The ‘real’ devil wears Prada

The ‘literate’ Delhi fashionistas are dying to watch the much talked about documentary, September Issue. It’s a documentary that unmasks the fearsome editrix of American Vogue — Anna Wintour.

The ‘literate’ Delhi fashionistas are dying to watch the much talked about documentary, September Issue. It’s a documentary that unmasks the fearsome editrix of American Vogue — Anna Wintour. Surprisingly Ms Wintour allowed director RJ Cutler unprecedented access to film what really happens at the world’s top fashion magazine. I was lucky to lay my hands on a copy of the docu but wouldn’t like to divulge how I got it lest I get embroiled in a piracy or smuggling case!

If you thought The Devil Wears Prada was an exaggerated depiction, boy, you are highly mistaken. Truth indeed is stranger than fiction and September Issue proves that. By the way, the name comes from the September 2007 issue of the American Vogue, which had 840 pages and out of which 727 pages were advertisements. Incredible, huh! Cutler shot most of the movie in 2007.

The camera follows Wintour around the shows. She famously got Milan Fashion Week moved to fit into her schedule. When she meets the head designer at Yves Saint Laurent, she disapproves his collection leaving him all flustered. She has no qualms in asking Prada to “re-interpret” some of its designs. Anna, or Ahhnna, as her staff refers to her, proves that she doesn’t just run a magazine: she runs all of fashion.

Did I hear you say Anna ‘Nuclear’ Wintour? I think she can annihilate a designer’s career with her poker-faced look if she doesn’t like it. My designer friends should be happy they don’t have a Wintour here!

The 88-minute film has more shocking scenes. In one scene, Anna throws out a shoot that costs $50,000 because she doesn’t like it. When a stylist asks why the pictures of a model in a rubber outfit have been removed from a story about “texture”, the art director replies that for Anna, rubber isn’t a texture!

As I watched the film, I kept wondering what if I as a fashion scribe, got just one percent of the authority that Wintour enjoys. Probably our fashion scene could get a bit better! Interesting interviews make the movie a kind of a self-commemoration for Wintour. She may influence fashion, but clearly considers herself to be above it.