Access, it’s the ultimate lust-have in fashion and RJ Cutler had all that and more when he was filming The September Issue, the documentary documenting the 8-month making-of the September 2007 issue of US Vogue.
We were lured to the chilly streets of Sydney with Imelda for the Australian premiere of The September Issue by IMG Fashion, who used the premiere as a launch for August’s Rosemount’s Sydney Fashion Festival – and at the end of the day, who turns down a chance to see inside the hallowed halls of the fashion bible?
Thanks to Cutler, many Vogue myths were confirmed or proved to be incorrect, like: flats were worn in the Vogue offices, the Vogue team is there to help Wintour run her magazine, and she has no qualms about throwing a photoshoot which cost the magazine $20k out the window if it doesn’t “work”.
But it was the contrasting styles of Wintour and Grace Coddington, Vogue’s Creative Director, that provided the drama and intrigue in the September Issue. One is a iron-fisted perfectionist while the other is a flame-haired romantic who wants her editorials to transport people into another world. It is Coddington that props up the staffers at Vogue, insisting they become a little tougher, a little like her who often provides some fight when Wintour insists on airbrushed perfection. Case in point, it is Coddington who saves the cameraman’s slightly bulging belly from being airbrushed into a flat model-like stomach.
“Everyone in this world is not perfect,” Coddington says. “It’s enough that the models are.”
Though not everyone has qualms about being told to get some exercise, Andre Leon Talley provided the funniest moment in the film as he lumbered out of his town car with a Louis Vuitton monogram case, tennis racket and towel. He then hit a few balls for the camera crew, perfectly accessorized with his Louis Vuitton towel draped around his neck.
He was the perfect comedic antidote to the often serious business of fashion.
Of course Wintour’s influence was on display as she approved the white shirt designs of Thakoon Panichgul for his GAP collaboration with Vogue/CFDA’s Fashion Fund with Neiman Marcus President, Burt Tansky, creditng Anna for getting Miuccia Prada to create lighter pieces in a winter collection which featured a lot of heavy fabrics.
With a magazine which weighed 4 pounds and came in at 100 pages more than the 2006 issue, the September issue is reportedly bought by an estimated 13 million people and while they didn’t go into why Sienna Miller was the cover choice, it was intriguing to see Coddington disapproving of the celebrity covers and the airbrushing involved to make Miller cover-worthy.
But the most insightful moment in the documentary was when Wintour discussed the careers of her siblings, one built affordable housing in London while the other was the political editor for the Guardian – they all find the career of the most powerful woman in fashion “amusing”. It displayed a rare moment of vulnerability, which wasn’t evident as the camera’s rolled in Wintour’s Long Island home as Wintour and her daughter Bee sorted through previous September issues and discussed their favourite covers and the most controversial.
So what about the question of retirement? Wintour said she isn’t ready for retirement, but mused that like her father, she will consider her options when she starts to get “really angry”.
The September Issue is worth the cost of a movie ticket, check out IMDB for release dates in your country.
Grace Coddington got her break into British VOGUE by winning their Young Talent writing competition in about 1970.
I am so pleased to read: “Coddington disapproving of the celebrity covers and the airbrushing involved to make Miller cover-worthy.”
Miss Miller should get psychological therapy for her unfortunate parenting issues, instead of hurting people like Rhys Ifans and Mrs Balthazar Getty. Putting her on the cover is condoning her sociopathic behaviour.
I would guess, that Millers agent has something that Wintour wants.