Episode 1 Absolutely Fashion: Inside British Vogue

February 9th, 2016, the National Portrait Gallery in London.

People are gathered for one of the biggest fashion parties of the year.

British Vogue is celebrating its 100th birthday.

I was invited to film inside the fashion bible for the first time

ever by the magazine's editor-in-chief, Alexandra Shulman.

She is one of the most powerful women in the fashion industry.

I knew Vogue would be a passport into the rarefied world of

top designers and impossible glamour so I decided to keep a diary.

I'm glad I did because Vogue is a world where things are not

quite what they seem, a place where appearances can be deceptive.

So it's Vogue House, please.

You know where it is? Just keep going round and then...

-It's round here.

-Yeah.

'September 2015. Bought Vogue for the first time ever yesterday.'

Here we go, mate.

'It's quite intimidating,

'the thought of entering the offices of the fashion bible.'

-Morning, sir.

-Hi. I've come to go to...to go to Vogue.

-It's on the fifth floor, sir.

-Fifth floor?

LIFT BELL PINGS

I was hoping to meet the editor-in-chief

and get introduced to her team but she's away in New York.

Her office is massive.

This would be too much.

But maybe this one under, like, a navy one, and then we're safe.

We have two classic suits in his size from Huntsman,

and then we have all the other more textury kind of things.

Don't know if it's a bit too checked, or do you love it?

-I love it but I don't know for him.

-WHISPERS: It's quite nice, isn't it?

Well, we know he likes Armani. Let's have a look at...

-Where's the Armani?

-He's bringing his own Armani.

-He's bringing his own Armani?

-He's bringing his own Armani,

and we've covered everything else.

I've been at Vogue since 2003.

-It's a really key team, this corner.

-In what way is it key?

I think it's sort of the hub, really, of...

..Alex's everyday life, you know.

She sits there, you're privy to lots of confidential information,

and you have to be really on the ball.

We are her gatekeepers, her team.

Yeah, we're her eyes and ears at all times.

-We're quite often asked how the mood is that day.

-Yeah.

How's the weather today?

We just try and make it a little bit easier rather than throwing them

into stormy weather.

TALKING ON RADIO

-Hi.

-Hi, how are you?

-I'm fine, thanks.

-Hey!

-Hello. You look lovely.

-Thank you. So do you.

-How are you doing?

-Amazing.

-Thank you.

-I'm doing well, yeah.

-Got here yesterday.

-Right.

-Late, too late for your show.

-I know.

-It's sad that you missed it.

-I know, but I've seen all of it online.

-I've done my research. It looked amazing.

-Thank you.

-It looked really lovely.

-It went down really well.

-You must have been thrilled.

-How's the family? Well?

-The family are very well, yes. Yeah, yeah.

Lovely. All good.

So this was the opening story of the collection.

This is a Bounce gingham,

which is a really nice fabric because it's nice and light

for summer, really easy to wear, has a nice amount of stretch.

There's your prints.

Yeah, someone said yesterday, actually,

this had a bit of a Warhol feel about it, which was cool.

So, I mean, playing with different proportions...

-This is lovely.

-..I think there's definitely a more relaxed feel about this collection.

And then we had some really nice knit pieces as well.

I haven't got my card thing to get into the... Have you got yours?

-Not yet.

-You've got it?

SHE CLEARS THROAT

-Hiya.

-Hi, you all right?

You've been here, Lucinda, for 36 years.

-Oh, God! Thanks, Richard(!)

-Is it a precious world, fashion?

Do people take offence easily?

Well, I think it's a funny old world because,

unlike if you were a musician or an actor or...

..a film director, where you have a body of work,

you have that body of work and you are as good as that body of work,

you've got a kind of a longevity.

In fashion, it's very quick,

it's very quick to decide if you're in, if you're out.

It's very...

It can be over very quickly,

and then it's almost as if you count for nothing.

Because it's very instantaneous, it's relentless.

You're making things redundant, in a way, all the time,

and you're making things relevant all the time,

but in a very superficial way.

September 17th.

The office here is a very polite and guarded world.

Over the next few months, I'm hoping to get under the skin of the place,

find out what the rules are.

But I'm going to have to wait until the end of the fashion shows

in a few weeks' time.

Then they'll start preparing the issues for March, April and May.

It must be strange being a man working at Vogue.

There are a handful of them here.

As a kind of inversion of the wider society,

men here seem to be the underlings and the women dominant.

Whenever I pass one of them in the corridor, we share a look,

which is quite hard to explain,

but is best described as...well, a look.

British Vogue has a reputation for being about arts and culture

as well as fashion.

Alex employs an editor-at-large who writes stories

about the latest movies, novels and plays.

'She's on first-name terms with many Hollywood A-listers.'

-We're going now, are we?

-Yeah, yeah.

-Have I got my phone?

-I'm going to get Fiona to smell

my mascara as the test for the thing.

Because this is the one I got in Versailles on that shoot.

Because I left my mascara on the plane, it smells like lilacs.

-Oh, it does.

-It's nice, isn't it?

-It does!

-Yeah.

-Who's that by?

It's like posh mascara.

Usually I always buy my mascara from Boots.

Now I'm hooked on too expensive.

I like the smell. That kind of dusty smell of my grandmother.

-Do you know what I mean?

-Yeah.

Let's go.

ENGINE STARTS

I think we just want to decide whether we have him on a sofa,

kind of, feet up, with a burger, fries...

The aim is basically we're doing a portfolio of

12 or 13 Hollywood...

Kind of what's been going on in London.

Who's been shooting in London over one summer.

What Hollywood movies.

The shot we want to get is the idea of Hugh and it's, kind of,

after the work's over.

We want to have him with his feet up.

You know, and a bit of a beer.

And a burger.

Just kind of like, "Phew! Day's over."

-Sort of kicking back.

-Kicking back.

Ideally without his trousers on but I don't think it's going to happen.

MARY CHUCKLES

So Mary's got four children. Right.

The average shoot involves a phone in her ear

organising some kind of PTA experience.

They're little, her children.

It's good.

It keeps me definitely occupied all the time.

Do find that when you're photographing celebrities,

people are very interested to ask you about your father?

You know what, never, really.

Unless they've met him, they don't.

John Goodman had a wobble.

-He did.

-He mentioned...

Usually what I find is if they've met my dad,

then they'll say hello or have an anecdote but, um,

I do find that maybe my background has...

Because I've been a photographer over 20 years now,

I realised it allows people to trust me quicker, I think.

It's never got me a job, I don't think, ever.

-It got you this.

-It gets you...

That's why I gave it to you!

She never takes me home.

-You haven't actually even met Dad, have you?

-No, I haven't met.

Long...

Long is beautiful. When you're long it's...

It's quite nice, um...

That's nice.

Come and see how handsome you are, Hugh.

You know how handsome you are.

OK, pop you in the bath.

Do you know I went to see a Lee Miller expression

at the National Portrait Gallery once

and there was a picture of a woman leaning out of a window.

She must have lent out of the window to photograph somebody typing

on the window ledge outside the opposite window.

I remember thinking, when you do these portraits for Vogue,

always try and do something that's maybe got a little...

I don't know...

Just something.

When you've done your shoot here and you show it to Alex,

do you feel nervous about it, or what she'll say?

Yeah.

It's really so like school, it's ridiculous.

You do your work, you hand it in and then you wait for your marks.

In Alex's case, it comes in all different forms, so...

A tick is good.

A "nice" is great, if you're handing in written work.

A "fantastic" is...you save it and show a friend.

You know, it depends.

"Terrific" is something worth holding on to.

If she doesn't like something, would she let you know?

Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes.

September the 20th.

Alex has invited me to film with her at the fashion shows

in London, Milan and Paris.

What a glamorous way of arriving.

I know.

Where are the limos?

But so has Lucinda,

so I'm splitting my time between the two of them.

Alex absolutely hates setting things in stone too early.

You know, she likes to be able to, you know,

take a breath after the shows and I understand that

but I'm more Tigger-like,

and she's perhaps a little bit more Eeyore.

So what I tend to do is...

I think it drives Alex mad, actually, because almost...

I don't go to the New York shows,

but almost when I'm scrolling through the shows,

I'm already, like, identifying stories.

Um...

Like I thought New York was very sort of...

You know, there was a Lego element to it.

It was very sort of...

What I said to Alex in e-mails was very primate.

Primal...

Sort of primary colours, red, yellow, blue, white.

Then I always call the story something.

Say I've called this Primate.

I put PM or, you know,

I'd quite like to do a road trip with Mario, so I put Road Trip.

I just put the initials.

Then when I go through my books, everything relates to the stories.

What did Alex say when you suggested your Lego theme?

-Nothing.

-Was she a bit like...?

-Nothing, she didn't respond.

-She didn't respond.

I know, she had more important things to think about at that time.

I was getting ahead of myself.

-Have you got a pass?

-No.

How are you going to get through here?

I'll catch up with you.

OK.

35...

It's in the first row.

Hi.

-Would you say it's an emotional experience for you, the shows?

-Yes.

In what way?

Because it just takes your heart somewhere else.

It takes your imagination elsewhere...

Out of yourself...

To somewhere else.

It's really, really exciting.

I mean, it just still is and even after so long,

when you come out of a good show,

it's just incredibly uplifting and it sets your mind thinking

about possibilities of shoots,

of clothes, of the way things are worn.

It just is exhilarating.

It's like seeing a wonderful film or a dancer,

or a play or an exhibition.

It's sort of meat and drink

to what we do, really.

For a world capable of creating such sublime beauty,

I cannot get over how chaotic the fashion shows are.

In New York, London and Milan,

I've been very nearly late for each show

because they cause huge traffic jams.

It was OK today because I was with Alex in her car.

She just made a quick call

and they held the start of the show until we were there.

Sometimes she'll see up to ten shows in a day.

By the end of the season,

she'll have sat in front of over 150 catwalks.

People seem to run off adrenaline, or coffee.

At lunchtime, Lucinda grabbed a hot dog.

She offered me a chip but she was walking

so fast I had to run to keep up.

So I didn't get one.

It's the customer, some girl,

that's come out with a shopping bag.

-Like a shop.

-Where?

Cos the English, the American,

Japanese, Chinese, from Africa...

-Yeah.

-Is our customer...

Russia.

When they come to buy...

-You understand.

-No.

-Come.

I don't understand.

-The stage...

-OK.

Is an Italian Street.

And look...

Oh, so she's going to come out shopping.

Yeah, and during the show,

we have an application

and the girl shoots selfie

and it goes straight onto the web.

-Very clever.

-Yeah.

-You love your web.

Everyone told me the Chanel show is the best.

The huge set was designed like an airport with luggage trolleys

and departure boards.

For a joke, I asked one of the check-in girls

where I could fly to.

And she said...

"Where would you like to fly to?"

Social media is everywhere.

From what I can gather,

this is the thing that's really changing about fashion.

Everyone's filming the shows on their phones.

Everyone apart from Lucinda.

I know for a fact that Anna Wintour uses Snapchat.

I think Karl Lagerfeld might be on Twitter.

17th of October.

In the 25 years Alex has been in charge,

British Vogue has enjoyed a winning formula

with monthly sales often topping 200,000.

But Alex has returned from Paris inspired to shake things up a bit.

-Hi.

-Hi, Alex.

She wants to change the magazine's covers.

It's quite a risky move

because it's breaking with years of tradition.

It's a kind of reaction to the social media that's going on.

And a feeling that people are so used to having access to

everybody's lives who's on Instagram, you know,

showing themselves in bed,

or what they had the breakfast, or on holiday, or whatever.

You know - question - I don't have the answer.

Um...

Do perhaps people like the idea of a magazine cover reflecting that?

More intimate knowledge, or...

Other question - do they actually want covers to remain distanced

and something that's other than that?

I guess my job, and what's really interesting,

is how do you keep that element of, you know,

the iconic model, fashion model idea of Vogue,

but also make it part of

the very kind of, um, democratic kind of conversation

that's going on at the moment.

I mean, I think, that's probably the biggest task that I've got.

Alex has decided she wants one of the most in-demand models of

the moment, Edie Campbell, to be the face of the March issue.

She wants the modelling legend, Kate Moss, on April,

and the pop star, Rihanna, on the May cover.

Edie has agreed to let me film her shoot

but getting Kate and Rihanna to say "yes"

is, well, a long shot.

I saw somebody's Instagram,

who I won't mention, and I never look at Instagram...

-I did Skype for the first time last night.

-Did you.

Toby said, "You don't have to shout there's a microphone."

I was like shouting as if it was a tin can.

-Getting really close.

-I was!

"Can you see me? Can you see me?"

He's like, "Don't, shush, you're shouting, you're shouting."

And then I'd go like soft, "Can you hear me? Yes, I can hear you."

So, anyway, I saw an Instagram.

I think it's the first Instagram I've ever seen.

I really loved it.

It was just very free. It didn't feel like a fashion...

It wasn't a fashion story.

-Obviously, because it's for March, it has to be kind of fashion.

-Mm-hm.

So this is basically you.

It's a bit of a romantic rebel.

Because I can imagine you going to a party in something like that.

-I thought that was lovely.

-That is beautiful, yeah.

It's beautiful, isn't it?

I think, if she looks really fresh...

-Are they Gucci?

-Yeah.

-Only thing I'm concerned about...

-Yeah, tell me.

..is whether that's going to look...

Dolly daydream?

I just can't tell without seeing it on what it looks like on her.

-I know.

-Which am a bit worried about.

And will that look like an old lady's knickers kind of thing?

Well, let's leave that to one side

and let's just...

But on the other hand,

it could look really wonderful with the sparkle and the...

I mean, in a way, Alex, what I feel about this shoot...

I know, you want to see...

-Well, I want to be a bit free with it.

-Yeah.

Well, these are all possible.

And give you options, do you know what I mean.

-Options, sounds fabulous.

-In an ideal world, I know.

I mean, I rather agree with you.

-I think that's probably the better of the two.

-I do.

-I think that's a bit hippy.

-Yeah.

So every season we do two walls.

One wall will be the more classic girls that we shoot more regularly,

and then every season I like to do a wall of the new faces,

the girls who've just come out of the shows,

who the editors, you know, might have seen or might not have seen,

depending on which shows they were at.

Which is this wall?

This wall is the new faces for the season.

This is actually last season's.

So we're going to be changing it, imminently.

So that wall's the kind of wannabes

and that's the sort of made-its, is that right?

I wouldn't say wannabes, I'm saying new faces and classics.

All right, OK.

You know, lots of people think standing around in front of

a camera all day is really easy, but it takes a lot.

Just to get on to that wall will take a hell of a lot of hard work.

It's not just good genes.

-Kate's still up there.

-Kate will be up there forever.

And the rest can stay.

Spared for another day.

-SHE LAUGHS

-They live to fight another day!

No, we're going to do lovely nice new pictures of them,

and then bring in a load of the newer faces.

MUSIC: Sull'aria from The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart

Your idea is to really...

-Be free.

-..be free.

I think that what I love about this story is that

none of the clothes...

..go with anything,

they're just a random, beautiful selection of stuff.

So, what I'd love, Mario, is the idea...

Like, your picture with this cap is my favourite picture of all time -

so sad that I didn't do it.

Erm, but I love the sort of intimacy and the coolness,

and that she could be anywhere, and you have such a range,

and I think that's what I really want to see

in this shoot, is that...is your...

Is to see your range.

It's like a sort of beautiful, erm, doily.

What do you think? Hair off? Hair on?

-Off, no?

-Edie, let's have a look.

Open your elbows out, maybe. Like that, wow, stay.

Head back, again, straight up.

Lucinda, are you looking at the screen?

No, I'm looking here. I love the light.

Actually, I love it when it goes green. Love it.

-Just before.

-There, or...?

Just before, there. Yeah.

It seemed ironic to me, after months of negotiation

to film with the most famous photographer in the world,

he is shooting in a dingy passageway,

no bigger than a cupboard.

They look good, don't they?

Lucinda and Mario have worked together for years.

Stay there.

He's the godfather to one of her three sons.

'We both lived in squats when we were young.

'Mario had his squat and I had my squat.

'And Mario's squat was like an old hospital,

'and he gave, like, the best parties,

'doctors and nurses parties.'

Very good, Edie Campbell.

APPLAUSE

Well done.

How I met Mario's a really funny story, isn't it?

It's a really funny... It's really amazing.

I was on a bus, er, on Regent Street,

and I see this girl,

looked quite freaky, walking down the street,

so I thought I had to get off the bus to meet this girl.

So I talked to her, and, like, a week later,

I get a call from a hairdresser salon,

if I would document a haircut that they'd done on this girl,

and it was her, the girl,

and that was the beginning of our relationship,

my first photo in Vogue was a photo of Lucinda.

It was a postage stamp shot, I mean, but I thought I was in Vogue,

even though my name was as big as a paragraph.

But it's a wonderful thing because Mario used to come to the office,

cos in those days, we got given luncheon vouchers.

And I had no money, so I had to eat on her luncheon vouchers.

And Mario had no money, so I used to give him my luncheon vouchers.

-And...

-"Hi, how are you? What are you doing?"

Of course, it was one o'clock.

And that would be Mario, and I'd be without my luncheon vouchers,

-and we'd share them...

-We'd share them every day,

those luncheon vouchers fed me and kept me going.

And me.

It's a trend-driven, you know, industry, and it moves very fast.

I think people are really hungry for something new.

You know, they want to latch on to the next fad or the next big thing,

and I think there's a lot of pressure, and you know what?

Sometimes there is nothing new, you know?

I think, probably, most of the time there's nothing new,

so trying to make something feel like it's new all the time,

it's kind of exhausting, you know what I mean?

And, erm, you know, when something is really kind of new and exciting,

I think people get sort of crazy about it.

But, yeah, it's a lot of pressure,

and it's... it's a lot.

-Jaime, yeah?

-Hi.

-Hi.

-Are we looking at the cells?

-Yeah.

-OK.

-So this is some options - here's the Burberry cover.

-Yeah.

And then there's this one.

I quite like the white logo,

-if I'm honest, with the pink.

-Me too.

It's really hard, isn't it, because I think this picture,

I think Edie looks more approachable

and more like somebody I want to know

than she does in that picture.

But, you know, if you're going to just say "news-stand impact,"

that primary colour, white, red and black is going to read better.

I'm trying to think if there's anything we can do

to, kind of, punch this up a bit.

Our conversation before, when we were talking about how we keep...

You know, in the past we've done so many default studio, white studio...

Yeah, and we wanted to make this feel more intimate,

-like this was the person you really want to know.

-Yeah.

So my emotional preference is for this one.

My commercial preference brings that one into play.

It's a bit like whether you should be ruled by your heart or your mind.

Yeah. My heart is never allowed to rule.

Well, I'll see what I can do to make this one punchier...

I love...I do love this one because I think Edie looks exactly what

I wanted her to, she looks like the most attractive...

-Yeah.

-..girl that you really want to be her friend,

and you really want to know her,

and I think she looks so...yeah, attractive.

Alex is quite difficult to read at times.

I can't be certain whether she's happy for me to film something

or whether she's not.

For example, she wasn't keen for me to know

about some market research on the two Edie cover options.

But I found the results lying on someone's desk.

And she wasn't keen on me filming with her mother

but, today, has finally relented.

Both her parents were successful journalists.

'Her mother, Drusilla, used to work for Vogue,

'and she lives in Belgravia.'

-Welcome.

-Hello.

-Hello.

In the '50s, and before I got married,

I went to stay in New York for a bit,

and I was a freelance there, I did a number of stories,

and one of my stories was involved in what it was like to be

dated by American men, and Eve Arnold,

who was a very distinguished American photographer,

was commissioned to take some appropriate photographs of me,

and here I am at the top of the Empire State Building,

looking, I must say, rather splendid.

How did you find dating Americans?

Well, I married a Canadian,

so it couldn't have been totally disastrous, could it?

He was thrilled when Alexandra was born,

which was his first-born, and one of the reasons was

he was convinced that she looked exactly like him.

He was very, very proud of her.

One of the real sadnesses is that he never kind of saw

the real flowering of her in her present role.

He got an indication - he knew, you know, he was up to that,

but I think he'd love to see her now.

And I think he'd be rather surprised!

I think fathers do tend to be surprised

when their daughters do extremely well.

Here's Alexandra...

Here's Alexandra aged three.

I think she looks quite imperious there.

You know, she's so successful.

What are the key qualities that she has that's made her successful,

do you think?

I think she has a very unusual quality of being able to

compartmentalise what she does.

She somehow seems able to take a problem and kind of wrap it up

in her mind and park it until she can deal with it.

Now, I'm completely obsessive. If I have a problem,

it absolutely floods the whole of my consciousness,

I can't think of anything else but it,

but Alexandra does not react in that way.

It is... I think it's a rather unusual quality,

and it has enabled her to keep going on so many different levels.

Is she a competitive person?

I don't think it's possible to do her job, really,

without having a competitive spirit somewhere.

But I'm incredibly proud of her because it just wasn't easy

for her to begin with, and...

..she had to kind of convince herself that she could do it.

Once she really felt that it was within her grasp,

there was no stopping her, really.

Every time I see a copy of Vogue, I think, "Well done, Alexandra."

So you open your sachet,

-and then you pour water in here.

-Ooh!

-So, hold on, that's a mask?

-Do you want some water?

-Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, this is a...

-So what's in there?

-Just a puff.

-Like a sponge.

November 19th - I'm into my third month here.

The other day I was talking to the beauty editor,

who had studied English at Cambridge University.

She said to me, "I hope you don't portray us as people who are

"just obsessed with blusher.

"I mean, we are obsessed with blusher", she said.

"It's just that we're interested in other things too."

-..and you'd buy, like, a pack of ten...

-Yeah.

Now I feel like you're just buying a one-hit, depending on what you want.

Do you remember that one which was, like, 400 quid?

Alex says she likes to recruit clever women

who are prepared to challenge her.

But in all the meetings I've filmed,

I haven't seen any of her team do that.

I hope I do.

What you can't do is you can't have it both ways.

You know, you can't expect people to be your friends, exactly, and...

..you can't expect people, necessarily, to like you.

That can't be your main consideration.

And that can then mean that you're a bit isolated

because you're sort of...

You're not quite joining in in the same way, erm,

but I never feel lonely, ever, here.

I've got enough people around me that...

..erm...

..that I just don't ever feel lonely.

What advice...

I mean, we're very excited about the fact

that she's agreed to take part in the documentary.

What advice, if any,

would you give to me before we set off?

Erm...

Probably don't bug her too much.

Erm...

I think Kate pretty well does what she wants to do, and if...

I don't think she's likely to...

You know, you may... You'll have to see what you get.

You may get Kate being chatty and charming and funny

and warm and embracing,

or...or you won't get her at all,

cos she won't probably have you around.

Some of the covers she's done,

where she's been almost a symbol rather than a person...

I think that's what I've used her for a lot, as a symbol -

a symbol of fashion, Britishness, Vogue

are the three sort of...

Yeah.

It's not always about her as a person.

There aren't many people who have that symbolic power, I think.

OK, cool.

I think it's supposed to be a bit, sort of, like,

house in the Mediterranean gone a bit rock and roll.

It's supposed to look like it's been lived in, there's been a party here,

so we've got a lot of props.

This is...

This is a legendary photo shoot, isn't it, of the Stones?

Exactly, they were in exile, erm,

cos they owed too much tax in England so they had to go to

the South of France and we're trying to invoke the same sort of mood.

It's a very famous shoot of the Stones.

Erm, yeah, and I think it's...

We're doing a really good job.

-Do you want it bare feet or do you care about the shoes?

-No shoes.

-You like it barefoot?

-Yeah.

Don't have much time, guys. Right, we've got two minutes.

Hold, hold, hold.

This'll be the last one.

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, hold, hold, hold.

Gorgeous, stay still.

-OK, thank you.

-Thank you.

-Gorgeous!

Kate, Kate, stay there. If it's no good...

Nick, Nick, I need the camera now. I need the camera now, now, now.

Get the camera in now.

-What do we do now?

-(I don't know.)

It's all right, I can easily ask her one question,

that's fine, I'll just...

-That's huge.

-Look, Mick, it's too big for me.

-Is that a vintage piece?

-It's huge, Mick!

Yes, a vintage piece.

Mick Jagger wore it in, erm, 19-something.

I wasn't born but, erm...

It's too big.

(Shit.)

-Can I just ask you one quick question, actually?

-Yeah.

It's fantastic of you to let us come along to the shoot today,

but obviously this is about British Vogue.

How many covers have you done for them?

-36, I think.

-36 covers.

-Yeah, more than anyone else, apparently.

Apparently - I don't know. That's what they say.

-That's a record that's unlikely to be broken, isn't it?

-I don't know.

Well, what would you say British Vogue has done for your career?

Oh, they're everything. They've been such a huge support to me. Yeah.

To me.

-I hate being interviewed.

-Sorry.

-I'm, like, "Ah!"

-I don't like talking about myself.

-Kate, do you want to take your shoes off?

-Oh, yes, please.

-Let's go outside.

-Yeah.

I'm not sure what to do now, really. I mean, do we just stay

until someone says, "You've outstayed your welcome?"

I always thought the currency of the fashion world was in the new.

But Kate Moss's enduring success

seems to be built more on extolling the virtues of the familiar.

About 15 minutes after this,

a woman came up to me and whispered in my ear,

"It's time for you to leave."

-Love that.

-Yeah, this is great.

That's beautiful.

And that. That's really lovely.

I was working on mocking up a few things, so...

-Obviously, this is before retouch. I mean, that's pretty good.

-Yeah.

-That's pretty good.

-I have to say I do think

that kind of looks amazing.

I'm not keen on that.

I mean, if you were going to try a cloak one,

I mean her leg does not look great in this.

This is kind of, like, way too much Union Jack.

-The other one would be better to try.

-You think?

-Yeah.

I just thought that was more... Had more movement to it, or...

-Well, it's not going to get my vote.

-OK.

You know...

Yeah, actually, I think this is going to work really well

-when we get this scrubbed up.

-Mm-hm.

If there's a risky cover, I guess sometimes,

I think we've been surprised when we've taken risks.

You know, and a lot of times, we'll take a risk

and we don't sell a lot of copies

so there's a lot of pressure to sell magazines right now and I think...

You know, I think Alex feels confident

the other picture was going to appeal more to our audience so...

I don't know, personally, for me,

if I saw that in the newsstands, I would want to buy it more.

I think it's more arresting.

I love the red and the blue and the white.

And I think she looks really beautiful.

Would you ever say to Alex if you felt passionate about something,

"Alex, I really feel passionate about this"?

-Or do you just accept her initial response?

-No, I don't.

I mean, you know, I am trying to push this through

to get to a stage where...

..you know, it is, where it could be considered in the running

and, you know, I'm totally happy to voice my opinion with Alex.

I think she's really, really appreciative

of people voicing their opinions.

You know, ultimately, what she says goes

and I think sometimes if you push her too much, she gets annoyed,

so I think it's better just to, you know, state your opinion

and see what happens.

Is... Yeah, so it's Kate Moss in vintage, basically.

-I love it.

-No, I'm not going to do that one.

-That will definitely not make it.

-I love that one.

-I love it.

You won't sell a single issue with that on the cover.

But it's going into research.

It's just... It's... It doesn't read.

We obviously need a cover line for this.

I don't actually want to make it look all Brit

because we've got a whole British centenary thing happening

so I think we don't want to start looking to kind of jingoistic...

I mean, we've got to spell out what it is she's doing.

Well, I don't know, do we? I don't think we have to say on it

-that she's wearing clothes from an exhibition.

-Not from an exhibition.

No, but it's nice to know that she's in their clothes.

Yeah, but it's not, like, someone else's version of.

Romancing The Stones.

-Kate Moss Tries It On.

-That's good.

-That's nice. I like that.

Yeah.

We'll definitely try that one.

-Yeah.

-Can you just do Rolling Stones Gather Moss?

-Yeah.

-Hold on.

-Sorry.

It's irresistible. What shall we do?

-Rolling Stones Gather Moss.

-It's got to be in somewhere.

-Modelled by Moss.

-It's really good.

What about Rolling Stones Style: Kate Moss Tries It On?

-I think we definitely need "style" in there.

-Yes, I rather agree.

Cos it's got to be, yeah.

Or Like A Rolling Stone.

-That's good.

-Yes.

-What was that?

Kate Moss: Like A Rolling Stone. What was that? Yeah.

-Kate Moss: Like A Rolling Stone, yeah.

-OK, I think that's...

Do you think there'll be a massive difference in these two?

Well, listen, what do I know? I often get it wrong.

But I would be very surprised if that...

You like that because it's edgier... It is edgier, but it's...

No, I just think that it's a very memorable Vogue cover

and in a year of our hundredth...

Most memorable ones tend to do so badly.

I do not want this one to not sell.

It's an interesting discussion, the two options for the cover.

Can I ask everybody what their favourite is?

Yeah.

You start.

-OK, so we'll do hands up then. Hands up for the...

-The head shot.

..the head shot, yeah.

Really? Hands up for the other one.

But it needs to be explained.

I thinks she looks beautiful on that cover.

I think she does not look beautiful there.

I think this is very ugly, these legs wide apart here.

And I don't like that. I don't like anything about that cover.

-But it's interesting you're the only person.

-It is.

Why is nobody else...?

-Why...?

-What does that tell you?

-It's teamwork.

-I don't know.

Shall we stop now? Enough on that.

Let's see. It may well end up being this cover.

Maybe everyone will love that one more.

-We can do both.

-I doubt it.

OK, I'm going to research.

I think it's less indulgent.

I mean, when I joined Vogue,

you'd go in and there would be clouds of Gitanes smoke.

And people would be there with their feet up on the desk and...

You know, it was...

It was a sort of... much more heightened place.

People weren't beavering away just getting on with it, behaving well.

People behaved badly.

You know, there'd be lots of hangovers and parties

and much more rackety, much less kind of, like,

"Get the job done, snip, snippety, snip," you know.

There's no room for people to have hissy fits.

And I think Alex runs a really, really tight ship in that respect.

-So this is the April issue.

-Yes.

-The cover.

-Kate Moss.

-We had good...

Looking over your shoulder for the numbers.

-It's very strongly for cover D.

-Mm.

And they're looking for different ages.

The oldies and the young 'uns prefer it

and it sort of bumps up slightly with the 35 to 54s.

-Interesting.

-Yeah.

I hope you two are going to remain friends after this.

-They know you're filming?

-Yeah, I think so.

-Did you ask?

-I did ask.

-OK.

-Yeah.

-Hi, everyone.

-Hi, there.

-We've got the cameras.

-Cool.

-Hi.

-Well, come on, unveil. We want to see...

-OK.

-..what you've got.

So it's Kate Moss in the vintage Stones clothes.

Well, I'm feeling my spirits rise.

I always put my cards on the table immediately.

-Good, good.

-And I prefer the one on the left.

-With the white.

-Yes.

I think it's...

I think it's the images. I prefer the one on the left.

-Would do you think?

-I agree.

-Alexandra, yourself?

-The one on the left.

-Stephen?

The one on the left. It's a very clear favourite.

Richard, I imagine you're seeing a 15% uplift here.

Well, I'm instantly drawn to the one on the left,

and I also have reservations about flags.

We have a very, very long track record across all magazines

of Union Jack covers doing incredibly badly.

Why this should be, we know not why. But it is a fact.

-Ten examples.

-Amongst the millennials,

amongst all the different groups in that research,

they did not want the flag.

-Jamie.

-Well, I love the one on the right.

My whole office prefers, apart from me,

-prefers the one on the right.

-Everyone's...

-This is so backing up.

Well, just so you all know, everybody came up to my desk

and looked at that image and they were,

-like, "That's amazing. What a great cover."

-This image?

That one, and they saw that one

and they said, "Oh, that's kind of boring.

"It sort of looks like what we've seen already."

Same in the ad department, all those girls opted for the right.

-I mean, I don't know...

-They're wrong.

I also think it's a centenary year

and even though it's not the centenary issue,

we're sort of making the most of, like, 100th anniversary of Vogue

and sort of being a bit more British Vogue.

-It's not us.

-I'm afraid I do... I don't even like that picture.

-I don't like the knickers.

-You can't see her face, really.

I would make you a bet that the one on the left,

which is a more classic image,

would sell 10% more than the one on the right.

Well, we won't know cos we're not going to do the one on the right.

And you wouldn't have an interest in doing, like, a double cover

and doing, like, subscribers get this sort of fun...?

-That you could do.

-But that wouldn't prove anything.

-No, no, no. That's not the point.

-No, but, just out of, like, for fun.

You could if you wanted to but it's Alexandra's call.

Cos a lot of people did like that. Not in this room, but...

We've never done a subscriber cover before...

-But you can.

-..but you can. Um...

No, I don't want to do it, actually.

-I just don't like that picture.

-Then let's go with the far left cover.

-OK, we're over.

-Thank you.

-You guys didn't think hard enough.

-Oh, no.

It's this one.

Boo!

No double cover.

I think...

Hi. Wait, can we film that reaction again?

Can I show you what happened? OK.

Look at the cover.

-Boo!

-THEY LAUGH

Everybody wanted my one.

2016.

The start of a new year,

and there's a buzz in the office.

It's like an A to Z of the most famous people in the world,

-isn't it?

-Yeah, it literally is.

Do you enjoy the glamour of

-being associated with such famous people?

-Yeah, absolutely.

It's part of the job.

This year, British Vogue celebrates its 100th birthday,

-and the June edition will be its centenary issue.

-Thank you.

Over the next 12 months, a host of star-studded events

have been lined up to celebrate this auspicious occasion.

A huge exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, a gala dinner.

Alex is in a really good mood.

So can you tell us about last week's developments?

So, last week's developments... Our March cover sold brilliantly.

Edie Campbell in the Gucci dress.

Well, the first estimate, it's, like, 20-odd% up year on year,

which is, you know, very, very good.

And so the next cover you've got coming up is Kate Moss?

Er, well, it WAS Kate Moss, and it's now Rihanna.

She was pleased about that. I was pleased for her.

I think she's generally really well-behaved.

Um, she doesn't behave badly.

So I'm pleased when, you know, she gets to behave badly.

Or, well, actually, it wasn't badly,

but I'm pleased, you know, when that side of her comes out.

Because she's so busy doing... She does the right thing.

So this has never happened before in your career?

No. I've never... Never anything this dramatic.

I'm actually really shocked, because I've never seen anything, you know,

a disaster this huge.

We were literally printing the Kate Moss cover.

It was scheduled to print within half an hour

when we made the decision so we had to stop that press

and I had to deal with the production department

to get everything swapped over, the entire...

All the pages that we designed for the inside

to be swapped with the pages of the Kate Moss feature.

And then they have to re-folio the entire issue,

that means putting in all new page numbers, and then we had...

My department had to redesign

the contents page, the editor's letter...

..anything that had any remnants of the Kate Moss story,

it had to be swapped over completely

so me and the production department had to work very hard on that

in getting it done within 24 hours, basically.

So you've got wind, have you,

that another magazine's done a front cover...

-On Rihanna?

-..on Rihanna, yeah.

-Yeah.

And they're coming out when?

Well, I don't know their exact publication date

and I don't know any of the details of that.

All I know is that we agreed that we would have Rihanna.

-Can you tell me which magazine, please?

-No.

Which is the publication that's competing with you?

Er, I think it's Vogue in America. Um... I mean, you know,

I think the problem is that we don't want to be

in the newsstands at the same time with the same cover star.

Would it have impacted your sales, do you think?

I don't think it would have been helpful

to have two covers on the newsstand at the same time,

of the same person, within the same market.

-But, presumably, the person...

-We weren't going to talk about...

-You said we weren't going to talk about this any more.

-Oh, OK, sorry.

-No, but you did.

-All right.

Sorry.

-Alex was obviously a bit annoyed about that.

-Yeah.

And I suppose, in a sense, it's quite a sort of combative move

on her behalf to bring her edition earlier.

Yeah, I suppose.

-I'm actually interviewing Anna Wintour tomorrow.

-Are you?

-Do you think I should ask her about it?

-She won't know about it.

-Oh, won't she?

-No, so I really wouldn't...

Please don't say anything.

She doesn't know anything about this.