“The September Issue”
4 out of 5 stars
Director: R. J. Cutler
Rated PG-13 for brief strong language.
Running time: 89 minutes
In or out of Prada, she’s definitely the devil. But her hell sure is a hoot.
The tiny tyrant who inspired Meryl Streep’s deliciously nasty editor character in the 2006 fictional movie gets her own, director R.J. Cutler’s “The September Issue.” The highly entertaining documentary ostensibly illustrates the ruthless behind-the-scenes process by which Anna Wintour, czarina of the industry bible Vogue, and her staff put out their pivotal fall fashion issue.
We get to watch the infighting, egotism, disproportionate earnestness (over a friggin’ frock, for heaven’s sake) and — indeed — the real artistry that went into 2007’s extra-thick version. It preserves a peak moment of glamour-puss excess in the culture. Thus, in some ways, “September” is a riveting requiem for a bygone way of life in these restrained recessionary times, when $1,000 stilettos just seem tasteless and top-line vendors can’t afford to buy nearly as many ad pages as they once did.
But that’s not even what’s best about this frank, juicy glance into the elite realm of high fashion. It’s the beauty of the colorful clothes, accessories and locales and the idiosyncrasies of the even more colorful personalities that make the piece so cinematic.
Wintour always has been considered an inscrutable personality until now. Behind her bug-eyed designed shades and trademark (incongruently youthful) pageboy ‘do, she’s curt in manner and arbitrary in her decision making. She smiles like a lioness who’s just eaten you for lunch.
And yet she comes off as almost charming here — if you didn’t already know what this documentary never really addresses: Wintour has led the charge to oppress modern women in her tenure as the world’s head arbiter of beauty for more than 20 years. Her vision has dictated the aspirational standard that you must be impossibly perfect in visage, painfully skinny in physique and very, very rich to look right.
Luckily, this Lucifer in Lagerfeld is surrounded by a coterie of sympathetic lesser mortals in the film. The standout is her longtime foil, and polar opposite, the magazine’s sensitive, unpretentious creative director Grace Coddington. The photo spreads that Coddington styles are breathtaking; they help elevate Vogue and this picture of it above the mere frivolous.
But the frivolous works too. Personnel obsess over cover girl celebrity Sienna Miller’s neck. Extra-large, editor at large Andre Leon Talley drowns himself in Louis Vuitton logos to play tennis. It’s hard to take “Issue” with great dish like that.
