Give me Grace!
Friday, September 4, 2009
The big lie of the marketing surrounding The September Issue is that it’s all about Anna. The other lie is that it’s all shoes and glamour and slick camera editing – like a Vogue magazine set to video. It’s not really any of these things, though it does dish up doses of screechy Andre Leon Talley.
In the film, Creative Director Grace Coddington, with her eccentric pouf of red hair and all-black Marni/Balenciaga/Prada outfits, emerges from her favored out-of-the-limelight spot as the soul of the magazine and this movie. Delightfully open, there’s something wonderfully maternal about her, like you’d feel awful disappointing her if you broke a rule and she found out. A bit frustratingly, Anna Wintour remains as elusive and unapproachable as ever (we often see her with a cardigan over her shoulders, as if she’s constantly chilly, doing nothing to dispel her “ice woman” image). The portions with Wintour and Coddington are so different (Wintour is often taped in a staged, sit-down appointment setting) that you wonder whether this was an imperative handed down from the editor herself or a choice made by the director, R.J. Cutler to highlight the differences between the two women.
The movie’s biggest strength is the unique relationship between these two equally opinionated and hard-working women, but also the backstory of the creative process. They are the yin and yang of fashion marketing: Anna is all business, and she believes in the power of putting celebrities on the cover. Grace is concerned with beauty and fantasy, and some of Vogue’s best pages are the result of her work. In an industry that has become heavily saturated by marketing schemes and parties and branding, it’s incredibly powerful to witness the ultimate point of the film, personified by Coddington – that fashion is supposed to be about passion, inspiration, and fantasy.
There’s a wonderfully evocative scene in which model Raquel Zimmerman is posing at Versailles for a spread to be included in the magazine. Tall, impossibly thin and strikingly beautiful, like Coddington once was as a model, she also has a wonderful goofiness about her. Some manner of gorgeous French pastries are brought in, and to watch her indulge, at the urging of Coddington, is pure delight. It’s a refreshing reminder to do what pleases you, in life and at work.
The movie reminded me of a favorite Vogue spread, from the August 2008 issue, inspired by the editors of the magazine (among them Elissa Santisi and Tonne Goodman, who also make cameos). These photos are from that shoot, and feature Karen Elson as Grace Coddington. Enjoy!
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Hi Rachel! Thanks so much for this…I went to the film last night (thanks to your giveaway!) expecting insight into the great Anna Wintour, which WAS still quite interesting, but I completely fell in love with the endearing, ingenious Ms. Coddington. As she slowly but surely stole the show with her quips and her reluctant but unguarded interviews, it quickly became clear that she has been behind most of my very favorite Vogue spreads over the years. The scene in the gardens in Paris was both inspiring and a little heartbreaking as she described herself as an artistic romantic and a dying breed… However, I was thrilled to see Anna give grace her due at the end of the film, recognizing her true genius and how crucial she is to the very essence of vogue. The Parisian 1920s shoot she did for that issue is one of my all-time favorites. “It’s supposed to be soft! That’s the POINT!” And it was.
Totally. And the more I think about it, the more I enjoy and find respect for their relationship. They remind me of two old lovers in that they know exactly how to challenge and push one another, and they ultimately work to make something beautiful that couldn’t exist without them both.
This is wonderfully written and you hit the nail on the head! Just reading it made me want to see it again!