Fashionistas, The Review

Distributor: Evil Angel Edition Details: Standard DVD Movie Specs: Genres: Feature Film, Fetish, BDSM Run Time: 318 minutes Rated: XXX Release Year: 2002 Director: John Stagliano Written by: John Stagliano Cast: Belladonna, Rocco Siffredi, Taylor St. Claire, Chelsea Blue, Caroline Pierce, Kate Frost, Friday, Sharon Wild, Monique, Gia, Manuel Ferrera, Billy Glide, Mark Ashley, Brandon Iron, Tricia Devereaux, Raven, Ruby Richards (as Star Chandler), David Land, Mistress Kiva, Mike, Mark Catawia, Della K. Cherry, Careena Collins (as Casee), Jim Malibu, Kane, Nikki Loren (as Kyla Love), Shyla Stylez, Vixen Sweet, Paula, Emma, Suz E Q, Phoenix Griffin, September Dawn (as Ms. September), Nadja Lee, Lydia Lynn, Johnson Steele, Johnny Smoke, Jamie Riley, James Dalton Beach, Sami, John Stagliano Release Specs: Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: none Video: Full Frame, 1.33:1 Video Format: NTSC Format: DVD Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): 0 (All) Number of discs: 3 DVD, 1 CD Disc: DVD 9 (SS, DL) Special Features: Audio Commentary, Filmographies, Cast List, Extended Fashion Show, Soundtrack, Photo Shoots, Photo Galleries, The Making of The Fashionistas, Extra Sex, Fetish Menu, Pre-Production, Bloopers, You Know Ass?, The Fashionistas AVN Nominations, Awards for John Stagliano, Biography of John Stagliano, Trailer, Easter Eggs DVD-ROM Special Features: none

Synopsis:
Antonio (Rocco Siffredi), a fashion designer, changes from his standard fashions to fetish wear and tries to bring the new line to America. A fledgling company, Fashionista, woos him with very unconventional methods, slowing bringing him into the underground S&M scene.

Audio/Video:
The Fashionistas is presented with an English 2.0 Stereo track, which works well for the material being presented in the film. The dialog is clear throughout the film and the music sounds great. With the care that was put into this film I wish that it had been given a Dolby Digital Surround track, which would if properly done will make this film sound great. But besides mere wishes, there are no issues what-so-ever with the audio. Evil Angel hasn't included any foreign language tracks or any subtitle options for the film.

The Fashionistas is presented in the full screen aspect ratio of 1.33:1, which is the aspect ratio that John Stagliano intended the film to be viewed in. The movie was filmed on 35mm film and aside from some fine grain, the picture presentation is perfect on this disc with no artifacts, blemishes or glitches anywhere on the print. Given the mainstream aspects of the film and the fact is was made on film, I wish that the film had been made to be seen in widescreen. Again, this is just a mere wish and the picture is excellent.

Special Features:
Evil Angel has filled this release with extras. So many that the majority of them are contained within their own disc. There is a feature length audio commentary track with John Stagliano, Taylor St. Claire, Belladonna and Tricia Devereaux, which goes into detail on the making of the film. Contained on disc one, there are filmographies for Belladonna, Taylor St. Claire, Kate Frost, Caroline Pierce, Sharon Wild, Friday, Monique, Chelsea Blue, Star Chandler, Gia, and Tricia Devereaux, which contain a list of their films for Evil Angel along with other companies and some basic information on the star. There is a cast list, which lists who plays who in the film. The final extra on the first disc, is a five and a half minute cut of the opening fashion show under the header extended fashion show.

Contained on the second disc is a piece called photo shoots, which runs for 12 minutes and shows the photo shoots for the film. The only other extra on the second disc is a collection of photo galleries. There are production stills, which contains 44 stills from the film that you flip through. There are promo stills, which contains 59 shots of cast members posed for the photo. There is the behind the scenes gallery, which contains 67 stills mostly containing shots of the production crew that you flip through. And last but not least, the design gallery contains 19 stills showing sketches for the cloths, box designs, etc. that you flip through.

Contained on the third disc is the bulk of the extras. The best of which by far is the “Making of the Fashionistas,” which is a whopping hour and 50 minute piece that breaks down the film by the days and what was done on each day. Evil Angel has gone all out on this making of piece creating one of the best that I have seen yet. And in a great touch that I hope other companies learn from, they have given the making of piece it's own chapter menu, containing 19 chapters, allowing the viewer to select the different days. There is also extra sex, which is a 45 minute piece featuring cut footage from the various sex scenes in the film. There is a 13 minute piece called pre-production that covers the casting and pre-production for the film. There is a little less than nine minutes of bloopers from the filming. There is a fetish menu that breaks down some of the fetishes present in the film and has clips from the film containing each fetish. There is a funny minute and a half piece titled “You Know Ass?” featuring Rocco saying that he knows ass. There is a listing of The Fashionistas AVN Nominations on the disc. There is a listing of all the Awards for John Stagliano over the years. There is a biography for John Stagliano, which is an extensive text piece on John, the creation of Evil Angel and the Buttman films. And last but not least, the trailer for The Fashionistas is included.

Contained on the first three discs are four easter eggs in total showing various fun outtakes. And last but not least, contained on the fourth disc, which is a linear PCM audio CD, is the original motion picture soundtrack for The Fashionistas, containing 16 tracks.

Navigation:
The feature film itself is broken up spanning two discs. The first disc contains 20 chapters available from the chapter menu and 55 on the disc itself. The second disc contains 20 chapters as well available from the chapter menu with 61 on the disc itself. The chapters are identified with a picture from the scene along with a name for the scene. Given the style of the film, the number of chapters present on the chapter menu is excellent and allows the viewer to get to any portion of the film that they want very easily. There is a time code for the feature film encoded on the discs.

General Review:
First and foremost, I must warn novice viewers and fans of tamer sex, that this is not a film for you. I have seen many a porn film from tame to very nasty and there were portions of this film that managed to shock me. This is also probably not a film that you would want to bring home to your significant other unless you had previously discussed it as well. Especially if your significant other is new to adult films. Don't let the fact that the film is a feature film fool you. This is definitely a hardcore film by all means.

Evil Angel, a company known for their gonzo and all sex features, has created their biggest feature film to date, and although the subject matter for the film isn't one I normally watch I had to see it. And I have to say after seeing the film, I was amazed by how great a film John Stagliano has crafted and I hope that he continues to make more in the years to come.

This is definitely not a film for viewers that hate an adult film with a plot. The Fashionistas has a very complex plot for an adult film and there are several long periods for plot development between sex scenes. This is not bad news for all though. Viewers who miss the days of old when adult film makes attempted to put a decent plot in their film will rejoice with this film.

One of the aspects to the film that I liked the most was that John Stagliano didn't exploit every possibility to stick in a sex scene and instead allows the scenes to flow with the film. The end result is a film that more resembles a mainstream film than an adult film. Adding to the equation is the excellent camera work present throughout the film. John Stagliano has always had excellent camera work in his gonzo features, but he went all out for this film. The shots are professional and glossy and after watching the film, the viewer gets a realization of how talented a filmmaker John Stagliano really is.

John Stagliano has assembled a great looking cast that not only give some excellent sexual performances but also does well with the non-sex portions of the film as well. As far as the sex scenes go, although there were several acts that were not to my taste, I found that the product as a whole overcomes the pieces. Belladonna's strip tease sequence in the film is amazing and worth giving the film a watch all by itself. There are some excellent tease scenes mixed in the film as well. As any long time reader knows from my previous reviews. I'm a huge fan of tease scenes, so their presence here was certainly welcome.

The sex is definitely rougher than one would usually find in a feature film, but the sex fits the plot. Considering the subject matter of some of them, I would probably would have had a far lower opinion of the film if they didn't fit the plot. Due to the content of them though they will end up chasing of a good portion of the adult film market. However, to be completely fair, if the scenes had been tamer, the end production probably wouldn't have been as good or as strong as it is.

As I am not the most familiar with some of the acts that were portrayed in the film, I may call acts by improper names. Please bear with me. The sexual themes in the film are vaginal and anal sex with pussy eating, blow jobs, spanking, anilingus (male to female, female to female and female to male), anal fingering, anal toy use, strip tease, nipple twisting, pussy eating (male to female and female to female), P2M, domineering, pussy fingering, smothering, latex, foot worship, A2M, female masturbation, male masturbation, foot job, titty clamping, pussy clamping, whipping, penis clamping, hand job, bondage, electric shock wand, forced deep throating, deep throating, and other assorted BDSM acts. For viewers that care about such things, there are no condoms used in the film.

Not everything about the film is perfect however. The film is incredibly long. Maybe it was because I tried to watch the whole film in one sitting but I found the film to run on for far too long and I wish that it had been shorter. The sex scenes are much longer than they could have been as well. Then again, I'm not a huge fan of really long sex scenes, so this might be a minor complain as far as a lot of other viewers are concerned.

The Scenes:
As far as the scene listing goes, this is what I feel are the major scenes. There are other smaller scenes that other viewers might deem of higher importance. In many of the mentioned scenes, additional acts are featured that are minor so I'm not listing them in the scene synopsis. This listing is just for a general feel of the film and not for in depth specific acts. I may use inappropriate words for some of the acts as I am not familiar with many of the acts performed in the film on the S&M side, so you'll have to bear with me on it.

The first scene brings us Rocco Siffredi and Kate Frost, for a scene that starts out with some anilingus before going into the vaginal sex. There is some pussy eating followed by more vaginal sex before heading into the blow job. The rest of the scene is a series of vaginal and anal sex.

The second and third scenes are interlaced. The second scene brings us Belladonna and Star Chandler for a scene that involves spanking and nipple twisting. Belladonna is wearing a butt plug throughout the scene. The third scene brings us Belladonna and Taylor St. Clair. The scene starts out with a strip tease by Belladonna before the entrance of Taylor, who masturbates upon entrance. The rest of the scene consists of pussy eating, anilingus, pussy and anal fingering and some anal toy use.

The fourth and final scene on the first disc brings us Rocco Siffredi, Sharon Wild, Friday, and Taylor St. Claire. The scene starts out with a blow job and some female to male anilingus before heading into the vaginal sex. The rest of the scene is a combination of vaginal sex, pussy eating (male to female and female to female), blow jobs, and anal sex.

The fifth scene gives us Belladonna, Billy Glide, and Jay Ashley. The scene consists of some foot worship, female masturbation, pussy fingering, pussy clamping, anal toy use, A2M, oral toy use, titty clamping and a blow job. The sixth scene gives us Belladonna and Brandon Iron for a scene that involves nipple clamping and a dildo.

The seventh scene leads into and is interlaced with the eighth scene. The seventh scene is a group scene with Rocco Siffredi, Caroline Pierce, Manuel Ferrara, Tricia Devereaux, Brandon Iron, Monique, David Land, Mistress Kiva, Mike, Mark Catawia, and Della K. Cherry. The scene takes place in various places in a room with different coupling and the various acts in the scene are penis clamping, electric shock wand, whipping, spanking, a blow job, pussy eating, vaginal sex, spanking and anal toy use. The eighth scene features Caroline Pierce and Manuel Ferrara and starts out with some light whipping before a blow job and anilingus switch off. There is also a blow job, vaginal sex and pussy eating in the scene.

The ninth scene features Rocco Siffredi, Gia, Chelsea Blue, and Taylor St. Claire and starts out with some anal toy use and anilingus before a blow job. The tenth and final scene in the film features Belladonna with Rocco Siffredi and starts out with some anilingus before a hand job and a blow job before going into the vaginal and anal sex.

Parting Thoughts:
As of yet, I believe that The Fashionistas is the first film to receive a perfect score from me, which isn't to say that the film is without problems, but none were big enough to detract from the ratings. I don't recommend The Fashionistas to viewers that are new to porn, inexperienced couples, fans of tame sex or viewers that hate a plot in their porn. Adventurous viewers that like porn with a plot and more hardcore sex than is normally offered, especially those who like BDSM will find a lot to like in this film. As far as the higher price tag for the film goes, remember that the film itself runs for almost five hours and the complete set contains four discs. This special edition is definitely worth the premium price tag.

Screenshots:

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