While speculation is still swirling as to whether Anna Wintour’s days as the Editor-in-Chief of U.S.Vogue are numbered, the characteristically caustic fashionista is bound to raise eyebrows when the upcoming documentary “The September Issue” struts into theaters on September 11.
Style.com’s Candy Pratts Pricerefers to Vogue Magazine as more than just a fashion bible – she says it is a church and Wintour is “not the Priestess, more like the Pope.” The documentary peels away those notoriously thick black shades and brings to the surface a scary woman who sees no substance in life beyond style. Even her siblings at home in Britain are “amused” by what she does and believes that those who “put down” the fashion world do so because they are “insecure.”
But could her own daughter, the stunning 22-year-old Bee Shaffer (who is quick to say she will never work at the magazine) be one of those?
“I really don’t want to work in fashion. It’s just not for me. I respect her, obviously, but it’s just a really weird industry,” she said. “She wants me to be an editor. I would never put it down, but I just don’t want to take it too seriously. People in there act like fashion is life. It’s really amusing, but if that’s your career-there are other things out there, seriously… I think I want to be a lawyer.”
And just because you’re an A-list actress doesn’t mean you can escape the wrath of Ms. Wintour who at one point scrutinizes a shoot featuring Jennifer Garner and insists she “looks pregnant” and is initially less-than-impressed with the September issue cover girl Sienna Miller’s physical attributes (“those teeth!”) .
“Sienna’s hair is lackluster at the moment and she won’t cut it,” agrees another staffer. “She’s trying to grow it out … blah blah … We’ll have to use a wig.”
Miller said on Thursday that she hasn’t actually seen the film yet but is “looking forward” to attending the upcoming New York Premiere with Wintour.
The film also brings to the front row Anna’s apparent distaste for a few other things pivotal to the $300 billion global fashion industry that is her monarch – black clothes, tummies, and perhaps even photographer Mario Testino and Yves Saint Laurent’s Stefano Pilati. She even scraps a shoot featuring the world’s “it” supermodels Hilary Rhoda and Chanel Iman.
Surprisingly, the world inside the Conde Nast office doesn’t come across anywhere near as glamorous as Meryl Streep’s abode in “Devil Wears Prada” and despite Wintour’s terrorizing of assistants and lack of compassion she is sketched as a sad and lonely little woman who can only really express herself through blank stares and very few words.
But the real star of the film, the real creative genius behind la belle that is Vogue, isn’t Wintour at all. It is Creative Director Grace Coddington whose futuristic eye accessorized by her passion for modern romanticism makes each spread become more than just a procession of pretty pictures – it’s a narrative of art and emotion. But what is even more appealing is that the average Joe Blow can identify with Coddington who stomps around the Conde Nast building taking witty and sly digs behind her boss’s back.
While the strikingly raw documentary enthralls even those who are blind to the business of style and stilettos, it won’t be getting any love from animal activists due to Wintour’s obvious obsession with wearing dead animals and how no shoot is complete without at least a little fur.
“There is always a way to wear fur,” she tells a reporter. “I like to wear it on my back.”
Speaking of the back, could “The September Issue” be Anna’s swansong? After 20 years in the top job and with Vogue sales slumping, what will make her surrender?
“When I find myself getting really, really angry,” Wintour said. “It may be time to stop…”
(source)
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