I have a love/hate relationship with fashion. I have always found it to be gay men and bitter old women who have lost their beauty lording over wafer thin young girls while telling us all what looks good and what doesn't. Its like if we weren't told we wouldn't know. I always go back to that old line - I don't know fashion but I know what I hate. I love shows like 'Project Runway' that show the design process so I was sure I was going to enjoy "The September Issue' which takes the viewer into the world of Vogue magazine - the premiere 'bible' of the world wide fashion industry. Vogues managing editor is Anna Wintour. The magazine is her and she is the magazine. Its amazing how much power this one woman wields in this industry. Imagine Hitler with impeccable taste and style. Only Hitler is a woman and she is a bitch of a ice queen. For all the criticism she takes for how she deals with people I never hear one person say that she is EXACTLY the kind of queen this business wants and NEEDS to have lord over them. In a world of egos where everyone is suicidally insecure, someone has to have the final say and who better than someone without a heart. If Anna hadn't came along then the fashion world would have had to create her. If you ever wondered what goes into the production of a magazine this is the documentary for you. The filmmakers seemed to have been given unlimited access to Anna's world. I wonder if she realized how it would make her look or if she really even cared. One thing that can't be denied is that she knows her stuff and actually CARES about fashion. She feels the burden of always being asked what SHE likes and having to come up a monthly product the whole world is looking to. That is pressure. I understand a lot more about her and I suspect that if I was in similar circumstances that I would be as demanding as she is and I would surround myself with a nice group of sychophants. She has no tolerance for fools and those who waste her time. She cares little if that makes her unlikable or even reviled. At the end of the day its the product that speaks for itself and isn't that a mantra for the entire fashion industry. I know this sounds petty, but the women who work for Vogue are NOT attractive women. Their beauty days, if they ever existed, are long behind them. Thin and liver spotted must be the look that's in this season. I found it hard to watch at times and was glad I didn't see this doc on the big screen TV. If anything this documentary confirmed my belief that fashion is fickle and fashion hurts and that was something I didn't expect to learn.
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1 comment:
There was a very cool documentary on Jay McCaroll called 11 Minutes on tv recently that was quite interesting. Fashion is art, but it is a mass media art, and unless you can pay for shows yourself you need sponsorship and press. I did not watch P.R. the first season, but after watching this I learned to like McCaroll a lot.
As far as the management at Vogue goes, I would not enjoy being feared and hated, but I know at times those people are necessary. There have been numerous times in my professional life where a decision must be made, you talk to 10 people who are unwilling, then you finally get to the guy who says "do this."
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