I can tell that her face lights up when she’s telling me about the films she loves and I leave with an impressive list of shorts, features (Puzzle of a Downfall Child with Faye Dunaway, The Passenger by Francois Rotger) and even 70s TV series (French fashion/music TV show Dim Dam Dom) to check out.

She left New York for Paris some years ago and eventually got back into film after being invited to make a film for the Gumball Rally, which became Adventure of Pleasure. Then she launched the fashion film festival in a partnership as ‘You Wear It Well’, before setting out of her own. A Shaded View on Fashion Film – billed as a ‘fashion, style and beauty festival’ – is in its second year and launches at the prestigious Parisian National Gallery  ‘Jeu de Paume’. The concept behind the festival is to “shake up the old rules of fashion by putting the focus on the moving image, an in industry overwhelmingly dominated by the “still” photographic medium”. The original collection of short films at the heart of the festival was expanded into a 3-day event also featuring screenings of documentaries and feature-length films based around fashion, as well as an awards ceremony.

Still from the Princess and the Pea

As a sample, last year’s collection contained The Princess and the Pea – “an angelic fairytale mixing style and absurdity” by UK director Camilla Robinson as well as Eat your Chiffon, portraying intimate moments with icon Zandra Rhodes preparing an elaborate dinner party by London-based Ben Charles Edwards. The 2009 festival will add sections for fashion music videos and advertisements.

The fashion industry has been under the cinematic spotlight of late, most recently with not one but two films on Coco Chanel, and before that there was the Lagerfeld ‘documentary’ (the extent of the central character’s involvement in the editorial has been widely disputed). A Vivienne Westwood biopic is also rumoured to be in the works. I ask her which designers she think would make good subjects and Thierry Mugler goes to the top of the list, who after his ‘Angel’ perfume, is perhaps most renowned for his misadventures in plastic surgery. Then there’s Claude Montana who infamously threw his wife out of a window. From the contemporary crowd she suggests that Tom Ford and Donatella Versace must have some great tales to share.

Still from Eat Your Chiffon

Despite the biopic trend, there are still relatively few fiction films about the fashion industry. The defining one that probably comes to mind for most people is Robert Altman’s Pret-à-Porter. Diane was in fact in the film, albeit reluctantly – having originally offered her involvement in the costume department. When this was too late, producer Scott Bushnell said that they would be very keen to have her in front of the camera instead. Hesitantly (“I’m not an actress”) she accepted, and said that although she was disappointed that it didn’t quite equal the wonderfulness of ‘The Player’ (Altman’s revered epic on the film industry), perhaps in part due to the Weinstein’s ruthless revision of the script, she has many fond memories, including mingling with Marcello Mastroianni, Sophia Loren, Linda Hunt and Lyle Lovett, and coffees with Tracey Ullman.

Diane is still making films – her own piece on reclusive corset designer Mr Pearl featuring Dita von Teese was shown in last year’s festival – although the huge amount of work that the festival demands mean that we’re unlikely to see a feature film from her soon. Her video journalism is in full force however – she is crazy about her ‘flip’, the latest camera which instantly renders your videos for YouTube – and you watch a steady stream of videos from her uber-cool universe on her channel here.

You’ll be able to enjoy Diane’s excellent curations at ASVOFF from this September in Paris, at other festivals worldwide throughout the year, and you can take a peek into her world of fashion and culture at any time online: http://www.asvoff.com.

Trailer for the 2008 A Shaded View on Fashion Film

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiCAofWNyDc[/youtube]