The September Issue Hollywood Movie
Cast&Crew
Running Time: 88 mins.
Country Of Origin: United States
starring: Anna Wintour, Thakoon Panichgul, Andre Leon Talley, Grace Coddington, Mario Testino, Patrick Demarchelier, Oscar De La Renta, Vera Wang, Jean-Paul Gaultier
director: R.J. Cutler
Release Date:11 September 2009
Produced by
R.J. Cutler.... executive producer
R.J. Cutler.... producer
Country Of Origin: United States
starring: Anna Wintour, Thakoon Panichgul, Andre Leon Talley, Grace Coddington, Mario Testino, Patrick Demarchelier, Oscar De La Renta, Vera Wang, Jean-Paul Gaultier
director: R.J. Cutler
Release Date:11 September 2009
Produced by
R.J. Cutler.... executive producer
R.J. Cutler.... producer
Reviews
The September 2007 issue of Vogue magazine weighed nearly five pounds, and was the single largest issue of a magazine ever published. With unprecedented access, this film tells the story of legendary Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour and her larger-than-life team of editors creating the issue and ruling the world of fashion.
Anna Wintour, the legendary editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine for twenty years, is the most powerful and polarizing figure in fashion. Hidden behind her trademark bob and sunglasses, she has never allowed anyone to scrutinize the inner workings of her magazine. Until now. With unprecedented access, filmmaker R.J. Cutler’s new film, takes the viewer inside a world they only think they know. Every August a record-breaking number of people can’t wait to get their hands on the September issue of Vogue. The 2007 issue was and remains the biggest ever, weighing over four pounds, selling thirteen million copies, and impacting the $300-billion global fashion industry more than any other single publication. He takes us behind the scenes at Fashion Week, to Europe, on shoots and re-shoots, and into closed-door staff meetings, bearing witness to an arduous, entertaining, and sometimes emotionally demanding process. At the eye of this annual fashion hurricane is the two-decade relationship between Wintour and Grace Coddington, incomparable Creative Director and fashion genius. They are perfectly matched for the age-old conflict between creator and curator. Through them, we see close-up the delicate creative chemistry it takes to remain at the top of the ever-changing fashion field.
Some juicier behind-the-scenes drama and a more revealing examination of the creative process might have bulked up "The September Issue," vet documaker R.J. Cutler’s fly-on-the-wall look at Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour and her team of designers, stylists and photographers as they assemble the magazine’s most anticipated edition of the year. But what remains is still a dishy and engrossing peek inside the fashion world’s corridors of power -- every bit as slickly packaged as the publication it seeks to uncover -- that should rivet couture enthusiasts in endless trips down the cable runway.
Cutler was granted full access to Wintour during production of the magazine’s enormous and influential September 2007 issue, and her cooperation may explain why the result feels like a kid-gloves treatment of the notoriously icy and imperious fashion-world icon. Wintour certainly comes across as a tough cookie, but at no point in this largely admiring portrait does she seem as monstrous as her fictional alter ego in "The Devil Wears Prada." She does, however, seem just as powerful -- a woman whose knack for spotting and shaping trends has earned her a privileged position in command of both a multibillion-dollar global industry and said industry’s coverage.
Pic’s most glamorous interlude is a Rome shoot with actress-model Sienna Miller (whose hair and teeth come in for some knocks from the staff). But for the most part, d.p. Bob Richman’s camera is content to prowl the magazine’s Gotham offices, showing how the decisions made by models, photogs and designers in far-flung European locales matter less, in the end, than whether they meet with Wintour’s approval. And Wintour -- shown brusquely poring over garment racks and photo spreads -- says no much more often than she says yes.
Candidly venting her frustrations at Wintour’s often blunt dismissals, Vogue creative director Grace Coddington, surprisingly, emerges as the docu’s most sympathetic and engaging figure (humanizing glimpses of Wintour’s home life notwithstanding). A former British Vogue model, Coddington has worked with Wintour for two decades, and their relationship, animated by mutual suspicion and grudging respect, is among the pic’s chief pleasures.
Like the hit movie version of "The Devil Wears Prada," "The September Issue" often resorts to bubble-gum montages (edited by Azin Samari), hurling evening wear, headdresses and pop songs at the screen and inviting the viewer to get lost in the magnificent chicness of it all. The clothes are fab, to be sure. But a more rigorous, analytical approach would have offered more insight into Wintour’s aesthetic criteria (about the only concrete thing we learn is that she likes fur and hates black) and reinforced her belief, shared early on, that fashion is more than just expensive fluff.
Cutler grants ample screen time to young American designer Thakoon Panichgul, who touchingly offers himself as an example of the many rising talents Wintour has championed over the years; other industry luminaries interviewed include Mario Testino and Patrick Demarchelier and designers Oscar de la Renta, Vera Wang and Jean Paul Gaultier. Offering abundant comic relief is Vogue editor-at-large Andre Leon Talley, whose personality and flamboyant fashion sense match his outsized frame.
Anna Wintour, the legendary editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine for twenty years, is the most powerful and polarizing figure in fashion. Hidden behind her trademark bob and sunglasses, she has never allowed anyone to scrutinize the inner workings of her magazine. Until now. With unprecedented access, filmmaker R.J. Cutler’s new film, takes the viewer inside a world they only think they know. Every August a record-breaking number of people can’t wait to get their hands on the September issue of Vogue. The 2007 issue was and remains the biggest ever, weighing over four pounds, selling thirteen million copies, and impacting the $300-billion global fashion industry more than any other single publication. He takes us behind the scenes at Fashion Week, to Europe, on shoots and re-shoots, and into closed-door staff meetings, bearing witness to an arduous, entertaining, and sometimes emotionally demanding process. At the eye of this annual fashion hurricane is the two-decade relationship between Wintour and Grace Coddington, incomparable Creative Director and fashion genius. They are perfectly matched for the age-old conflict between creator and curator. Through them, we see close-up the delicate creative chemistry it takes to remain at the top of the ever-changing fashion field.
Some juicier behind-the-scenes drama and a more revealing examination of the creative process might have bulked up "The September Issue," vet documaker R.J. Cutler’s fly-on-the-wall look at Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour and her team of designers, stylists and photographers as they assemble the magazine’s most anticipated edition of the year. But what remains is still a dishy and engrossing peek inside the fashion world’s corridors of power -- every bit as slickly packaged as the publication it seeks to uncover -- that should rivet couture enthusiasts in endless trips down the cable runway.
Cutler was granted full access to Wintour during production of the magazine’s enormous and influential September 2007 issue, and her cooperation may explain why the result feels like a kid-gloves treatment of the notoriously icy and imperious fashion-world icon. Wintour certainly comes across as a tough cookie, but at no point in this largely admiring portrait does she seem as monstrous as her fictional alter ego in "The Devil Wears Prada." She does, however, seem just as powerful -- a woman whose knack for spotting and shaping trends has earned her a privileged position in command of both a multibillion-dollar global industry and said industry’s coverage.
Pic’s most glamorous interlude is a Rome shoot with actress-model Sienna Miller (whose hair and teeth come in for some knocks from the staff). But for the most part, d.p. Bob Richman’s camera is content to prowl the magazine’s Gotham offices, showing how the decisions made by models, photogs and designers in far-flung European locales matter less, in the end, than whether they meet with Wintour’s approval. And Wintour -- shown brusquely poring over garment racks and photo spreads -- says no much more often than she says yes.
Candidly venting her frustrations at Wintour’s often blunt dismissals, Vogue creative director Grace Coddington, surprisingly, emerges as the docu’s most sympathetic and engaging figure (humanizing glimpses of Wintour’s home life notwithstanding). A former British Vogue model, Coddington has worked with Wintour for two decades, and their relationship, animated by mutual suspicion and grudging respect, is among the pic’s chief pleasures.
Like the hit movie version of "The Devil Wears Prada," "The September Issue" often resorts to bubble-gum montages (edited by Azin Samari), hurling evening wear, headdresses and pop songs at the screen and inviting the viewer to get lost in the magnificent chicness of it all. The clothes are fab, to be sure. But a more rigorous, analytical approach would have offered more insight into Wintour’s aesthetic criteria (about the only concrete thing we learn is that she likes fur and hates black) and reinforced her belief, shared early on, that fashion is more than just expensive fluff.
Cutler grants ample screen time to young American designer Thakoon Panichgul, who touchingly offers himself as an example of the many rising talents Wintour has championed over the years; other industry luminaries interviewed include Mario Testino and Patrick Demarchelier and designers Oscar de la Renta, Vera Wang and Jean Paul Gaultier. Offering abundant comic relief is Vogue editor-at-large Andre Leon Talley, whose personality and flamboyant fashion sense match his outsized frame.
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