The September Issue

For those people working in the fashion industry, the month of September is the January  of fashion. I recently watched this indie film out of curiosity and being egged on by a friend who worked in  for Metro Magazine. 

The September Issue is actually a documentary film that showed the busy life of American Vogue Magazine's EIC, Ms. Anna Wintour. The film depicts her life and work and exhibits the production of Vogue's September 2007 issue (I know- this movie is 3 years late). The movie was released in American theaters on August 28, 2009. It was released in Australia on 20 August, 2009 after being screened at numerous film festivals including Sundance, Zurich, Silverdocs and Sheffield Doc/Fest.

The September Issue

The film depicts the effort that goes into making the magazine, and the passion that Grace Coddington, a former model turned creative director and the only person who dares to stand up to Anna Wintour, has for the highly-regarded fashion magazine. In the film, Coddington is often portrayed as the leading victim to Wintour's aggressive personality. The director (RJ Cutler) emphasized Wintour being meticulous as she sacrifices the efforts of Vogue’s creative director Grace Goddington because she rejects most of Grace’s works as the days count down to the “close” of the issue. However, the relationship between Wintour and Coddington reveals itself to be symbiotic as Wintour recognizes Coddington's expertise and keen eye for design. In the end, Wintour approves most of Coddington's ideas and they appear in the final version of the September issue. Very notable in the film is Wintour's character as she was portrayed to be very aggressive and has top influence among the designers regarding which trends should be in or out. This documentary is like a déjà vu of The Devil Wears Prada and Anna Wintour is the real-life Miranda Priestly.

Sienna Miller & Anna Wintour

 I fell inlove with Wintoour's character ( just the way I did with Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada). She exudes character amidst the fabulous life she led as an EIC for Vogue. This is quite an eye opener for me- since I never knew how much work, planning, strategy, and creativity that goes into a magazine; even if it's just a fashion magazine. Most people don't realize that fashion is an important factor that greatly affects our lives. To some, fashion is just glitz and glamor. This film shows that not all that glitters is gold and not every person who is interested in fashion is a total airhead. Though the story doesn’t really revolve around clothing and style, you’ll understand how serious the fashion industry is after watching this film.

One quote in the film caught my attention, and I believe this is the main message of The September Issue. According to Anna Wintour: "I think what I often see is that people are frightened about fashion. Because it scares them or make them feel insecure they just put it down. On the whole people that may say, the mean-y things about our world I think that's usually because they feel, in some ways, excluded or not part of the 'cool group' so as a result they just mock it."

If you haven't seen this film yet, I highly recommend that you watch it. Specially if you're not interested in fashion- not a fashionista or a socialite. This film is bound to open your eyes and make you see things differently about the world of fashion and glamor. Who knows, you just might learn a thing or two and maybe even stop judging us who live and breathe the world of fashion.