The Pictures: The September Issue

I learned the meaning of the 'September Issue' when I worked for W Magazine way back when. This issue was always the biggest (at least it had better be). It had loads and loads of new ads featuring the freshest/gaudiest/shiniest new bags & baubles of the season. It was the raison d'être for every fashion magazine worth its wait in Gucci purses.

Tomorrow, The September Issue, the documentary hits theatres in LA.

Tonight, we (the LA Times) hosted an advanced screening of the film. I saw it. I gasped. I laughed. I would see it again.

Some notes from the film...

* Andre Leon Talley seems like he was the chubby kid nobody liked and now he's taking it out on the pretty people. I am not wild for him. Though he is supremely wild about himself.

* Grace Coddington's got a mouth on her. And I like it. I also like that she feeds her models pie before they've got to squeeze into corsets.

* Charlie Churchward, the mag's Design Director is the most extreme kind of yes man. Throughout the film, I wanted to collect funds and purchase him a spine. (It turns out that Charlie actually resigned from Vogue after 14 years in June of 2008, but he had stayed on to finish the September issue. Thank god for him.)

* Vogue's elaborate shoots, as documented in The September Issue, are especially ironic now as Conde Nast's McKinsey consultants will likely recommend slashing budgets for the ginormous budget projects. (NYO)

* I love that the Vogue editors talk smack about slutty Sienna Miller's hair for a good part of the flick.

* Anna Wintour may be snagging all the interviews and press around The September Issue's premiere. But it's Grace Coddington that's the star of this movie. She's got vision. She's got style. She's got major sass.

The September Issue almost makes you think that fashion is important. Go see it.