Rec. #638: Revisiting List #61: Unpretty Women and Their Cities

[Originally posted September 28, 2016.]

I had some complicated reactions to this article from The Telegraph and this article from The Guardian, but they did make me think about a few recent(ish) documentaries that, to different extents, foregrounded their profiles with the framing of the subject as "not beautiful/pretty."

Here's to them. And to their cities.

Finding Vivian Maier:
The thoughtful, skilled work of a street photographer daylighting as a nanny is discovered after her death. Represent, Chicago! (streaming on Netflix)

Iris:
Iris Apfel, fashion icon, putters through New York City. Not unlike Bill Cunningham, Apfel has been graced in her old age with an unbreakable aura of adorable eccentricity. (streaming on Netflix)

Public Speaking:
Fran Lebowitz talks and thinks and talks some more. As her friend Toni Morrison says, Lebowitz is "almost always right, but never fair." (For more Lebowitz, see Rec. #188 and Rec. #347.)