Last night I got a sneak preview of The September Issue, the popular documentary that chronicles the making of Vogue’s 2007 September Issue (their biggest ever). I’d say no more than maybe 20-30 people were in attendance for the 7pm show, there was also the 9pm show which others had attended.

Anyhow, without reading much of the reviews about this movie other than it’s praising fanfare, I went in it hoping to get a real glimpse on how things worked at Vogue. What worked in the movie was getting to know other aspects about Anna Wintour, Chief Editor of US Vogue, who was said to be icy and unapproachable. There were many scenes of her being smiley, but not specifically cheery, and plenty of moments of her being very focused on the job. As a boss, I admire her for being able to know what she wants, to see what works and what doesn’t and to be able to edit it down. The downside of that is that very few people will contest her decisions, and Grace Coddington (the magazine’s Creative Director) is seen as Anna’s opposite, yet complimentary colleague who have shared their spots at Vogue for over 20 years. Her moments of true tenderness was towards her daughter, where she finally seemed like a normal person, and that was refreshing.

Also Vogue is not a workplace to waste time nor to look your chicest, you need to be on your toes at all times. And I couldn’t help but feel some familiarity to “The Devil’s Wears Prada“, I mean Miranda Priestly’s office, such a replica of Anna Wintour’s office. Of course there are precious moments of seeing the room stuffed with designer bags, makeup, shoes, and accessories. Oh but to have a zen-like moment to be in that room.

But…

What was unsettling about the movie is how much Anna had so much control over what the designers should do or put out for their collections. Especially at Yves Saint Laurent where Anna didn’t like the monochromatic palette that Stefano Pilati had chosen for the fall season, and it was painful to watch him gesture and smile so falsely to please her. Or how she single-handedly threw a huge soiree for newcomer Thakoon and oversaw which sketches he should submit to his collaboration with The Gap.

Throughout the movie, it made me ask so many questions, why are designers so willing to please her? Why are they so willing to change certain aspects of their designs for her? Is it to court favor from her in order for her to showcase their stuff in her magazine or is it something else?

To Anna’s credit, she was the first to put celebrities as models on the cover of the magazines, and soon many other fashion magazines followed suit. And it is with this courting of the celebrities that Anna continues in order to drive sales to the magazine. Thus explaining the saturated industry of celebrity obsessed culture we’re in today. However, I think this celebrity obsession is about to find its end soon, as the interest of fashion no longer rest on what celebrities wear, but rather what people are wearing in the streets.

The movie is fine for what it was, but the angle of it could’ve been developed a little better. R.J. Cutler, the movie’s director, could’ve focused on how in the world did the 2007 September Issue came to be so big? What made it so big? Why were there so many ads? How were they able to court the advertisers to spend so much for this particular issue? What about the rest of the staff, what was their role in the company? All of it was pretty vague.

In the end though, this movie felt like it was just trying to give some dimensions to Anna Wintour’s persona, but was that really necessary? She’s a business woman and she’s just doing her job. I have much respect for her, and have nothing against her except for her ongoing run with the celebrity stuff, but otherwise the documentary lacked interviews with people who weren’t part of the Vogue workplace. So of course nearly everyone in the movie would praise Anna (except Grace) and it didn’t delve exactly what made the September Issue so important. It was too much of a flattering film, than fulfilling one.

Image credit: The September Issue