The September Issue

Once as I was lunching in the glamorous Gehry cafeteria at Conde Nast headquarters, I was stunned as the lunch time chatter-buzz instantaneously receded, like a wave broken on craggy rocks, into hushed, reverent silence. The cause? A joint spotting of Conde Nast owner Si Newhouse and his most famous employee, Anna Wintour, sylph-like even in woolly Chanel tweed of pink and mauve. While you could have heard a pin drop, it was the click, click of her serious pair of Louboutins that filled the vacuum.
I was expecting the film The September Issue to ride that same emotional wave of fear and admiration, cresting with occasional panic. Anna Wintour, is after all, the inspiration for the diabolic boss who wears Prada and torments underlings, designers and bosses alike until they quiver like fat-free jello in an earthquake. Instead of focusing on the Conde Nast-y, the film focuses on the busy and perilous intersection of fashion and media at which Ms Wintour finds herself directing traffic; continuously keeping the flow moving forward and helping those around her avoid calamitous crash and burn accidents. As though it weren’t hard enough to put out a magazine that people want to buy month after month, she is an industry lynch pin, cementing deals between talented designers and retail firms, giving designers manufacturing, production and yes- even runway show advice. And the film is balanced enough that you can see, as with a rainbow fading into sunlight, the blurry edges of Ms. Wintour’s difficult reputation, but appreciate all of her brilliance.