The September Issue

So last night I has a rendez-vous with Velveteen Libertine to see The September Issue.

The September Issue is a documentary that follows the inner workings of the production of Vogue Magazine's September Issue, which is more like a fashion almanac than a magazine. Each year the team at Vogue, under the direction of their fearless leader Anna Wintour, strives to make that year's September Issue bigger and better then the previous one.

I must admit that the only thing that I knew about Anna Wintour before watching the film was the fact that she was meant to be the magazine world's fiercest lady who everyone is scared of but who is incredibly talented and successful, as well as being a complete bish to everyone in the process. Meryl Streep's character in the Devil wears Prada is meant to be largely based on Anna Wintour.

Vogue Editor Anna Wintour on the red carpet

What was so interesting about this film was that while you were tantalised and engrossed with the every day going's on in the Vogue office, the layers of this seemingly fashion driven ego centric world and character development (of real people remember) was just amazing.

As much as the film was about Anna Wintour it was equally about the work of Vogue creative director Grace Coddington. Grace, who used to be an English model, has worked in both the UK and American Vogue publications and started with Anna in the US branch on the same day.

Her amazing talent for fashion photography has been able to transform fashion into an art form, with many of the prints from her photo shoots seeming more like modern art than magazine photography. Audiences are treated to seeing this genius at work. Another treat is the constant bickering between Grace and Anna. Grace fights tooth and nail over the artistic integrity of the magazine and concepts behind her photo shoot, while still remaining dignified and ultimately knowing that if there is something that Anna really doesn't like it won't go in, no matter how hard Grace tries.

Anna and Grace with Marc Jacobs

R.J Cutler (the films creator) has been creative in the way that he has chosen to perceive Anna. There were two moments in the film that showed her true character, which might not necessarily conscribe to how people regard her. The first was when she spoke of what her brothers and sisters do and think of her work. One of Anna's brothers is a social housing worker in London, another is the executive at The Guardian Newspaper and her sister also has an important occupation, in the film she said something along the lines of "they are amused with what I do....they're amused" and like all good documentary film makers Cutler left camera rolling for a little too long, easily picking up the fact that as powerful and successful as Anna is she still desperately wanted the approval of her family, in many ways humanising her to the audience.

The second scene was when she was showing the final version of The September Issue to the executive of Conde Nast for their approval. They were all men. Her discomfort of having to justify her work to other people and actually be answerable to someone appeared strikingly clear on camera. Anna's relationship with her daughter is also interesting to follow, as her daughter wants nothing to do with the world of fashion magazines and provides the film (and her mother) with some reality checks.

An element where I thought that the film was lacking was the fact that they never mentioned what kind of input Anna has with the content side of the magazine, it covered remarkably well the work that goes into the photographic, artistic and fashion pages but it was odd for the film maker to leave out this part of the editorial process.

Having said that though it was only a minor point and hardly detracted from what was one of the year's most intriguing and spell binding documentaries.

4.5 stars.