The September Issue

I recently saw 'The September Issue'. I was very excited when the film premiered in the Dutch theatres so Babette and I, full of anticipation, decided to see the documentary. We were ready to drift away to the wilder shores of imagination and have a glimpse into the real fashion world of Anna, who would intimidate, maybe inspire me with her presence. Of course I also wanted to see how 'The Devil Wears Prada' differed from the real thing.

The film started with a part of an interview with Anna Wintour, which continued throughout the documentary. We got an exclusive insight of how the office of Vogue in New York looks like and what chaos goes on inside. It was a pity that the documentary was a little dated, because it was about the september issue of a couple years back featuring Sienna Miller on the cover.

However my expectations weren't exceeded. The grand Vogue mansion turned out to be a normal office, with hard working people and Anna taking the lead. I do not get why people get so controversial about her. Sure she is very outspoken and not particularly a warm person, but she is an accomplished lady of qualities devoted to her duties, and if it takes a little dominance to achieve something, then let it be.

I thought that the documentary was more about Grace than Anna, which was a little odd. Somehow we, the viewers tend to expect, see and hear more than there actually is. Due to overexposure of the media we sometimes loose our common sense and rather live in this non-existent-fashion-dreamy-state. In contrary there is nothing wrong with being a little dreamy at times but an overdose can be rather damaging I suppose.

I like that Bee Schaffer isn't following into mother Anna's footsteps blindfolded but rather does what she likes, which is law school. I also saw people nodding and repeating what Anna said without having their opinion about it, which is dumb! I mean speech-impaired. Anyhow I'm not particularly blown away by this documentary, not even close. Let me tell you a little secret:' I like the British Vogue more than the American one!'.