Mood:
happyTopic: Entertainment
Months ago, as you may recall I was upset because the film, The September Issue was only released in the big, cool, chic cities—meaning, not Baton Rouge. Well, somehow I survived months without seeing it until it came out on DVD.
So Saturday night, I finally got to see it. The September Issue: Anna Wintour &The Making of Vogue is a documentary-type film by R.J. Cutler. The previews kept calling it the “real-life Devil Wears Prada.” In ways, it was—there was definitely the intern scrambling for coffee and every newspaper and magazine to lay on Wintour’s desk before her arrival. Which made me think one thing—I need an intern.
I guess I should back up here; Anna Wintour is the editor of Vogue. As it was said it the documentary, Wintour doesn’t follow the fashion designers, rather they follow her. It soulds cliché, but it’s true—Prada would show her something new they designed, if she didn’t love it, they redid it. Now that’s power.
Although people who work around her say Wintour is standoffish and speaks her mind, I didn’t really get that impression. She doesn’t have a harsh look about her; in fact, she looks pretty inviting. Speaking of her look, dare I bash Wintour? I’ll never work at Vogue anyway, right? Hmm….oh, hell. I wasn’t impressed by her wardrobe. She wears Ralph Lauren boat-ready looks. Don’t get me wrong, nothing she wore was odd , weird, or ugly. I was just expecting her to be in fur coats and tall heels, and of course covered in diamonds, dah-ling.
Having said that, the entire Vogue staff shocked me with their lack of style. A few of them just wear random pieces of all-black clothes. Some look professional. But some, some were wearing jeans. JEANS?! AT VOGUE?! I know jeans are still a classic fashion staple, but so help me God, if I ever step foot into Vogue or any other Conde Nast office, I would never ever wear denim.
Several of the employees they interviewed, weren’t American. Which makes me wonder two things: 1. How American is Vogue? And, 2. Do Europeans think we are that stupid and unstylish that we can’t even work at our very own magazine?
Wintour grew up in London in the 60s—a time when women’s fashion was going through many changes. Her father was a newspaper editor and basically told Wintour she was going to be the editor of Vogue one day…odd how that works, isn’t it? Although there are no signs of love or men in Wintour’s life now, she does have a college-aged daughter who basically laughed at the thought of working at the magazine. She said something about how fashion isn’t a career or something. I’m all for making and taking your own path, but damn, you have the opportunity of a lifetime falling into your lap and you laugh in its face.
Anyway, back at Vogue, the entire documentary is the staff piecing together the September 2007 issue, which is the introduction to fall fashion, i.e. the direction of fashion for the following year. As a result, the September issue of Vogue is the thickest, and the most popular.
What surprised me the most in the film was how Vogue handles their production cycle. They schedule several different photo shoots; one for color, one for texture, one for accessories, etc. They hire models, pull the clothing, get photographers, storyboard the shoot, do the shoot, layout the prints…then Wintour walks in. If she doesn’t like half of the prints (which is likely), the shoot must be redone. That’s $50,000 of work gone in a matter of 10 seconds. Daaaaaaamn. I understand the best is what ends up in the magazine, but it seems like a lot of money, time, and work wasted.
Two things made me happy about Vogue: 1. When Wintour edits people’s work, they still get upset and throw fits. This makes me happy to know that even at Vogue, it sucks to get edited. And 2. The office itself wasn’t chic. They still had some cubicles; there were no sleek modern desks or light fixtures. So glad to know that even in the office of cool kids, they sit at crappy desks.
There were a few "Vogue" moments in some episodes of Sex and the City—anyone remember that show? There's one episode where Carrie tells her friend Stanford she used to buy Vogue on a Saturday night instead of dinner because she "felt it fed me more." Oh pull yourself together, Carrie! I'm not quite THAT obsessed with Wintour's creation; I'd take a pizza over an issue of Vogue any day (and what does that say about me?). However I do love magazines and I should be so lucky as to have anything to do with Vogue one day...
Except...remember when Carrie got a freelance job at Vogue for $4 per word? Yeah, I don't think even Vogue pays that much. Just sayin'.
