The September Issue

This is a fascinating documentary, not so much about the fashion world but about the world of glossy magazines. Even if people may think that an interest in clothes and accessories is a sign of a shallow personality, it should not be forgotten that fashion is also big business, because dealing with the upper class clientèle creates a huge turnover.

While some photographers and editors might also be interested in the creative side, others are more concerned with the money-making machine and are pretty aware of the fact that department stores and advertisers must be treated nicely.

This split between hard-edge and creative personalities is quite clear in the documentary. Anna Wintour appears to be much of the first type and Grace Coddington of the second. We follow these two women (and a lot of other staff, famous photographers and beautiful models) through the making of the September issue, trekking to Paris, London and Rome and back to New York.

Sure, there is a lot of hard work involved in the creation of beautiful images and in the selection of ethereal (sometimes plain crazy) outfits. However, one can hardly feel much empathy for Ms. Wintour, who gives the impression of being an unpleasant, self-absorbed, arrogant woman. Apparently she is just confirming all the rumors about her. In the most revealing sequence she is uttering the lines "If I get too angry I will quit this job". Indeed, one could say that throughout the documentary she makes a big effort to conceal deep seated rage. But what exactly is making her so angry is a mystery.

She gets what she wants basically at all times, both with staff who does not dare to contradict her and with designers who tremble at the sign of her disapproval. In short she looks like a despotic queen, a sort of female Henry VIII who could at any time order to have heads cut off. And yet, she is so angry… It is difficult to see what people could do to please her more, but maybe it is just not in her nature to be happy.

Different story about Grace Coddington, who is the human face of this elitist fashion world. She actually seems a nice person who really cares about beauty and elegance. The photos she styles are indeed beautiful. Too beautiful for this commercial world, indeed. In fact, most are rejected by her commander in chief and one cannot but feel sorry for so much creativity compressed within the pages of what is basically just a luxury items catalog.

The September Issue is a superficial look into the making of the September 2007 issue of Vogue. Many of the shots consist of various photographers, art directors and members of the editorial staff behaving in a groveling and subservient way around editor-in-chief Anna Wintour. The one exception is stylist Grace Coddington, a confident and gifted woman who does superb creative work and isn't afraid to stand up for herself. Her work really is the backbone of the magazine. Once she leaves, Vogue is on a fast ride downhill. Wintour's insights, as she looks at and discusses potential fashion spreads, seem fairly prosaic. She must have gotten the job by game-playing and the usual machinations of the business world. Outside of standing back somewhat and letting Coddington do her work, I don't see what she contributes to the magazine except for making her staff feel compulsively insecure. I enjoyed the few scenes that show her with her twenty-something daughter, who wants to be a lawyer. She clearly has the ability to "get" to Wintour that no one else in the film does. Good for her. Wintour talks about her father and siblings, but neglects to mention her American mother, an interesting omission. Wintour is a lonely character, in a way. There's a revealing scene of her in the back of a town car clutching a Starbucks coffee and staring straight ahead. She's off in her own world most of the time.

As is to be expected, no one on the Vogue staff actually wears the outlandish clothing featured in the magazine. Wintour wears flattering silk dresses, Coddington dresses in various frumpy black outfits and the staff and photographers wear practical work clothes. The exception is Leon Talley, the only member of the staff who truly buys into the fashion myth. Since Wintour reveals so little of herself and the filmmaker is as deferential to her as the rest of her intimidated staff, ultimately "The September Issue" is an elegantly made film with no emotional heart.

I saw this documentary at the Galway Film Fleadh. The anticipation was high, and the screening was sold out; I'm happy to report that the audience wasn't disappointed. This doc details the run up to the printing of the titular September issue of American Vogue magazine, which an estimated one in eight American women purchase annually. The documentary style is fast-paced with out being breakneck, with one of the freshest soundtracks I've had the pleasure of hearing on a cinema sound system. (Ladytron, Ratatat, Cinematic Orchestra, Mark Ronson et al.) It focuses on mostly on the upper echelons of Vogue, namely inscrutable ice queen and inspiration for "The Devil Wears Prada", editor Anna Wintour. Creative director Grace Coddington brings some welcome levity during the more "fashion has no mercy, dahling!" moments. If you enjoyed Ugly Betty, The Devil Wears Prada, America's Next Top Model and Project Runway, you already know that this is right up your street; for everybody else it's a fascinating and occasionally funny study of an inordinately influential individual at the apex of a bizarre and enthralling industry, and those that surround her.

I had two great insights into Vogue and the fashion world. The first, and most important insight is that assuming the Vogue target audience is 25-45, the people who make the most important decisions are well above that age. Anna Wintour must be in her mid 50's, similarly or even older, Grace Coddington, Karl Lagerfeld, Jean Paul Gaulthier, Giorgio Armani, Oscar de la Renta, etc, etc. And what was also relevant about this "discovery" as seen in the movie, is that these people are NOT wearing the ridiculous outfits they are foisting on the public through magazines such as Vogue--which sets the fashion dictates of a season. Anna Wintour wore only the most feminine, attractive, figure flattering, AGE-APPROPRIATE outfits throughout the movie---which are damn hard to find in the stores! (unless, perhaps, one is paying top, top dollar for designer prices which may cater to an older crowd) But the fashion designs that are being interpreted for mainstream America is following the latest trends as written and photographed by Vogue. Secondly, this is a movie that attempts to humanize Anna Wintour, and does so simply by showing that she is an obsessive human being, whose obsession is her magazine. She does show some warmth with her daughter, but otherwise she is simply driven and clearly makes no attempt to ease the palpable discomfort of others in her presence. She's not evil, nor bitchy, but she does seems to take some pride her in tabla rosa facial expressions--which clearly raises the anxiety level of those submitting work to her. It wouldn't hurt her professionalism to attempt more empathy, but I guess she doesn't see it that way. Overall, it's a very interesting movie and shows the business side of creating the largest fashion magazine in the world, complete with casual references to using Photoshop to enhance an already beautiful woman, or the promotion of fur in fashion due probably to the large amount of furriers who buy advertising. Great eye candy throughout!

R J Cutler's camera follows her into the industry's biggest names, and they positively cower before her or so we are lead to believe, as at the end of the day and sadly its a controlled doc about a dreary woman who sees fashion as a business and has been allowed to have a voice with the power of this magazine , director R J Cutler is a great filmmaker, and I feel that his creation was amazing but after seeing Varon Bonicos's - A Man's Story - an underrated and sadly unknown documentary film about black UK tailor and m men's guru designer Ozwald Boateng , I now retrospectively crave the reality of this woman's world not just her day job, yes its fashion, but who is AW? In my opinion Cutler obviously started shooting with Andre Leon Tally who sold the idea that AW would have a say in the production , she allows the camera in her life and answer's Cutler's questions, but sadly there is nothing of any emotion she never cracks her reserve, while the warm and emotional sidekick Coddington has her talent thwarted at every turn, and quickly becomes the heart of this film. It's like we need a part 2 about AW without the September "Issues" .RR