The September Issue of Vogue: The Issue That Refuses to Fade
From 916 pages to podcast playbooks. Does Vogue’s September still set the agenda in 2025?
Emma Stone for the September Issue of Vogue. Image Courtesy of Jamie Hawkesworth via Vogue
When Vogue's September issue landed in 2012, it was a literal doorstop. 916 pages with Lady Gaga on the cover, the heft of glossy paper echoing the weight of cultural power. Thirteen years later, the September story looks entirely different. Emma Stone fronts the 2025 package, but the magazine is no longer bound to page count. Instead, it is built around a couture-inspired capsule by Nicolas Ghesquière, photographed by Jamie Hawkesworth, and extended into films, podcasts, and behind-the-scenes reels. The September issue still exists, but its power is no longer measured by how high it stacks on the coffee table.
What Is the September Issue, Anyway?
For decades, this was the issue when magazines brought their full firepower: bigger editorial shoots, bigger star names, and bigger advertising buys from fashion houses and beauty giants. The "big book" unveiled autumn collections, signaled seasonal shifts, and set the cultural tone. Advertisers lined up for prime placement, knowing September's prestige was unmatched.
When the 2009 documentary The September Issue debuted, it introduced the broader public to this publishing ritual. Suddenly, readers outside fashion understood why a glossy magazine could weigh more than a laptop and why September was the "Super Bowl" of print. It wasn't just about clothing but prestige, influence, and setting the tone for the coming months. The September issue wasn't just a magazine. The industry's annual declaration of who and what mattered in fashion became synonymous with cultural authority. Landing its cover meant you were fashionable and stamped as a cultural force.
Anna Wintour and Grace Coddington. Image Courtesy of MUBI
The 916-Page Myth
If there is one number etched in fashion history, it's 916. That was the page count of Vogue's September 2012 issue, featuring Lady Gaga in a Marc Jacobs gown, photographed by Mert & Marcus. It remains the thickest magazine Vogue has ever printed. At the time, page count was the ultimate bragging right. It showed the sheer power of fashion advertising, the reach of print, and the devotion of readers willing to lug home a near-thousand-page tome.
The 916-page issue became both legend and burden. Legend because it symbolized the unshakable dominance of fashion glossies. Burden because no print issue could ever hope to scale that height again in a digital-first era. It is a monument to another time when a magazine's heft was a statement of fashion's weight in culture.
Spotlight: The Icons of September
Two cultural milestones cemented September's mythology. The first was that 2012 record-breaker with Gaga. It wasn't just the weight of paper but the mix of avant-garde cover styling with commercial punch. That issue sold heavily, both at newsstands and in collector culture, and it still circulates on resale sites as a relic of fashion's peak-print era.
The second was The September Issue, the 2009 documentary that followed Anna Wintour, Grace Coddington, and the Vogue team in making the 2007 September issue (featuring Sienna Miller). What made the film iconic was its unvarnished look at fashion publishing's push and pull: the tension between art and commerce, between a creative visionary like Coddington and the editorial pragmatism of Wintour. The film turned an insider's calendar quirk into a mainstream phenomenon. Suddenly, people who had never bought Vogue were curious about this yearly ritual. For fashion lovers, it validated what they already knew: September was not just a month but a mood.
Emma Stone for the September Issue of Vogue. Image Courtesy of Mert & Marcus via Vogue
Emma Stone, Nicolas Ghesquière, and September 2025
Fast-forward to 2025. Vogue's September issue features Emma Stone on the cover, styled in a bespoke Ghesquière mini-collection created exclusively for the shoot. Jamie Hawkesworth's photographs lean on natural light and stripped-back staging, allowing couture flourishes to feel both intimate and monumental.
But the magazine didn't stop at print. A short film captured the making of the collection, a podcast episode dissected the creative choices, and a coordinated Instagram and TikTok rollout gave audiences more entry points than ever. The September issue now "lands" across platforms, in a mailbox, on a phone screen, through headphones.
Why It Still Matters
So, in 2025, does September still matter? Absolutely, but in different ways. Its significance rests on three overlapping pillars:
1. Symbolic Capital: Being the face of September still carries weight. It's the equivalent of being on the Oscars red carpet or headlining Glastonbury. Emma Stone, fronting the 2025 issue in Nicolas Ghesquière's mini-couture capsule, isn't just about a cover shoot. It's about cementing her as Hollywood royalty and a fashion insider's darling.
2. Commercial Power: Luxury houses still spend heavily in September. Even if ad budgets are spread across Instagram and TikTok, the prestige of being seen in Vogue's September issue remains unmatched. In 2019, Vogue led U.S. fashion mags in ad pages; the logic hasn't evaporated, it's just been reframed.
3. Networked Reach: The cover itself is just the beginning. How many people save, share, or stream the content matters now. The Emma Stone rollout came with a making-of video, Instagram reels, podcasts, and cross-posting on Condé Nast's platforms. Relevance today is measured in watch time and reposts as much as in pages.
Power Has Shifted
Image Courtesy of The Fashiongton Post
Where September once meant "how many pages," it now means "how many platforms." Brand partnerships, live activations, podcasts, and films carry as much weight as ads and editorials. Condé Nast is reshaping relevance, positioning September as an ecosystem where content lives and circulates long after the print magazine has been recycled.
In the past, a magazine's power was visible in a single object: the print issue. Now, it's spread across ecosystems. Page count is no longer a bragging right. Instead, it's about whether the cover image trends on TikTok, whether the podcast garners listeners, or whether the behind-the-scenes video sparks conversation.
Brands now look at "ecosystem metrics." Did the September package travel across platforms? Did it land in group chats, on Pinterest mood boards, on digital storefronts linked via QR codes? September is no longer the end goal; it's the entry point into a content web. This is a profound shift in how influence is measured, one Vogue itself has embraced by expanding beyond glossy spreads to events like Vogue World and to live-streamed cover reveals.
Leadership in Transition
No conversation about September is complete without Anna Wintour. She remains the global editorial director at Condé Nast and chief content officer, but has stepped back from the daily grind of U.S. Vogue. This transition matters: September issues have always been a reflection of her eye and her control. The baton is slowly passing to a new generation of editors who must balance legacy with innovation.
Their September issues will be different, more multimedia, collaborative, and tethered to data than ever before. The power of the September issue may endure, but it will not look the same without her exacting touch.
Is the September Issue Losing Punch?
Critics say yes. Print magazine circulation has declined across the board, and younger audiences rarely buy physical copies. Some argue that no matter how many podcasts or videos are attached, the September issue can't match the cultural dominance it once had. The sense of anticipation, waiting for the biggest magazine of the year to drop, doesn't translate in a world where fashion is already being live-streamed from runways and released in real time.
Yet September 2025 proves that the format is not disappearing but mutating. Instead of one magazine to flip through, it's now an ecosystem of content designed to meet readers where they are. The loss is in heft and ritual; the gain is in reach and adaptability. The September issue hasn't lost its punch so much as it has changed how it throws it.
What to Watch Next
So, where does September go from here? Three predictions stand out:
1. Cross-platform KPIs will define success. Watch time, saves, and reposts will matter more than ad pages or newsstand sales.
2. Leadership changes will reshape the tone. As Wintour steps further back, younger editors will experiment with new aesthetics, new covers, and more diverse partnerships.
3. Smarter special issues will join the mix. September will remain iconic, but expect other tentpoles, Vogue World, special sustainability editions, and collabs with streaming platforms to become just as influential.
The question isn't whether September is relevant. It's how we define relevance in a media landscape that values momentum over mass.
The September issue is still here. But in 2025, relevance doesn't mean breaking your tote bag with a thousand-page brick. It means orchestrating culture across print, film, podcasts, and feeds. From Gaga's record-breaking 916 pages to Emma Stone's multiplatform couture rollout, the September issue has always been a mirror of its time. Today, it reflects a fashion world where attention is scattered and digital-first but still eager for a defining moment. September remains that moment, just in a new shape.