--Anna Wintour, Editor-in-Chief, American Vogue
“Anna is the most powerful woman in the U.S.”
--Andre Leon Talley, Editor-at-Large, American Vogue
“Nobody was wearing fur until Anna put it on the cover in the ‘90s.”
--Tom Florio, Publisher, American Vogue
Are you sensing a pattern here?
Yesterday, I saw a matinee of “The September Issue.” I ditched my life for 90 minutes of escapism, hoping to understand a little better what makes this fashion industry tick.
But five minutes in, the escape was over. I grabbed my notebook and pen and started scratching out notes in the dark. I was appalled. Appalled. What started out as a lighthearted look at fashion’s bible quickly degraded to a revelation of the industry’s dark side.
I’ve been a journalist for more than a decade. I have a master’s degree in the subject. I spend hours agonizing over how to honestly present Ecostiletto’s sponsored newsletters and dedicated emails. And, as a result, I’ve spent a year wondering when my little start-up will actually start.
Yet at Vogue, where last year’s September issue weighed in at record 644 pages of ads (versus 196 of editorial) there is clearly zero separation of church and state. No wonder Tom Florio is happy.
Anna Wintour is filmed as she interacts with retailers and manufacturers—Nieman Marcus, the Gap, Mango—which are an obvious influence on her editorial choices. Anna’s resident jester, Andre Leon Talley, takes his tennis lesson wearing a Louis Vuitton scarf and Piaget watch—both perennial Vogue advertisers. And after the first 10 minutes of watching her flamboyant outfits, you have to wonder if Wintour’s salary is subsidized by the Fur Commission.
Apparently, back in the wonder years of 2007, the demand had even outstripped the supply for luxury fashion—but fashion desired product placement, as well, which “The September Issue” was happy to supply. About midway through the movie, even Wintour’s instruction to her driver to take her to Starbuck’s seems like an obvious plant.
This is a magazine that has clearly been bought and sold by the commerce it supports—with no question of the consequences. Beknighted designer Thakoon is photographed threading up a dress for the Gap, but there’s no mention of what third-world hands will stitch the thousands of copies to be sold in Gap stores. Florio nods to Wintour support of fur without a hint of irony. And $50,000 in editorial is scrapped because it doesn’t show enough of the clothes.
I can image that, for some, “The September Issue” is an exciting, insider’s view of a glamorous industry. For me, it was a testament to how far we’ve come in a year. This September, I celebrate the eco-friendly shows of designers like Mr. Larkin at New York Fashion Week. I look forward to Portland’s forthcoming all-sustainable fashion week. And I toy with the idea of joining The Great American Apparel Diet, in which participants pledge to buy no clothing or accessories for an entire year.
We’ve come a long way, baby.
Image from "The September Issue."
