People love to hate the bad guys, there’s something compelling about them. Western society spends so much time being sweet, and pretending to love one another all the time, that when somebody cruel comes along, it’s refreshing, shocking and gives you something legitimate to criticize. In the Music Industry, it’s Simon Cowell, in the Fashion Industry, it’s Anna Wintour.
Indeed, Wintour, editor in chief of US Vogue for the past 21 years, is the star of the latest documentary by RJ Cutler- The September Issue. The film documents six months in the lead up to the release of the best seller in the magazine world, Vogue’s September copy. We see everything from the shoots, the meetings, the photo choices and the trips made by Wintour and her team. What was the September issue? The largest fashion magazine issue to date- only because 2/3 of its content consists of adverts, desperately inserted by brands to boost falling sales. In a further strand of irony, we have Sienna Miller on the cover, who appears in the documentary as worn out, and ordinary pre- shoot yet radiant, and gorgeous post-photoshop.
Wintour comes across as ice cold and stern. Very focused and business like, she travels from meeting to meeting in a grey Mercedes, and sits at the back, staring out the window, Starbucks in hand, very calm and concentrated, mobile resting in a docile manner on her lap. In the office, her main role is to control what pages make it to the final cut of the magazine, a task she approaches as a doctor would gene samples, methodically and with objective precision. Her team are the real busy bees, working long hours at a frenetic pace trying to assemble beautiful garments to come up with an original and mark-making photo shoot. If Ms Wintour says yes, they’ve succeeded, but more often than not, it’s a soft no they receive from the woman’s elegant English lips.
Wintour’s influence is undoubtable and this definitely comes across in the documentary. She has the power to dictate a trend, and choose what women will wear next. She can call Muccia Prada and tell her women need more wool in their clothes, and just like that Prada’s next collection will change. The designers need her to find out what the clients really want, and this makes her one of the most powerful figures in the fashion world. YSL designer, Stefano Pilati, shows Wintour his collection, hoping she’ll tell him what to do, change, alter, all this shivering in fear of her response. Oscar de la Renta and Jean Paul Gaultier also both appear in the doc, similarly seeking approval and advice from the queen of fashion, who nods, shakes her head, and asks people to kindly get out of her way; She definitely does not fake it.
Her team consists of the leading professionals in the industry such as Leon Talley, a fashion icon himself. His job is to accompany Wintour to all the major fashion shows, picking up trends and using his influence to promote young designers. But the real star of the show is Grace Coddington, creative director of US Vogue for 20 years, and UK Vogue 20 years before that. She started out as a supermodel infatuated by Vogue which she got delivered to her doorstep every month. After a car accident left her injured and mildly disfigured, she was offered a job as an assistant, and slowly worked her way up. She is now in charge of almost every shoot that goes into the magazine and sits alongside Wintour at every fashion show, notepad in hand, deciding what the next trends will be. We see her creative genius come out during the documentary as she gets involved in the splendid photoshoots, styling her models hands on, one of the only creative directors in the industry who refuses to have an assistant.
In a personal interview for the documentary Wintour says decisiveness is her strength. There’s no denying that Wintour does not hesitate when she makes choices. However radical they may be, often upsetting those around her, there’s no going back. Indeed, Wintour agrees that “fashion is all about looking forward”. She has no qualms in opposing the inclusion of a photograph that may have taken 24 hours of intense work and $50,000 worth of man labour and technical costs. Coddington often suffers from Wintour’s hard decisions which she has learnt to cope with over time. After all, they’ve worked alongside each other for twenty years now. At several instances during the film, we see beautiful photos of models in Couture gowns lounging on ornate chairs by chandeliers in Versailles, being removed in a flash by the powerful editor in chief, much to Coddington’s annoyance.
I can’t help but conclude that Wintour is a dislikable woman who misrepresents the expression behind fashion. Yes, she is by all means an excellent business woman, diplomatic in her relationships, and with an unmistakeable eye. She gets things done and she’s very influential, proactive, serious and decisive but this all seems contradictory to the charm, and appeal that fashion should signify. Vogue, and some might argue the entire industry, wouldn’t be the same without her, but as far as initiating the empowerment of women through magazines, I don’t know how much of a contribution she makes. Especially when she refers to the fashion world as being a “cool group” which many dislike only because they are “excluded”.
It seems to me that the documentary is as much about an unhappy woman as it is about the fashion world. And I might argue that The Devil Wears Prada had more information on both topics at hand. Wintour is not cruel as some might think, but simply sad and lonely, demonstrated by her inability to smile during the entirety of the documentary. Yes, she is working, but one does not get a sense she derives any sense of satisfaction from her daily activities whatsoever. She reacts to fashion in a very clinical way, and seems insecure hiding behind black shades, calling her children her only weakness. The woman admits to being mocked by her family who find her job “silly” and people who approach her from designers to colleagues seem frigtenned and intimidated. If the documentary taught me anything, it’s that Miss Wintour, along with others at Vogue, need a hug, and a sandwich... Quickly!
Indeed, Wintour, editor in chief of US Vogue for the past 21 years, is the star of the latest documentary by RJ Cutler- The September Issue. The film documents six months in the lead up to the release of the best seller in the magazine world, Vogue’s September copy. We see everything from the shoots, the meetings, the photo choices and the trips made by Wintour and her team. What was the September issue? The largest fashion magazine issue to date- only because 2/3 of its content consists of adverts, desperately inserted by brands to boost falling sales. In a further strand of irony, we have Sienna Miller on the cover, who appears in the documentary as worn out, and ordinary pre- shoot yet radiant, and gorgeous post-photoshop.
Wintour comes across as ice cold and stern. Very focused and business like, she travels from meeting to meeting in a grey Mercedes, and sits at the back, staring out the window, Starbucks in hand, very calm and concentrated, mobile resting in a docile manner on her lap. In the office, her main role is to control what pages make it to the final cut of the magazine, a task she approaches as a doctor would gene samples, methodically and with objective precision. Her team are the real busy bees, working long hours at a frenetic pace trying to assemble beautiful garments to come up with an original and mark-making photo shoot. If Ms Wintour says yes, they’ve succeeded, but more often than not, it’s a soft no they receive from the woman’s elegant English lips.
Wintour’s influence is undoubtable and this definitely comes across in the documentary. She has the power to dictate a trend, and choose what women will wear next. She can call Muccia Prada and tell her women need more wool in their clothes, and just like that Prada’s next collection will change. The designers need her to find out what the clients really want, and this makes her one of the most powerful figures in the fashion world. YSL designer, Stefano Pilati, shows Wintour his collection, hoping she’ll tell him what to do, change, alter, all this shivering in fear of her response. Oscar de la Renta and Jean Paul Gaultier also both appear in the doc, similarly seeking approval and advice from the queen of fashion, who nods, shakes her head, and asks people to kindly get out of her way; She definitely does not fake it.
Her team consists of the leading professionals in the industry such as Leon Talley, a fashion icon himself. His job is to accompany Wintour to all the major fashion shows, picking up trends and using his influence to promote young designers. But the real star of the show is Grace Coddington, creative director of US Vogue for 20 years, and UK Vogue 20 years before that. She started out as a supermodel infatuated by Vogue which she got delivered to her doorstep every month. After a car accident left her injured and mildly disfigured, she was offered a job as an assistant, and slowly worked her way up. She is now in charge of almost every shoot that goes into the magazine and sits alongside Wintour at every fashion show, notepad in hand, deciding what the next trends will be. We see her creative genius come out during the documentary as she gets involved in the splendid photoshoots, styling her models hands on, one of the only creative directors in the industry who refuses to have an assistant.
In a personal interview for the documentary Wintour says decisiveness is her strength. There’s no denying that Wintour does not hesitate when she makes choices. However radical they may be, often upsetting those around her, there’s no going back. Indeed, Wintour agrees that “fashion is all about looking forward”. She has no qualms in opposing the inclusion of a photograph that may have taken 24 hours of intense work and $50,000 worth of man labour and technical costs. Coddington often suffers from Wintour’s hard decisions which she has learnt to cope with over time. After all, they’ve worked alongside each other for twenty years now. At several instances during the film, we see beautiful photos of models in Couture gowns lounging on ornate chairs by chandeliers in Versailles, being removed in a flash by the powerful editor in chief, much to Coddington’s annoyance.
I can’t help but conclude that Wintour is a dislikable woman who misrepresents the expression behind fashion. Yes, she is by all means an excellent business woman, diplomatic in her relationships, and with an unmistakeable eye. She gets things done and she’s very influential, proactive, serious and decisive but this all seems contradictory to the charm, and appeal that fashion should signify. Vogue, and some might argue the entire industry, wouldn’t be the same without her, but as far as initiating the empowerment of women through magazines, I don’t know how much of a contribution she makes. Especially when she refers to the fashion world as being a “cool group” which many dislike only because they are “excluded”.
It seems to me that the documentary is as much about an unhappy woman as it is about the fashion world. And I might argue that The Devil Wears Prada had more information on both topics at hand. Wintour is not cruel as some might think, but simply sad and lonely, demonstrated by her inability to smile during the entirety of the documentary. Yes, she is working, but one does not get a sense she derives any sense of satisfaction from her daily activities whatsoever. She reacts to fashion in a very clinical way, and seems insecure hiding behind black shades, calling her children her only weakness. The woman admits to being mocked by her family who find her job “silly” and people who approach her from designers to colleagues seem frigtenned and intimidated. If the documentary taught me anything, it’s that Miss Wintour, along with others at Vogue, need a hug, and a sandwich... Quickly!
