Review of The September Issue (2009) by Nan S — 17 Sep 2009

I am guilty of wanting to see this more because of my curiosity of who Anna Wintour is (after being thoroughly amused by The Devil Wears Prada) vs. what makes Vogue tick. While I feel I did get a great understanding of the fashion mogul that is Anna, I also walked away with a great education of what it takes to put out such a respected publication. Being in the business of designing websites, I found it fascinating to see how much the editors slave over the composition, typography and overall vision of how readers will interpret things. Anna understands, intrinsically, what her readers want - i.e. that Americans don't want moody Italians, they want charming Italians. Vogue readers don't want neck braces, they want glamour. Glamophiles don't want oversized words on the magazine cover, they want demure typography.

I was in for a complete surprise with the intro to the legendary firecracker that is Grace Coddington. What a bad, bad creative girl she is! ;) She was entertaining - though a bit off-putting - as she fought for her work to be published. There was a lot of little girl behavior happening. The Creative Director serves for the good of the whole, but it seems much of the staff had to cater to and gloss-around the friction between Anna and Grace. On a more serious note, I have walked away with a further appreciation of the genius in Grace's work. Her shoots and creative direction are astonishing.

Did anyone else notice when Anna Wintour seemed to get teary-eyed after describing that some of her siblings worked in the social service-related fields and the other is Editor-in-Chief at The Guardian? Were her tears an apology that she was not more concerned with those less fortunate or even the general masses vs. being immersed in an industry that is labeled so harshly - which she has shaped largely at the helm? I am curious as to what others think.