CINEMA: The September Issue

If you’re not into fashion then this documentary about the putting together of American Vogue’s biggest ever issue will probably not be of much interest, however, there is plenty here to amuse and entertain.

Ostensibly, the film concentrates on Vogue’s British-born editor Anna Wintour, she of the steel curtain fringe who must be obeyed (and the template for Meryl Streep’s character in The Devil Wears Prada). But Wintour, with her withering looks and stick-insect frame, proves to be far less interesting than the main creative force behind Vogue, Grace Codrington.

The scenes which follow ex-model Grace from her initial ideas for photoshoots through to the studio or location shots where her visions are captured are truly inspiring. At one point she faces the movie’s cameraman and tells him she has had an idea that includes him; when we duly see him taking part in a shoot that makes the September issue it’s almost a eureka moment – aha, so that’s what she was thinking!

Also highly entertaining is a passage of scenes following photographer Mario Testino shooting Sienna Miller in Rome for Vogue’s front cover, and not coming up with the shot Wintour specifically asked for.

You couldn’t make it up.

Dee Pilgrim