Editor in chief of American Vogue, Anna Wintour, made a rare TV appearance last night on the Late Show With David Letterman. Booked to promote the up-coming fly-on-the-wall documentary The September Issue in which she stars, the uber-editrix instead found herself defending her ‘Nucleur Wintour' image, which famously provided the inspiration for The Devil Wears Prada. "I read in The New York Times this week that I'm an ice queen," she began, "I'm the Sun King, I'm an alien fleeing from District 9 and I'm a dominatrix. So I reckon that makes me a lukewarm royalty with a whip from outer space. What do you think?"

When the veteran TV chat show host pressed her further about her resemblance to the character of Miranda Priestly (which earned Meryl Streep an Oscar nomination) Wintour coyly replied, "Well, I seem to remember that actually the movie was a work of fiction and we really like fiction at Vogue," before conceding, "I'm very decisive and I try and give very clear direction to the people that I am working with and sometimes, unfortunately, they don't hear the answer they would like to hear. As my publisher says in the movie, I‘m not always warm and cuddly but I appreciate wonderful work, creative talented people. What I liked about the movie is that it really showed all the hard work that goes into the making of the magazine."

Allowing documentary film maker RJ Cutler freedom to follow the creation of American Vogue's September 2007 issue from start to finish was a risky move for such a self-confessed control-freak, and one that could have backfired massively. The weighty issue which boasted the cover lines ‘Extra-Extra LARGE! Our Biggest Issue Ever!' is now seen as a relic of boom time excess. And with advertising revenue down a reported 36 per cent, the pressure is firmly on Anna to keep American Vogue aspirational and relevant in these tough times.

So what better way to boost sales than an 88-minute advert, guaranteed coverage in all the world's media and an exclusive appearance on the planet's most watched chat show? As Letterman himself put it, "You are bigger than what you do for a living. Is that a fair assessment?" Right now the answer is a resounding yes.

The September Issue is released in UK cinemas on 11 September.

Click here to watch the interview

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