A Movie Review: The September Issue

Move over Trina, we just found the baddest bitch in the world.  I mean, there’s just something about Anna.  Anna is of course, Anna Wintour, the Editor-In-Chief of Vogue.  At the magazine and in the world of fashion, she is the unremorseful, style dictator.  Her mannerisms (or lack there of) are a thing of notoriety & fiction.  The world may actually know Anna better through the fictitious adaptation of her character “Miranda” in the book and movie “The Devil Wears Prada”.

“There’s something about fashion that can make people nervous.”   Anna Wintour, The September Issue

When Anna is around you should be nervous.  She makes it inherently clear that her time is more valuable than yours and that her opinion is the only one that matters.  This is no joke.  When in talking about fashion a Vogue staffer laments “You belong to this church” –and Anna is the high priestess, the interviewer asks.  “I’d say the pope.”

If Catholics believe the Pope is God’s earthly representative, then the Fashion God’s have surely appointed Anna the Pope of style. Why else would one of the world’s most reputable luxury fashion brands, Prada, change the fabric in their fall wardrobe before it hit stores just because Anna didn’t like it?  They know something the masses do not; what’s between her pages sells.  Not just Prada, but the high-price Prada look alike, and the mid-price knock off, down to the Target, and down to discount brand wannabes.  They will all sell, just because it was in Vogue.

“It’s like Anna is Madonna.” – Thakoon, designer

I hear that Madonna is difficult to work with and to please but I’m sure she’s got nothing on Anna.  Anna comes off as a middle age child.  Her childlike sensibilities cause her to love things only for a fleeting moment.  She scrapped 50K worth of beautiful photo work because she became disenchanted with it.  Like a kid, she picked on the camera man about his weight.  She shooed assistant who had the audacity to be standing near her, just like an older child does to a younger child . 

The breakout star of The September Issue is Grace Coddington.  This Brit is a former model and started at Vogue the same day as Anna.  If not for her you’d think that Anna was actually the brain behind the operation when it’s actually Grace (and a team of frazzled staffers) styling the looks that Anna picks from.  While stubborn in her own right, Grace is a tender flower, who is often trampled under Anna’s…um… Prada’s.  Yet Grace is the true mastermind the beautiful and original photos we see in the magazine.  She has an eye for the beautiful and knows exactly how to position a model, prop, or piece of clothing to get the perfect picture.

One can infer that Anna’s coldness and cruelness is due to personal issues.  Her family, both immediate and extended, fail to see substance in her work. The career paths of her father, siblings, and daughter lean more towards politics and her philanthropy than the superficialities of beauty and excess.

This documentary couldn’t come at a worse time.  It followed the making of the 840 page, 4 pound, 13x’s platinum (in music terms) September 2007 issue.  Filmed before the bubble popped, before everyone in America had to tighten their belts and cut back.  Now what should have been a entertaining look into the real life “devil in Prada” ends up being a glimpse into some of the pitfalls that lead to the collapse of our country’s finance system.  Seriously, who throws away 50K?

Even with the waste and brashness, and although I hate to admit it, at times I wish I could be her, because deep down inside everyone knows she’s the baddest bitch in the room.

Side note:  Grace Coddington just styled her own Vogue shoot after herself!  I guess there’s some Anna in her afterall 🙂 Spicy!