The September Issue: Movie review

The September Issue: Movie review

The September Issue
Rating: 6/10
Cast: Anna Wintour, Grace Coddington, Sienna Miller
Director: R J Cutler

Vogue's September issue of 2007 was, as editor Anna Wintour proclaimed, the biggest ever. Over 13 million copies of the two kilogram tome were sold.

The September Issue chronicles the intensive process of putting the fashion bible together. But much more pertinently, it offers exclusive access into the hallowed halls of Vogue - the very offices notoriously fictionalised in The Devil Wears Prada in 2006.

You won't see traces of Meryl Streep's defiant Miranda Priestly here. Vogue's infamous editor, Anna Wintour, is a whippet of a thing. She observes those around her behind thick curtains of hair and only her sharp eyes and sly grin belie her incisive intelligence. She approaches her work clinically, culling collections and dismissing models in typically decisive style.

Faced with Wintour's reserve, director R.J Cutler frequently turns to Wintour's colleague, creative director Grace Coddington, to reveal Wintour's character. Coddington has by her own admission earned her place at Vogue and isn't concerned with venting her frequent frustrations. It's Grace who we empathise with when her meticulously planned shoots are dismissed with the wave of a carefully manicured hand.

Grace is the exception to the Vogue rule. Wintour surrounds herself with those who will not test her resolve, who respect the power she wields. It's easy to forget that the journalists and stylists at Vogue are at the top of their field, such is their desperation to appease her. As Grace deftly observes of a male colleague, "He won't say what he thinks in case he gets it wrong."

This is however a rare moment of cynicism. The September Issue is an 88-minute slice of Vogue life, from the often comical fashion shoots, to cover-shoot wrangling and the editing process.

Those expecting a real life The Devil Wears Prada may be disappointed as Wintour has no intention of allowing Cutler to create an expose of Vogue. Instead, she offers a peek into her world without revealing anything of herself - no surprise given she is the matriarch in a world concerned with facades.