Brandy Hellville & The Cult of Fast Fashion

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2:14

Brandy Hellville & The Cult of Fast Fashion

2024

1h 31m

Documentary

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Popcornmeter

100%

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7 Reviews

42%

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Fewer than 50 Ratings

In the early Tumblr era of the 2010s, Brandy Melville became the must-have clothing brand for young girls across the world. Through a calculated social media presence and promoting an unattainable aesthetic, fueled by Instagram campaigns featuring its own employees and select "Brandy girls," Brandy Melville conferred a sense of coolness to the teens who wore the tiny "one size fits most" clothes that quickly exploded and today has nearly 100 stores in over 15 countries and over 80 cities worldwide. However, candid interviews with former employees and fashion insiders, as well as troubling accounts from former executives, reveal a troubling toxic work environment and discriminatory recruiting methods at the company and shed light on the inner workings of a business that flourished by setting impossible beauty standards on social media and in real life for its customers and employees. Behind the scenes, an environment of alleged discriminatory work practices thrived by preying on the desires of young girls to fit into the Brandy Melville aesthetic. Broadening its focus, the film examines the far-reaching reverberations of mass-produced fast fashion by Brandy Melville and other mainstream fashion brands, as well as the consequences of the collective increase in consumption and production of cheap clothing, traveling to Accra, Ghana, a destination for discarded textiles that end up polluting landfills and waters. From the microcosm of one cult-like brand to the universal detriments of disposable clothing, BRANDY HELLVILLE & THE CULT OF FAST FASHION exposes a wide system of exploitation within the global fashion industry.

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Jennifer Green

Common Sense Media

This ambitious documentary contains important messages and has generated buzz with its expose of a popular fashion brand, though it doesn't fully reach its own goals.

Apr 19, 2024

Full Review

Louisa Moore

Screen Zealots

Shines a harsh light on the Brandy Melville fast fashion brand, from the exploitative practices to the damaging effects of its popularity. It's a wake-up call for consumers that should have us all thinking twice about the brands we choose to support.

Apr 17, 2024

Full Review

Jeanine T. Abraham

VisAbleBlackwoman (Medium)

Brandy Hellville: and the Cult of Fast Fashion is a discerning documentary that showcases several complex issues through a clothing brand for young women and Gen Z girls.

Rated: 5/5

Apr 13, 2024

Full Review

Alison Lanier

Pajiba

It’s a true crime view of a serious and disturbing series of issues all rooted in the massive consumerist drive to pursue endless profit and clout, while dehumanizing and exploiting the least powerful.

Apr 11, 2024

Full Review

Liz Kocan

Decider

While there’s no easy fix to fast fashion, perhaps after learning about the deeply disturbing company practices at Brandy Melville, we can collectively eliminate at least this one brand from that scene.

Apr 9, 2024

Full Review

Alan French

Sunshine State Cineplex

While Brandy Hellville & the Cult of Fast Fashion makes strong points, it does so with a relatively generic shooting style. In this case, the message is more important than the filmmaking.

Rated: 7/10

Mar 18, 2024

Full Review

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Audience Member

2024, and this is what we have come to. A vacuous documentary about a vacuous subject.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

10/09/24

Full Review

Ashley S

I am not sure what I was supposed to take away from this. Disjointed.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

05/06/24

Full Review

Dakota M

This was terrible documentary they didn’t really seem to know what direction they wanted to go in they touched on so many different things that really didn’t have anything specific to do with brandy I’m still not sure why a doc about fast fashion focused so much on one specific brand when there are significantly worse brands out these This was a very disjointed doc very boring and had way to much going on well not really saying anything

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

05/06/24

Full Review

Dominika J

Convoluted and disorganized and lacking focus. If you're trying to post a provocative message about overconsumption then the last thing you should do is hone in on one brand which is definitely not at the top of the list of offensive fast fashion (former advisor to Global Green, environmentally sensitive as actor in my wardrobe choices).. but this couldn't decide what it was and therefore serves no other purpose other than a catty attack on a brand. Abercrombie & Fitch did it much better because they stayed focused on the status of the brand... I disagree with many of the points specifically that it was problematic to have an image of teenage girls without makeup looking Bohemian and tossing hair playfully (That's what I was like when I was 15 and I would argue that this is actually a good representation of one stylistic sensibility and Brandy never pretended to cater to other styles).. The claim that sizing was only for tiny people is also wrong.. My boyfriend wears extra large found a sweatshirt in there and I found things for three different sized friends the very first time I went in there to shop. I was drawn in because it was made in Italy or that's what they said and that's the part of the documentary that has any value. This is poorly executed and irresponsible because it doesn't serve a pure narrative about one brand and their CEO nor does it make a compelling argument for over consumption as a standard way of living. The title itself comes across as petty I think they should have titled this made in Italy with a question mark because then I could expect real investigative documentarianism instead of whatever this bizarre scatterbrained mess is.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

04/26/24

Full Review

Margot B

I thought this was really interesting! People need to be talking about the harm of fast fashion, this documentary heights it.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

04/16/24

Full Review

Michelle S

It just wasn't good. Very incomplete with not many interviews besides teenage girls. It was actually very boring and really nothing people couldn't have guessed from a company who markets their clothes "as one size fits most" . They hired skinny pretty girls, didn't want bigger girls wearing their brand. That's the gist!

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

04/14/24

Full Review

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Eva Orner

Director

Jonathan Chinn

Producer

Simon Chinn

Producer

Eva Orner

Producer

Nick Higgins

Cinematographer

Claire Didier

Film Editor

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Brandy Hellville & The Cult of Fast Fashion: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

In the early Tumblr era of the 2010s, Brandy Melville became the must-have clothing brand for young girls across the world. Through a calculated social media presence and promoting an unattainable aesthetic, fueled by Instagram campaigns featuring its own employees and select "Brandy girls," Brandy Melville conferred a sense of coolness to the teens who wore the tiny "one size fits most" clothes that quickly exploded and today has nearly 100 stores in over 15 countries and over 80 cities worldwide. However, candid interviews with former employees and fashion insiders, as well as troubling accounts from former executives, reveal a troubling toxic work environment and discriminatory recruiting methods at the company and shed light on the inner workings of a business that flourished by setting impossible beauty standards on social media and in real life for its customers and employees. Behind the scenes, an environment of alleged discriminatory work practices thrived by preying on the desires of young girls to fit into the Brandy Melville aesthetic. Broadening its focus, the film examines the far-reaching reverberations of mass-produced fast fashion by Brandy Melville and other mainstream fashion brands, as well as the consequences of the collective increase in consumption and production of cheap clothing, traveling to Accra, Ghana, a destination for discarded textiles that end up polluting landfills and waters. From the microcosm of one cult-like brand to the universal detriments of disposable clothing, BRANDY HELLVILLE & THE CULT OF FAST FASHION exposes a wide system of exploitation within the global fashion industry.

Director: Eva Orner
Producer: Jonathan Chinn, Simon Chinn, Eva Orner
Distributor: Max
Production Co: HBO Documentary Films, Lightbox
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 9, 2024
Runtime: 1h 31m

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