First, chubby as I am and have been since I can remember, I will continue to be until my death, a follower of fashion. Sure some of it is ridiculous and unwearable, but most of the clothes that dot the magazines and runaways are amazing and aesthetically pleasing. The craftmanship and care that goes into the clothes that hit the runaway is impeccable. You may think it's superficial but one of my dreams is to have a haute couture anything in my wardrobe. Just one.
Sure, fashion magazines make us insecure and are for the most part, aspirational but so what. You can be elitist in your thinking like the Anne Hathaway character in The Devil Wears Prada but Meryl Streep character is right, every thing that is being sold across the mass merch stores did not come from their little minds but are derivatives of the runaways and the high fashion designers. Otherwise, we would all be wearing overalls.
So I was thrilled to finally get to see The September Issue. Just an aside, I saw Anna Wintour a couple of months ago on Irving Place and she looks exactly like she does in the magazines, thin, chic and wearing sunglasses at 8:30 in the morning.
I truly liked the movie. Anna Wintour does not come across as well evil like the editor in The Devil Wears Prada. She comes across more like the typical businessman, in my opinion. She is direct and explicit in what she wants for the magazine. She has an eye for detail and if she comes across as cold well, so be it, that's her style. Maybe she toned it down for the movie, but she never came across as mean just truthful without the warm and fuzzy stuff that men and women expect from women in business.
There was one scene where she tells one editor that she always does the same look which was true. There was nothing mean about it, not even in her tone, just plain and simple maybe a little cold with no smile.
If anything, it was obvious she knew when she had to turn it on. You can see it in the scenes with the chairman of Neiman Marcus or the designers.
Finally, she is not delusional or living in the clouds as to what she does. She is good at fashion and she knows it. It is obvious from her comments, that her family and even her daughter thinks what she does is somewhat frivolous. Like her or not, I admired her for the fact that she believes in herself and what she does for a living. Frankly, that is extremely empowering.
A couple of interesting asides that come as a surprise was the number of older editors featured. And, of course, Grace Coddington. As in all the reviews, she is the true star of the movie. I have always wondered who the redhead is sitting in the front of the shows is and now I know.
If you have a chance to see it at the movies, go or see it when it is released on dvd even if you are not into fashion. At the least, you will see how a magazine is put together.
In the meantime, check out Valentino: The Last Emperor
or Unzipped
which are both equally amazing movies about fashion and two designers, I love, Valentino and Isaac Mizrahi.
