Ice Queens and Reigning ‘Zines

Vogue Magazine looks stressful. That’s the one thing I could be sure about after watching The September Issue.

It may be my inherent laziness or the egos at the magazine that draw me to this conclusion. But after watching the documentary about Vogue’s huge 2007 September edition, I couldn’t help but feel tired for the people running around the magazines offices.

It really is a testament to film maker, R.J. Cutler, who packs so much energy into this fashion world that I feel like it’s a Tuesday in the 3rd grade, and I still have most of the week to go till the weekend.

The documentary centers around Vogue’s biggest issue yet, which makes it the biggest magazine of all time, literally. Weighing in at almost 5 pounds and 840 pages, this behemoth magazine shatters the record previously held by… wait for it… another Vogue September issue. While this may sound a little negative towards the futility of the whole thing, it’s not.

The film itself is quite enjoyable, even if it’s mostly on a visceral level. It’s like a tide pool, not very deep, but a hell of a lot of fun to look at. People scurry this way and that in a delicate eco- system that supports a surprising amount of life, trying to make all the pieces fit. All under the fashionable eyes of one elegant tyrant, Anna Wintour.

Those that have done their home work will know that Anna Wintour is the basis for Miranda Priestly, the antagonizing editor from The Devil Wears Prada. Wintour, in an effort to shake off the caricature, shows a surprising amount of herself here. But she can only lend out so much and in the end, remains un- explored.

The movie starts out roving around the offices of Vogue. It soon comes to rest on more interesting subjects than simply clothes which, don’t worry, always remain a diligent subject. As ideas flow, and tensions run high the camera comes to settle more and more on the confrontations between two people, Mrs. Wintour and Vogue’s creative director Grace Coddington.

Both women herald from England, and began work at American Vogue at the same time, coming over from the British counter part. They’ve learned to live with each other, and while everyone else bows to Queen Wintour’s every wish, we find that Ms. Coddington is the only person who, repeatedly, stands up to her. While there’s no love lost between the two women, it doesn’t take much to tell that there is great respect. The film continues to remain a fly on the wall through the magazines five month journey to print. Interspersing interviews with various employees and designers to fill in some history and story surrounding the issue, and always more than willing to show the heart break of such demanding work.

The hardest thing to shake about the film is that The September Issue seems more a reaction to The Devil Wears Prada than a film all to itself. While the cameras are always rolling, it never really shies much away from the glamour, and tends to want to humanize Anna Wintour as much as possible. It does succeed partially on this front, there are allusions that make you feel for Wintour and she certainly becomes human in the viewers eyes, but she can never quite shake off the ice queen persona that surrounds her.

One can tell, especially when she talks about her family, that this is a barrier she has built up for years and she’s not letting it down anytime soon. Meanwhile we begin to learn about Grace Coddington. A model at one time, a car accident had left her partially disfigured.

Two years and some plastic surgery later, Grace had lifted herself into a junior editor position at the British Vogue and there’s a resilience that lies in this woman that won’t allow for anyone to take anything from her. Thus there is conflict.

Seemingly, this is where the only conflict comes from. While an issue this big would have to run into problems along it’s road, most are skittered around. It’s really only when Wintour cancels Coddington’s work that things begin to show even the slightest bit of heat. This never really amounts to much but a straight forward confession to camera, or a friend, and a few times things are put back right, but nothing ever boils over.

It’s a refined world though and one should never expect it to. The biggest problem is simply that, while the clothes and models look beautiful, I’m not sure if there’s any emotional truth in it at all. Many of the women at Vogue are in very powerful positions, in fact Wintour has been called the un- official mayoress of New York, and at one point early in the movie is remarked upon as “The most powerful woman in the United States.”

For anyone to achieve this amount of success, would take certain distance and walls.

Though it can be hard to spot there are moments of emotion, I’m just not sure if they are real, or simply public relations. The greatest triumph on this front stems from a rather heartwarming side story involving rookie designer Thakoon Panichgul being given a shot thanks to Anna Wintour. This small side story is very in- consequential to the film as a whole, but watching Thakoon’s reaction is more beautiful than all the models and layouts combined, and for at least a moment in the film, you feel a very human connection.

The highest stakes, as far as the emotion seems to go in the film, ride on the question of whether the fashion is actually important at all. In a hushed tone at one point in the film Anna Wintour’s daughter, in another room, explains to the camera she wants nothing to do with the fashion world; she doesn’t get it. She isn’t disrespectful in the least, and earlier when in front of her mother she alludes to this fact, we feel as though this has been an on going conversation. And towards the end we learn that it appears Wintours siblings do not think much of her job.

This is one point of extreme honesty for Wintour as she explains, while her brothers and sister find it cute, they don’t appear to stack it up against their own achievements. It’s obviously a point of pain for Wintour, and the movie never really decides to make a comment on it. It simply goes through the motions, a fly on the wall, and tries not to rouse any suspicions. As though the viewer may realize that trying to make a bigger, better version of their September magazine is as fruitless as possibly the world they’ve created for themselves.

But if this were true, many people wouldn’t look at the pages in awe. The truth is, while those that don’t get it never will understand the fashion, it shouldn’t matter to those that do. It’s a passion that can run high and free in the dreams and minds of many people. Dreams of a glamorous world where offices are stocked with beautiful models and clothes.

The funny thing is this: The people at Vogue are not what you’d expect. Although some are garishly dressed and flamboyant, such as Andre Leon Talley, most look dressed as they would in any office North America over. A little shabby, a little paunchy, and a lot tired. It raises an interesting question to what this world actually is, and while it gives you a glimpse, a full grasp is never achieved.

And so it goes. The movie gives you a taste, a glimmer of the life and puffs it full of a little bit of drama, but there isn’t enough of anything to distract from the fashion, from the clothes, from the beauty.

I suppose in the end, a documentary about Vogue should focus on just that.

Words by Levi Meaden