19 April 2010

The September Issue

One of us (not naming names) forgot to bring the motion picture adaptation of How to Lose Friends and Alienate People to bookclub so we subbed in The September Issue on instant Netflix.

The September Issue is a documentary about the assembly of the massive 2007 Vogue fall-fashion issue.  I remember that issue - it looked like a telephone book.  This is a pretty documentary about fashion insiders, most notably Vogue editor Anna Wintour, and while it is interesting to see some of the behind the scenes I don't think this documentary goes deep enough under the skin.

They don't go into the cost of the issue, or how they decided upon Sienna Miller as the cover shoot (I would have picked someone else), or why Wintour makes the editorial decisions she does.  Case in point, Grace Coddington put together a beautiful shoot with a twenties-in-Paris vibe, all the clothing ensembles were fabulous, the photographs were gorgeous, and a session with five models in Galliano gowns turned out an amazing shot; but Wintour cut the numbers of shots used down to (I think) five or six.  I don't get it and Coddington didn't quite get it, either.

Wintour looks a bit like a Stepford Wife; for some reason I was expecting someone more flamboyant (although Andre Leon Tally is flamboyant enough for the entire editorial team).

Fun to watch, but I don't think I'll be buying the DVD.

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