FASHION magazines, once notoriously discreet about infighting and back stabbing, would now like to invite you to watch every time an editor throws a high heel at an underling (when, you might say, a devil gets its pitchfork).
MOVE OVER, MERYL Joanna Coles, star of magazine and soon, mini-screen.
Last week, Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue, agreed to allow A&E to film a documentary of the making of its September issue, usually the thickest of the year. Since the curtains were drawn open on the darker details of the genre in “The Devil Wears Prada” and “Ugly Betty,” both of which pattern characters on Ms. Wintour, the real-life players have hardly responded by slinking off stage.
“People are fascinated with what goes on,” said Joanna Coles, the editor of Marie Claire, who said she has fielded requests by a half-dozen television producers. Last month, a writer spent a week with the staff preparing for a Fox spinoff of “Prada.” The interest inspired Ms. Coles and her staff to produce a series of minidocumentaries on life at the magazine, available as video podcasts beginning Tuesday at marieclaire.com.
Vogue and W have also created videos with footage from shoots for Style.com, though one could argue that Marie Claire is more irreverent.
In the first episode, Ms. Coles enters the new Hearst building wearing a dandy coat that suggests she works in fashion. “We were in Page Six today, and my BlackBerry hasn’t stopped buzzing,” she says to the camera. “And the coat is Viktor & Rolf.” It is unclear whether she was referring to an item in The New York Post about the Fox writer, or one that announced a staff pregnancy (noteworthy because the father had been believed by colleagues to be gay) while noting that circulation had dipped since Ms. Coles became editor.
She then reviews a photo shoot of the “CSI: Miami” cast and screens a film about the December cover subject, Ashley Judd, at which Ms. Coles enjoys a glass of wine with Gloria Steinem. Future episodes will introduce staffers as they go about their work, including, Ms. Coles noted, a scene in which the manager of the fashion closet throws a stiletto. She said it is not as scary as it sounds.
“I wish I could be as commanding as Meryl Streep,” she said. “If I tried, the whole staff would burst into fits of laughter. At least I have an English accent.”
