Film

The September Issue

Name: The September Issue
Genre: Documentary
Released: 2009
Cast: Anna Wintour, Grace Coddington, André Leon Talley, Hamish Bowles, Tonne Goodman

Workplace drama

A fly-on-the-wall look at Anna Wintour steering Vogue's biggest issue of the year, with Grace Coddington as the quietly furious creative conscience pushing back against commerce. It's less exposé than character study — chilly, funny, occasionally moving — about taste as power and the exhausting machinery behind a magazine cover. Anyone curious how influence actually gets exercised, calmly and without raising a voice, should watch.

TMDb rating

3.3

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like watching a workplace run on nerve and taste, and enjoy seeing how a magazine's pages get argued into existence, with the glamour treated as serious labor.

Skip it if you came for the clothes themselves, since this is mostly about the people choosing them in offices and meetings rather than the garments on the catwalk.

What it asks of you: It runs ninety minutes at a brisk clip, asking you to follow a steady stream of meetings and quiet power plays rather than a single story arc.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Dior and I2015

The closest cousin to this film: a new designer's first collection at Dior, shot with the same intimate access to tantrums, deadlines, and the seamstresses who actually make the clothes exist.

But If you found the fashion-world pressure-cooker format exhausting once, this covers very similar ground again.

The Devil Wears Prada2006

The fictional mirror image — Meryl Streep's Miranda Priestly is widely understood to be a version of Wintour, and it's sharper and funnier about the job's cruelty than most people give it credit for.

But It's a comedy with a redemptive arc; nothing here has the documentary's ambiguity or restraint.

The First Monday in May2016

Wintour again, this time producing the Met Gala's Costume Institute exhibit, caught in the same tension between art and spectacle, curator and editor, that defines her whole career.

But Structurally very similar to the film you just watched — same subject, same stakes, diminishing returns if watched back to back.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The September Issue

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Funny Face1957

Decades before Wintour, this film already understood the fashion editor as an imperious cultural tastemaker — same archetype, entirely different era and genre.

A candy-colored musical starring Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire, with Kay Thompson playing a magazine editor modeled directly on the real Diana Vreeland — the glamorous, terrifying archetype Wintour later inherited.

But It's a full song-and-dance musical with a light romantic plot; nothing about it feels like a documentary.

McQueen2018

A far more emotional documentary about genius and pressure in the same industry, tracing Alexander McQueen from provocateur to establishment name to tragedy.

But Considerably sadder and heavier than anything in Wintour's world — this one doesn't stay light.

Bill Cunningham New York2011

The other side of the fashion ecosystem: a humble, bicycle-riding street photographer who answered to no editor and cared only about the clothes themselves, not the power games.

But Much gentler and slower-paced; if you liked the boardroom tension, this quieter character study might feel too soft.

Valentino: The Last Emperor2008

A flamboyant, gossipy, genuinely funny portrait of a legendary designer and his decades-long partner, capturing the theatrical excess this world runs on.

But Less analytical than Wintour's film — this one's pure spectacle and camp, with little of the same restraint.

Iris2014

Albert Maysles' warm final film, about stylist and eccentric Iris Apfel, is a lovely counterweight — proof that fashion obsession doesn't have to be cold or hierarchical.

But Very slight and celebratory; there's none of the institutional tension that gives the Vogue film its edge.

Halston2019

A rise-and-fall documentary about the American designer who briefly ruled fashion before losing control of his own name — a cautionary companion piece about ambition.

But Darker and more tragic in tone; not the same brisk, workplace-drama energy.

In Vogue: The Editor's Eye2012

A talking-heads television documentary about Vogue's legendary editors and photographers across decades, useful if you want more history and less drama.

But Thinner and more reverential than a real character study — it's closer to a highlight reel.

Jiro Dreams of Sushi2011

Swap magazines for sushi and you get the same story: an aging authority's exacting standards, and the unspoken question of who's ready to take over.

A serene, obsessive documentary about a legendary Tokyo sushi master, his perfectionism, and the quiet anxiety of who inherits his standards when he's gone.

But Slow, meditative, and almost entirely about fish and rice — nothing like the bustle and gossip of a fashion office.

Succession2018

Same structural engine as the film — a powerful, unreadable figure at the top, and everyone beneath them reading tea leaves about succession and favor.

A darkly funny drama about a media empire's aging patriarch and the children maneuvering to succeed him — corporate warfare with the same texture of loyalty, fear, and quiet humiliation you see around Wintour.

But Four seasons is a much bigger commitment than ninety minutes, and its cynicism runs far nastier than anything in the Vogue offices.