"The September Issue"

I just watched "The September Issue" (2009), documentary directed bu R.J. Cutler, that went to Sundance last year. It's about the making of the September issue of Vogue and its editor in chief Anna Wintour. If need be, it proves that fashion isn't just a game when you actually make it. On the contrary, it is a very difficult, stressful environment where people look at you weird if you eat a piece of pie and can call a piece of hot pink lingerie "heaven". That didn't even need to be proven, but the film does a good job at showing the "behind the scene" part of a huge fashion magazine.


"The September Issue" also convinces you that fashion may not always be fun, but it has to remain a game for it to be truly impactful. All Anna Wintour, Grace Coddington (who seems much nicer than her best friend & boss Wintour) and the likes do is create an environment made of clothes, shoes, scarves, fur and purses that is designed to create stories. Annie Leibovitz' magnificent pictures emphasize that -- case in point with her creative and beautiful reconstitutions of The Wizard of Oz, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland and many others. Top notch fashion editors are merely little girls playing with very expensive toys. But they do it well, and as far as budget goes, sky seems to be the limit.




Fashion is more than clothes, it represents the possibility of going back to our childhood dreams, the dreams where all little girls dreamed of being princesses and wearing beautiful gowns. Too bad the princesses can only wear size 0. But that's another debate. Many people mock fashion, but in Anna Wintour's opinion it's only because they feel threatened by it. It is hard for me to take fashion as seriously as other fine arts, but you have to admit it is a lot of work, and it takes an experienced eye to understand a trend and going ahead of it.



I knew about Leibovitz but never really looked at her photographs in detail. Well, if there's one thing "The September Issue" did for me, it has made me admire the work of Annie Leibovitz and recognize her as one of the most gifted photographers of our time. I highly recommend the documentary ""Imagine" Annie Leibovitz: Life Through a Lens" (2008)made by her sister Barbara Leibovitz.