Beauty: Laura Bermingham
We’re in for a treat tomorrow night as
Fearless: Samantha
Barry airs on RTÉ 1 Television at 9.35pm. The documentary follows Bantry woman Samantha Barry, editor in chief of Glamour magazine at Condé Nast New York, in the run up to the 29th Glamour Women of the Year Awards. One of key events in the publishing house calendar, the event honours powerful women such as Jane Fonda, Megan Rapinoe and Charlize Theron.
‘Fearless’ is a fly-on-the-wall documentary that follows Samantha’s journey to the staple event.
The programme looks inside the fast-paced world of one of Condé Nast’s most popular online titles, Glamour. Produced by MD of Seahorse Media, Debbie O’Donnell, a multi-platform content creation business, the documentary should prove to be a fascinating watch. Debbie has more than 20 years of experience in TV production and promises the documentary is one to watch for fashion and beauty fans. Could it be as fabulous as we imagine it to be? Apparently so, Debbie tells me: ‘It really is super glamorous but they work really hard, early mornings and late nights, especially Samantha. She is up at five am or so, and is at engagements and events late into the evening. Fashion is a huge part of the Glamour DNA so we got to film in the famous
Glamour wardrobe. I was beside myself with excitement, and yes it is as glam as it looks on TV.’
The documentary took months to make.
Debbie explains: ‘Luckily we filmed before Christmas in New York. The documentary is a flyon-the-wall so we were filming everything around Samantha and the awards, every time she turned around we were there! It was a hectic 10 days but very rewarding. It was great to be able to film at the Condé Nast New York offices where Vogue and Vanity Fair magazines are located too.’
Speaking of Vogue, Debbie got a chance to film with its legendary editor, Anna Wintour, which also features in tomorrow’s documentary. She says of the magazine queen, ‘Anna was fabulous. So professional. Her office was beautiful with a large vase of oversized roses on her desk. I interviewed her myself which was a ‘pinch-me’ moment. She was generous with her answers, humorous and gave me loads of her time.’
A once in a lifetime documentary to shoot and for fans to watch, Debbie says, ‘From the Glamour and Vogue closets to sitting down with designers and Anna herself, style fans will love it. I loved looking behind the scenes at how it all works and being inside the Condé Nast building at the World Trade Center. The Women of the Year red carpet was a feast of celebrities and we get to meet and speak to them up close.’
Fearless: Samantha Barry is on RTÉ One at 9.35pm tomorrow.
Anna Wintour was humorous and generous with her time