Genre: Documentary
Director: R. J. Cutler
Warning: You are advised not to watch this film if you are an animal rights activist. You might be compelled to stab the cinema screen (or your excited neighbour) because Anna Wintour wears lots of fur coats (and she looks fabulous in it). And if you’re a big fan of healing stones and spiritual enlightenment, this film may not interest you either. Fashion is a “silly” business; completely shallow, materialistic, and it is $300-billion-dollars worth of superficial-ness. I would recommend that you spend your time and money watching a self-help DVD called “I am Nothingness”. But for those of you who are one-dimensionally passionate about a few pieces of clothing and proudly declare your identity as brand-whores, then this is D-film for inspiration and a chance to see who the queen bitch of the fashion world is.
The September Issue has interlaced a tapestry of trade-secrets and shares the insider’s world of fashion to those of us still trying to figure out if a Kimono is an animal. Contrary to popular stereotype, the fashion world is not littered with the senseless flits and flirts of highfalutin individuals but it is dominated by a group of people with a powerful understanding of business and marketing: it’s not the clothing that sells; it’s the aesthetic idea of the clothing that makes the buck. The September Issue explores the ingenuity and emotional friction between Anna Wintour (chief-in-editor) and Grace Coddington (creative director) who are the maîtresse de haute couture of Vogue magazine. In this documentary, the mantra that “fashion is a religion” is carefully explored through the historical production of a 100-page issue that has never been attempted by Vogue since its decision to produce a monthly publication in 1973.
All being said however, the film lacks the narrative zoosh! of award winning documentaries such as An Inconvenient Truth (dir. Davis Guggenheim, 2006) or Born into Brothels (dir. Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski, 2004). Fortunate for Cutler (director), the film is hyped-up because it rides on the success of David Frankel’s Devil Wears Prada (2006). But on its own merit, The September Issue does not deliver the poignancy and depth of character development that one would expect from a documentary. The emotional and psychological complexity of Wintour and Coddington is as deep as a puddle. Once the audience gets over the excitement of seeing Anna Wintour’s wrinkly face and Grace Coddington’s even wrinklier and completely dishevelled hair, the film enters into a trance of monotony. We are shown repetitive scenes of designer houses, photo shoots and the reasoning for certain photographs to include for publication but the buck stops there. The closet of Wintour’s life, trepidations, fears, and anxieties are shut and never pried open. She remains an enigma but a boring one. Even the so-called cat-fight scenes are never more than a few hisses and scratch on the reel. In short, this documentary reveals nothing more than what the audience could have already guessed.
It would be unfair to say that the documentary is not worth watching but don’t expect heart-stopping or heart-thumping scenes. To be frank, don’t expect your heart to do much at all. It’s a flashy and well-produced documentary that would be inspirational for the aficionado of glitter and glamour. But just like the fashion industry, the film is superficial at its best.
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