Analyse Du Film The September Issue (le problème de septembre) de R.J. Cutler (document en anglais)

The September issue

The September issue movie talks about the reflection and the creation of the Vogue Magazine September issue. The film begins with a little presentation of Vogue Magazine, interviewing the main actors in its creation and especially its editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour.

It is shot as a documentary about all the processes of production of only one issue: September.

Everything begins with the research of the themes and the trends that are going to be presented in this issue. A woman says that September in Vogue Fashion Magazine is like January: It is the month of renewal. It seems that September is the most important month in fashion because it draws a line between the end of summer with swimsuits and hats and the beginning of fall and winter with fur and coats. September is also the month of new trends' setting up. Anna Wintour says that, for every issue, she does not only have to create a magazine, but tell a whole story.

To find all these themes, Anna Wintour makes a trip around the world to see every creator's collections planned for fall and winter: Jean-Paul Gaultier, Karl Lagerfeld... She also goes to fashion shows in order to immerse herself of the designers' ideas.

Once trends, colours and textures are found, the second step is to make them live thanks to models. There are many different shoots in order to have different "files" in the magazine: There is a shoot of texture (fur, leather...), a shoot of Couture with creators’ collections, a shoot of accessories etc...

The Vogue issues put many celebrities in the light. It became a kind of “tradition” for years. The actress Sienna Miller has been chosen to illustrate September. She comes at the Vogue studios to make a shooting test. She puts clothes that have been especially sewed for her and Anna Wintour and her assistants begin to think about the real shooting details: haircut, hair colour, make up, environment, position, etc… And once again, Anna Wintour decides of pretty much things.

Every shoot ends with Anna Wintour's agreement (or not) about the photographs. She is the only one person who chooses the snapshots that are going to appear in the Magazine. And this power creates some quarrels within the team. Indeed, Grace Coddington (a former Model who is now working for Vogue), is sometimes disappointed about Anna Wintour's choices of photographs.

After a shooting, she “fell in love” with a picture and was sure it would be chosen to appear in the magazine. But that is not the case, Anna Wintour does not find it good enough and Grace Coddington becomes really angry at her because she does not understand her decision.

Finally, at the end of the documentary, Grace admits that Anna Wintour is the most qualified person to manage a magazine like Vogue. She concedes Anna Wintour always made the best choices. Indeed, she has always known how to make the sales of the magazine grow, she discovered many talents that are well-known today. That is why, nobody would challenge Anna Wintour about her way of thinking Vogue. And nobody does.

At the end of the movie, Anna understands that Grace can have different point of view about the magazine because she is really remarkable and good at her job. But they both have to deal with these different points of view.

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