The September Issue

I saw The September Issue, a documentary about the production of the big fall issue of Vogue in 2007. To see behind the scenes of a magazine which is the arbiter and institution of fashion: the clothes, my God the clothes. Deeper, richer colors than gems, textures you want to swoon into, great art in three dimensions moving through space draped on the body of a beautiful woman. For the first time I felt like I really got it, seeing a glimpse of the alter people sacrifice their careers and back accounts upon. High fashion is art. Art that makes you feel and long for something indefinable, somehow encapsulated in things. And when someone with a brilliant eye puts it all together it's magical. The yin and yang of Vogue, embodied in the two women who drive the magazine, Grace Coddington and Anna Wintour. Women with great power, whose decisions, commercial and artistic choices begin and end careers, selling billions of dollars worth of merchandise through a trickle-down effect of influence.

Seeing behind the scenes it's at once more and less glamorous than one might think. Trips abroad, private cars, seats at the front. But not everyone who works there is a fashion plate; they're not all young, beautiful, and perfect. They're the people who can get the job done.

I've been interrupted twice as I was thinking about this and I can't seem to get any further with it now.