Frivolous Thing Called Fashion

The September Issue is the first documentary I ever watched in theater (and I only see 5-6 movies in theater a year).  Though I may appear like a devout Buddhist at times, I do enjoy shopping and fashion.  My favorite cable (or satellite?) channel is Fashion TV, on which I see runway shows.  I read fashion/woman magazines when I don't have to buy them myself.  Will this slow my progress to enlightenment?  I suppose so because I focus outside myself the whole time...

The story is about how the American Vogue (interesting to learn that it is 112 years old) editorial team puts together the most important issue of the year: the September issue, which is about 600 pages long.  The main protagonist is Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief.  She was portrayed as an icy, bitchy queen in the novel and the movie "The Devil Wears Prada."   In the September Issue, I immensely enjoy seeing how much work it took to get a magazine out, and how much artsy the process was.  Putting together a fashion shoot is similar to producing a theater show and photograph it.  I also got to see faces of many photographers and designers that I had heard only their names, such as Mario Testino.  Oh, and this is perhaps the only doc where almost all guys in there are gay.  Mr. Testino is very handsome but clearly gay.

Anna comes across as a distant, hard working, intense, sharp, uncompromising, and visionary woman (She is the type of female who cannot ever be called "girls" unlike, say, Meg Ryan).  I don't think she makes a good friend, though I doubt she cares, but she's certainly very capable.  At one time, she talked about her siblings and how they hold more seemingly socially responsible jobs than she does, e.g., a political commentator or a social worker.  She said twice that "they are amused at what I do."  She doesn't think they approve of what she does even though she is a queen of the fashion world: she is so powerful that she can ignite or kill the careers of any designers.

She is responsible for launching a career of otherwise young unknown designers such as Alexander McQueen and the more recent Thakoon Panichgul.  Only Thakoon was seen in the doc.  (He certainly has a Thai origin, but from his English accent, I think he grew up in the US.)  Thakoon won the young designer award that Vogue organized, and Anna recommended him to work with the Gap on a special white-shirt collection and the Spanish MNG.  The work with the Gap makes him a household name because Gap stores are everywhere in the US.  Even the first lady, Mitchell Obama, wears some of his (high-end) design for official functions.

I got to see how Thakoon goes about working, with his measurement tape and a black marker.  He makes me think of a fashion designer as an architect: design a house for a human body.

I like how Anna doesn't dress too lavishly or being too minimalist.  She definitely has an eye for fashion. She maintains the same hair style which is neatly kept to the same length and color.  In the doc, when she was shot closeup, many of her facial wrinkles are also on display.  But of course, she takes great care of her body.  Toned and trim.  I love when women age gracefully.  I'm not against plastic surgery, but if it is too fake, then what's the point in spending loads of money to tell the world that I'm so darn old that I need rework?

I often notice people's hands (What a freak I am...).  To me, they tell a story about a person, for example, are they artistic?  Have they done much labor intensive work?  Anna's hands are unusual for the type of work she does.  I thought hers would be leave-like, with long and slender fingers.  But the actual ones are like those who do a lot of manual work: huge knuckles and large fingers.  Perhaps because of tennis that she plays...

The doc features Anna's daughter who is very pretty and seemingly nice.  Like Anna's family, she thinks that the fashion world that her mother helps create is weird.  Both of them appear to adore each other.  Anna looks fragile in the presence of her daughter, less armored, I would say.

Well, I can't omit Grace, the Creative Director (What a job title!  It sounds rather stressful to me to be creative for a living).  She has been working with Anna for 20+ years.  Because both are very strong-willed and opinionated, they often argue.  But their mutual respects for each other keep them working together, and Anna has a final say anyway, as an editor-in-chief.

Grace is interesting.   She was a fashion model, but none of her youthful beauty has physically remained now.  Perhaps it was the car accident that ended her modeling career.  But it's intriguing how fleeting beauty is, especially bodily one.  One can be so heavenly gorgeous at one time and yet becoming this old fluffy lady a few decades later.  Isn't this just another example of impermanence?  But some people become more attractive when they open their mouths (and Grace is the case), whereas some people had better stay mute (I suppose that's me).

This is the piece I rewrote the most often.  Hope this is the last time.