If we could gorge on fashion news, then after last night’s premiere of The September Issue we’d be far too rotund to enter, well, the hallowed halls of Vogue. Designers and editors stormed MoMA, all dressed to impress (Anna Wintour, of course). A few chatted with us before moving on to schmooze with the woman who holds their fates in her Prada-clad hands. Below, what we learned.
ANNA WINTOUR WILL VISIT QUEENS AND BROOKLYN ON FASHION’S NIGHT OUT
Anna Wintour cheerfully stopped to talk to every reporter on the red carpet last night, indiscriminately plugging Fashion’s Night Out. After having organized “a military campaign” at the Vogue offices to hammer out the details for the many, many events, La Wintour herself will start off the night signing T-shirts at a Macy’s in Queens. She graciously explained, “Well, I want to be everywhere that night, and I agreed with the mayor that this has to be a very inclusive event, and I’ve got to start the night off there and move into Manhattan and Brooklyn.” Anna in Queens and Brooklyn. In one night. “I intend to make as many stops as I can,” she went on. “But it seemed to me, since the mayor has so graciously agreed to be part of it, and it was very important to him that it be inclusive, that [Queens] is a great place to start.” But if you don’t want to go to Queens, you might spot her elsewhere. “I really want to hear Oscar [de la Renta] singing. He’s singing with, I think, Bette Midler,” she said. “I want to see Justin Timberlake at Saks. Hugh Jackman is going to be at the High Line. I’m going to be all over.”
ANNA CRITIQUES HER DAUGHTER’S CLOTHES IN REAL LIFE, TOO
Bee Shaffer says her mom is much different at home than she is at work and in the movie. But the scene in which Wintour chuckles at Shaffer for wearing a conservative suit to intern at a judge’s office wasn’t an isolated incident. Wintour even made fun of her daughter’s clothes the night before the premiere.”She was really mean!” said Shaffer. “I was going on a date and she told me to change, but I didn’t listen.” Shaffer wouldn’t say what she was wearing, “but my mom didn’t like it.” Her mom is usually pleased if she puts on “a good print dress.” Shaffer tries not to let Anna pick out her clothes full stop, but admits, “She helps. Who am I to stop her? She has good taste.”
As for her career plans, law school is no longer in the picture. “I don’t want to go to law school anymore. That was after my sophomore year and I was feeling directionless. The idea appealed to me. My dad said I should go to law school and I tried it out. And I don’t.” Now, despite rumors that she might want to try acting, Shaffer has decided she wants to do theater production at a nonprofit theater company, and is interning at the Manhattan Theatre Club starting in September.
GRACE CODDINGTON DIDN’T WANT TO DO THE MOVIE, IS UNAWARE OF MCKINSEY AT CONDÉ NAST
Though Anna Wintour agreed to director R.J. Cutler’s proposal at their first meeting, Vogue creative director Grace Coddington didn’t. “I hate to be filmed and I hate this sort of thing. I hope it doesn’t show,” said Coddington, laughing at all the flashbulbs and hubbub around her. Coddington adds that the McKinsey consultants haven’t yet gotten in the way of her incredibly expensive photo shoots, and she hasn’t spoken to them. “Why would they want to talk to me?”
SPRING IS ALL ABOUT COLOR, COLOR, COLOR
Zac Posen thinks “we’re going to see a lot of cleaned-up design, clean form, color blocks, intensity of fluorescents” at Fashion Week next month. Tory Burch’s runway plans include “different lengths, a lot of color, changing our print direction, really pushing our customer.” Jason Wu says we’re going to see “color, lots of color, on tall, pretty girls.” Vera Wang operates differently. “I really probably won’t know until the night before, and I say that rather honestly,” she said. “We sometimes make things at 2 in the morning for 9 in the morning.”
SEVERAL DESIGNERS ARE CHANGING UP THEIR SHOWS THIS YEAR
Tory Burch is moving her presentation to one of the smaller spaces in Bryant Park this season. A presentation in the tents — that’s new! The show will last an hour and the models will be on the runway while guests drift in and out. Why the move? “Because we could,” she said. “They have a room our size. It’s easier than figuring everything out and bringing the music in. Plus, we wanted to be supportive of Fashion Week in Bryant Park. Hopefully it will work!”
Bryant Park staples Zac Posen and Vera Wang are moving off-site. “It is the last hurrah for the tents, and I’ve shown in the tents for a long time, and I’m not showing in tents this time,” said Posen. He wants “to be a creative independent.” Wang will show at her store for the second season in a row. “Look, I have a brand new store that was very expensive,” she said. “So I thought it was okay to use it twice, that’s all.”
View more from the premiere in our Party Lines slideshow.
