The September Issue

I was lucky enough to see a prescreening of The September Issue today, the documentary coming out 28 August 2009 about Anna Wintour and Vogue magazine.

The documentary gives an inside look into the development of the September 2007 issue of Vogue- the issue that weighed nearly five pounds and was the single largest magazine issue ever published. The film, directed by R.J. Cutler, gives a glimpse into the legendary Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour and her passionate team of editor’s work.

The September Issue definitely sheds some light on the enigmatic Wintour. As she is quite demanding of her team, the dynamic between her and Grace Coddington (Vogue’s Creative Director) is what really makes the film, well, funny.

Coddington began her fashion career as a model, went on to work for British Vogue and has been at American Vogue for twenty years. As the very deliberate, dry and absolutely hilarious counterpart to Wintour, she actually comes across as the more inspired of the two. The differences between the two women are nearly inconsequential, as Wintour describes Coddington as “remarkable” and “genius”, acknowledging that nobody else can do what she does.

In Wintour’s last words of the film, “What’s next?”