Erin Robertson: Senior Portfolio: Research: "The September Issue"

After many months of patient waiting, I finally saw "The September Issue," a documentary film by RJ Cutler, which chronicles the making of the September 2007 issue of Vogue magazine. As a long time reader of Vogue and fan of editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour, I was completely engrossed in the film from start to finish. Not only does it reveal an intimate portrait of the inner dynamics between the key players in the Vogue world, particularly Anna Wintour and creative director Grace Coddington, but also a revealing look at what it it's like to be a photographer for the magazine. In the film Grace Coddington, the magazine's creative director and mastermind behind the majority of the fashion shoots, spends a great deal of time prepping and organizing a shoot with photographer Steven Meisel that centers around a 20's theme. Unfortunately, the actual shoot isn't covered in the film, much to my dismay as Steven Meisel is one of my favorite photographers and the shoot in question is one that I have in my inspiration journal. The images were amazingly beautiful and there were a great deal more that were taken than appeared in the issue. The film shows Anna Wintour cutting photos out of the spread without so much as a second though, simply stating that they didn't work or needed to be cut because the spread was to long. One photo in particular, shown below, was a main photo from the shoot, showcasing the looks by Galliano that inspired the entire idea behind the shoot was cut to utter disappointment of Coddington. At one point Coddington states that Wintour had thrown away probably $50,000 worth of shots from the series. It was amazing to get a behind the scenes look at the industry that I have so badly wanted to be a part of for so long. To see amazing photographers such as Meisel and Mario Testino, who does a shoot in Rome with Sienna Miller for the cover and feature spread, get their pictures scrutinized and Photoshopped and cut from the issue all together is quite jarring to a young, idealistic photographer such as myself. This industry is cut-throat and a behind the scenes look was just what i needed to spark that angry-girl drive to get there myself.