*Spoilers ahead! Be warned.
So, alittle late on this but I finally caught The September Issue last week. Watching the movie reminded me so much of the amount of hard work that goes on behind the scenes in fashion and the vast amount of passion and fire you need to have to even remain relevant in the industry.
In the movie, Anna Wintour is the no-nonsense editor who makes decisions extremely quickly and has no qualms about telling people straight up what she thinks about their work (like a scene where she's seen telling an Accessories Director that her styling ideas are always the same). You will even see high profile designers (mind you, Jean Paul Gaultier & Oscar de la Renta) eagerly showing their latest collections to Anna just to seek any hint of approval from her.
The other star of the movie is of course, Grace Coddington. One thing's for sure, Grace Coddington's love and passion for fashion and Vogue is undeniable. She also produces the most amazing fashion editorials. And she's quite humorous at times which probably makes her more appealing to the audience compared to Anna.
Other guest appearances in the movie include Anna's daughter Bee (who's quite a pretty young lady. You could see Anna's disappointment when Bee talked about having no intentions of working in fashion and wanting to pursue law instead), designer Thakoon, photographer Mario Testino, actress Sienna Miller, models Coco Rocha, Raquel Zimmermann, Caroline Trentini among many others.
Some highlights of the movie:
1) The September Issue 2007 Cover with Sienna Miller as covergirl. In the movie, you will see the magic of Photoshop and how possibly most magazine covers are touched up to death. The original cover saw Miller smiling widely, resulting in Anna deeming it showing too much teeth (was a pretty funny post-it note scene). Hence, the use of photoshop to create the perfect cover. I think the end cover was achieved through the merging of 2 differnet images of Sienna.
2) This was a shot from the Colour Block editorial styled by Grace Coddington. The guy holding the camera in the shot is the actual cameraman for the movie. Another hilarious scene here. When Anna Wintour was viewing the photos in the Art Department and saw this shot, she blantanly told the cameraman he needed to go to the gym (cue: editing required). The cameraman then proceeded to tell Grace Coddington about Anna's comments and Coddington made a call to the art department and told them NOT to edit away his bulge. Hilarious and yes, she got it her way.
3) This shot was suppose to be part of the 20's-inspired editorial Grace Coddington shot for the issue. I personally really like this particular shot and thought it was probably one of the best shots of the editorial. But alas, Anna Wintour decided it didn't fit the rest of the shots and took it out almost immediately after she viewed the entire set of photos for that editorial (told you she was quick on decisions). The cameras then captured Grace Coddington's obvious disappointment and fury when she found out about Anna's decision.
Other light moments in the movie include the scene where Raquel Zimmermann was seen politely declining Coddington's offer to have a pie while waiting during the couture shoot as she was dressed in tight corsets but proceeded to take a satisfied and huge bite into the pie after the shoot. Models DO eat after all!
But the most hilarious of all, how can we forget André Leon Talley?!? He is a character of his own.
Photos: Fashionising, Google Images / Video: Youtube
