Fashion: Dueling September Issues

Vogue

By Kate Calamusa September 30, 2009

The rumors are true: Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour is one blunt lady. Last night, I snuck out to the Seattle premier of RJ Cutler’s fascinating documentary about the woman behind the biggest fashion magazine in the world, The September Issue. In short, it’s fascinating to watch the creative process behind Vogue’s biggest issue of the year, how they decide what trends to feature, the amazingly-produced photo shoots and waiting to see what Wintour will like and what she just hates. (She’ll tell you if you’re off your fashion rocker, even if you are Yves Ste. Laurent. But despite her oft-blunt statements, Wintour carries herself with aplomb, grace and comes across as so human, it’s refreshing.)

It’s definitely worth a see when it opens in Seattle on Friday. But for us, the film takes on a special fascination because this what we do every day and wondered how our magazine stacked up. We too put together a fall fashion issue for September and and like the Vogue staffers, I spent most of my summer pulling products for fall and sorting through merchandise in Rachel Hart’s office (maybe trying on a Prairie Underground hoodie or two in the process). But I wondered, would Vogue just blow us out of the water? Or would it be like watching a documentary of ourselves?

The answer is, a little of both: 

The differences:

–    Our editor Rachel doesn’t wear sunglasses inside.
–    Although we would love it, we stick to Seattle and the Eastside for our fashion backdrops, instead of      Paris and Rome. Sigh.
–    I don’t have my own personal driver to squire me about town. Double sigh.
–    No one wears fur around our office.
–    Vogue’s massive shoe closet, which we unfortunately cannot compete against.

The similarities:

–    Vogue had an 800-page book, and even then there are amazing shots, blurbs and spreads that hit the  cutting room floor. We can relate: our constant mantra around here is, “We need more pages!”        Apparently, Anna does too.
–    Vogue has a yearly competition for the next best fashion designer, who is then set-up Vogue style. Seamless in Seattle anyone?
–    Anna orders her own Starbucks. Hey, so do we!
–    Vogue pulls from Prada, Jimmy Choo and Hermes. This year, we pulled from Prada, Jimmy Choo and Hermes. 

Our September issue is still on stands through this week, so pick it up to view our local take on fall fashion. I’ll be checking back in as Fashion Week continues.

 

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