DEC

“ANYTIME YOU’RE
PUTTING BARRIERS UP
IN YOUR LIFE, YOU’RE
LIMITING YOURSELF”

HARRY STYLES
MAKES HIS OWN RULES
BABY LOVE
EMILY RATAJKOWSKI ON THE MAGIC
AND MYSTERY OF PREGNANCY
FINDING JOY NOW
FASHION (AND GIFTS!) FOR EVERYONE
D I O R B O U T I Q U E S 8 0 0 .9 2 9. D I O R ( 3 4 67 ) D I O R . C O M
esteelauder.com
© 2020 Estée Lauder Inc.
A New Beginning. Our Next Revolution in Skincare.
New Fast Repair and Youth-Generating Power.

New Advanced Night Repair

Now with Chronolux™ Power Signal Technology.
ONE DROPPER
• Skin looks radiant and plumped with hydration.

THREE WEEKS
• Lines and wrinkles appear reduced.
1
• 88% of women said skin looked more youthful.

ONE BOTTLE 2
1
• Now, skin feels firmer. 89% of women agreed.
• Skin looks healthy, has a new bounce and vitality.

Wake up to more youthful-looking skin.

Patented until 2033

Proven effective for all skintones.

1 Consumer testing on 543 women.

2 1.7 oz. bottle.
 December 2020

38
Editor’s Letter
44
Contributors
50
Up Front
Emily Ratajkowski
on how we
think about
a baby’s gender

58
Flying Off the
Shelves
Two new books
let you soar, even
if your holiday
celebrations are a
bit more grounded

62
Twist and Shout
Should lipsticks still
have a place in our
COVID-era lives?
asks Leslie Camhi

68
A Night to
Remember
How we’re dressing

FAS HIO N E DITOR: GABRIE LL A K AREFA-JO HN SO N. HA IR, S H IORI TAKA HAS H I. MAKEU P, AMMY D RAMME H .
up in a way

PRO DUC ED BY LOL A P RO DUCTIO N. S ET DESIG N BY ALIC E AN DREWS. DE TAILS, S EE I N TH IS ISSUE.

that’s festive and
right for now.
By Lynn Yaeger

72
A Hotel of
One’s Own
Along with the rise
of the “travel pod”
comes the
whole-hotel buyout

76
A State of Repair
After the blast,
Lebanon’s
designers rebuild
C O N T I N U E D >3 6

PRINTED MATTER
MODELS MATY FALL
(FAR LEFT) AND
AKON CHANGKOU,
BOTH WEARING
MARINE SERRE.
PHOTOGRAPHED BY
NADINE IJEWERE.

32 DECEMBER 2020 VOGUE.COM

 December 2020

82 what matters
Prairie Home to Harry Styles.
Companion Boundaries
Batsheva Hay and labels?
bottles her madcap Not so much.
sensibility By Hamish Bowles

84 108
Redemption Family Values
Songs Looks inspired
Stories of racial by “aunties” revel
struggle from both in lavish prints.
sides of the pond By Alexis Okeowo

86 124
Salute! La Vie de Virginie
Tamar Adler Virginie Viard is
says cheers to reimagining
sustainably Chanel for the
sourced spirits 21st century.
By Hamish Bowles
94
From This 130
Moment On The Next Chapter
Jenna Wortham and In the retelling of
Kimberly Drew’s West Side Story
Black Futures arriving late 2021,
reflects a cultural Rachel Zegler
revolution will deliver a Maria
for the modern day
96
Playtime 136
Dressing up, making Power Lines
music, living in the A parade of
moment: This is smart day clothes

PRO DUC ED BY W ILLIAM GALUS HA. S PEC IAL THAN KS TO H OO K PRO PS. DE TAILS, S E E I N THIS ISSU E.
that feel distinctly
modern
OH, SO
CHARMING 142
ACTOR RACHEL Index
ZEGLER (IN A

FAS HIO N E DITOR: TO NNE G O ODMAN. H AIR , MUSTAFA YAN AZ. MAKEUP, DIC K PAGE .
VERA WANG Gifts that give
DRESS, JENNIFER back, for everyone
BEHR HEADBAND, on your list
AND TIFFANY &
CO. CHOKER),
PHOTOGRAPHED 150
BY STEFAN RUIZ. Last Look

Cover Look
Blow-Up
Musician Harry
Styles wears a Gucci
jacket and dress.
Hair, Malcolm
Edwards; makeup,
Ammy Drammeh.
Details, see In
This Issue.
Photographer:
Tyler Mitchell.
Fashion Editor:
Camilla Nickerson.

36 DECEMBER 2020 VOGUE.COM

Letter from the Editor
Center Stage
IT’S NOT AS IF WE’VE NEVER HAD MEN on the cover
of Vogue. They’ve simply played accompanying roles.
Call them Vogue’s plus-ones: Richard Gere (with Cindy
Crawford) in 1992, George Clooney (with Gisele)
in 2000, Kanye (with Kim) in 2014, Justin (with Hailey) in
2019, to name a few. So Tyler Mitchell photographing
the delightful Harry Styles going stag on our cover this
month—in a dress, no less—is history in the making.
But dwelling on history risks sounding old-fashioned—
and do we care so much about gender rules anymore?
Certainly the 26-year-old is unconcerned with barriers
and boundaries of all kinds. In his life, in his wardrobe,
and in his soaring career, he believes instead in the
fundamentals of play. As a musician, Harry has moved
effortlessly from the boy-pop of One Direction to the
’70s sun-drenched rock and roll of his solo career (and
with “Watermelon Sugar” he managed to score a
feel-good chart-topper in the midst of a feel-bad summer).
As a muse and friend to Gucci’s Alessandro Michele, he
personifies a loose, insouciant, and extremely modern
way of approaching fashion. As he tells Hamish Bowles,
“When you take away ‘There’s clothes for men and
there’s clothes for women,’ once you remove any barriers,
obviously you open up the arena in which you can play.”
Change is in the air this year, to say the least, and the
house of Chanel has seen change on a monumental
scale, with the loss of the irreplaceable Karl Lagerfeld
38 DECEMBER 2020 VOGUE.COM
A FEW GOOD MEN
CLOCKWISE FROM
LEFT: HARRY
STYLES, WEARING
HARRIS REED,
PHOTOGRAPHED
BY TYLER
MITCHELL; VOGUE’S
HAMISH BOWLES;
JUSTIN AND HAILEY
BIEBER IN 2019,
PHOTOGRAPHED BY
ANNIE LEIBOVITZ;
VIRGINIE VIARD
AND HER SON,
ROBINSON FYOT,
PHOTOGRAPHED BY
ANTON CORBIJN.
and the ascension of his longtime colleague and
collaborator Virginie Viard. As revealed in our profile
this month—also written by Hamish (who, by the way,
has become a model of multitasking, contributing to our
video series Good Morning Vogue, hosting our new
podcast, interviewing guests at the virtual event Forces of
STY LES : FASH ION E DITO R, CAMIL LA NI CKE RSO N. HAIR, MA LCOLM E DWAR DS.
Fashion)—Virginie is quietly but unmistakably forging
her own path at Chanel. What I’ve most admired about
her is how incredibly unpretentious she is and how MAKEUP, AMMY DRAMME H. BOWLES : COU RTESY OF H AMIS H BOWLES.
focused she can be on the key values in fashion: creativity,
artistry, and craft, making clothes that matter and
last. The way she has presented her collections reflects
her personality and sensibility: Low-key, subtly elegant,
romantic, and cool, Virginie’s shows haven’t tried
to imitate the wild inventiveness of Karl’s (no Chanel
supermarkets or rockets inside the Grand Palais),
but they feel utterly suited for our moment. I can’t wait
to see what she does next.
 VERY ITALIAN,
ERY FRANCIACORTA
 franciacorta.net @franciacorta
An extraordinary region, stretching
into the Alpine foothills, rich in art
and natural treasures. A desire to grow
grapes in harmony with its environment,
in line with natural and sustainability
principles. An ancient culture yielding
premium wines accompanies toasts
and tastings, providing pleasure, lightness
and joy. An inimitable lifestyle, recogni-
zed across the world; a unique wine
that adds sparkle to every moment.

Welcome to Franciacorta.

CAMPAIGN FINANCED ACCORDING TO EC REGULATION N° 1308/13

Contributors
Stefan Ruiz
“I went to Washington, D.C., to
photograph Dr. Anthony Fauci for Time
magazine and I thought, Well, this is going
to be the test for COVID-era photo shoots!”
says Stefan Ruiz, who is, by now, fully versed
in the art of socially distanced portraiture.
More recently, he shot “The Next Chapter”
(page 130) with the actress Rachel Zegler,
the star on the rise in the postponed West
Side Story remake from Steven Spielberg.
Parts of the session were conducted en plein
air—the rooftop photos are a reference
to the musical’s famous “America” scene.
“If you’d seen the film or if you knew
the story, I wanted to have things that you
could identify,” says the photographer,
who also draws portraits at his Brooklyn
studio, “but I didn’t want a copy of it. I just
wanted it to feel kind of retro.”
44 DECEMBER 2020 VOGUE.COM
Nadine Ijewere & Gabriella Karefa-Johnson
“Aunties are the women who have come before us: elders,
ancestors—even contemporaries possessing an old soul. All Black
women are former or future aunties,” explains Gabriella Karefa-
Johnson (seated, right, and embracing model Adut Akech), the
fashion editor for “Family Values” (page 108). “I wanted to honor
just how rich their aesthetic history is,” she continues. To add further
context to the project, researcher Daniel Obaweya (owner of the
@nigeriangothic Instagram account) provided archival photographs
of aunties throughout the decades. The portfolio features text
from Alexis Okeowo and our own imagery, shot by Nadine Ijewere
(standing, right), which celebrates that auntie style—“hair or
head wrap perfected, always a lip, and nails always on point,” explains
Ijewere, who grew up in Southeast London with a community of
aunties. Of the whole collaborative endeavor, Ijewere says, “Being
able to really celebrate my heritage meant so much to me.”
Tamar Adler
“What better a thing to research in late 2020
than ethically made spirits? When [my son’s]
school started again, my excuse for the
daily martini-and-a-half kind of faded,” ADLE R: L EXIE MO RE LAN D; ALL OTH ERS : COU RTESY O F SUBJ ECT.
Tamar Adler jokes, “but then it became work,
so that’s awesome.” With help from a savvy
squad of distillers and bartenders, the
cookbook author and Vogue Contributing
Editor dove into sustainable alcohol, sipping
gin distilled from green peas and vodka that
utilizes wastewater from coffee production.
She recounts it all in “Salute!” (page 86).
“It’s neat that with this time to meditate on
what we think matters,” she says, speaking
from her home in Hudson, New York,
“there’s an opportunity for small companies
that are actively engaging in regenerative
agriculture and making delicious spirits out
of it to make some headway.”
LIFT TO EXPERIENCE

THE NEW FRAGRANCE

Macy’s, Sephora, Nordstrom,
Dillard’s and Ulta
 In the spring of 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic was taking hold, Vogue asked designers,
photographers, artists, editors, and models (and a few celebrities) to reveal what their lives looked like
under lockdown. The result was an extraordinary series of self-created images, interviews, and
essays, now brought together in one volume. Postcards From Home marks a moment
of profound change and serves as a stunning document of creativity thriving through crisis.

BY THE EDITORS OF VOGUE FOREWORD BY ANNA WINTOUR

rizzoliusa.com

Available Wherever Books Are Sold

Up Front

What to Expect
It makes sense, writes Emily Ratajkowski, that we want to know if a baby is
a boy or girl—but what if there were another way to think about it?

W
hen my husband and I possibilities that are much more complex than whatever
PRO DUC ED BY TRISTAN RO DRI GUE Z.

tell friends that I’m pregnant,
their first question after
“Congratulations” is almost
always “Do you know what
you want?” We like to respond
that we won’t know the gender until our child is 18 and
that they’ll let us know then. Everyone laughs at this.
There is a truth to our line, though, one that hints at
genitalia our child might be born with: the truth that we
ultimately have no idea who—rather than what—is > 5 2
MAGICAL THINKING
“I remembered playing as a child, holding baby dolls and picturing
myself with a future best friend: a smaller version of myself.”
Photographed by Cass Bird. Fashion Editor: Jorden Bickham. Hair,
Rubi Jones; makeup, Romy Soleimani. Details, see In This Issue.

50 DECEMBER 2020 VOGUE.COM

 OF BEA
T

UT
BE

Y
AW
2020

R
R

E
A
D N
WIN
Up Front Baby Love
growing inside my belly. Who will this person be? What
kind of person will we become parents to? How will they
change our lives and who we are? This is
a wondrous and terrifying concept, one that renders us
both helpless and humbled.
I like the idea of forcing as few gender stereotypes on my
child as possible. But no matter how progressive I may
hope to be, I understand the desire to know the gender of
our fetus; it feels like the first real opportunity to glimpse
who they might be. As my body changes in bizarre and
unfamiliar ways, it’s comforting to obtain any information
that might make what’s coming feel more real.
It occurs to me that as a younger person I’d almost
automatically imagined myself having a daughter.
I remember playing as a child, holding baby dolls and
picturing myself with a future best friend: something
like the American Girl doll I owned, who had brown eyes
and brown hair to mirror my own features, a smaller
version of myself.
When I bring this thought to my therapist, she explains
that this is relatively common. Psychology du jour,
she says, touts the concept that people may have children
to “redo” their own childhood. They want to fix
themselves and their traumas by trying again with a
fresh start and a mini version of themselves.
“To be perfectly honest,” I tell my husband over dinner,
“I’m not sure that I even know that I want a girl. I guess
I’d just never really thought about having a boy before.”
“I do worry a girl will have a lot to live up to as your
daughter,” he replies. “That’s a lot of pressure.” I wince
and think of my own mother and
her tales of being homecoming
queen, the way I knew the word
jealous at the age of three (I Pregnancy is innately
pronounced it “jealoust,” telling my lonely; it’s something
mother that her female colleagues
were “just jealoust” of her), and a woman does by
the early understanding I had of herself, inside her body,
how beauty could equate to power.
I prayed for beauty, pinching my no matter what her
nose tightly on either side before circumstances may be
falling asleep, willing it to stay
small. I think of the other physically
beautiful mothers I’ve known—the
stage moms with their own mini-mes. The way their
daughters, even as young girls, seem to know their own
beauty, as if they have already lived entire lives in a
grown woman’s body. I think about how women compare
one another constantly, doing acrobatic calculations
in their heads: In this way I’m similar to her, in this way
I’m not; in this way I’m better, in this way I’m not.
“I’ll never let that be an issue,” I tell my husband, but
I can’t help worrying. I still fight subconscious and
internalized misogyny on a regular basis, catching myself
as I measure the width of my hips against another woman’s.
Who is to say I’d be able to protect my daughter from it?
My husband likes to say that “we’re pregnant.” I tell him
that while the sentiment is sweet, it’s not entirely true.
52 DECEMBER 2020 VOGUE.COM
I resent that his entire family’s DNA is inside of me but
that my DNA is not inside him. “It just seems unfair,”
I say, and we both laugh. It’s kind of a joke, but just like
the remark we make about our child’s gender, it has
truth behind it. Pregnancy is innately lonely; it’s something
a woman does by herself, inside her body, no matter
what her circumstances may be. Despite having a loving
partner and many female friends ready to share the
gritty details of their pregnancies, I am ultimately alone
with my body in this experience. There is no one to feel it
with me—the sharp muscular aches in my lower abdomen
that come out of nowhere while I’m watching a movie
or the painful heaviness of my breasts that now greets me
first thing every morning. My husband has no physical
symptoms in “our” pregnancy, another reminder of how
different a woman and man’s experience of life can be.
I
nstagram knows I’m pregnant before most of
our close friends or even my parents do. My
timeline is filled with targeted ads for maternity
clothes, and my explore page is all pictures
of babies, bellies, stretch marks, signs that say
12 weeks, and tips for expecting mothers.
One night I embrace the algorithm and lie in bed, scrolling
through suggested videos: a series of gender-reveal
parties. In them, anxious couples stand a few feet apart,
looking awkwardly at a large cake or a suspended balloon.
I’m taken aback by the pressure these videos capture.
Even though I can’t see them, I can feel the presence of
their audience—the family members and friends behind
their iPhones—as the couple smiles
nervously, bracing themselves
before they strike. Watching them
feels impolite, like I’m peering
in on something intensely private.
After the couple punctures
the balloon and pink or blue confetti
cascades down onto them, or the
slice of the knife reveals the interior
of a cake, dyed a pastel shade,
I start to notice a pattern. Often
these couples do not embrace
immediately. If blue confetti rains
down, the father almost always
seems instantly relieved; he walks a few steps away, his eyes
wide and his hands behind his head. Maybe he jumps in
the air. The pregnant woman, dressed up for the occasion
in uncomfortable-seeming heels, looks to her gleeful
partner and watches the excitement wash over him. She
smiles politely before turning away from him and
glancing at the crowd. Are girls universally terrifying
to fathers? And mini-mes so universally appealing?
I think about my husband and what a son would bring
up for him. Is he secretly yearning for a boy? When
I ask him, he refuses to give me an answer, swearing that
he doesn’t have a preference. But one Sunday as he’s
watching football he makes a remark about how it’d be
fun to have a little boy to watch with. >54
Up Front Baby Love
“Girls watch football too!” I shoot back. He shrugs
his shoulders and laughs.
“True,” he says. I look up to the screen and watch
a quarterback run as if his life depends on it before
he is surrounded and pummeled by the opposition’s
giant players. I raise an eyebrow.
“I sure as hell don’t want my son playing football,”
I tell him.
“It is brutal,” he says, and I remember the list of injuries
he suffered playing in high school. I think of his mother
and what it must’ve been like for her to watch her young
son’s body get brutalized.
We are headed back to Manhattan from the beach
one night as a car of teenage boys zooms past us on the
Kosciuszko Bridge. “Boys think they’re invincible,” my
husband says, sighing. “I thought I was invincible.” He isn’t
the type to analyze his childhood, often telling me he
doesn’t remember a lot of it, but I do know he remembers
being difficult as both a young boy and a teenager—
frustrating his mother to the point of tears, defying curfews,
and being generally prone to rule-breaking. I realize that
it must be terrifying for him to be faced with the prospect
of a younger version of himself, his own mini-me.
I’m scared of having a son too, although not in the
same way. I’ve known far too many white men who move
through the world unaware of their privilege, and I’ve
been traumatized by many of my experiences with them.
And boys too; it’s shocking to realize how early young
boys gain a sense of entitlement—to girls’ bodies and to
the world in general. I’m not scared of
raising a “bad guy,” as many of the
men I’ve known who abuse their power
do so unintentionally. But I’m terrified I’m scared of having
of inadvertently cultivating the a son too, although
carelessness and the lack of awareness
that are so convenient for men. It not in the same way.
feels much more daunting to create an
understanding of privilege in a child
I’ve known far too
than to teach simple black-and-white many white men
morality. How do I raise a child
who learns to like themself while also
who move through
teaching them about their position the world unaware
of power in the world?
My friend who is the mother to
of their privilege
a three-year-old boy tells me that she
didn’t think she cared about gender
until her doctor broke the news that she was having a son.
She burst into tears in her office. “And then I continued
to cry for a whole month,” she says matter-of-factly. After
a difficult birth experience, she developed postpartum
depression and decided that she resented her husband
more than she’d ever imagined possible. She told me
she particularly hated—and she made an actual, physical
list that she kept in her journal, editing it daily—how
peacefully he slept. “There is nothing worse than the
undisturbed sleep of a white man in a patriarchal world.”
She shakes her head. “It was hard to come to terms
with the fact that I was bringing yet another white man
54 DECEMBER 2020 VOGUE.COM
into the world. But now I adore him and can’t imagine
it any other way.” She also eventually learned to love
her husband again. The sound of his perfect sleep next
to her at night is now tolerable.
Despite my apprehensions about having a boy, when
I call my best friend to tell her I’m pregnant, we both
immediately agree on our shared instinct: I’m carrying
a boy. “I’m picturing a dark-haired son,” my friend tells
me over FaceTime, “I don’t know why; I can just see it.”
I nod and study the red fabric of my couch, trying to
imagine a baby boy’s tiny body lying next to my thigh.
E
veryone has opinions on what to expect
from a boy or a girl. “Boys develop slower.
They’re more work than girls as toddlers,
but they love their moms so much!” one
friend tells me, winking. “Girls mature
faster but are so sensitive!” another adds.
According to friends and strangers alike, even my
pregnancy itself seems to be affected by the gender of
my child: where I’ll carry (Boys are low! Girls sit higher
and make you sick in the first trimester!), what I’ll want
to eat (craving sweets means a girl!), and even what will
turn me on (carrying a boy means more of a sex drive!).
A makeup artist applies mascara to my eyes as he tells
me that carrying a girl takes the mother’s beauty away.
I don’t necessarily fault anyone for these generalizations—
a lot of our life experiences are gendered, and it would be
dishonest to try to deny the reality of many of them. But
I don’t like that we force gender-based
preconceptions onto people, let
alone babies. I want to be a parent who
allows my child to show themself
to me. And yet I realize that while
I may hope my child can determine
their own place in the world, they
will, no matter what, be faced with
the undeniable constraints and
constructions of gender before they
can speak or, hell, even be born.
I used to call myself superstitious,
but now I understand it another
way. The idea that I could jinx something
or the belief that I could project my
thoughts in a particular way to bring
about a certain result is actually
called magical thinking, a coping mechanism one develops
to make oneself feel more in control.
I used to use magical thinking whenever I wanted
something to go a certain way. Now, though, I don’t
try to envision a pink or blue blanket in my arms. I’m too
humbled to have any false notions of control. I’m
completely and undeniably helpless when it comes to almost
everything surrounding my pregnancy: how my body
will change, who my child will be. But I’m surprisingly
unbothered. Instead of feeling afraid, I feel a new sense
of peace. I’m already learning from this person inside my
body. I’m full of wonder. @
Bioré Brightening products break up dirt, oil and pollution for fresh,
bright, breathable skin. With dull pores revived, your brightest self
can shine through.

*with Bioré Brightening Line use © 2020 KAO USA Inc.

©2020 DISCOVERY, INC.
 OUR WORLD IS
BIGGER THAN YOU THINK
With something for every member of
the family, the networks of Discovery
cover it all — from lifestyle to food,
adventure, true crime and more.
 Flying Off the Shelves
Two enchanting new books let you soar, even if your holiday
celebrations are a bit more grounded.
L
ooking for a bit of
escapism from 2020?
You’ll find round-
trip tickets to Nev-
erland between the covers of
two new releases—Kenneth:
Shear Elegance (Schiffer Pub-
lishing), by Giuseppe Longo,
and Vogue: Fantasy & Fashion
(Abrams), both filled with lav-
ish imagery and both an easy
way to give a transporting gift
this holiday season.
Fantasy has always had a
home at Vogue—and perhaps
surprisingly, it’s often been teth-
ered to current events, a jolt of
uplift when darkness falls on
the world. In 1944, Salvador Dalí cre-
ated a dreamlike Surrealist tableau for
the cover of the magazine in the midst
of World War II; in the late part of
the 20th century, slick sci-fi scenari-
os from Steven Klein transformed a
new technological age into something
even more sensational. As John Gal-
liano notes in his foreword, “The idea
of storytelling is somehow very ripe
for today,” and the sentiment seems
even more pertinent at the close of
58 DECEMBER 2020 VOGUE.COM
PERCHANCE TO DREAM
Drew Barrymore (top), photographed
by Annie Leibovitz in 2005;
a Kenneth concoction (above)
photographed by Irving Penn in 1963.
2020. Here you’ll find a sweeping
survey of Vogue’s most fantastical
shoots and, of course, the much-loved
portfolios styled by Grace Codding-
ton and photographed by Annie
Leibovitz, which will send any reader
tumbling down the rabbit hole.
Picking up a copy of Kenneth
will beam you back to New
York in the 1960s. More specif-
ically to a Renaissance Revival
town house off Madison Ave-
nue, decorated with riotous inte-
riors courtesy of Billy Baldwin.
This was the fiefdom of Ken-
neth Battalle—known as Mr.
Kenneth, though he was not
one for putting on airs—and
the headquarters of what Vogue
called “The Kenneth Club.”
(Members included Marilyn
Monroe and the uptown social
set.) Though he became one of
the first celebrity hairstylists,
behind all of the glamour is a
rags-to-riches story. From boyhood,
Battalle toiled to support his mother
and sisters; throughout his life he was
known for his incredible work ethic
and an ingenuity that perhaps came
from his hand-to-mouth upbring-
ing. Not only is Battalle the author
of Jacqueline Kennedy’s signature
bouffant but he’s credited for devising
the supersized Lucite rollers need-
ed to build such castles in the hair.
—laird borrelli-persson
CHANEL .COM

NORDSTROM
L I M I T E D E D I T I O N P R O M OT I O N

Where Art Meets

Fashion
SU BSC RI B E TO A Y EA R O F VO GU E F O R $ 2 0 AN D
R EC EI VE A LI MI TE D E D IT I ON , C O L LE CT I BLE TOT E .

VOGUE.COM / HOLIDAY2020

L I M I T ED Q UA N T I T I ES AVA I L A B L E
 Twist & Shout
With mask-wearing now de rigueur, lipstick has become
another casualty of the COVID era. But should mood-boosting
bullets still have a place in our lives? asks Leslie Camhi.

I
am in mourning for my life, Chekhov’s Masha tells
her unlucky suitor in The Seagull when he asks why
she always wears black. For me, it’s a bare mouth that
is most telling of my mental state. Among the more
dire losses in our era of public masking and working from
home is one that, though minor, I’m sure I’m not alone in
feeling: the intimate tie between a woman and her lipstick.
I’m not a big makeup wearer, but color and my lips have
been going steady for decades. To be honest, it was never an
exclusively monogamous relationship. I cheated on my go-to
reds with afternoon nudes and even an occasional, unsat-
isfying fling with fuchsia. Then COVID-19 struck. > 6 4
SMUDGE STICK
With nowhere to go and mouth-obscuring masks a part of
everything we do, longtime lipstick-wearers are reconsidering
their relationship with the storied makeup staple. A well-loved
tube of lip color (above), photographed by Stefan Ruiz.

62 DECEMBER 2020 VOGUE.COM

 TODAY’S FORECAST:
100% CHANCE OF
HYDRATED SKIN.
Clinically proven to lock in hydration
with Hyaluronic Acid.
Skin so supple and hydrated,
it bounces back.

©J&JCI 2019
 At home in New York City, we hunkered down and stayed For Parisian influencer Jeanne Damas, founder of
put. The gleaming tubes sat untouched on my bathroom the vintage-inspired fashion-and-cosmetics label Rouje,
shelves for months, as makeup took a back seat to the putting on lipstick is “above all something I do for myself,
project of keeping my family’s little ship afloat. like a second skin, a form of protection,” she tells me from
But when summer turned to fall and the city began the City of Light, on the eve of a second lockdown. True
awakening from its long slumber—when my local French to French-girl lore, she favors a red lip and barely sun-
bistro started putting tables on the sidewalk, with each kissed skin and has continued applying vibrant lip color,
group of diners enclosed in their very own transparent like her own brand’s Le Stylo Rouje in Marie, daily for
vinyl bubble—a deep need to mark the passage of time, the past few months, relying on KN95 masks with their
to create a sense of occasion in my now largely occa- recognizable center crease—“the ones that make you look
sion-less world, stirred within me. like a duck,” she elaborates—to avoid smearing.
“Lipstick is a transparent emotional layer that defines For some women, simply brandishing a bullet in public
your mood, feeling, confidence, and creates character,” has long been a gesture of empowerment. “Nothing is
Pat McGrath, the latter-day guru of lip color, confirms more beautiful than, just before landing in an airplane,
via email, writing from the spring collections in Europe, or after lunch, when a woman opens her purse, takes out
where fashion marched on and designers made it clear lipstick and a little mirror, and touches up her lip,” Peter
that they hadn’t given up on lipstick. In Milan, makeup Philips, creative and image director of Christian Dior
artist Lucia Pieroni sent dewy water nymphs down the Makeup, explains, recalling halcyon days gone by. “That,
Versace runway, sprayed with actual H2O, their lips and the click of the product as she closes and puts it back
sheathed in dazzling, otherworldly shades of orange in her purse—it’s like a combatant putting on war paint,
and coral; there was a strong-mouth moment at Max or a bird of paradise spreading out his feathers. That
Mara, too (think dark-lipped, one-minute process, that ritual,
urban warriors), and at Patou in gives you a terrific boost.”
Paris, where Guillaume Henry’s Life had been unfolding in Well, I am unlikely to be getting
pretaped ode to joy included volu- on an airplane anytime soon, and
minous floral smocks, Provençal black-and-white for quite for the moment my lunches are
collars, and sporadic slashes of some time. And my lipstick, mostly solitary affairs at my desk.
deep crimson lip color. But it was time, I decided, for a
though invisible to others,

I
n New York, where we’re had changed something in
hoping Broadway will reopen
by next fall, it looks like we’ll my body language or
be wearing masks in public my approach to the world
for a while. “Masks,” a perpetually
single male friend sighs over social-
ly distanced drinks on his terrace one evening, “favor
men with beautiful eyes and may conceal a weak chin.”
They also render the lips invisible and lipstick prone to
smearing. So what is the place of lip color in our lives
right now, and what’s an avid lipstick devotee to do?
Let’s begin with what it did for us in the Before time.
“What lipstick meant to me was, like, everything,” says
Maryam Nassir Zadeh, the New York–based designer
and owner of the überchic Lower East Side boutique
that bears her name. “It was my security, my identity.” It
shares with heels the power to jolt her awake, Zadeh says.
“I’m five foot three, and I feel naked when I’m not wear-
ing a little bit of a heel,” she explains. “So when I have a
shoe on, I’m in my body; I feel it in my posture. And it’s
the same with lipstick. When I have it on, I’m myself.”
In fact, for 15 or more years, Zadeh has been faithful
to a single lip color—MAC Cosmetics lipstick in Snob,
which she describes as “not a Kardashian nude but a
matte pink with some blue in it. Even if I was at home
and no one was there, it made me feel complete.” She’s
wearing it even as we speak, she reveals. But in public,
underneath a mask, Zadeh says, she isn’t feeling quite
the same connection to her signature color; she’s recently
tried forgoing lipstick and experimenting with eyeliner.
“I’m in an in-between phase,” she admits a bit ruefully,
“where I am open to new things.”
much-needed boost. For at-home
wear, a touch of Rouge Hermès
in satiny Rose Ombré provided
a luxuriously sensual application
experience, with a pleasantly
weighty, refillable case whose
three bands of color reminded me
of a dress the artist Ellsworth Kelly once designed for
a friend. Yet for what counts as an outing these days—a
late-afternoon trip to the grocery store—I wanted a color
with a little more “oomph.” Experts had counseled lip
stain or pencil to avoid smudging under my mask, but
for me, nothing but the full bullet would do. I lingered
over Rouge Dior’s classic 999 (soon-to-be reformulated
with red peony, pomegranate flower, and shea butter) but
ultimately chose a slightly darker, bluer red: Givenchy’s
Le Rouge Deep Velvet Limited Edition Rouge Grainé.
After putting it on, I seemed to recognize, as if after a
long absence, the woman looking back at me in the mir-
ror. My suddenly scarlet lips led me back to my closet,
where I put on a red silk blouse.
I donned my KN95 mask and went out. Life, I realized,
had been unfolding in black-and-white for quite some
time. And my lipstick, though invisible to others, had
changed something in my body language or my approach
to the world. Perhaps it was the secret pleasure I took in
wearing it, like beautiful lingerie that no one else would
ever see. I was a mere half-block from my home when a
man passing me on the street said, in a soft voice, “Hello,
sexy”—and I wasn’t offended. In fact, the social scientist
in me was highly amused. It was a little, anarchic spark
of libido, illuminating the general gloom. Underneath
my mask, I smiled. @

64 DECEMBER 2020 VOGUE.COM

 A Night to Remember
It’s a holiday season like no other in living memory. How do we dress up
in a way that’s festive and right for now? By Lynn Yaeger.
N
o matter what they throw at us—pandemics,
fraught elections, economic travails—some
things will remain the same: You’ll probably be
enjoying your first hot chocolate of the season
soon (even if you are sipping it at an outdoor table under a
heat lamp), and come the holidays, you will want to dress
up. It may seem silly and frivolous and maybe even a little
brain-dead to put on party clothes at the end of a year like
this, amid a tragedy of almost biblical proportions. But there
is nothing to be ashamed of. Regardless of circumstances,
the human penchant for adornment, the impulse to deco-
rate ourselves, is as old as civilization itself. The quest for
beauty, the need to rage against the machine, is perhaps
never stronger than when we are waging uphill battles.
Dressing up in the face of catastrophe has a venerable
history. During World War II, women in occupied Par-
is whipped up hats from straw and even vegetables; in
London during the Blitz, those craving a new frock used
furniture rations to get hold of upholstery fabrics—or
sewed outfits from repurposed silk Royal Air Force maps.
In the face of bombs and starvation, the desire to embrace
fashion, even as a form of resistance, was not extinguished.
We are no different. In this year like no other, your laugh-
ter in the dark might mean coming up with a whole new
look, but more likely you will add to what you already have
68 DECEMBER 2020 VOGUE.COM
and love. Christelle Kocher, whose line Koché offers wildly
elevated streetwear-influenced clothes with couture details,
believes you will opt for “a balanced mix between elegance
and creativity, with both vintage and new pieces.” Whatever
this balanced mix looks like, it will be comfortable—in many
cases, chic iterations of the cozy knitwear you have come to
S KE TC H: AW20 ROB BIE DRESS, MO LLY G ODDARD; PH OTO: COU RT ESY OF RODARTE .
rely on. After what we have been through in the past several
months, the last thing we need is to spend 18 hours trussed
up in a torture chamber that pulls and pinches.
You might also decide to chuck your stilettos in favor
of satin mules or glittery flats—in the case of the young
British designer Molly Goddard, a pair of massive pink
slippers for at-home (but also, she swears, for slippery Lon-
don streets). Then again, if you are one of those rare birds
who can slip their feet into the spikiest stilettos and insist,
“They’re comfortable!”—well, this is still a democracy:
Feel free to tower over the six or so friends at your socially
distanced holiday gathering.
“You don’t want to feel itchy, you don’t want a tight
waistband; you definitely want a more relaxed look,”
Rodarte’s Laura Mulleavy says, explaining that her >7 2
PARTY FAVORS
from left: For Molly Goddard and Rodarte, a casually
glamorous dress is a cause for celebration.
New Zealand Table Wine, ©2020 Whitehaven Wine Company USA, Healdsburg, CA. All rights reserved.

This year has been one of unprec­
edented change as a new normal—
and the inevitable adaptations
LEGO® is Showing Adults
that go along with it—took hold.
Organizations had to evolve the Power of Good
quickly and rethink long­standing,
traditional business models—piv­ Old-fashioned Play
oting to upgrade e­commerce
options, delivery methods, and
remote work strategies. Consumers were
tasked with changing the way they traveled,
shopped, and even communicated.
So it is no surprise that stress—and how
to handle it—has become a major topic of
discussion. The CDC offers the standard
advice—eat healthy meals, get rest, exercise
regularly—but also recommends taking
breaks and disconnecting from social media
and the news as well as taking the time to
unwind and focus on activities you enjoy.
Committing to unplug and disconnect,
even if for a bit, can help refresh the mind
and body. By quieting the outside chatter
and diminishing stressors, an inner calm—
Adults welcome. Visit LEGO.com/adults
Advertisement
Disconnect to Reconnect
or Zen—can be achieved. This can lead to
a more joyful focus on what’s important:
family, friends, community—and quality time
to do what you really are passionate about.
LEGO has developed building sets for adults
that can help facilitate a meditative experi­
ence—a way to be in the moment, enjoying
their time by exploring the things they are
passionate about. “They [adults] are looking
for a relaxing, calming experience—and they
like instructions because that’s what helps
them be in the zone,” says Genevieve Capa
Cruz, Audience Marketing Strategist for The
LEGO Group.
The LEGO Group has recently introduced a
new mosaic building­styled collection that
LEGO AND THE LEGO LOGO ARE TRADEMARKS OF THE LEGO GROUP. ©2020 THE LEGO GROUP. MARILYN MONROE™; RIGHTS OF PUBLICITY AND PERSONA
RIGHTS: THE ESTATE OF MARILYN MONROE LLC. ©/®/™ THE ANDY WARHOL FOUNDATION FOR THE VISUAL ARTS, INC.
enables adults to reconnect with
their creative side. They are en­
couraged to retrace the creative
steps of some of the world’s most
famous artists and performers
through building models centered
on art, design, and music history.
Take, for example, the new LEGO
building experience, which allows
people to create one of four detailed wall art
portraits of their favorite Beatle, inspired by
the iconic portraits included in the band’s
famous White Album. Or the four­set series:
LEGO Art Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe™
portraits. Both are immersive experiences,
combining building with corresponding
soundtracks.
These unique LEGO experiences are de­
signed to help people take time for
themselves, connect with their passions,
and explore their creativity—the perfect
counterbalance to a hectic holiday season.
SOURCES: NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE AND
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MENTAL HEALTH
AND ADDICTION
 LISTEN.
B U I L D.
RELAX.
Shop sets at LEGO.com/Adults

LEGO and the LEGO logo are trademarks of the LEGO Group. ©2020 The LEGO Group.

Marilyn Monroe™; Rights of Publicity and Persona Rights:

The Estate of Marilyn Monroe LLC. ©/®/™ The Andy
Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.
 clients are drawn to elegant versions of the things they have
come to rely on, like Rodarte’s floral dresses or their bias-
cut silk slip and matching robe, a costume Mulleavy thinks
could have been worn to the Met gala but is also perfect for
at-home entertaining. Right now, a particularly beautiful
print—and Rodarte’s bouquets are heart-melting—or an
unexpected color can lift, at least briefly, the weight we
are feeling on our shoulders. As Mulleavy says, “At the
moment, I’d rather wear lavender than gray.”
And what looks better on Zoom or on Instagram than
an unexpected color? Anifa Mvuemba, the founder of the
cult fashion brand Hanifa, thinks that—since inevitably,
many of your friends and family will be visiting with you
via a screen—you should put on one of her slinky pieces
and maybe some oversize earrings and a statement necklace.
“People are actually having fun at home, taking pictures
to capture the moment, doing great makeup,” Mvuemba
says—in other words, harnessing glamour to fight off
demons. (For a three-minute respite from reality, Hani-
fa’s recent 3D fashion-show video featuring model-less
clothing wafting down an invisible runway—stylish ghosts
dancing in the wind—provides a welcome relief.)
Of course, some people never gave up on fancy dress in
the first place. (In the bleakest hour of the pandemic, when
everything was boarded up and the only place to go was the
park, I could be spotted perambulating around Washing-
ton Square in a tulle tutu and a black satin Simone Rocha
opera coat.) Goddard is well known for her propensity for
dolling up—way up!—but she also emphatically agrees with
Mulleavy that comfort is key, insisting that you can feel snug
swathed in voluminous layers. A fierce proponent of “Go big
or go home” (which these days might be changed to “Stay
home”), Goddard confesses, “For Christmas I wear a mas-
sive dress because I think it’s nice to take up a lot of space
sitting on the sofa—or even peeling potatoes.” She suggests
popping a Fair Isle sweater under your filmy frock, pulling
on leggings—the better for chilly holiday mornings—along
with big socks and those massive fluffy slippers. “I think it’s
more important now than ever to treasure these moments
of dressing up and making an effort.” @

A Hotel of One’s Own

T
he year 2020 was
supposed to be an
adventurous one for
the Perkins family.
They’d planned a once-in-a-
lifetime trip to British Colum-
bia, where they were to fish in
the Clayoquot Sound, hike the
Vancouver Island mountains,
and soar above the Pacific Coast
rain forest in a seaplane. A year
and a half out, they had booked
a hotel, reserved flights, cashed
in on vacation days, and found
babysitters. But then COVID
hit, and the resort where they had
planned to stay was shut until 2021.
(Not that it mattered: As Americans,
they couldn’t cross the Canadian bor-
der anyway.) “Things kept getting
worse and worse,” says 60-year-old
matriarch Charlotte Perkins. “The
BE OUR (ONLY) GUEST
More and more Americans are embracing
pod travel. Camp Kasbah in
Aspen will open in December for groups.
unprecedented rise in buyouts, from
the Poetry Inn in Napa, California, to
the Washington School House in Park
luxury-travel company Virtuo-
so. She’s had several clients make
such alliances: “We’re social crea-
tures, but we also want to travel
in the safest way possible”—
controlling what we can.
The hospitality industry, it’s
worth noting, is in the midst of
a crisis it can do very little to
control. Air travel is at a record
low. Business road warriors are
indefinitely housebound. Border
closures have hindered interna-
tional tourism. In fact, some of
the only people who are traveling
are these domestic voyager packs. And
as coronavirus rages on in America,
it’ll likely be that way for quite some
time. So hotels are now making perma-
nent pandemic pivots—or designing
themselves with limited hosting capa-
bilities at the outset. Take Camp Kas-
MAX BRON NE R/COURTESY O F CAMP KAS BAH.

ground kept shifting underneath us.”
Booking several rooms at a Stateside
property didn’t seem safe or logical,
either. “I didn’t even know if we could
fly,” says Perkins. Then a travel adviser
came back to her with an unorthodox
proposal: What if they rented out the
entirety of a tiny 10-room lodge within
driving distance of their Austin home?
Boutique properties across the
United States have reported an
City, Utah, and the Mayflower Inn &
Spa in Litchfield County, Connecticut.
While full book-outs were once gener-
ally reserved for large weddings (now
nonexistent) or the bacchanalia of the
.01 percent, these reservations are now
being made by COVID–travel pods.
What is a travel pod, exactly? “It’s a
group that has the same philosophy
about quarantine practices,” explains
Misty Belles, a managing director at
bah, which opens (this month) for pod
rental only. With an orange-tree-filled
solarium and a Charles Cunniffe–
designed tree house, the 14,000-square-
foot property has much to recommend
it. But perhaps the most appealing fac-
et is that it can host a group in privacy
and seclusion. “You want to be iso-
lated,” says Camp Kasbah cofounder
Mauri Waneka, “but you don’t want
to feel isolated.”—elise taylor

72 DECEMBER 2020 VOGUE.COM

 ADVERTISEMENT

Architectural Digest
and the
Black Interior Designers Network
introduce

A Virtual Showhouse Featuring Black Creatives Under One Roof

NOVEMBER 18–24, 2020

Presented By
archdigest.com/iconichome

SPECIAL THANKS TO
 A State of Repair
After the explosion last summer in Beirut, Lebanon’s designers have
been busy rebuilding, all while honoring the past.
“GLASS HAS BECOME a rare com-
modity,” says Huda Baroudi, one
of the founders of Beirut-based
design studio Bokja, whose
ateliers were damaged in
the August 4 blast that
took more than 190
lives and injured at
least 6,000. Baroudi
and her cofounder,
Maria Hibri, have
not yet replaced their
shattered storefront
windows; their bou-
tique closer to the
site of the explosion
was rendered unin-
habitable. Bokja, which
produces lushly embroi-
dered cushions, jackets,
robes, and shirts, is not alone.
Furniture and homeware pur-
veyors, many of whom were based
in badly impacted historic neigh-
borhoods like Mar Mikhaël, where
streets feature Levantine archways
and telephone wires drape like a can-
opy overhead, have acutely felt the
effects of the disaster.
Despite its reduced capacities,
Bokja is back at work; the brand
has invited its community to bring
in broken furniture for repairs. In a
mode that evokes the Japanese art
of kintsugi—a method of ceramics
restoration that marks seams with a
golden lacquer—Hibri and Baroudi
are using a conspicuous red thread
to mend upholstery tears. “We don’t
want to forget the wounds,” says
Hibri. Beirut has long prided itself
on its capacity for reinvention—
the city’s mythological symbol is the
phoenix—but Hibri wants to remem-
ber the city’s suffering: “Let’s not be
resilient; let’s mourn properly.”
The inclination to physically note
recent events is shared by others.
A few weeks after the blast, Nada
Debs, a renowned designer who,
earlier this year, launched IKEA’s
Ramadan-inspired home collection,
76 DECEMBER 2020 VOGUE.COM
MATERIAL GOOD
A Bokja cushion, embroidered with
Lebanon’s famed cedar tree, is
encircled by the label’s colorful fabric
masks. Both available at bokja.com.
posted an image of herself surround-
ed by the shattered mirrored walls
of her store. (The blast wiped out
60 percent of her inventory.) Behind
her, she had spray-painted, our
space is destroyed but we are not.
Debs says that she plans to keep her
scarred walls as they are. She’ll fill the
space with a line of furniture made
from repurposed doors, shutters, and
bits of wood, all foraged from the
ruins of her neighborhood: “It’s going
to be a memorial, an installation space
with objects made with the pieces that
were broken.” She’s also reprising past
designs in black and white. “Eventu-
ally we’ll go back to color, but I think
it’s time for a little bit of mourning,”
she says. Provocative Lebanese inte-
rior architect and product designer
Richard Yasmine is also using a stark
palette, creating achromatic art-piece
chairs and tables. (The collection,
After Ago, is available at richard
yasmine.com.) “These layers
of black and white repre-
sent the emotional alter-
ation between sadness
and happiness, madness
and sanity, calm and
anxiousness. It’s an
internal chaos as well
because as Lebanese,”
he says, “we have this
conflict—we want to
stay in Lebanon, but
we also want to leave.”
The reconstruction
effort is front of mind even
to those 14 million Lebanese
who make up the diaspora,
like luxury tableware design-
er Nour al Nimer: “I live in New
York, but Lebanon is my home.” Since
the blast, proceeds from her ceramics
label, Nimerology, have gone to Beb
w’ Shebbek, a nonprofit working to
rebuild Lebanese homes and schools.
“They’re trying to preserve the history
and heritage of these buildings and
heal a community that has experienced
so much trauma,” she says. “I feel that
the sooner things get fixed, the quick-
er things can go back to normal.”
For those living in Lebanon, hope
lies in the country’s youth. “There was
this energy in the days that followed,”
says Debs. “Young volunteers were
walking the streets in cleanup mode,
and day by day, they became more
professional. By the second or third
day, they came with broomsticks and
thick gloves so that they could pick up
the glass.” All the while, there were
youth-led protests calling for a gov-
ernment response. (Prime Minister
Hassan Diab and his cabinet stepped
down days after the explosion.)
COURTESY OF BO KJA.
Baroudi recalls seeing many people
at the protests wearing Bokja masks.
“It was so moving to see that,” she
says. “It makes you feel, Okay, we can
do this.”—lilah ramzi
IF THIS AD DOESN'T
CONVINCE YOU TO
TRY OUR OATGURT,
NOTHING WILL.
The problem with advertising unbelievable — like buy one and
these days is that it is too get 197 free — that you don’t
focused on sales. For an ad like have any choice but to put down
this one to be the maga-
considered CALL TO zine you
successful, ACTION are reading
it has to and rush to
first get your the store to
attention and purchase the
then provide product. Good
you with some- thing that
thing so amazing this ad for
— like a set of Oatgurt* isn’t
features or unique like all those
selling points or modern ads. It’s
a solid promise only interested
— that you’ll put in providing you
down the magazine with an oversized
you are reading cute visual of the
and rush to the store package, an over-
to purchase the product. To help promising headline, a totally
increase the chances of this nonsensical call to action but-
happening, some ads include a ton and an asterisk with a side
“call to action” feature, which note to tell you what the product
is a gimmick so ridiculously actually is.
*As a side note, Oatgurt is not yogurt, because yogurt is made with dairy and has no oats, while Oatgurt is made with oats and has no dairy.
 Prairie Home Companion
Designer Batsheva Hay bottles her madcap sensibility
with a new fragrance collaboration.

Y
ou can tell a lot about a person’s life from their
fragrance history, and New York–based law-
yer turned designer Batsheva Hay has already
left quite a trail. Sweet orange blossom from
Cacharel’s original eau de parfum scented much of her
childhood growing up in Queens, and to this day, even a
slight whiff of patchouli brings her back to Palo Alto,
California, where she used to buy the earthy oil from a
local farmers market as a Grateful Dead–loving undergrad
at Stanford University.
Now 39 and in full command of her eponymous four-
year-old brand dedicated to frilly, one-off frocks > 8 4
PRINTS, PLEASE
The smoky water-lily scent features a custom bottle with a floral
pattern designed by Hay. Illustration by Christina Zimpel.

82 DECEMBER 2020 VOGUE.COM

 torn from the pages of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Hay is at “There had to be some unpredictable aspect to it,” muses
something of an olfactory impasse. “I’m not afraid of a Raza, who purposely shied away from the more obvious
strong scent, but it’s been tricky for me to find one that’s fruity floral notes that you might expect from Hay—the
exactly right,” she reveals of the impetus behind her new woman who has almost single-handedly made “cottage-
collaboration with the conceptual perfume house Régime core” a mainstay on red carpets and Instagram feeds,
des Fleurs, which translates Hay’s madcap, helped along by a lengthy list of supportive
more-is-more approach to fashion into a indie darlings and rock icons. (Courtney
maximalist’s fragrance fever dream. “I’m not afraid of a Love is a loyal fan.) Instead, the fragrance
“I was surprised that she really likes strong scent, but leans heavily on a leather-laced, heady
perfume—and that she likes so many differ- nostalgia that reminds Hay of draping
ent kinds that are totally unrelated,” admits it’s been tricky for herself in her mother’s clothes and jew-
Régime founder and creative director Alia me to find one elry as a young girl. Her signature florals
Raza, who, after meeting Hay through have their moment via a custom-designed
friends five years ago, took her on a research that’s exactly right” printed-glass flacon that arrives in a keep-
trip to the perfume department at Barneys’ sake pouch made from a selection of archi-
now-shuttered Madison Avenue flagship. “It felt like going val fabrics. “I love how there’s a romance to Batsheva’s
into a fabric store and picking swatches,” Hay says of the clothes but also a lot of mystery when you wear them
creative process. But instead of calico prints and vintage because you’re all covered up,” Raza says of Hay’s modest
gingham, Raza worked with smoky bergamot and a sur- cuts. The look is “layered and complex,” she continues—
prising water-lily note for an ethereal, aquatic quality. and now atomized.—zoe ruffner

S
et predominantly at a bustling London
house party, director Steve McQueen’s
Lovers Rock takes its name from a sub-
genre of reggae popular in the 1970s. But
the allusion is also a gesture of defiance. Though
the feel of the film is joyful and sensuous, with a
euphoric, pounding soundtrack, danger lurks:
thugs who menace the protagonist, Martha (new-
comer Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn), when she steps
outside; a predatory hustler skulking on the dance
floor. The roughly hour-long film belongs to a
five-part series, collectively titled Small Axe (the
title is taken from a Bob Marley song), created and
directed by McQueen (12 Years a Slave, Widows)
about London’s West Indian community between
the 1960s and 1980s. The films—which roll out on
Amazon Prime this month—tackle topics rang-
ing from racism within the Metropolitan Police
(Mangrove) to the failures of the British schooling
system for Black children (Education).
In another example of an imagined history
taking on contemporary relevance, One Night
in Miami, Regina King’s impressive directorial
debut, gathers a raft of real-life figures for a fic-
tional confrontation. In a Florida hotel suite, four
men celebrate Cassius Clay’s first triumph against
the heavyweight Sonny Liston in 1964: Malcolm X
(Kingsley Ben-Adir), the football star turned actor
Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge), the crooner Sam Cooke
(Leslie Odom Jr.), and a young Clay himself (Eli
DES WILLIE /AMAZO N PRIME V IDEO

TAKING A STAND Goree), shortly before he became Muhammad

Letitia Wright stars in Mangrove, part of Small Axe, Ali. The confab expands into a debate about
a new series of films on Amazon Prime. Hollywood, colorism, and the dangers—and
opportunities—of speaking truth to power, cul-

Redemption Songs minating with a performance of “A Change Is

Gonna Come,” Cooke’s dulcet-toned battle cry.
Here, as in Small Axe, the seeds of change are
often found in song.—marley marius

84 DECEMBER 2020 VOGUE.COM

 Salute!
Can you make merry and help save the planet? Tamar Adler
says cheers to a new generation of sustainably sourced spirits.
I
t’s 9:30 on a crisp morning in Hudson, New York,
and after lowering my mask and tightening my scarf
against the chill, I lift a glass, pantomime a clink, and
take a gulp of vodka. The 80-proof liquor is sweeter
than I expected, with pleasant undertones of dark fruit.
This isn’t the most productive start to a workday—I have
just dropped my son at preschool—but it’s the least I can
do to save the planet. Sobriety is a small price to pay for
carbon sequestration.
How am I sequestering carbon by drinking vodka? My
husband asks this question, too, when I stumble home after
my tasting. It’s about which vodka I was drinking: Good
Vodka from distiller and former GQ editor Mark Byrne.
Good Vodka isn’t made from fermented potatoes or wheat
or corn, but from the mucilaginous wastewater produced
by processing coffee beans.
86 DECEMBER 2020 VOGUE.COM
Does mucilaginous wastewater sound like something
you don’t want in your cocktail? Before you answer, con-
sider the methods by which conventional spirits are pro-
duced. Sugar, such as fruit and grain, must be grown in
a field, then harvested, processed, stored, bottled, and
distributed—which can translate into vast monocrops
of grapes, wheat, and corn, dependent on millions of
gallons of water and pounds of pesticides and synthetic
fertilizers and fossil fuels. What’s left behind is depleted
topsoil and runoff. Simply putting spirits into heavy glass
bottles has a massive carbon impact. And did you > 8 8
BOTTOMS UP
Spirits to feel good about are distilled from
excess or responsibly sourced ingredients.
Photographed by Derek Henderson.
 READY TO SLEEP ORGANIC?

Avocado organic certified mattresses are handmade in sunny Los Angeles using the finest natural latex, wool
and cotton from our own farms. With trusted organic, non-toxic, ethical and ecological certifications, our
products are as good for the planet as they are for you. Now offering a personalized video retail experience!
Start your 1-year organic mattress trial* at AvocadoGreenMattress.com.

* Restrictions apply.
CU 861640 CU 861640 V AVO-1368
 know that distillation itself—particularly of whiskey—
creates toxic chemicals that seep into waterways and cause
hypoxia zones in which fish perish? Doesn’t mucilaginous
coffee-bean wastewater sound better now?
I’d always thought of myself as a conscientious consum-
er. I’m apparently not alone in that delusion. Claire Sprouse,
owner of Brooklyn’s low-waste, high-consciousness bar
Hunky Dory, says most ethical eaters ignore the provenance
of hard liquor. “There’s been this shift in our eating and
drinking culture: people buying fair-trade coffee and local
produce. But there’s a disconnect when it comes to spirits.
We don’t think of them as part of agriculture.”
They are very much part of agriculture. And as many
of us know, conventional agriculture can be wasteful to
an extreme. “I started off by asking the question, Why
would you make a spirit from a purpose-grown crop
when you can make it from a byproduct?” Byrne told me
during our tasting. In coffee production, for every pound
of coffee beans, there are five pounds of coffee waste.
By rerouting that waste from rivers, where it would turn
into methane, Good Vodka saves some 15.76 kilograms
of CO2 emissions per bottle.
Who else is making booze to feel good about? With cold
months coming and the specter of another lockdown hov-
ering, what better time to find out? A quick internet search
reveals that a healthy number of familiar spirits have begun
to take environmental impacts seriously. Absolut Elyx is
carbon neutral, and its stillage goes to feed local cows
and pigs. Maker’s Mark has founded a water sanctuary
and plants American white oaks to protect
native animal species. Casa Sauza recycles
its wastewater. “If we keep
I call Alicia Kennedy, a Puerto Rico–
based food and drink writer, to help me
making the same
sort the wheat from the chaff. She advises spirits again and
me to take a finer lens to the question of
what’s sustainable. “I’d first examine the
again, we’re
agricultural practices to see whether the asking our fields
agriculture is exhaustive or regenerative
and leading to soil productivity.” She says
to be monocrops”
I must consider the choice of crop, whether
labor is being compensated properly, whether the water is
being recycled or repurposed, whether the yeast is naturally
occurring, and whether the spirit is being made at a rate
and scale conducive to all the other conditions.
I decide to assemble a slate of spirits with a true dedi-
cation to planetary health, and a week later, I am sitting
on a porch, six feet apart from Rosie Ward, bartender at
Hudson Food Studio, and beside Piper Olf, the mother of
my son’s best friend. Before us is somewhere in the realm
of 1,000 glasses, plus ample ice and mixers ranging from
Dolin dry vermouth to limes to various juices, freshly
pressed for the occasion.
We begin our tasting. And we hit an immediate speed
bump: Spirits that are made differently taste different from
their conventional peers. A martini made with one part ver-
mouth to four parts Scottish Nàdar “climate-positive” gin
(saves 1.54 kilograms of CO2 per bottle; distilled from green
peas!) tastes off-balance, sharp at the end, and ethanol-y
in the middle. A boulevardier with Arbikie’s rye scotch
whisky is unusually sweet.
88 DECEMBER 2020 VOGUE.COM
I place an emergency call to Sprouse, who offers sage
advice. “Don’t assume you know what they taste like
or what they’ll go with,” she directs. “Think of making
cocktails with these spirits as cooking.” So we settle in to
calmly taste each spirit on its own. The Nàdar gin tastes
the way freshly cut grass smells. Combined and shaken
with ice and cucumber-watermelon juice, it is a revelation,
fragrant and green-tasting. Two rums from the low-waste
Montanya distillery seem to demand extra sourness. We
double the lime juice in a traditional daiquiri recipe. We’re
elated. Both Good Vodka and Vodkow’s vodkas are sweeter
than conventional versions and make almost frighteningly
delicious vodka tonics. The biggest surprises are Nàdar
vodka––made, like its gin, from green peas—and Vodkow’s
cream liqueur. The pea vodka tastes like it’s been plucked
from the soil. Vodkow’s cream liqueur is simply the most
delicious coffee creamer I’ve tasted. It is also lactose-free. I
pour it heavily over a small shot of espresso and have to be
reminded several times to go inside and feed my son dinner.
T
he following day at noon, a box containing a
dozen dark-glass apothecary bottles arrives via
FedEx. They’re from Leslie Merinoff-Kwasnieski,
a cofounder and distiller of Matchbook Distilling
Co. on Long Island’s North Fork. Merinoff-Kwasnieski
happens to be a great-great-great-granddaughter of the
founder of Canadian Club Whisky. She’s also, at age 33,
a veteran of William Grant & Sons, maker of Hendrick’s
Gin, Glenfiddich, Milagro Tequila, and a dozen more.
She explains to me that traditionally, it takes
about 1,000 pounds of mixed grains to pro-
duce 53 gallons of whiskey. She calls the entire
practice unsustainable. “If we keep making
the same spirits again and again, we’re asking
our fields to be monocrops,” she says. “In a
world where we’ve got rising temperatures
and diminishing topsoil, maybe distilleries
as they exist today aren’t an efficient or pro-
ductive use of land.” Merinoff-Kwasnieski
instead distills what she encounters on her
visits to Long Island farms. She checks in on
what is growing well and asks farmers to send her whatever
excess they have during the harvest season.
First up is a muskmelon-whey-hop leaf-juniper spirit
made with both beach and damask roses. It’s transportive,
with a nose of dusky garden flowers and a savory, ginny
finish. Then a grapefruit “eau-de-milk punch” made
from leftover whey from Brooklyn’s White Moustache
yogurt, which tastes like a fruit ice cream. Next is Sole Mio,
made from a mold grown on organic rice from California
and excess butternut squash, which leaves the buzz on
the tongue that Sichuan cuisine calls “mala.” Another is
made from leftover bread from Carissa Waechter’s East
Hampton bakery; it smells like olives and tastes like pickles
and caraway. The last, Ritual Sister, a distillation made
from pineapples Merinoff-Kwasnieski and her partners
buried in coals in an eight-foot wide earth oven and tended
through the early days of COVID, tastes like a mescal I
once sampled on the roadside in Baja California. It tastes
like the joy of experiment and a willingness to adjust and
adapt. It tastes like the future. @
 GET YOURS AT GQ.COM/VOGUE

BEST STUFF
Some products may vary. While supplies last.

Our latest box includes: $200+ VALUE

FOR ONLY $50
partnered with NBA All-Star and mental health warrior Riley Home blanket
Kevin Love on a wellness-inspired kit that’ll keep you Rains Dopp kit
cozy, present, and ridiculously well–groomed this winter. GQ Pintrill pins
As part of the partnership, GQ is donating $100,000 Schmidt’s deodorant
to the Kevin Love Fund, which works to normalize Lapcos sheet masks See what’s in the latest box at
conversations around mental health. & more gq.com/vogue
by invitation | tipsntrends, inc. | 323-525-1700 ADVER TISEMENT
 From This Moment On
Jenna Wortham and Kimberly Drew’s Black Futures is a reflection
of social, cultural, and economic revolution.
B
lack Futures began, like so many stories these days,
with an exchange on Twitter. In early 2015, Jenna
Wortham, 38—then mostly covering tech for the
New York Times—had it in mind to create a zine
chronicling contemporary Black culture. “There were
communities of Black people interacting and engaging
in new ways because of social media,” she says, “and we
were creating our own signage and language.” She identi-
fied a kindred spirit in 30-year-old Kimberly Drew (also
known, wryly, as @museummammy), who’d founded the
popular Tumblr blog Black Contemporary Art in 2011.
“Like any good millennial, I was reading Jenna’s writing,”
Drew says, “and then she DM’ed me.” The pair met up in
Brooklyn—Wortham is now based in Bedford-Stuyvesant,
Drew in Bushwick—and over the next several years, their
conversation spawned Black Futures, a kaleidoscopic inves-
tigation into what it means, as they state, to “be Black
and alive right now.” As it happens, the zine never quite
materialized. “I really love zines,” says Drew, “but I was
also kind of like, What would it mean if we did something
that was a little bit bigger?”
The structure of Black Futures (the 500-plus-page
tome arrives from One World this month) is intentionally
loose. It reads partly as an art book, partly as a down-
load of the smartest conversations taking place on social
media—“a series of guideposts for current and future
generations,” according to the introduction, “who may
be curious about what our generation has been creating
during a time defined by social, cultural, economic, and
ecological revolution.” The book mingles wide-ranging
essays and interviews, memes and works of art; a text
on trans visibility from activist Raquel Willis abuts an
94 DECEMBER 2020 VOGUE.COM
ode to Black barbershops from photographer Antonio
“Tone” Johnson; a family recipe for coconut bread by
Pierre Serrao, cofounder of Ghetto Gastro, sits next to a
history of Baltimore’s arabbers—merchants who sell fruits
and vegetables from a horse-drawn cart—by the writer
Lawrence Burney. (Meanwhile, a clever system of color
coding conceived by designers Wael Morcos and Jon Key
casts observations on social media in yellow, instructions in
green, “prophetic prose and poetry” in black, and “incendi-
ary essays and artworks” in white.) “I just hope that anyone
who interacts with the book leaves with a broader sense
of what Black people are up to,” Drew says. “In moments
like these, when everyone’s like, Whoa, you guys have been
hurt this whole time?, it’s like, Wow, you just didn’t dare to
dream about us.”
Still, both are quick to acknowledge that Black Futures is
far from the final word on modern Black thought. “There
are really no limits,” Wortham says. “So don’t stop at our
PH OTO GRAPH BY N ADIA H UGG INS C IRCA NO FU TURE , 2014.
book; keep aggregating your own impressions of what we
mean when we talk about Black futurity.” And what do
they mean? As the title suggests, Black Futures isn’t only
about right now—it also considers what happens next.
“It’s an invitation to imagine,” Wortham says. “It’s an
invitation for rest. It’s an invitation to get angry and find
a place for that anger. People keep asking us, What do the
Black futures hold? And I think it’s a question we all get to
answer together.”—marley marius
STILL WATERS RUN DEEP
In Black Futures, Nadia Huggins’s 2014 photograph Circa no
future (above) accompanies an essay by marine biologist
Ayana Elizabeth Johnson about protecting the world’s oceans.
HARRY CONNICK JR. THISTOO
OLIVIA CULPO SHALLPASS

GEORGE KITTLE
CAMILLE KOSTEK
MACKLEMORE
JOHN MCENROE
JORDIN SPARKS
TUA TAGOVAILOA
DESHAUN WATSON

ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME
FOOTBALL PASS FOR A CAUSE
#ThisTooShallPass is the ultimate FUN-draising campaign, bringing together the very best of football,
fashion and fun. An all-star roster of A-listers will kick off the campaign by accepting the challenge
to throw a football pass for charity and calling out other celebrity influencers to do the same.

Donors will have the opportunity to bid on these once-in-a-lifetime

football pass experiences at Kindboost.com.

Bidding Begins November 24 on Kindboost.com

Scan QR Code

CHARITY PARTNERS
100% of Proceeds Benefit Charity
After The Impact Chance For Life CMA Foundation God’s Love We Deliver James Beard Foundation
Leaders By Example Luanne E. Foundation Ellis Marsalis Center for Music Tunnel To Towers The Valerie Fund

Powered by WHIP FUNDRAISING x

MONSIEUR
RÉCAMIER
“I find myself
looking at women’s
clothes, thinking
they’re amazing,”
says Styles.
Chopova Lowena
belted skirt.
Fashion Editor:
Camilla Nickerson.
Playtime Dressing up, making music, living in the
moment: This is what matters to
Harry Styles. Boundaries and labels? Not so much. Hamish Bowles
reports. Photographed by Tyler Mitchell.
 T
he Men’s Bathing Pond Vogue’s photographer Tyler Mitchell. sailor—a rose, a galleon, a mermaid,
in London’s Hampstead He practices Pilates (“I’ve got very an anchor, and a palm tree among
Heath at daybreak on a tight hamstrings—trying to get those them, and, straddling his clavicle, the
gloomy September morn- open”) and meditates twice a day. “It dates 1967 and 1957 (the respective
ing seemed such an unlikely locale has changed my life,” he avers, “but it’s birth years of his mother and father).
for my first meeting with Harry Styles, so subtle. It’s helped me just be more Frankly, I rather wish I’d packed a
music’s legendarily charm-heavy style present. I feel like I’m able to enjoy beach muumuu.
czar, that I wondered perhaps if some- the things that are happening right We take the piratical gangplank
thing had been lost in translation. in front of me, even if it’s food or it’s that juts into the water and dive in.
But then there is Styles, cheerily coffee or it’s being with a friend—or Let me tell you, this is not the Aegean.
gung ho, hidden behind a festive yel- a swim in a really cold pond!” Styles The glacial water is a cloudy phlegm
low bandana mask and a sweatshirt also feels that his meditation practices green beneath the surface, and clam-
of his own design, my reeds slap one’s
surprisingly printed ankles. Styles, who
with three portraits admits he will try any
of his intellectual pin- fad, has recently had a
up, the author Alain couple of cryotherapy
de Botton. “I love his sessions and is evident-
writing,” says Styles. ly less susceptible to
“I just think he’s bril- the cold. By the time
liant. I saw him give a we have swum a full
talk about the keys to circuit, however, body
happiness, and how temperatures have ad-
one of the keys is liv- justed, and the ice, you
ing among friends, and might say, has been
how real friendship broken. Duly invigo-
stems from being vul- rated, we are ready to
nerable with someone.” face the day. Styles has
In turn, de Botton’s thoughtfully brought a
2016 novel The Course canister of coffee and
of Love taught Styles some bottles of water
that “when it comes in his backpack, and
to relationships, you we sit at either end of
just expect yourself a park bench for a so-
to be good at it…[but] cially distanced chat.
being in a real relation- It seems that he has
ship with someone is a had a productive year.
skill,” one that Styles At the onset of lock-
himself has often had down, Styles found
to hone in the unfor- himself in his second
giving klieg light of home, in the canyons
public attention, and of Los Angeles. After
in the company of a few days on his own,
such high-profile par- however, he moved
amours as Taylor Swift in with a pod of three
and—well, Styles is too friends (and sub-
much of a gentleman PRETTY, MUCH? sequently with two
to name names. For Styles, his friend and muse Gucci’s Alessandro Michele crafted a frothy, band members, Mitch
That sweatshirt and lace-trimmed creation, paired here with a double-breasted tuxedo jacket. Rowland and Sarah
the Columbia Records Jones). They “would
tracksuit bottoms are removed in the have helped him through the tumult of put names in a hat and plan the week
quaint wooden open-air changing 2020: “Meditation just brings a still- out,” Styles explains. “If you were
room, with its Swallows and Ama- ness that has been really beneficial, I Monday, you would choose the movie,
zons vibe. A handful of intrepid think, for my mental health.” dinner, and the activity for that day. I
fellow patrons in various states of Styles has been a pescatarian for like to make soups, and there was a big
undress are blissfully unaware of the three years, inspired by the vegan array of movies; we went all over the
26-year-old supernova in their midst, food that several members of his board,” from Goodfellas to Clueless.
although I must admit I’m finding current band prepared on tour. “My The experience, says Styles, “has been
it rather difficult to take my eyes off body definitely feels better for it,” he a really good lesson in what makes me
him, try as I might. Styles has been on says. His shapely torso is prettily in- happy now. It’s such a good example
a six-day juice cleanse in readiness for scribed with the tattoos of a Victorian of living in the moment. I honestly

98
 SPLENDOR
IN THE GRASS
Gridded overcoat,
pussy-bow shirt,
and checked pants,
all by Gucci.
TWO OF A KIND
Harry and sister Gemma
Styles sit for a family
portrait. He wears a coat by
Martine Rose, a Margaret
Howell cable-knit sweater,
and checked Marni pants.
She wears a crisscrossed
Chopova Lowena dress
and Church’s shoes.
LOOKING FLY just like being around my friends,” he
Blazer and kilt by adds. “That’s been my biggest take-
Comme des Garçons
Homme Plus,
away. Just being on my own the whole
Falke socks, and time, I would have been miserable.”
brogues from The Styles is big on friendship groups
Contemporary and considers his former and legend-
Wardrobe Collection.
arily hysteria-inducing boy band, One
Direction, to have been one of them.
“I think the typical thing is to come
out of a band like that and almost
feel like you have to apologize for
being in it,” says Styles. “But I loved
my time in it. It was all new to me,
and I was trying to learn as much as I
could. I wanted to soak it in…. I think
that’s probably why I like traveling
now—soaking stuff up.” In a post-
COVID future, he is contemplating a
temporary move to Tokyo, explaining
that “there’s a respect and a stillness,

101
HEAVEN ON WHEELS
A novel take on the
bike chain, this glitzy
JW Anderson belt
is paired with a Wales
Bonner knitted sweater
vest and kilted skirt.
 “There’s so much joy to
be had in playing
with clothes. I’ve never
thought too much
about what it means—
it just becomes this
extended part of
creating something”

WEAR HE’S FROM

Emily Adams Bode
custom-made these
corduroy pants,
hand-painted with
emblems personal
to the owner—can
you spot the pair of
butterflies?
 a quietness that I really loved every
time I’ve been there.”
In 1D, Styles was making music
whenever he could. “After a show
you’d go in a hotel room and put
down some vocals,” he recalls. As a
result, his first solo album, 2017’s
Harry Styles, “was when I really fell
in love with being in
the studio,” he says.
“I loved it as much
as touring.” Today he
favors isolating with
his core group of col-
a time right now where we could use
a little more kindness and empathy
and patience with people, be a little
more prepared to listen and grow.”
Meanwhile, Styles’s euphoric sin-
gle “Watermelon Sugar” became
something of an escapist anthem
for this dystopian summer of 2020.
so. Early in his career, Styles was so
stricken with stage fright that he regu-
larly threw up preperformance. “I just
always thought I was going to mess up
or something,” he remembers. “But
I’ve felt really lucky to have a group
of incredibly generous fans. They’re
generous emotionally—and when
they come to the show,
they give so much that
it creates this atmo-
sphere that I’ve always
found so loving and
accepting.”

laborators, “our little
bubble”—Rowland,
Kid Harpoon (né Tom
Hull), and Tyler John-
son. “A safe space,” as
he describes it.
In the music he has
been working on in
2020, Styles wants to
capture the experimen-
tal spirit that informed
his second album, last
year’s Fine Line. With
his debut album, “I
was very much find-
ing out what my sound
was as a solo artist,” he
says. “I can see all the
places where it almost
felt like I was bowling
with the bumpers up.
I think with the sec-
ond album I let go of
the fear of getting it
wrong and…it was re-
ally joyous and really
free. I think with mu-
sic it’s so important to
evolve—and that ex-
tends to clothes and
videos and all that
stuff. That’s why you
look back at David Bowie with Zig-
gy Stardust or the Beatles and their
different eras—that fearlessness is
super inspiring.”
The seismic changes of 2020—
including the Black Lives Matter
uprising around racial justice—has
also provided Styles with an opportu-
nity for personal growth. “I think it’s
a time for opening up and learning
and listening,” he says. “I’ve been try-
ing to read and educate myself so that
in 20 years I’m still doing the right
things and taking the right steps. I
believe in karma, and I think it’s just
T
his summer,
when it was
safe enough
t o t r av e l ,
Styles returned to his
London home, which
is where he suggests
we head now, setting
off in his modish Prim-
rose Yellow ’73 Jaguar
that smells of gaso-
line and leatherette.
“Me and my dad have
always bonded over
cars,” Styles explains.
“I never thought I’d
be someone who just
went out for a leisurely
drive, purely for enjoy-
ment.” On sleepless
jet-lagged nights he’ll
drive through Lon-
don’s quiet streets, see-
ing neighborhoods in
a new way. “I find it
quite relaxing,” he says.
Over the summer
STRIKE A CONTRAPPOSTO Styles took a road trip
Styles cuts a cool figure in this black-white-and-red-all-over with his artist friend
checked coat by JW Anderson.
To m o C a m p b e l l
through France and
The video, featuring Styles (dressed Italy, setting off at four in the morn-
in ’70s-flavored Gucci and Bode) ing and spending the night in Gene-
cavorting with a pack of beach-babe va, where they jumped in the lake “to
girls and boys, was shot in January, wake ourselves up.” (I see a pattern
before lockdown rules came into play. emerging.) At the end of the trip
By the time it was ready to be released Styles drove home alone, accompa-
in May, a poignant epigraph had nied by an upbeat playlist that includ-
been added: “This video is dedicated ed “Aretha Franklin, Parliament, and
to touching.” a lot of Stevie Wonder. It was really
Styles is looking forward to tour- fun for me,” he says. “I don’t travel
ing again, when “it’s safe for every- like that a lot. I’m usually in such a
one,” because, as he notes, “being up rush, but there was a stillness to it. I
against people is part of the whole love the feeling of nobody knowing
thing. You can’t really re-create it in where I am, that kind of escape...
any way.” But it hasn’t always been and freedom.”

104
 TWO BIRDS, ONE
STONE-COLD FOX
Styles’s tattoos
are on prime display
with this complexly
configured trench coat
by Maison Margiela.
MISTER OF THE ROBES
There are references
aplenty in this look by
Harris Reed, which
features a Victoriana
crinoline, 1980s shoulders,
and pants of zoot-suit
proportions. In this story:
hair, Malcolm Edwards;
makeup, Ammy Drammeh.
Details, see In This Issue.
 G
rowing up in a village in the
North of England, Styles
thought of London as a
world apart: “It truly felt
like a different country.” At a wide-
eyed 16, he came down to the teeming
metropolis after his mother entered
him on the U.K. talent-search show
The X Factor. “I went to the audi-
tion to find out if I could sing,” Styles
recalls, “or if my mum was just being
nice to me.” Styles was eliminated but
subsequently brought back with oth-
er contestants—Niall Horan, Liam
Payne, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn
Malik—to form a boy band that was
named (on Styles’s suggestion) One
Direction. The wily
X Factor creator and
“It’s pretty powerful and kind judge, Simon Cowell,
soon signed them to
of extraordinary to see his label Syco Records,
someone in his position and the rest is history:
1D’s first four albums,
redefining what it can mean to s u p p o r t e d by fo u r
be a man with confidence,” world tours from 2011
to 2015, debuted at
says Olivia Wilde number one on the U.S.
Billboard charts, and
the band has sold 70 million records
to date. At 18, Styles bought the Lon-
don house he now calls home. “I was
going to do two weeks’ work to it,”
he remembers, “but when I came
back there was no second floor,” so
he moved in with adult friends who
lived nearby till the renovation was
complete. “Eighteen months,” he
deadpans. “I’ve always seen that peri-
od as pretty pivotal for me, as there’s
that moment at the party where it’s
getting late, and half of the people
would go upstairs to do drugs, and
the other people go home. I was like,
‘I don’t really know this friend’s wife,
PRO DUC ED BY HOL MES PRODUCTIO N. S E T DESIG N BY AN DY H ILLMAN .

so I’m not going to get all messy and

then go home.’ I had to behave a bit,
at a time where everything else about
my life felt I didn’t have to behave
really. I’ve been lucky to always feel
I have this family unit somewhere.”
When Styles’s London renovation
was finally done, “I went in for the first
time and I cried,” he recalls. “Because
I just felt like I had somewhere.
L.A. feels like holiday, but this feels
like home.”
Behind its pink door, Styles’s
house has all the trappings of rock
stardom—there’s a man cave filled
with guitars, C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 1 4 6

107
ROYAL TREATMENT
Model Adut Akech sits
pretty in a many-patterned
Duro Olowu dress
(ikram.com) and up-to-
there gele, or head tie.
Octave Jewelry earrings.
Victoria Beckham boots.
Fashion Editor:
Gabriella Karefa-Johnson.
 CROWD PLEASERS
from left: Model Akon Changkou wears a Chopova Lowena top ($244), skirt ($922), and leggings ($379);
chopovalowena.com. Miu Miu shoes. Model Ariish Wol wears a Chopova Lowena dress, $1,044; chopovalowena.com.
Marine Serre shoes. Model Maty Fall wears a Maison Margiela dress; maisonmargiela.com. Balenciaga pantashoes.
Model Kesewa Aboah wears a Lisa Folawiyo Studio dress, $1,100; lisafolawiyo.com. Off-White c/o Virgil Abloh sandals.

FAMILY VALUES
Inspired by “aunties”—those spirited, irreverent elders who form the
moral (and sartorial) backbone of many Black communities—
these striking looks revel in lavish prints and shimmering textiles.
Essay by Alexis Okeowo. Photographed by Nadine Ijewere.

W
hen I was a kid in my Alabama hometown,
every year brought the same parties in our
Nigerian-American community: the Fourth
of July cookout in the park; the Christmas
throwdown in the hotel banquet hall, where my family
and our friends wore our finest traditional clothing, a sea
of blinding-bright textures and elaborate head ties, called
geles, that stretched toward the ceiling. During those holi-
day parties, as Fela Kuti and King Sunny Adé played from
the speakers, I inevitably ended up staring at my mother’s
girlfriends, other married (but sometimes divorced or
single) women, as they floated around the hall, eating,
talking, laughing. Their hair and makeup were exquisitely
110
WALK ON BY
A playful velvet coat
from Etro (etro.com)
makes for one
effortlessly elegant
look for day.
EDAS x Cameron
Tea hat. Perez Sanz
belt buckle. Brother
Vellies clogs.
done, with big curls and updos, red lipstick, and vivid eye
shadow; their outfits, planned weeks in advance, melded
glamour and comfort so they could sweep you up into their
folds of crinkly, glittering fabric as they danced; and their
jewelry, usually gold or coral, was dramatic. Their shoes
and purses matched, obviously. Their swagger seemed both
over-the-top and effortless.
I was never exactly sure how to define my relationship
to those women in my mom’s life. My mom’s sisters were
naturally my aunts, beloved by my brothers and me. But
her friends were also a constant part of the background—
in our home, at gatherings at the houses of my parents’
friends, and at important moments like birthdays and
OUR LADY OF GRACE
Changkou embraces a
fitful mix of patterns and
a curtain of cowrie shells
in a Marine Serre top
($915) and skirt (both at
marineserre.com) and
Lafalaise Dion headpiece.
Lizzie Fortunato earring.
 GOING GREEN
A mossy shade is as
alluring on Changkou’s
Burberry dress and
trench coat (burberry
.com) as it is street-
savvy on Aboah’s Tokyo
James vegan leather
blazer ($2,000) and
pants ($1,100;
both at tokyojames.co
.uk). Fenty earring on
Changkou. L’Enchanteur
earring on Aboah.
WINNING STREAKS
Graphic stripes—and
some very dramatic
fraying—characterize
this Kenneth Ize coat,
top, and pants ($1,365);
kennethize.net.
Roger Vivier sandals.

graduations—and though they weren’t relatives, my mom
instructed me to refer to all of them as “Auntie” anyway.
The women were not my “age-mate,” as Nigerians like to
say, not people I could treat like my school and neighbor-
hood friends, and over time, they became like family. They
flooded me with love and praise—and they disciplined me,
shouting my name as a warning when I got out of line or
ran around like a heathen. (In fact, sometimes I wanted to
shout back that they were not my mom.)
But along with my mom, my aunties were visions of what
life could look like when I eventually decided who I would
be—a panorama of Black womanhood that included pro-
fessionals, stay-at-home mothers, and the flyest “spinsters”
114
SHORT SHIFT
On Akech, a
delightfully outré JW
Anderson ruffled top
and metallic tunic
(jwanderson.com)
become a festive
(and flirty) minidress.
Loewe shoes.
I had ever seen. And by virtue of the ease they had in their
bodies, my aunties radiated an attitude of feeling good about
yourself, especially the healthier and curvier you were, that
predated the idea of body positivity. The lack of distinction
between my “real” aunts and my aunties was even more
acute when my family visited Nigeria. There, every woman
over the age of 25 in our social circles took it upon herself
to act as my surrogate older sister, including one who saw no
problem with reading my then-confidential diary. (There are
few boundaries with aunties.) Aunties, I would later come to
find out, are common not just among people I know from
African communities but also Caribbean, South Asian, and
Black American ones. In these fashion images, styled by
 THE LONG GAME
Fall, in a Celine by Hedi
Slimane dress and cape,
worn as a headwrap
(both at celine.com),
leans into the not-so-
discreet charms of
a straight silhouette.
Beads Byaree earring.
Jimmy Choo boots.
BLOCK PARTY
While Aboah is sportif in a
Wales Bonner shirt ($570)
and pants ($570; both
at ssense.com), Wol mixes
the cozy and the chic
with a Max Mara cape, worn
as a top (maxmara.com),
and a Wales Bonner skirt
($670) and hat (both at
walesbonner.net). Adidas
Originals by Wales Bonner
sneakers on Aboah.
ON THE FRINGES
A draped top and fringed
skirt ($1,140) from Dries Van
Noten offer surprising
texture—and a bewitching
sense of movement. Both
at driesvannoten-la.com.
Saint Laurent by Anthony
Vaccarello scarf, worn as
headwrap. Beads Byaree
earrings. Ulla Johnson boots.

117
GREATEST INSPIRATION
Researcher and archivist Daniel Obaweya—also the steward of
@nigeriangothic on Instagram, a tribute to Black pop-cultural history—
compiled these images, including work by Chief Solomon Osagie Alonge
(top left) and another image by Joseph Chila (right), both of whom
lived and worked in Africa, to hint at the depth and breadth of auntie style.
His sources range from 1960s-era historical archives to Tumblr, and
showcase both traditional styles of African and Caribbean dress and the
evidence of African-American influence. Details, see In This Issue.
Gabriella Karefa-Johnson and shot by Nadine Ijewere, it’s
striking how the contemporary models are no more bold than
the women in the archival photos curated here by researcher
and archivist Daniel Obaweya. Their clothes are a cacophony
of mismatched prints in brilliant shades that convey both
confidence and the pleasure they take in their appearance.
They see themselves clearly—and will make you see them, too.
Aunties had a singular role in my Alabama community:
Whether or not they had children, they were maternal fig-
ures to the young people around—only a phone call away
with advice and gossip, and able to step in if our parents
were overwhelmed with work or personal crises. My expe-
rience in Nigeria, and across the African continent, is that
as people grow older, contrary to the American obsession
with youth, they gain more admiration and respect for their
experience and wisdom. (When I was a child, my parents
made sure I always appropriately greeted the older people
in the room.) It is rarely heard of to put aging relatives in
senior homes; instead, they often move in with their fami-
lies until they pass on. And so older aunties are figures of
authority, and they helped to make decisions for our local
association of African families. They are indispensable. I
remember one of my aunties both emceeing our annual
holiday party—with a mic in one hand and the train of her
skirt in another as she told embarrassing but entertaining
jokes—and sitting in my family’s living room consoling my
parents after one of my grandmothers had died.

W
hile the idea of aunties has long been
consigned to a specific part of the lives
of people like myself, who belong to two
cultures, and has not often been reflected in
American popular culture, Generation Z is changing that.
On TikTok, auntie videos are everywhere: from one about
how African aunties can sweetly and passive-aggressively
question you about your (unacceptable) choice of outfit—
and when you are finally getting married—that made me
laugh out loud, to another about nosy Indian aunties who
promise to be discreet with your secrets but end up telling
every single person they know. Aunties seem to be on their
way to becoming a phenomenon; the delightful actress
Tracee Ellis Ross is now Instagram’s favorite one.
Auntie style is mostly ephemeral—an unbothered mood,
but still recognizable. It can look like a middle-aged woman
on the street, flamboyantly put together, cradling a phone to
her ear, balancing shopping and grocery bags and herding
her kids home while speaking Yoruba and English to her
caller and her children at the same time. It can also look like
a 20-something student in a slouchy dashiki dress and big
glasses giving no-nonsense romantic advice to her friends. If
what a woman wears influences how she feels, the aunties I
know aspire to be deliriously joyful. The women in this collage
all have an elegance regardless of their age. “It’s the way they
carry themselves. You can rock auntie style at 18, you can
rock auntie style at 50—it doesn’t matter,” Obaweya says.
Now in my 30s, I still aim for the flair of my favorite aunties
when I pick clothes, move through the world, and reflect on
how I feel about myself. So much about having aunties is the
emotional experience of always feeling looked after—through
moves to foreign countries, breakups, and job changes. It’s
an experience I want to give another little girl one day, too. @

119
GOOD JEANS
Akech wears a Louis Vuitton
top; louisvuitton.com.
Tom Ford skirt; tomford.com.
Miu Miu shoes. Fall wears a
Post-Imperial x Homecoming
T-shirt, $148; brownsfashion
.com. Balmain skirt, $1,493;
balmain.com. Bonnie Clyde
sunglasses. Beads Byaree
earrings. Tom Ford sandals.
 JEWEL TONES
From Ottolinger, an
artfully splotchy
silk jacket ($1,300;
ottolinger.com)
splits the difference
between the prim
and the punchy. Beads
Byaree earrings.

121
IT’S A CINCH
Changkou looks every
bit the 21st-century
disco queen in a
glittering Salvatore
Ferragamo dress;
ferragamo.com. Chloé
earrings. Bracelets by
Ariana Boussard-Reifel,
Ippolita, Annoushka,
Jennifer Fisher,
Pippa Small, and
Beads Byaree.
 JOY DIVISION
Akech has evidently
taken a shine to this
JW Anderson metallic
tunic, ruffled top, and
jersey pants ($1,290);
jwanderson.com.
Schiaparelli earrings.
In this story: hair, Shiori
Takahashi; makeup,
Ammy Drammeh.
Details, see In This Issue.
P RODUCED BY LO LA P RODUCTION; SE T DESIGN BY ALIC E ANDREWS.
LA VIE DE

124
VIRGINIE
After years working
alongside Karl Lagerfeld,
Virginie Viard is
quietly and confidently
reimagining Chanel
for the house’s next
chapter. By Hamish
Bowles. Photographed
by Anton Corbijn.

V
irginie Viard, the quiet,
creative force behind a
stealthy reimagining of
Chanel, may be a woman
of few words, but she doesn’t mince
them. Her conversation, as her friend
the model and music producer Caro-
line de Maigret says, “is the opposite
of small talk. She doesn’t know how
to fake it.”
Viard vividly remembers her first
Chanel show, a campy Karl Lagerfeld
haute couture extravaganza staged
in the late 1980s that she was taken
to as a treat by the father of a family
friend. The collection was all hats and
gloves and models, including Inès de
la Fressange and Marpessa Hennink,
vamping for the runway photogra-
phers. What did Viard make of the
collection? “Horrible!” she says now,
matter-of-factly. “So old.”
Viard’s trajectory has taken her
from Lagerfeld’s invaluable Chanel
studio director—he famously de-
scribed her as “my right arm…and
my left arm”—to, following his death
in February 2019, the creative direc-
tor for the brand, in a transition of
such seamless elegance that it might
have been constructed in the house’s
fabled haute couture workrooms.
If fashion’s chattering classes were

INTO THE SPOTLIGHT

Chanel creative director Virginie Viard
and her son, Robinson Fyot, in Paris.
Sittings Editor: Suzanne Koller.

125
 expecting the famously private Wert-
heimer family, who own Chanel, to
install another boldface name to re-
place Lagerfeld, there were plenty
of clues to indicate that they would
opt for continuity and reward experi-
ence and expertise instead—not least
that Lagerfeld himself brought Viard,
who had worked for him since 1987,
out to share the applause at the last
two collections where he
took a bow.
Standing in the long shad-
ows cast by Lagerfeld and
Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel—
two of the most formidable
creative forces of the 20th
and 21st centuries—Viard,
58, who might be the least
famous designer in fashion
at its most famous house, is
shy and almost self-effacing
in comparison. “She’s ac-
tion versus talk,” says the
actress and Chanel brand
ambassador Kristen Stew-
art, who adds that Viard
“embraces otherness—she
herself is quite strange in a
beautiful way.”
Born in Lyon, France’s
storied textile center, to par-
ents who were both doctors,
Viard moved to the small
regional city of Dijon when
her father was appointed
to the city’s hospital. As a
child, Viard would some-
times dress up as a nurse
or doctor and accompany
him to the hospital to cheer
up some of his patients, but
she never intended to follow
her parents into medicine.
“I love meeting doctors; I
love speaking with them,” she says
now, but she long ago decided that
“fashion is easier!”
At 20, Viard, who was taught to
sew by her mother, established a
label, Nirvana, with a friend, mak-
ing clothing using fabrics produced
in her grandfather’s textile factory.
Like the young Gabrielle Chanel,
Viard preferred working with jersey
“because you don’t need a special
cut—the body gives it the shape” but
later honed her pattern-cutting game
at a local fashion school. (She also
worked as a Saturday girl at a local
costume-jewelry store, though “I
126
was never actually selling anything,”
Viard recalls. “I was afraid of the cus-
tomers! But I was redoing the shop
and the windows all the time—red
one week, green the next.”)
Paris eventually beckoned, where—
through her well-connected Lyon-
nais roommate—Viard found an
internship with Jacqueline de Ribes,
the city’s queen-bee socialite, who
FIRST LADY
had recently decided to Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, the
parlay her consummate house’s vaunted founder,
taste and flair for fash- altering one of her signature
ion into a brand of her tweeds in the 1960s.
own. “We were working
in her house,” Viard recalls, “all the
fabrics were laid out on the bed, and
the photocopy machine was in the
bathroom. I was the assistant to three
people—we were four in total.”
Soon she moved on to become
an assistant to the costume design-
er Dominique Borg, acclaimed for
her work on such movies as Bru-
no Nuytten’s Camille Claudel and
Claude Lelouch’s Les Misérables, and
discovered what she felt was her true
calling. Her family, meanwhile, had
long since moved to a country house
in Burgundy, where their neighbor—
the aide de camp of Monaco’s Prince
Rainier—soon met Karl Lagerfeld, a
Monegasque resident and intime of
Princess Caroline, the prince’s daugh-
ter, and boldly asked him whether
he needed an intern. Fatefully, he
did. Viard duly went to rue
Cambon to meet Lager-
feld’s aide de camp, the
patrician Gilles Dufour,
who hired her on the spot.
“Immediately Karl was
asking me, ‘What do you
think of this?’ ‘What do
you think of that color?’ I
was so embarrassed,” Viard
recalls. Her internship soon
morphed into a full-time
job. “Karl clicked with
Virginie immediately,” says
Eric Wright, another pillar
of Lagerfeld’s design team.
“There’s always been this
calmness to Virginie that’s
very, very discreet, but her
presence and her energy are
very, very strong and very
influential.”
At the time, the team
was small: Besides Dufour
and Wright, there was a
ready-to-wear assistant, an
accessories designer with
an assistant, and Victoire
de Castellane, Dufour’s
high-spirited niece, then
responsible for Chanel’s
larger-than-life costume
jewelry. Viard soon saw an
opportunity that ap-
pealed to her training
in costume design and
her meticulous orga-
nizational skills.
“My chance was
that nobody was in
charge of the embroidery,” she says,
and so she would be dispatched to
work with the formidable François
Lesage of the storied embroidery
workshop. “He and Karl were two
HATAMI/SH UTT ERSTOC K .
egos,” Viard recalls. “Ooh-la-la! I had
to be diplomatic!”
Viard relished her interactions with
the extraordinary characters who pro-
vided Chanel with a treasury of hand-
craft. The button-maker Monsieur
 Desrues, for instance, who would “I never wore Chanel, even when and [his brand] Lagerfeld.” His design
arrive every day at twelve, bringing I worked there!” admitted Viard sessions were set to a soundtrack of the
his suitcase, which might be empty at the time: Sybilla, Helmut Lang, Red Hot Chili Peppers or the grunge
but for one jewellike example of his John Galliano, and Martin Margiela music that Viard loved. (“Music-wise,
art, wrapped in a piece of paper, or were her designers of choice.“I like she’s very rock and roll,” says de Mai-
Madame Pouzieux, who wove ex- the occasional funny wink,” she not- gret, “and she always likes when people
traordinary braids ed, “but nothing too have that side to them, that little ex-
for the Chanel suits ELEGANT VARIATION artificial. I guess you tra something.”) Afterward, she and
in her atelier above Viard, fitting model Malika could say I like things Wright would head for late-night din-
her farmhouse sta- Louback in a look from Chanel’s that are stylized but ners chez Natacha, the fashion world’s
spring 2021 collection.
bles in the depths real.” Viard’s electric eatery of choice at the time. Wright
of the French coun- was impressed by Viard’s
tryside. “I would receive network of actor friends,
her samples,” says Viard, who would often join them.
“and they would smell “Vincent Lindon, Juliette
of her horses…. Luck- Binoche, Isabelle Adjani—
ily, I love horses.” (In they all trusted her advice of
recent years, Chanel has what to wear, how to dress,”
acquired 38 of these en- Wright says. “All of the
dangered Maisons d’Art, young actresses and actors
or craft workshops— that are part of the French
including feather- and film establishment now trust
artificial-flower-makers, Virginie enormously.”
custom milliners, glove- By the late ’90s, Lagerfeld
makers, pleaters, and textile decided to bring Viard back
and footwear designers— to Chanel. “The only thing
and 11 of them will soon I wanted was to stay with
be consolidated in 19M, a Karl,” she says, “because
vast dedicated hub in the when I came back to Chanel,
north of Paris scheduled to it was not the best time. I re-
be unveiled next year.) member a show when Karl

I
n 1992, Karl La-
gerfeld returned to
Chloé, the house
wh o s e ro m a n t i c
and poetically retro style
he had defined from 1964
until he left to join Chanel
in 1982, and he brought
Viard with him.“Whatev-
er you do, just surround
yourself with tons of
women,” the pragmatic
Lagerfeld advised Wright,
“Virginie loves luxury in clothing—
“different personalities
of women: That way, you
feed off one another.” In
1993, Vogue profiled Viard
as an It girl who exem-
plified the spirit of Lagerfeld’s
BE N OIT PEV ERE LLI, COURTESY OF CH ANE L.
the craftsmanship, the beauty,”
Wright says. “But she’s always been
incredibly practical”
aesthetic, including what she calls
wanted just neoprene. I tried
to make him love tweeds and
all that because…neoprene
at Chanel, the new molded
bag? Horrible! We had to go
back to the romance!”
“You can tell the moment
Virginie arrived back,” says
Wright, “because things
became more pure, more
fluid. She loves luxury in
clothing—the craftsman-
ship, the beauty. But she’s
always been incredibly
practical.” Viard’s particular
brand of French bohemian
style soon quietly influenced
Lagerfeld to reshape the
Chanel aesthetic. “She loves
things to fit easily, with this ease and

newborn Chloé. “I adore dopey
things!” she told the writer Charla Car-
ter, who noted the collection of snow
domes, the green plastic frog tele-
phone, and the papier-mâché cactus
in her eclectic red-and yellow-striped
decor, which was painted by Stefan
Lubrina (who is now responsible for
the epic Chanel sets) to evoke the
work of the Bloomsbury artists.
“flea market hits,” was exemplified
in such looks as the red panne vel-
vet pajama pants she wore with a
man’s white cotton undershirt—was
soon reflected in Lagerfeld’s boho
Chloé collections.
At Chloé, Viard kept nocturnal
hours. “Karl was arriving really late,”
she recalls, “sometimes eleven o’clock
at night, because he had Chanel all day
nonchalance. Virginie was finding a
freshness for Chanel.”
These qualities now define Viard’s
approach as creative director. “I
remember one time asking Karl,
‘Oh, can’t you make a classic little
shirtdress like this [vintage] one?’ ”
recalls Sofia Coppola, who interned
at Chanel herself in the 1980s.
“And he’s like, ‘No—we never look

127
 back. We always are going forward.’
Virginie’s into revisiting things, but
she always makes them look fresh—
it’s her version of it. It doesn’t ever
look like a replica.”
Coppola art-directed Viard’s pre-fall
2020 Métiers d’Art collection, named
Paris-31 rue Cambon, re-creating
the Chanel couture salon with its fa-
mous staircase and walls of faceted
mirrors— installed so that Gabrielle
Chanel could spy on the reflected re-
actions of her audience while remain-
ing unseen—in the Grand
Palais. (The distinguished
decorator Jacques Grange
is currently renovating the
original—transformed for
Lagerfeld into a modern-
ist black-and-gray set by
Christian Liaigre in the
early noughties—to reflect
Viard’s taste by evoking
the salon’s original 1930s
atmosphere.) Coppola
suggested that they hold
the dinner and after-party
at the legendary 1920s
restaurant La Coupole,
an evening that provid-
ed a riotous glimpse into
Viard’s rock-chick world
when the young Belgian
singer Angèle sang and the
legendary French crooner
Christophe surprised the
crowds by performing an
impromptu set of his own.
(Christophe succumbed
to COVID-19 earlier this
year, and Viard opened her
spring 2021 collection with
one of his songs.)
As a prelude to the MAKING THE TEAM
Paris-31 rue Cambon Viard and the late Karl Lagerfeld,
project, Viard ar- whom she first joined at Chanel
ranged a rendezvous as a studio intern in 1987.
with Coppola at the
Patrimoine, on the outskirts of Paris,
where the astounding Chanel archives
are preserved in museum-like condi-
tions. “Virginie pulled up on a mo-
torcycle messenger, hopped off, took
off her helmet, and was like, ‘Okay,
let’s go,’” Coppola recalls. Viard took
Coppola through the endless avenues
of closets, pulling such wonders as
Chanel’s silk pajamas, or a 1960s suit
with an Op Art tie-dyed silk blouse
and matching jacket lining. “She
took so much delight in showing me
128
all these treasures,” says Coppola. “It’s
just fun—someone that loves Chanel
so much and wanted to share that.”
The 1960s suit lining led to a tie-dye
section in the collection. When the
archive’s director, Odile Prémel, has
an important new acquisition, she
will bring it to Viard and the premières
of the Chanel ateliers so they can
study the technique. “It’s like a private
lesson,” says Viard. “J’adore, j’adore!”
There is more opportunity to ex-
plore Coco’s legacy when Viard and I
are taken around the
exhibition Gabri-
elle Chanel. Fashion
Manifesto at the Pal-
ais Galliera, Paris’s
dedicated museum of fashion, emerg-
ing from a two-year renovation under-
written by Chanel. Viard is entranced
by the miraculous 1920s dresses that
evoke Lagerfeld’s Chloé aesthetic, and
by such wonders as a 1934 pewter se-
quined evening jacket, worn over a
pleated crepe skirt, and Chanel’s own
ivory silk daytime pajamas. “It’s so
modern,” says Viard. “This is what
makes her really close to us.” (“Ga-
brielle wanted to be free—she want-
ed to be able to jump on a horse, and
go dancing like crazy, and then go to
work,” says de Maigret. “And so she
invented comfortable clothes. Virginie
is answering the same question of
what we want now.”)
At the end of the tour, Viard,
deeply moved, struggles to express
her thoughts. “It’s two whole lives
of creation,” she says. “I remember
some sketches of Karl, some collec-
tions, that I now realize were inspired
by one detail or another that I’ve seen
here. It’s her life. It’s his life.”
Before she leaves to
return to her fittings, Viard
stops in the gift shop to
buy postcards that she will
include with the flowers
she will select at Lachaume
and send to each of the ate-
lier heads after the collec-
tion is finished. Above her
mask, Viard’s eyes twinkle
with delight at the thought.
J
ust how has Viard’s
promotion changed
her life? “I work
more,” Viard dead-
pans. “I work all the time.
It’s as if my grandparents
had given me their fabric
house and I wanted it to be
the best—I wanted them to
be happy. I’m often asking
myself, ‘Karl, what do you
think? Is it okay?’”
On the eve of Viard’s
spring 2021 ready-to-wear
show, the fabled Chanel
studio is humming with
activity. Almost all the
pan-generational assis-
tants are women, and the deeply
collaborative Viard is keen to have
their input. Many have been with
Chanel for decades. Photographers
Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh
Matadin have come to show Viard
the stills from a series of three short
promotional movie teasers they
have produced, riffing on an iconic
image of Gabrielle Chanel with her
arm thrown over the back of a chair.
They are now ensconced in a com-
fortable high-back sofa that has been
COURTESY OF CH AOS.
placed against the wall at the end of
the studio where Lagerfeld once sat
sketching furiously away at his desk.
Viard, it seems, rarely sits: She
is too busy C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 1 4 8
 TRUNK SHOW
Viard (center, in denim
jacket), flanked by her
muses and collaborators.
from far left: director
Ladj Ly; actor Suzanne
Lindon; singer Angèle;
musician Sébastien Tellier;
Viard’s son, Robinson Fyot;
model Mona Tougaard;
writer Anne Berest; and
model, author, and friend
of the house Caroline de
Maigret. In this story: hair,
Delphine Courteille;
makeup, Lucia Pica.
PRO DUC ED BY KITTE N PRODUCTION S.
SOMETHING’S
COMING
Zegler wears a
silk charmeuse
off-the-shoulder
dress by Vera Wang
(verawang.com)
and a Jennifer Behr
pearl-encrusted
headband. A Tiffany
& Co. choker
finishes the look.
Fashion Editor:
Tonne Goodman.
 JUST MET A GIRL
Ruffled blouse from
Saint Laurent by
Anthony Vaccarello
($1,990; ysl.com)
and a tulle skirt by
Simone Rocha
(simonerocha.com).
Chanel Fine Jewelry
earrings. Chanel
clutch. Giuseppe
Zanotti kitten heels.

THE NEXT CHAPTER

In the retelling of West Side Story arriving late 2021, Rachel Zegler will deliver a Maria
for the modern day—one that’s worth the wait. Photographed by Stefan Ruiz.
 PRETTY AND WITTY AND BRIGHT
left: Dolce & Gabbana embroidered tulle dress (dolcegabbana.com).
right: For a demure touch, a strapless dress is layered over a guipure-lace top, both by
Chanel (chanel.com). Zegler hugs a floral clutch by Valentino Garavani.

T
imelines tend to go askew for
Rachel Zegler. “I remember
sending an email to the head
of admissions at Montclair
State University saying, ‘I know this
sounds like a lie, but this is what hap-
pened, and this is why I can’t attend.’ ”
“What happened” was that the
19-year-old singer and actor, then a
musical theater–obsessed high school
student, was cast as Maria in Steven
Spielberg’s revision of West Side Story.
A year earlier, in January 2018, Zegler’s
friend Makena Reynolds had shared a
casting-call tweet along with a “Thank
me when you’re famous” quip. That
night, Zegler submitted a homemade
video of “I Feel Pretty”—or, as Zegler
expressed it, “Me Siento Bonita.”
Within weeks she was auditioning.
College has been put on hold, and so
too has the film. The movie’s December
2020 release was pushed back a full
year in hopes of a post-pandemic
cinema debut, leaving Zegler, who
wrapped production months ago, to
take up some of the same lockdown
pastimes as the rest of us: roller-skat-
ing, guitar-playing. Zegler, who was
raised in Clifton, New Jersey, spent
her youth traveling into Manhattan
for Broadway shows, and so she’s also
been consuming as much virtually
accessible culture as possible. “It’s a
horrible reality, not being able to have
live theater,” she says, “but I really
enjoy watching the way entertainment
is adapting.” She’s also spending time
with her Colombian-American fam-
ily, which is immeasurably proud of
her. In Zegler’s portrayal of Maria
(opposite heartthrob Ansel Elgort as
Tony), not only is she realizing her own
Hollywood dreams but she’s a Latina
playing a Puerto Rican immigrant—a
role famously whitewashed by an artifi-
cially bronzed Natalie Wood in the 1961
film adaption. Throughout our con-
versation, she carefully articulates: It’s
“Mah-riya,” not the Anglo “Muh-riya.”
For Zegler, the film serves as “a
beautiful display of Latin joy and the
way that young Latin girls deserve to
see themselves—dancing around in
pretty dresses and singing about loving
themselves. It’s something that’s mat-
tered so much to me, being Latina—
singing ‘I Feel Pretty’ and meaning it.
I hope that young people everywhere
will know that their features are gor-
geous and their culture is beautiful.
I think that’s what it’s meant to my
family,” she continues. “They know
that it’s going to happen.” Another
surety? Makena absolutely deserves
a thank-you.—lilah ramzi

132
PLAY IT COOL, GIRL
Zegler looks prim
and proper in a
sleeveless blouse
worn beneath a
corseted dress, both
by Dior (dior.com).
Marlo Laz
diamond earrings
act as buttons.

133
 A PLACE FOR US
Jerome Robbins’s
choreography inspired
this pose—involving a
Prada dolman-sleeved
shirt ($1,060) and circle
skirt ($1,560; both at
prada.com). She dances
in slides by Giambattista
Valli. In this story: hair,
Mustafa Yanaz; makeup,
Dick Page. Details, see
In This Issue.
PRO DUC ED BY W ILLIAM GALUS HA; SP ECIAL THAN KS TO HO OK PROPS.
RIGHT ANGLE
In a home designed
by Marcel Breuer,
Kaia Gerber strikes a
pose in a Peter Do
cropped turtleneck
($1,290) and
knife-pleated wool
skirt ($2,200);
modaoperandi.com.
Jennifer Fisher
earrings. Proenza
Schouler shoes.
Fashion Editor:
Tonne Goodman.
Power Lines
With its bold rectilinearity and bolts of pure color, a
midcentury house frames smart day clothes that feel
distinctly modern. Photographed by Ethan James Green.
 BLUE FOR YOU
Gerber—in an armchair
by artist and designer
Dror Benshetrit—holds
to the straight and
narrow in an Hermès
cobalt-blue polo dress,
turtleneck ($1,475),
and skirt; hermes
.com. Cartier rings.
SPIN CONTROL
Gerber takes
to the grounds in
a Michael Kors
Collection cape coat
and turtleneck;
michaelkors.com.
Marc Jacobs boots.
Beats by Dr. Dre
earphones.
 EYES ON THE PRIZED
With its color-blocked
bodice and abbreviated
hemline, a dress from
Louis Vuitton (louisvuitton
.com) artfully evokes the
space-agey codes of
1960s mod. Tiffany & Co.
Elsa Peretti cuffs.
beauty note
Multitask your makeup.
YSL Beauty’s Rouge
Pur Couture Lipstick in
104 Jeu D’Attraction
adds an unexpected pop
of color at eye level.

140
 SET IN STONE
P RODUCE D BY A LEXI S P IQUE RAS AT AP STU DIO INC.

Delighting in curves both

natural and invented,
a shapely Loewe dress
($2,100; loewe.com)
leaves room for a quiet
sense of play. Proenza
Schouler boots. In this
story: hair, Jonathan
De Francesco; makeup,
Dick Page. Set design,
Julia Wagner. Special
thanks to the owners,
Kenneth Sena and
Joseph Mazzaferro.
Details, see In This Issue.
 2

ME RT ALAS AND MA RCUS P I GGOTT. VO GU E, 20 1 8. PRO DUCTS: COURTESY O F B RA N DS/ WE BSIT ES.
1

14

Gifts That Give Back

This holiday season, we’re committed to thoughtful presents—
from jewelry benefiting civil rights advocacy efforts to sustainably and
ethically made fashion from a few of our favorite brands.
 6

1. ALEXANDER McQUEEN MINI SATCHEL,

$1,950; ALEXANDERMCQUEEN
.COM. 2. WÖLFFER ESTATE VINEYARD
PINK GIN, FROM $30; WOLFFER.COM.
3. SLEEPER LOUNGEWEAR DRESS, $250;
THE-SLEEPER.COM. 4. JENNIFER MEYER
NECKLACE, $675; JENNIFERMEYER.COM.
5. TORY BURCH FACE MASK SET, $35;
7 TORYBURCH.COM. 6. AVL BACKGAMMON
BERMUDA BACKGAMMON BOARD, $1,325;
OVERTHEMOON.COM. 7. PRADA SNEAKERS;
PRADA.COM. 8. FAHERTY X B.YELLOWTAIL
EARRINGS, $145; FAHERTYBRAND.COM.
9. DÔEN CARDIGAN, $398; SHOPDOEN.COM.
10. TIFFANY & CO. TIFFANY SAVE THE WILD
BROOCH; TIFFANY.COM. 11. BLUEJAY
BIKES ELECTRIC BICYCLE; BLUEJAYBIKES
.COM. 12. LUMOS MATRIX HELMET, $280;
LUMOSHELMET.CO. 13. JOHN DERIAN

12
9

10
13
11
Index
4

Merrier
A second helping of trinkets—
a T-shirt targeting world hunger;
an ocean-plastic watch—for
16

13

15

12

11
 7
JO HN E DMO NDS. VOGUE, 2020. P RO DUCTS: COU RTESY O F BRANDS/W EBS IT ES.

1. PANGAIA TRACK PANTS, $120; THEPANGAIA.COM. 2. MICHAEL MICHAEL KORS T-SHIRT, $40; MICHAELKORS.COM. 3. ROGER VIVIER PUMP, $1,750;
ROGERVIVIER.COM. 4. TABLETOP ORNAMENTS HOLIDAY CARDS; $22 FOR 8; MOMA.ORG. 5. TOM FORD N.002 OCEAN PLASTIC TIMEPIECE, $995;
TOMFORD.COM. 6. STUDIO 189 DRESS, $425; STUDIOONEEIGHTYNINE.COM. 7. POSTCARDS FROM HOME, BY THE EDITORS OF VOGUE, $37; AMAZON.COM.
8. PROUNIS EARRINGS; PROUNISJEWELRY.COM. 9. MARK CROSS MINI TRUNK; MARKCROSS.COM. 10. SHINOLA X KORDAL STUDIOS MITTENS,
$75; SHINOLA.COM. 11. JIGGY X OLIVIA WENDEL PUZZLE, $49; JIGGYPUZZLES.COM. 12. BROTHER VELLIES BILLFOLD, $1,295; BROTHERVELLIES.COM.
13. GOOGLE NEST THERMOSTAT AND TRIM KIT, $145; AMAZON.COM. 14. POLO RALPH LAUREN PACKABLE JACKET, $275; RALPHLAUREN.COM.
15. COLLINA STRADA RHINESTONE WATER BOTTLE, $90; COLLINASTRADA.COM. 16. PLANTOYS RABBIT RACING CAR, $35; MAISONETTE.COM.
 PLAYTIME
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 107
a Sex Pistols Never Mind the Bollocks
poster (a moving-in gift from his dec-
orator), a Stevie Nicks album cover.
Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” was one
of the first songs he knew the words
to—“My parents were big fans”—and
he and Nicks have formed something
of a mutual-admiration society. At the
beginning of lockdown, Nicks tweeted
to her fans that she was taking inspira-
tion from Fine Line: “Way to go, H,”
she wrote. “It is your Rumours.” “She’s
always there for you,” said Styles when
he inducted Nicks into the Rock & Roll
Hall of Fame in 2019. “She knows what
you need—advice, a little wisdom, a
blouse, a shawl; she’s got you covered.”
Styles makes us some tea in the light-
filled kitchen and then wanders into the
convivial living room, where he strikes
an insouciant pose on the chesterfield
sofa, upholstered in a turquoise velvet
that perhaps not entirely coincidentally
sets off his eyes. Styles admits that his
lockdown lewk was “sweatpants, con-
stantly,” and he is relishing the oppor-
tunity to dress up again. He doesn’t have
to wait long: The following day, under
the eaves of a Victorian mansion in Not-
ting Hill, I arrive in the middle of fittings
for Vogue’s shoot and discover Styles in
his Y-fronts, patiently waiting to try on
looks for fashion editor Camilla Nick-
erson and photographer Tyler Mitchell.
Styles’s personal stylist, Harry Lam-
bert, wearing a pearl necklace and his
nails colored in various shades of green
varnish, à la Sally Bowles, is providing
helpful backup (Britain’s Rule of Six
hasn’t yet been imposed).
Styles, who has thoughtfully brought
me a copy of de Botton’s 2006 book The
Architecture of Happiness, is instinc-
tively and almost quaintly polite, in an
old-fashioned, holding-open-doors and
not-mentioning-lovers-by-name sort of
way. He is astounded to discover that
the Atlanta-born Mitchell has yet to
experience a traditional British Sunday
roast dinner. Assuring him that “it’s
basically like Thanksgiving every Sun-
day,” Styles gives Mitchell the details of
his favorite London restaurants in which
to enjoy one. “It’s a good thing to be
nice,” Mitchell tells me after a morning
in Styles’s company.
Mitchell has Lionel Wendt’s languor-
ously homoerotic 1930s portraits of
young Sri Lankan men on his mood
board. Nickerson is thinking of Irving
Penn’s legendary fall 1950 Paris haute
couture collections sitting, where he
photographed midcentury supermodels,
146 DECEMBER 2020 VOGUE.COM
including his wife, Lisa Fonssagrives,
in high-style Dior and Balenciaga cre-
ations. Styles is up for all of it, and so,
it would seem, is the menswear land-
scape of 2020: Jonathan Anderson
has produced a trapeze coat anchored
with a chunky gold martingale; John
Galliano at Maison Margiela has fash-
ioned a khaki trench with a portrait
neckline in layers of colored tulle; and
Harris Reed—a Saint Martins fashion
student sleuthed by Lambert who end-
ed up making some looks for Styles’s
last tour—has spent a week making
a broad-shouldered Smoking jacket
with high-waisted, wide-leg pants that
have become a Styles signature since
he posed for Tim Walker for the cover
of Fine Line wearing a Gucci pair—a
silhouette that was repeated in the tour
wardrobe. (“I liked the idea of having
that uniform,” says Styles.) Reed’s ver-
sion is worn with a hoopskirt draped in
festoons of hot-pink satin that somehow
suggests Deborah Kerr asking Yul Bryn-
ner’s King of Siam, “Shall we dance?”
Styles introduces me to the writer and
eyewear designer Gemma Styles, “my
sister from the same womb,” he says
(they have different fathers). She is also
here for the fitting: The siblings plan to
surprise their mother with the double
portrait on these pages.
I ask her whether her brother had
always been interested in clothes.
“My mum loved to dress us up,” she
remembers. “I always hated it, and Har-
ry was always quite into it. She did some
really elaborate papier-mâché outfits:
She made a giant mug and then painted
an atlas on it, and that was Harry being
‘The World Cup.’ Harry also had a lit-
tle dalmatian-dog outfit,” she adds, “a
hand-me-down from our closest family
friends. He would just spend an inordi-
nate amount of time wearing that outfit.
But then Mum dressed me up as Cruella
de Vil. She was always looking for any
opportunity!”
“As a kid I definitely liked fancy
dress,” Styles says. There were school
plays, the first of which cast him as Bar-
ney, a church mouse. “I was really young,
and I wore tights for that,” he recalls.
“I remember it was crazy to me that I
was wearing a pair of tights. And that was
maybe where it all kicked off!”
Acting has also remained a funda-
mental form of expression for Styles. His
sister recalls that even on the eve of his
life-changing X Factor audition, Styles
could sing in public only in an assumed
voice. “He used to do quite a good sort
of Elvis warble,” she remembers. During
the rehearsals in the family home, “he
would sing in the bathroom because if
it was him singing as himself, he just
couldn’t have anyone looking at him!
I love his voice now,” she adds. “I’m so
glad that he makes music that I actually
enjoy listening to.”
Styles’s role-playing continued soon
after 1D went on permanent hiatus in
2016, and he was cast in Christopher
Nolan’s Dunkirk, beating out dozens
of professional actors for the role. “The
good part was my character was a young
soldier who didn’t really know what he
was doing,” says Styles modestly. “The
scale of the movie was so big that I was a
tiny piece of the puzzle. It was definitely
humbling. I just loved being outside of
my comfort zone.”
His performance caught the eye of
Olivia Wilde, who remembers that it
“blew me away—the openness and com-
mitment.” In turn, Styles loved Wilde’s
directorial debut, Booksmart, and is “very
honored” that she cast him in a lead-
ing role for her second feature, a thriller
titled Don’t Worry Darling, which went
into production this fall. Styles will play
the husband to Florence Pugh in what
Styles describes as “a 1950s utopia in the
California desert.”
Wilde’s movie is costumed by Acad-
emy Award nominee Arianne Phillips.
“She and I did a little victory dance when
we heard that we officially had Harry in
the film,” notes Wilde, “because we knew
that he has a real appreciation for fashion
and style. And this movie is incredibly
stylistic. It’s very heightened and opu-
lent, and I’m really grateful that he is so
enthusiastic about that element of the
process—some actors just don’t care.”
“I like playing dress-up in general,”
Styles concurs, in a masterpiece of
understatement: This is the man, after
all, who cohosted the Met’s 2019 “Notes
on Camp” gala attired in a nipple-freeing
black organza blouse with a lace jabot,
and pants so high-waisted that they
cupped his pectorals. The ensemble,
accessorized with the pearl-drop earring
of a dandified Elizabethan courtier, was
created for Styles by Gucci’s Alessandro
Michele, whom he befriended in 2014.
Styles, who has subsequently personi-
fied the brand as the face of the Gucci
fragrance, finds Michele “fearless with
his work and his imagination. It’s really
inspiring to be around someone who
works like that.”
The two first met in London over a
cappuccino. “It was just a kind of PR
appointment,” says Michele, “but some-
thing magical happened, and Harry is
now a friend. He has the aura of an
English rock-and-roll star—like a young
Greek god with the attitude of James
Dean and a little bit of Mick Jagger—but

no one is sweeter. He is the image of a
new era, of the way that a man can look.”
Styles credits his style transformation—
from Jack Wills tracksuit-clad boy-band
heartthrob to nonpareil fashionisto—to
his meeting the droll young stylist Harry
Lambert seven years ago. They hit it off
at once and have conspired ever since,
enjoying a playfully campy rapport
and calling each other Sue and Susan
as they parse the niceties of the scarlet
lace Gucci man-bra that Michele has
made for Vogue’s shoot, for instance, or
a pair of Bode pants hand-painted with
biographical images (Styles sent Emily
Adams Bode images of his family, and
a photograph he had found of David
Hockney and Joni Mitchell. “The idea
of those two being friends, to me, was
really beautiful,” Styles explains).
“He just has fun with clothing, and
that’s kind of where I’ve got it from,”
says Styles of Lambert. “He doesn’t take
it too seriously, which means I don’t
take it too seriously.” The process has
been evolutionary. At his first meeting
with Lambert, the stylist proposed “a
pair of flares, and I was like, ‘Flares?
That’s fucking crazy,’ ” Styles remem-
bers. Now he declares that “you can
never be overdressed. There’s no such
thing. The people that I looked up to in
music—Prince and David Bowie and
Elvis and Freddie Mercury and Elton
John—they’re such showmen. As a kid it
was completely mind-blowing. Now I’ll
put on something that feels really flam-
boyant, and I don’t feel crazy wearing it.
I think if you get something that you feel
amazing in, it’s like a superhero outfit.
Clothes are there to have fun with and
experiment with and play with. What’s
really exciting is that all of these lines
are just kind of crumbling away. When
you take away ‘There’s clothes for men
and there’s clothes for women,’ once
you remove any barriers, obviously you
open up the arena in which you can
play. I’ll go in shops sometimes, and I
just find myself looking at the women’s
clothes thinking they’re amazing. It’s
like anything—anytime you’re putting
barriers up in your own life, you’re just
limiting yourself. There’s so much joy to
be had in playing with clothes. I’ve never
really thought too much about what it
means—it just becomes this extended
part of creating something.”
“He’s up for it,” confirms Lambert,
who earlier this year, for instance,
found a JW Anderson cardigan with
the look of a Rubik’s Cube (“on sale at
matches.com!”). Styles wore it, acces-
sorized with his own pearl necklace, for a
Today rehearsal in February and it went
viral: His fans were soon knitting their
own versions and posting the results on
TikTok. Jonathan Anderson declared
himself “so impressed and incredibly
humbled by this trend” that he nimbly
made the pattern available (complete
with a YouTube tutorial) so that Styles’s
fans could copy it for free. Meanwhile,
London’s storied Victoria & Albert
Museum has requested Styles’s original:
an emblematic document of how people
got creative during the COVID era. “It’s
going to be in their permanent collec-
tion,” says Lambert exultantly. “Is that
not sick? Is that not the most epic thing?”
“To me, he’s very modern,” says
Wilde of Styles, “and I hope that this
brand of confidence as a male that Har-
ry has—truly devoid of any traces of
toxic masculinity—is indicative of his
generation and therefore the future of
the world. I think he is in many ways
championing that, spearheading that.
It’s pretty powerful and kind of extraor-
dinary to see someone in his position
redefining what it can mean to be a man
with confidence.”
“He’s really in touch with his fem-
inine side because it’s something nat-
ural,” notes Michele. “And he’s a big
inspiration to a younger generation—
about how you can be in a totally free
playground when you feel comfortable.
I think that he’s a revolutionary.”
Styles’s confidence is on full display the
day after the fitting, which finds us all
on the beautiful Sussex dales. Over the
summit of the hill, with its trees blown
horizontal by the fierce winds, lies the
English Channel. Even though it’s a two-
hour drive from London, the fresh-faced
Styles, who went to bed at 9 p.m., has
arrived on set early: He is famously early
for everything. The team is installed in
a traditional flint-stone barn. The giant
doors have been replaced by glass and
frame a bucolic view of distant grazing
sheep. “Look at that field!” says Styles.
“How lucky are we? This is our office!
Smell the roses!” Lambert starts to sing
“Kumbaya, my Lord.”
Hairdresser Malcolm Edwards is set-
ting Styles’s hair in a Victory roll with
silver clips, and until it is combed out he
resembles Kathryn Grayson with stub-
ble. His fingers are freighted with rings,
and “he has a new army of mini purses,”
says Lambert, gesturing to an accessory
table heaving with examples including a
mini sky-blue Gucci Diana bag discreetly
monogrammed HS. Michele has also
made Styles a dress for the shoot that
Tissot might have liked to paint—acres
of ice-blue ruffles, black Valenciennes
lace, and suivez-moi, jeune homme rib-
bons. Ere long, Styles is gamely racing
Statement Required by 39 U.S.C. 3685 showing the Ownership, Management and
Circulation of Vogue, published Monthly, except for a combined issue in June/July (11 issues)
for October 1, 2020. Publication No. 489-270. Annual subscription price $29.95.
1. Location of known office of Publication is One World Trade Center,
New York, NY 10007.
2. Location of the Headquarters or General Business Offices of the Publisher is One
World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007.
3. The names and addresses of the Publisher, Editor and Managing Editor are:
Publisher, Susan Plagemann, One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007.
Editor, Anna Wintour, One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007.
Managing Editor, David Byars, One World Trade Center, NY,
NY 10007.
4. The owner is: Advance Magazine Publishers Inc., published through its Condé Nast
division, One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. Stockholder: Directly
or indirectly through intermediate corporations to the ultimate corporate parent,
Advance Publications, Inc., 950 Fingerboard Road, Staten Island, NY 10305.
5. Known bondholders, mortgagees and other security holders owning or holding
1 percent or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages or other securities are: None.
6. Extent and nature of circulation
Average No. Copies
each issue during
Single Issue
nearest to
a. Total No. Copies
preceding 12 months
1,367,842
filing date
1,489,497
b. Paid Circulation
(1) Mailed Outside-County Paid 845,116 827,631
Subscriptions Stated on
PS Form 3541
(2) Mailed In-County Paid
Subscriptions Stated on
0 0
PS Form 3541
(3) Paid Distribution Outside the 65,711 130,089
Mails Including Sales Through
Dealers and Carriers, Street
Vendors, Counter Sales, and
Other Paid Distribution
Outside USPS®
(4) Paid Distribution by Other 0 0
Classes of Mail Through
the USPS
c. Total Paid Distribution 910,827 957,721
d. Free or Nominal Rate Distribution
(1) Free or Nominal Rate 262,375 223,138
Outside-County Copies
included on PS Form 3541
(2) Free or Nominal Rate 0 0
In-County Copies
included on PS Form 3541
(3) Free or Nominal Rate Copies 0 0
Mailed at Other Classes
Through the USPS
(4) Free or Nominal Rate
Distribution Outside the Mail
12,223 2,971
e. Total Free or Nominal Rate
Distribution
274,597 226,109
f. Total Distribution
g. Copies not Distributed
1,185,424
182,417
1,183,830
305,667
h. Total
i. Percent Paid
1,367,843
76.84%
1,489,497
80.90%
j. Paid Electronic Copies
k. Total Paid Print Copies (line 15c)
27,798
938,625
23,818
981,539
+ Paid Electronic Copies
l. Total Print Distribution (line 15f) 1,213,222 1,207,648
+ Paid Electronic Copies
m. Percent Paid (Both Print & 77.37% 81.28%
Electronic Copies)
7. I certify that all information furnished on this form is true and complete. (Signed)
Maria Betances, Executive Director, Consumer Marketing
up a hill in it, dodging sheep scat, thistles,
and shards of chalk, and striking a pose
for Mitchell that manages to make ruffles
a compelling new masculine proposition,
just as Mr. Fish’s frothy white cotton
dress—equal parts Romantic poet and
Greek presidential guard—did for Mick
Jagger when he wore it for The Rolling
Stones’ free performance in Hyde Park
in 1969, or as the suburban-mom flo-
ral housedress did for Kurt Cobain as
he defined the iconoclastic grunge aes-
thetic. Styles is mischievously singing
ABBA’s “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A
Man After Midnight)” to himself when
Mitchell calls him outside to jump up
and down on a trampoline in a Comme
des Garçons buttoned wool kilt. “How
did it look?” asks his sister when he
comes in from the cold. “Divine,” says
her brother in playful Lambert-speak.
As the wide sky is washed in pink,
orange, and gray, like a Turner sunset,
and Mitchell calls it a successful day,
Styles is playing “Cherry” from Fine
Line on his Fender acoustic on the hill-
top. “He does his own stunts,” says his
sister, laughing. The impromptu set is
greeted with applause. “Thank you,
Antwerp!” says Styles playfully, bowing
to the crowd. “Thank you, fashion!” @
147
 LA VIE DE VIRGINIE
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 128
engaging with and styling the models in
the dressing room at the opposite end of
the studio, pondering whether to add a
veiled 1930s-style hair band or a baby-
pink or pearlescent-pink quilted purse
to an ensemble. “Not everything suits
everybody,” Viard explains, “and if they
don’t feel comfortable in the clothes, I
change the clothes.” The models range
from Amanda Sanchez, who has been
the house model for 19 years, to Louise de
Chevigny, who was discovered, as Viard
notes, by Chanel alum Inès de la Fres-
sange for her eponymous brand’s catalog.
“I adore her,” says Viard of de
Chevigny, noting that she resembles
the powerfully chic women who stalked
the 1980s fashion runways or Helmut
Newton’s photographs of that period.
“We have a lot of French this time,”
says Viard proudly, delighting in the
fact that international travel restrictions
have meant that she has had to cast
closer to home.
“She loves the models,” says van
Lamsweerde. “She gets obsessed, and
she wants to make them more beautiful,
to feel good, look good—there’s a real
generosity there.
“Virginie’s vision is so much more
about a life and what you wear in it,
rather than trying to make statements
about fashion or change,” adds van
Lamsweerde. “They’re not concerned
in this company with, Are we relevant?
They’re not torturing themselves. It’s
much more about supporting the life of
the woman who buys her clothes. It’s a
very feminine approach.”
For the collection, Viard has tapped
into her passion not only for movies
but for actresses. Van Lamsweerde
did a deep dive into Romy Schneider
in Visconti’s Boccaccio ’70 and Del-
phine Seyrig in Alain Resnais’s Last
Year at Marienbad, both of whom
were memorably dressed by Gabrielle
Chanel herself. As they soon discov-
ered, however, Viard—whose movie
tastes run from French Nouvelle Vague
to the 2019 Les Misérables (directed
by her friend Ladj Ly, whom she met
through Pharrell)—was “drawing her
inspiration from today: actresses on the
red carpet or going to the airport or for
a Starbucks,” as van Lamsweerde says.
“It’s more like a wardrobe for different
moments in a woman’s life or in a day.
There’s a sense of freedom there—it’s
just unapologetic Chanel.”
Although she is now the creative
director for a multi-billion-dollar global
brand and her workload has changed
exponentially, Viard has resisted any
effort to adapt her private life. While
Lagerfeld famously surrounded him-
self by turns with world-class Art
Deco treasures, then museum-quality
18th-century decorative arts, then state-
of-the-art contemporary design, Viard

In This Issue chopovalowena.com.

Table of contents: 32: On
Fall: Dress with gloves,
$2,277; marineserre.com.
Saint Laurent by Anthony
Vaccarello earring, $595
for pair; ysl.com. Lafalaise
Dion headpiece, worn
as necklace, $248;
lfalaisedion.com. On
Changkou: Top ($915)
and skirt ($2,405);
marineserre.com.
Lafalaise Dion headpiece,
$248; lafalaisedion.com.
Lizzie Fortunato
earring, $195 for pair;
saksfifthavenue.com.
Manicurist, Ama Quashie.
Tailor, Della George.
36: Dress, $4,750;
verawang.com. Headband,
$275; jenniferbehr.com.
Choker, $150,000;
tiffany.com. Manicurist,
Megumi Yamamoto.
Tailor, Leah Huntsinger.
Cover look: 36: Jacket
($4,500) and dress
($53,000); gucci.com.
Manicurist, Jenny
Longworth. Tailor,
Nafisa Tosh. Editor’s
letter: 38: On Styles: Suit
with ball gown skirt,
$23,000; harrisreed.com.
JW Anderson loafers,
$640; jwanderson.com.
Manicurist, Jenny
Shoes, $690; church-
footwear.com. 101: Blazer
($3,815) and kilt ($910);
doverstreetmarket.com.
Longworth. Tailor, Nafisa Socks, $27; bloomingdales
Tosh. Contributors: 44: .com. 102: Belt, price upon
On Akech: Duro Olowu request; jwanderson.com.
dress, $4,405; ikram.com. Sweater vest ($505)
Headwrap made of and kilted skirt ($1,070);
fabric from Rose African walesbonner.com. Maison
Fabrics, pinned by the Margiela socks, $175;
hair team led by Shiori maisonmargiela.com.
Takahashi. Octave Jewelry 103: Pants, $890;
earring, $445 for pair; bodenewyork.com.
octavejewelry.com. 104: Coat, $2,015;
Up front: 50: Gucci top , jwanderson.com. Maison
$890; gucci.com. Margiela socks, $175;
Baserange underpants, maisonmargiela.com.
$36; baserange.net. 105: Trench coat, $2,155;
Tailor: Cha Cha Zutic. maisonmargiela.com.
106–107: Suit with ball
PLAYTIME gown skirt, $23,000;
96–97: Belted skirt, harrisreed.com. JW
$1,760; chopovalowena Anderson loafers, $640;
.com. Maison Margiela jwanderson.com.
socks, $175; In this story: Manicurist,
maisonmargiela.com. Jenny Longworth.
98: Jacket ($4,500) Tailor, Nafisa Tosh.
and dress ($53,000);
gucci.com. 99: Coat FAMILY VALUES
(price upon request), 108: Dress, $4,405.
shirt ($1,100), and pants Headwrap made of fabric
($1,200); gucci.com. from Rose African Fabrics,
100: On Harry: Coat, pinned by the hair team led
$1,947; martine-rose.com. by Shiori Takahashi.
Sweater, $345; Earrings, $445;
margarethowell.co.uk. octavejewelry.com. Boots,
Pants, $770; marni.com. $2,290; victoriabeckham
Celine by Hedi Slimane .com. 109: On Changkou:
belt, $380; celine.com. Leggings; also at
On Gemma: Dress, farfetch.com. Ulla
$1,584; Johnson earrings, $225;
ullajohnson.com. Shoes,
price upon request;
miumiu.com. Headwrap
made of fabric from Rose
African Fabrics, pinned by
the hair team led by Shiori
Takahashi. On Wol: Ulla
Johnson earring, $175;
ullajohnson.com.
AsrafoBawou jacket, tied
around waist. Shoes,
$835; marineserre.com.
On Fall: Dress, price
upon request. D’heygere
earrings, $475; ssense
.com. Pantashoes, $2,750;
balenciaga.com.
Headwrap made of
fabric from Rose African
Fabrics, pinned by the
hair team led by Shiori
Takahashi. On Aboah: Ulla
Johnson earring, price
upon request; ullajohnson
.com. Sandals, $1,102;
nordstrom.com.
110: Coat, $4,560. Acne
Studios dress, price upon
request; acnestudios.com.
Hat, $365; edas.store.
Belt buckle, $490;
perezsanz.com. Clogs,
$595; brothervellies.com.
111: Skirt, $2,405.
Headpiece, $248;
lafalaisedion.com.
Earring, $195 for pair;
saksfifthavenue.com.
112: On Changkou: Dress
and trench coat, priced
upon request. Earring,
$290 for pair; fenty.com.
On Aboah: Earrings
$670; lenchanteur.co.
113: Coat ($3,120), top
(price upon request), and
pants ($1,365). Sandals,
$1,150; rogervivier.com.
114: Tunic and top, priced
upon request. Schiaparelli
earrings, priced upon
request; schiaparelli.com.
Shoes, $1,200; loewe.com.
115: Dress ($3,950) and
cape, worn as headwrap
(price upon request).
Earring, $125 for pair;
beadsbyaree.com. Boots,
$1,250; jimmychoo.com.
116: On Aboah: Sneakers,
$180; adidas.com.
On Wol: Cape, worn as a
top, $3,590. Hat, $570.
Miu Miu shoes, $890;
miumiu.com. 117: Scarf,
worn as headwrap,
$595; ysl.com. Earrings,
$48; beadsbyaree.com.
Boots, price upon
request; ullajohnson.com.
118–119: Roland Freeman.
Dancing at Jazz Alley,
Chicago, Illinois, 1974.
Founders Society
Purchase, Drawing and
Print Club Fund and
National Endowment for
the Arts Matching Museum
Purchase Grant /Photo: ©
Detroit Institute of Arts,
USA /Bridgeman Images;
Jamel Shabazz. Church
Ladies, 2004; Friends (or
sisters) seated on rail. Ideal
Photo Studio, Benin City,
Nigeria Photograph by

148 DECEMBER 2020 VOGUE.COM

 lives in the same artist’s atelier in the
unfashionable 14th arrondissement that
she bought 20 years ago and sees no rea-
son to upgrade. “I love it,” she explains.
“Karl was always laughing because I
never wanted to change anything: If
I bought a new car, it was exactly like
the old one!”
Viard spent lockdown with her part-
ner, the composer and music producer
Jean-Marc Fyot (whom she describes
as “mon fiancé”), and their 25-year-old
son, Robinson, in their modest village
house in Drôme Provençale. When Viard
bought it some two decades ago, Fyot
described it as “a squat,” although Viard
has since made some home improve-
ments. Fortunately, Viard was between
collections when France went into strict
quarantine, having recently launched the
Métiers d’Art collection and planned
the spring 2021 ready-to-wear. In the
country, she distracted herself with
bicycle rides, swimming in her pool, and
cooking and cleaning. “It de-stresses me
to see the results,” she explains.
When she returned to Paris and a stu-
dio full of masked accomplices, Viard
plunged into work on the eclectic spring
2021 collection, which she is now unveil-
ing beneath the writhing Art Nouveau
ironwork of the Grand Palais against a
set that mimics the iconic hollywood
sign but spells chanel.
“It’s a very different season,” said the
show’s producer, Etienne Russo, “but we
have to adapt.” Fyot is on hand for sup-
port, rock-star chic in skinny black leath-
er jeans and a hoodie under his daytime
tuxedo, while Viard, dressed to match in
a lean black Chanel coat to the ankles,
narrow pants, and patent Chelsea boots,
is preternaturally calm: She has done this
dozens of times before, of course, and the
Chanel machine ensures that everything
happens like clockwork even while the
support teams are all masked and
the models have been tested for COVID.
The collection begins cinematically
with Christophe’s music, which appro-
priates some lines from an old movie—
Viard thinks it is Max Ophüls’s 1955
Lola Montès—and she is thrilled that
the final grouping of Jazz Age black
and white ensembles that she sees on
the monitor reminds her of the stylized
blocking in Marienbad.
Viard, who disdains personal social
media and would still rather stay in the
shadows, winces before she steps front
of stage for the necessary bow. “She
wants her work to be in the light, rather
than her,” says de Maigret. “I fnd it so
modern.”
Backstage, Viard’s friends congratulate
her. “It’s glamorous and luxurious,” says
the musician Sébastien Tellier, “but it’s
a caress—it’s light, it’s super sweet.”As
Kristen Stewart, watching across the
Atlantic, puts it: “She’s really finding
herself and projecting her voice as an
artist. I can hear it loud and clear.”@

Solomon Osagie Alonge,
c. 1965. EEPA 2014-004-
0137. Chief S. O. Alonge
Collection. Eliot Elisofon
Photographic Archives.
National Museum of
African Art. Smithsonian
Institution; © Bettie
Ringma and Marc H. Miller;
© Patrick Zachmann/
Magnum Photos;
© Danny Lyon/Magnum
Photos; © Joseph Chila,
1980; Torrence Ngilima,
© The Ngilima Photo
Archive. Photo was taken
THAN THE AUTHORIZED STORE, THE BUYER TAKES A RISK AND SHOULD USE CAUTION WHEN DOING SO.
everyday life under $295–$1,095; 132: On left: Dress, turtleneck ($1,150).
apartheid in the black jenniferfisherjewelry.com. $4,695. On right: Strapless Boots, price upon request;
neighborhoods of Benoni. Pippa Small spiral dress ($4,700) and marcjacobs.com. Beats by
The collection is presently cuff ($701) and bangle blouse ($3,200); also at Dr. Dre Powerbeats Pro
archived at Historical ($140); pippasmall.com. (800) 550-0005. Clutch, wireless earphones, $250;
Papers (University of Beads Byaree choker, $2,390; valentino.com. apple.com. 140: Dress,
Witwatersrand). 120: On worn as a bracelet, $78; 133: Dress and blouse, $3,950. Cuff bracelets,
Akech: Top, price upon beadsbyaree.com. priced upon request. $2,700 each; tiffany.com.
request. Skirt, $2,950. 123: Tunic and top, priced Earrings, worn as buttons, 141: Ana Khouri x Narciso
Shoes, $890; miumiu upon request. Schiaparelli $13,400; marlolaz.com. Rodriguez earrings,
.com. On Fall: Sunglasses, earrings, priced upon 134–135: Jennifer Behr $6,400; anakhouri.com.
$128; bonnieclyde.la. request; schiaparelli.com. headband, $225; Boots, $795;
Sandals, $3,950; tomford In this story: Manicurist, jenniferbehr.com. Slides, proenzaschouler.com.
.com. 121: Ottolinger Ama Quashie. Tailor, $450; giambattistavalli
pants, worn as headwrap, Della George. .com. In this story: INDEX
$1,418; ottolinger.com. Manicurist, Megumi 142–143: 10. Brooch,

by Torrence Ngilima Earrings, $128; THE NEXT CHAPTER Yamamoto. Tailor, $2,500. 11. Bicycle,
in Wattville (Ekurhuleni, beadsbyaree.com. 130: Dress, $4,750; Leah Huntsinger. $2,995. 144–145: 8.
ME NT I O N ED IN I TS PAG ES, WE CAN N OT GUA RA N TE E T H E AU T H EN T IC I T Y O F MERC HAN DI S E SO LD
BY DI SCOU N T ERS. AS I S A LWAYS T H E CASE I N PURCH AS IN G A N I T EM FRO M AN YW HE R E OT HE R

Gauteng) in the early 122: Dress, $28,400. verawang.com. Headband, Earrings, $4,940. 9. Mini
A WORD A BOU T DI SCOU NT ERS W HI LE VO GUE T H O ROUGH LY R ESEA RCHES T HE COMPA N IES

1960s. Torrence learned Earrings, $430; $275; jenniferbehr.com. POWER LINES trunk, $2,790.
photography from chloe.com. Ariana Choker, $150,000; tiffany 136–137: Earrings, $795;
his father, Ronald Boussard-Reifel cuff .com. 131: Skirt, price jenniferfisherjewelry.com. LAST LOOK
Ngilima, who was among bracelets, $795–$825; upon request. Earring, Shoes, $695; 150: Cartier High Jewelry
the first black studio arianaboussardreifel.com. price upon request for pair. proenzaschouler.com. earrings, priced upon
photographers in the area. Ippolita bangles, Clutch, $4,800, chanel 138: Polo dress and skirt, request; (800) CARTIER.
Together, father and son $895-$2,495; ippolita .com. Calzedonia socks, priced upon request. Available from December.
produced over 5,600 .com. Annoushka bangle, $6; calzedonia.com. Rings, $2,270–$3,300;
images, which give a $2,900; annoushka.com. Kitten heels, $795; cartier.com. 139: Cape ALL PRICES
intimate glimpse into Jennifer Fisher cuffs giuseppezanotti.com. coat ($3,490) and APPROXIMATE

VOGUE IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF ADVANCE MAGAZINE PUBLISHERS INC. COPYRIGHT © 2020 CONDÉ NAST. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. VOLUME 210, NO. 12. VOGUE
(ISSN 0042-8000) is published monthly (except for a combined June/July issue) by Condé Nast, which is a division of Advance Magazine Publishers Inc. PRINCIPAL OFFICE: 1 World Trade Center, New York, NY
10007. Roger Lynch, Chief Executive Officer; Pamela Drucker Mann, Global Chief Revenue Officer & President, U.S. Revenue; Mike Goss, Chief Financial Officer. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and at
additional mailing offices. Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 40644503. Canadian Goods and Services Tax Registration No. 123242885-RT0001. POSTMASTER: Send all UAA to CFS (see DMM
507.1.5.2); NON-POSTAL AND MILITARY FACILITIES: Send address corrections to VOGUE, P.O. Box 37617, Boone, IA 50037-0617. FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS, ADDRESS CHANGES, ADJUSTMENTS, OR BACK-
ISSUE INQUIRIES: Please write to VOGUE, P.O. Box 37617, Boone, IA 50037-0617, call 800-234-2347, or email subscriptions@vogue.com. Please give both new and old addresses as printed on most recent label.
Subscribers: If the Post Office alerts us that your magazine is undeliverable, we have no further obligation unless we receive a corrected address within one year. If, during your subscription term or up to one year
after the magazine becomes undeliverable, you are ever dissatisfied with your subscription, let us know. You will receive a full refund on all unmailed issues. First copy of new subscription will be mailed within four
weeks after receipt of order. Address all editorial, business, and production correspondence to VOGUE Magazine, 1 World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. For reprints, please email reprints@condenast.com or
call Wright’s Media 877-652-5295. For reuse permissions, please email contentlicensing@condenast.com or call 800-897-8666. Visit us online at www.vogue.com. To subscribe to other Condé Nast magazines
on the World Wide Web, visit www.condenastdigital.com. Occasionally, we make our subscriber list available to carefully screened companies that offer products and services that we believe would interest our
readers. If you do not want to receive these offers and/or information, please advise us at P.O. Box 37617, Boone, IA 50037-0617, or call 800-234-2347.
VOGUE IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RETURN OR LOSS OF, OR FOR DAMAGE OR ANY OTHER INJURY TO, UNSOLICITED MANUSCRIPTS, UNSOLICITED ART WORK (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED
TO, DRAWINGS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND TRANSPARENCIES), OR ANY OTHER UNSOLICITED MATERIALS. THOSE SUBMITTING MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, ART WORK, OR OTHER MATERIALS FOR
CONSIDERATION SHOULD NOT SEND ORIGINALS, UNLESS SPECIFICALLY REQUESTED TO DO SO BY VOGUE IN WRITING. MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND OTHER MATERIALS SUBMITTED MUST
BE ACCOMPANIED BY A SELF-ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE.

149
Last Look

S ET DES IG N, DAVID DE QUEVE DO. DETAILS, SE E IN THIS ISSUE .

Cartier earrings
The agave plant, a desert succulent, is, of course, the base ingredient for tequila, and, per Cartier’s
high-jewelry design team, the inspiration for this pair of earrings as well. The creation features can’t-miss-me
stones—a brilliant-cut diamond marks the post, followed by a cabochon-cut ruby; below, each earring
features a quartet of verdelite tourmalines in the prettiest shade of chlorophyll-green. Much like the spirit
incarnation of agave, they pack some potency—and they’re every bit as capable of lifting your mood.
P H OTO G RA P H E D BY J O N AS U N G E R

150 DECEMBER 2020 VOGUE.COM

 UP TO 24H LONGWEAR.
FULL COVERAGE.
TEINT IDOLE ULTRA WEAR
NOW IN 50 SHADES

Receive a free 10 -day supply in your

perfect shade at any Lancôme counter.*
*Offer only valid on liquid foundation, while supplies last. One per client, please.
lancome.com