Christmas is a time for giving : especially if it is something from N.Y's favorite Department Store Bergdorf Goodman which has been a New York institution for the past 111 years. Stretching a whole block of Fifth Avenue between 57th & 58th Streets it is the high temple of fashion's elite that has the very best for the very well-heeled Manhattans who love it so much that they literally want to be buried there when they die. Or at least have their ashes scattered over it.
If you cannot afford to go shop with the well-heeled then you can at least grab a a copy of Matthew Miele's delightful documentary on the Store from 2012 which squeezes in some 175 interviews and tells the history of the establishment right up to the current day with designers who still have yet to be chosen, and an assortment of celebrities who like having their clothes picked out for them.
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Best of all it stars the legendary Betty Halbreich the veteran personal shopper with impeccable taste, razor sharp wit, and no-nonsense approach to dealing with customers with suspect taste who is an essential pillar of the whole place. Ms Halbreich stole all her scenes and a couple of our favorite anecdotes of hers relate to the Festive season. Like when Elizabeth Taylor ordered white mink ear muffs for her entire Christmas gift list, or the Christmas Eve Yoko Ono asked that they bring some fur coats over to her apartment that night, and John Lennon snapped up 80 of them there and then.
Read our full review of the movie from our sister site http://www.rwd5minmovieguide.com
