Review of The September Issue (2009) by Margaux B — 22 Nov 2009

An insightful look into the secret society that is Vogue? I found the film slightly disappointing due to quick cutaways, unclear dialogue, heavily edited. Maybe it was The Hills style of editing that I don't like.

I don't necessarily understand Anna Wintour's vision. A lot of people consider her influential, but I can't say I even like the way her home was decorated, lol. Not that I do not admire this woman, she is huge force in the fashion world and though I found her to have much more of a sense of humour and even at time self deprecating, I was so often reminded of Meryl Streep's brilliant performance in Devil Wears Prada. (Dead on, I say). One scene, where Anna was looking over photos placed in a row, she quite flatly says "excuse me" to someone in the way who literally jumped back like a frightened puppy which was pretty funny and telling of how intimidating she is in person. So though the documentary presented her as extremely ambitions with a focused drive yet human, I suspect in reality she is all the haughty ice queen she is perceived to be and all the lowly admins and interns fear and cower from when she walks the halls of Vogue (which, by the way, are not in any way interesting or high fashion looking. Vogue is just a boring beige and grey office space with cubicles!).

I was baffled how all the people involved in the upper echelons of fashion were utterly frumpy, frankly ugly, and most unfashionable!! With the exception of Anna (who is pretty classic and flawless, and Andre Leon Tally who is just "labels, labels, labels, bitches!") the rest of her crew was in *desperate* need of skin treatments (hell, botox!), deep penetrating hair conditioners and for Pete's sake how about a little makeup? Never mind what they wore: please, these people have the creme de la creme of fashion at their disposal and they cannot pull themselves together to at least look the part? Such a pitiful waste. It is inexcusable.

My heart went out ot Grace Coddington quite often though. I have to say I understood her vision way more and the photoshoots she oversaw at Versailles, around Paris, etc truly embodied what coutour is to me. Exactly the sorts of fantastical theatrics I would love to see in a magazine. Yet Anna rejects most of them! I felt Grace's frustration. And then I don't understand why when you look in Vogue, most of what you see are just ads upon ads and barely any fashion stories in relation....

In all, I don't feel I got a real in-depth look into what makes Vogue Vogue, although I did enjoy watching the film: actually more so trying to analyze what was going on, being portrayed and reading between the lines. Because really, no one seems to make true documentaries about a living person anymore, there is so much manipulation, politics and expectations (and probably approvals) by the subject that have to be met or they will just sic their high commissioned lawyers on the filmakers if they are not happy. (And there is much to be said when even poor Jean Paul Gauthier, "l'enfant terrible" of fashion, seems a little afraid of Anna when she visits his salon in Paris, lol.).