The September Issue by R.J. Cutler is a 2009 documentary that follows American Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, creative director Grace Coddington and other magazine employees as they work on the 2007 September issue of Vogue. In the opening sequence, Wintour is being interviewed and states that ‘just because you like to put on a beautiful Carolina Herrera dress or a pair of J Brand blue jeans instead of something basic from Kmart, it doesn’t mean that you’re a dumb person’. She then further argues that ‘there is something about fashion that can make people very nervous’. I thought these two statements set the tone and direction of the documentary really well but I also liked how you were being asked to consider your own relationship with fashion from the outset. Personally as someone with a strong interest in fashion, it can at times feel scary and intimidating to wear something that is new and a bit different as I don’t want to be judged by people who wear more simplistic clothing. I agree with Wintour in that it is largely due to the fact that a lot of people are intimated by fashion so they judge as a defence mechanism. The documentary raised the question for me of whether high fashion is an unnecessary luxury or form of artistic creation.There is definitely a stigma that fashion is a luxury and it’s considered lunacy by many to spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars on a handbag or dress from a designer brand. However I think this documentary attempts to show all the artistic creativity that designers and Vogue magazine put into fashion which they consider to be an art form. Surprisingly by the end of this documentary I felt a sense of sympathy for Wintour and Coddington. Although they both clearly love the fashion industry, it is evident it takes an emotional and creative toll on them. When Wintour’s family is featured or described it is clear that they think her work is somewhat frivolous and dramatized, however having seen how effort Wintour put into publishing the September issue for 2007 I felt compassion for her. I further enjoyed this documentary as it felt very real as there was so much behind the scenes footage of the months of planning as well as the photoshoots that would appear in the magazine.