The September Issue

Those of you who read my review of Valentino: The last emperor in my 2009 Film Reviews document will know that I by no means consider myself to be a fashionista, but as with that film, I found this documentary about the amazing and lengthy process to create and publish Vogue magazine's huge September issue completely fascinating. I like nice clothes and enjoy seeing people who are smartly dressed, but I watch this level of involvement in high-end fashion with a combination of admiration and revulsion. From my point of view it's actually a completely unnecessary and disgustingly extravagant activity, plus many of the dresses are really unwearable by normal people, yet in watching this film I could kind of see the designers, editors, photographers, etc., as purely creative artists rather than wondering how they could justify the expense and lives devoted to this kind of fashion. The film revolves mainly around Anna Wintour, who has run Vogue for many years and has the last word on everything, and Grace Coddington, Vogue's Creative Director also for many years. It's fascinating to see their very different personalities, how they often seem to clash and yet manage to come out with their product every month. It also demonstrates, to me at least, that what's considered beautiful in fashion or photographs is purely a matter of personal taste of the moment, rather than any absolute truth of beauty.