December 9, 2010: The September Issue
When The September Issue came through on its theatrical run, I was intrigued by the idea of a documentary about Anna Wintour, Vogue Magazine’s (USA) longtime editor-in-chief. However, the buzz among reviewers was that in order to get so close to her in filming, the producers were forced to pull punches and the documentary was left toothless, so I didn’t bother to see it. On the recommendation of friends, I decided eventually to take a look at it, and was pleasantly surprised.
Admittedly, the film doesn’t pull out all the stops in portraying Wintour as the demanding and controlling and sometimes unreasonable tyrant she seems to be. However, it does give plenty of evidence to support that view, with enough counterpoints to apparently make her think she’s been fairly portrayed (which I think she is – it just isn’t very flattering). Detailing the daily lives of the Vogue staff through the several months it takes to assemble the legendary annual September issue of the magazine, the real weight of the narrative is in the push and pull between Wintour and one of her senior staff, Grace Coddington. Coddington, like Wintour, was a model briefly back in the 1960s, and the two have worked together for Vogue (in New York as well as in London for the British publication) for over 20 years. Wintour is more of a schmoozing executive type, and Coddington is as down-to-earth as you can get in the baffling world of fashion. A worthy foil for Wintour, Coddington talks frankly about Wintour’s habits and approach, and isn’t afraid to change things behind her back if it’s something she really believes in. We watch as one of Coddington’s brilliant photo shoots is slowly whittled down and eventually disappears altogether, even as Wintour insists on reshooting the work done by others and expanding their space in the magazine. Coddington’s frustrated rants provide a refreshing break from the halting speech of most of the underlings as they try to speak diplomatically about the woman who can make or break their careers with a wave of her hand.
I’m roughly familiar with the fashion industry and some of its players, including the likes of the major designers and Vogue’s roving editor André Leon Talley, from having watched FashionTelevision on and off through its 20-plus years. The Devil Wears Prada (2006), the Anne Hathaway/Meryl Streep film based loosely on the story of Wintour and one of her former assistants, makes an important point about fashion and its importance – that what people everywhere wear essentially trickles down from the haute couture of previous years – and I think that was a good idea on which to hang that film. The September Issue lays bare that feel-good sentiment, however, as we see that even the top designers apparently have to subject themselves to the humiliation of Wintour throwing out half of their collections before they ever see the light of day, and if there’s a method to the choices, it certainly doesn’t look like anything more than her whims on a particular day.
A fascinating angle for me is when the film delves into the managerial issues and realities. After all, Wintour’s job isn’t merely to hobnob with designers and choose outfits she likes. She has a magazine to put out every month, and that’s a business with shareholders and budgets and expenses for which she is responsible. I think her weakness is shown here, with a spoiled brat diva attitude, for example when she incurs hundreds of thousands of dollars in extra costs and forces her staff to work themselves to the bone within 5 days of the deadline, to reshoot a whole feature because she doesn’t quite like the way the lighting looked on the earlier photos. Being uncompromising has its place (Steve Jobs of Apple Computer might be subject to the same criticism), but it can easily be mistaken for gross mismanagement. Or am I not mistaken, and it really is bad management? It’s hard to say. The whole film reminded me of my days in the website development business, where a paralyzing culture of “decision by committee” had me wishing that there was someone who just had the authority to decide how it was going to be, and that was that. Now I realize that perhaps it might not have been so idyllic as I had imagined, if that person with absolute authority was there to “solve” all of our problems. At the close of the film, Wintour acknowledges Coddington’s struggle, calling her a genius and then saying “she and I don’t always agree, but I think that over the years we’ve learned how to deal with each other’s different points of view.” I wonder whether Grace feels the same way.
Somewhat timid portrait of a tyrant.
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