July/August Edit. My Favorite.

I’m back and refreshed from a summer pause with my July/August Edit, and excited about what's on tap this fall.

This month it’s a tight edit, with one recommendation: the 2012 documentary Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel.

At age 80, the legendary fashion editor and enthusiast asked the writer George Plimpton to collaborate with her on her memoirs. And so began a series of recorded conversations in Vreeland’s impossibly bright red study. Here’s the trailer to give you a feel, red study included at end. 

The seductive tribute and portrait makes great use of these conversations with Plimpton.

We’re given a sneak peak near the opening of the film when Plimpton asks easily enough “How would you like to tell the story of your life then?”

To which Vreeland’s replies, “Well it’s got to have some bite."

I’ve been thinking about that word “bite” ever since. Yes, Vreeland could be a raconteur with an active imagination and an imperious editor and boss, but she understood something essential and ever-relevant about a story worth telling.

What I think Vreeland's meant by "bite," without naming it, is a sharpened point of view.

She desired a point—or point-of-view—honed and sharpened so that it could etch itself into the psyche of the reader, viewer, or listener. Vreeland was less about shock value or fantasy in fashion (though she could indulge in both), and more about contributing an idea and a point of view that could take hold and transport.  As a communicator, she preferred pointed over bland, because she wanted to create change within her domain.

That’s what ultimately she wanted to be known for—a commitment to having strong viewpoints that could invite others in.

Honing your point of view means (finally) feeling on point when you step forward in the world.

Think about a moment professionally or when you were on point. How did you feel? How did you know?

What would it mean for you to have more of that?