C ritics were divided, the US release date couldn’t have been worse (a few days after 9/11) and the sequel was a flop. Yet few films have predicted fashion’s own present like 2001’s Zoolander. The memeable absurdist comedy about the “three-times male model of the year” was a cinematic Cassandra: correctly predicting themes, styles and sensibilities of the industry that still ring true today.

Pucker up … Blue Steel became a way of life

The joke around Derek Zoolander’s trademark look, the Blue Steel, was how ridiculous it was. Still, the shocked but vacant stare with the exaggerated pout later became the facial pose on social media. Officially defined as “duck face” (after the Japanese term “ahiru-guchi”, duck mouth), the look gained traction on Instagram in the early 2010s, when people finally took a break from smizing. But tweakments such as lip-filler and forehead botox mean that faces have begun artificially morphing into the pose.…