The September Issue

[first lines]

Anna Wintour:
I think what I often see is that people are frightened of fashion and that because it scares them or it makes them feel insecure, they put it down. On the whole, people that say demeaning things about our world, I think that's usually because they feel in some ways excluded or, you know, not part of the 'cool group' so as a result they just mock it. Just because you like to put on a beautiful Carolina Herrera dress or, I don't know, a pair of J Brand blue jeans instead of something basic from K-Mart it doesn't mean that you're a dumb person. There is something about fashion that can make people very nervous.

Andr? Leon Talley:
to Vera Wang: First of all... Its been a very bleak week so far its been bleak streak over here in America ! You know what ? It's the famine of beauty ! Its the famine of beauty ! The famine of beauty honey ! My eyes are *starving* for *beauty*!

Journalist:
Is there a way to wear fur this winter?

Anna Wintour:
There's always a way to wear fur. Personally I have it on my back.

Journalist:
Many people said that you are an 'Ice Woman'.

Anna Wintour:
Well, this week it was pretty cold, that's all I can say.

Tom Florio:
Nobody was wearing fur until Anna put it back on the cover of Vogue, back in the early 90s. And she ignited the entire industry. If we get behind something, it sells.

Anna Wintour:
[looking at a photo of Jennifer Garner] She looks pregnant. We need to fix her.

Sally Singer:
[Speaking about Grace Coddington] Grace is without question, the greatest living stylist. There's no one better than Grace. There's no one who can make any photographer take more beautiful, more interesting, more romantic, more just stunningly realized pictures than Grace. There's no one better, period. She comes from the idea that fashion is this world of play and make believe. It's as if someone's gone to the dressing up box and found the most wonderful, personal things, and put them together. But it's beautiful.

[the documentary film crew's cameraman is featured in one of the photos from the photoshoot]

Anna Wintour:
[patting her stomach, referring to his paunch] We're working on this one. Little bit of retouching, need to go to the gym!

Grace Coddington:
[Bob the cameraman tells Grace what Anna said about his photo] You know, personally I think it's better that you're not like skinny-skinny. To me it much more makes the point that you're real people and not models. Everybody isn't perfect in this world. I mean, it's enough that the models are perfect. You don't need to go to the gym.

Bob Richman:
Thank you, Grace.

Journalist:
Anna is the most powerful woman in the United States.

Grace Coddington:
I can't shoot everything for the rest of my life with Steven Meisel in Alder Mansion, which is an ugly f***ing house.

Tom Florio:
[about Anna Wintour] I don't find her to be hidden. I just don't find her to be accessible to people she doesn't need to be accessible to. She's busy, you know. And she's not warm and friendly, she's doing her business. We leave warm to me. I'll have to be warm enough for the two of us.