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Dueling characters spark 'September Issue'
One thing that becomes clear fairly quickly in “The September Issue,” R.J. Cutler’s documentary about Vogue magazine, is that “The Devil Wears Prada” stretches the truth more than a bit.
In “The Devil Wears Prada,” the film based on Lauren Weisberger’s novel, a young woman goes to work for a fashion magazine editor (played by Meryl Streep) who is demanding, bitchy, cold-hearted, noncompromising and several other adjectives, few of which are positive.
After graduating from Cornell University, Weisberger worked for Anna Wintour, editor of Vogue Magazine. Her novel is widely considered to be a roman-a-clef bit of snarky commentary about Wintour.
One point the movie stresses, though, proves to be less than credible: Our young protagonist (played by Anne Hathaway) isn’t seen as nearly fashionable enough as the other members of the magazine’s staff. You gotta be fashionable, the movie says, to work in fashion.
Yet as Cutler’s film, “The September Issue,” indicates, this isn’t necessarily true. Sure, Wintour, with her blunt bob hairstyle and whippet-thin body, is the epitome of fashion. But many of those slinking through the magazine’s hallways dress like … well, saying lumberjacks would be a stretch. But not as much as you might think.
Turns out having an eye for fashion doesn’t mean you need a riveting sense of personal fashion. This applies even – and maybe especially – to Grace Coddington, one of Wintour’s main associates. Coddington knows fashion, was once a runway model, but she would be far from what most of us would see as someone who once walked a Milan runway.
She’s even a bit, dare I say it, frumpy.
That said, Coddington ends up being an important presence in Cutler’s documentary. In fact, it is her prickly relationship with Wintour that gives “The September Issue” the tension that makes it far more than just a fashion story. That tension, the same kind that underscores any blending of business and art, makes Cutler’s film a story of dueling personalities.
It’s such a great duel that Meryl Streep, who can do anything, should consider adapting “The September Issue” as a narrative film. That way she could play both Wintour and Coddington. Maybe win two Oscars at once.
Wouldn’t that be a fashion statement?
