So here I am, finally working at a real fashion magazine! It’s always been one of my dreams to become a fashion journalist; it’s right up there on my list of childhood aspirations, just below sorceress and rock star. Even so, while I know WORN isn’t your typical fashion publication, I was, at first, a little confused. How come no one has asked me to get them a latte yet? Why has no one thrown a coat on my desk? Where’s my trip to Paris? And why, may I ask, have I already gone into my third month of work without an obligatory song and dance number?

Then I remembered: like many of my childhood dreams, my ideas of what it’s like to work at a fashion magazine are based solely and solidly on what may not be the most realistic of representations. Mainly, movies.

Specifically, there are two films which, while separated by decades, present pretty much the same accepted ideas about the cut-throat world of fashion magazine employment, and which have formed my fashion fantasies: The Devil Wears Prada, and its eerily similar predecessor, Funny Face.

Both films start with the same premise: a young, bookish brunette falls into a hard-to-get gig at a fashion magazine by complete accident. She meets a demanding, influential fashion editor, who insists on a makeover. The bookish brunette resists but is eventually swayed by the glamour of the fashion industry, visits Paris, falls in love, and tries to come to terms with her new identity. This is standard stuff!

Funny Face was made in 1957, with Audrey Hepburn playing Jo, the bookish brunette who’s swept up into modeling by powerful and cranky Maggie Prescott (Kay Thompson). In the fashion offices of “Quality” magazine, Maggie’s flock of fashion followers jump at her proclamation that pink will be the next big thing. They don’t hesitate to do a song and dance about it, each clad in a different pink suit. Later, Maggie gives advice to Jo about how to give a good press conference, with all the necessary doo-eee-ooohs included. Jo’s big conflict is reconciling her love of empathetic philosophy with her new love of running down big marble staircases in fancy dresses for her love interest and photographer played by Fred Astaire. In the end, she chooses fashion.

In the Devil Wears Prada, the bookish brunette is of course Andy (Anne Hathaway), whose naïveté is abused by the Anna Wintour stand-in Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep). Although there’s technically no song and dance, Miranda’s office bends to her whims in the same manner. Andy gets sucked in not only with the extreme demands of the job, but with free makeovers and wardrobe perks.

So what about me? I’m relatively bookish, brunette, and here I am at a fashion magazine! But so far, my editor hasn’t asked me to get her any rare manuscripts, no one’s done any obligatory dancing (yet), and I haven’t had a makeover foisted upon me. Because of WORN’s creative content, as I’m sure you know, I get to stay in love with philosophy, and still feel the fashion-thrill equivalent of fancy-dress staircase descents. I can’t say I’m not a little relieved about these things, in what might be the first instance where I’m happier movies have turned out to be untrue.

I mean, I’m still going to Paris. Right?

-Alexandra

In grade six, after winning the highly prestigious role of Prancer in the school’s Christmas play, I was convinced of my intimate relationship with luck. I can’t say that wearing festive antlers and a shapeless taupe onesie was the pinnacle of my fashion career, but it was certainly a moment of elementary school glory.

For your sake, oh devoted (Montreal) readers, I hope you have some of that same Prancer luck in you, because it’s time for a contest. For reasons I can’t begin to unders
tand, the long-awaited movie The September Issue is finally coming out in Canada — in October. Yes, the strange month discrepancy annoys me, but the chance to win free tickets does not. In fact, anything free is a friend of mine.
So let’s cut to the chase and dole these hot tamales out to the most deserving ladies and gents. Up for grabs are 10 run-of-engagement passes, valid at all times in Quebec theatres where the movie is playing. The September Issue hits theatres October 23rd. The rules are simple: In the comments write a single sentence starring Ms. Wintour herself, and please, fictional is obviously better. Don’t really know what I’m talking about because it’s late and my brain is casually chugging along in energy saver mode? Here’s an example of something I’m looking for:

Laughing gingerly at the flashing TV screen, Anna fished for another handful of popcorn before speaking to the empty room, “The Hills is really heating up this season!”

We will judge our favourites based on personal biases, comedic value, creativity, and proximity to our hearts. And remember, only enter if you live in Quebec. And now, may the fallacies begin! Deadline is September 20th!

P.S. folks — Here are the links to the official sites (The September Issue+ Les Films Seville)

- Carmen Vicente

If you could ask Anna Wintour anything, what would it be?

Vogue’s current editor-in-chief – and subject of the upcoming documentary, The September Issue – has often been called the most important figure in the fashion world (when not being referred to as a “cold space alien”). In a year that has seen a huge downturn in the economy and an even huger uprising in online media, she is responsible for the monthly publication of Vogue, whose current issue is a 584-page fashion manifesto that will no doubt sell hundreds of thousands of copies. Like every issue, it is a collection of works by hundreds of editors, writers, photographers, advertisers, models, and designers. In other words: there are a hell of a lot of people who depend on Vogue, and consequently, Anna Wintour, for a job.

I surveyed some friends (and fellow Worn staffers) on what they would ask Wintour if they could. The answers were endless, subjects ranging from the relevance of fashion in today’s world, to what it’s like to be a professional woman in publishing, to the evolution of a trend, to the lack of diversity in Vogue. But rather predictably, her August 24th interview with David Letterman – her first media appearance since a 60 Minutes featurette last May – stuck mainly to the following points: Wintour’s reputation as an ice queen; Wintour as parodied by Meryl Streep in 2006’s The Devil Wears Prada; and, of course, some banter promoting both the documentary and September 10th’s Fashion’s Night Out, a shopping event in New York City.

Perhaps my expectations were set too high. After all, a ten-minute interview on a late night talk show is hardly the proper platform to get into a weighty dissertation on the significance of fashion during economic turmoil. Yet even amid Letterman’s typical playful teasing I became frustrated with all the focus placed on Wintour’s reputation. There’s the question that has been raised by others a million times before but has never actually been discussed at length, at least not in the mainstream media: if Wintour were a man, would anybody actually care about how straightforward and abrasive she is with her staff?

For somebody who is so often caricatured as a “bitch” (the critics’ words, not mine), Wintour certainly didn’t come off as cold and soulless. She sat mildly slouched in her chair, hands shyly folded in her lap, joking about Letterman’s socks and laughing along when he asked if she’s ever put any of her staff members in a headlock. She was a bit quieter than some of his usual guests (actors and entertainers), but ultimately was a good sport who was not afraid to poke fun at herself. It made me wonder – if this was the real life incarnation of an icy dictator, how would the magazine even manage to get published with a passive editor in the hot seat?

-Anna Fitz