Vogue USA - March 2024

MAR
“RISK IS SOMETHING
I KIND OF LIKE”
MIUCCIA
PRADA
& 35 WOMEN DRESSING WOMEN
PLUS: SPRING CULTURE PREVIEW!
JEREMY STRONG, TAYLOR RUSSELL, KINGSLEY BEN-ADIR,
LASHANA LYNCH, ANNE HATHAWAY, AND MORE
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
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
FENDI BOUTIQUES 888 291 0163 FEN D I .CO M
March 2024
80 124
Editor’s Letter Home Grown
Fanciful work by
96 ceramist Toni De
Masthead Jesus conceals
a personal message
98
Contributors 132
Live to Tell
102 The powerful,
Up Front engrossing
As the Sudanese documentary High &
war threatens to spill Low: John Galliano
beyond its borders, sees the designer
can activist Niemat tell the story of his
Ahmadi help force life. By Maya Singer
an international
reckoning? 137
By Alexis Okeowo The Custom
of the Country
108 A new exhibition
The Thrill of traces how a love
the Chase of nature grew
Looking for that in Beatrix Potter
rarer-than-rare
vintage McQueen 138
or Marc Jacobs? Quick Change
José Criales-Unzueta The promise of
tracks down the color-adaptive beauty
new wave of products? Your
vintage hunters most flattering shade
is just a chemical
115 reaction away
Live at the
Apollo 142
Grammy nominee The End of Glitter?
Omar Apollo is Or are we just at the
coming into his own beginning—of a new
era of microplastic-
118 free, perfectly-
Scent Symphony healthy-to-eat (!)
The latest mash-up: sparkle. Tamar Adler
Cartier x Scriabin. reports on glitz
Chloe Schama to feel good about
FASH I ON ED I TO R: E RI C Mc N EA L. H A I R, NA I ’VAS HA ; MA KEU P, JESSI CA S M A LLS.

investigates the
ever-expanding 148
fusion of live music On His Terms
and fragrance With leading-man
P RO DUC ED BY CA N VAS P RODUCT I O N. SE T D ESI G N : V I KI RU TSC H.

roles on screen and
120 stage, the cerebral,
Red Hot highly disciplined
Found in fashion actor Tobias Menzies
and beauty every is stepping (carefully)
single season, a into the spotlight.
red lip has singular By Sarah Crompton
staying power
152
122 Tangier Dreams
What Is It With the A fleet of new cultural
Price of Clothes? hubs and hotels
Are you reeling means the storied
from sticker shock North African city
in a way that has never been more
seems new? Emilia inspiring to visit
GILDING THE LILY Petrarca is here
ACTOR LASHANA LYNCH IN A FERRAGAMO TOP AND SKIRT. to tell you that
PHOTOGRAPHED BY NORMAN JEAN ROY. you’re not alone C O N T I N U E D >7 2
52 MARCH 2024 VOGUE.COM

Bold Evolution 2.0 Ceramic
A SINGLE DOT MARKS THE SPOT

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KHAITE
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INTRODUCING THE FIRST CARA DELEVINGNE
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P RO DUC ED BY S EL ECT S ERV I C ES. P HOTO G RA P HE D AT ES MÉ M IA M I BE AC H H OTE L. D ETAILS, SEE IN TH IS ISSUE.

ALL FOR FUN
FROM LEFT: MODEL DEVYN GARCIA (IN JW ANDERSON) WITH SISTER RIVER COVALT (IN ARITZIA AND THE ELDER
STATESMAN) AND MOTHER JENNIE PICKENS (IN MICHAEL KORS COLLECTION). PHOTOGRAPHED BY THEO LIU.
154 designers whose of a major installation make waves. gives a few of 258
FASH I ON ED I TO R: JO RD E N BI C KH A M. H A I R, CH A RLI E L E MI NDU; MA K EU P, E MI KA N EKO.

Storied Lands influence speaks at The Metropolitan By Gaby Wood them a real-world The Get
A range of for itself Museum of Art stress test Whether based
backdrops provide 230 in Colombia
the grounding for 210 220 Night Shift 250 or Denmark, the
spring’s best fiction History Lessons Catch a Fire Spring runways Island Time US or Ukraine,
In the new stage Painstaking offered a lighter, At home in Miami today’s talented
170 adaptation of preparation, and a brighter vision for Beach, model Devyn female designers
Mrs. Prada Henrik Ibsen’s An dose of actorly formal dressing— Garcia, her mom, know no
Almost everyone Enemy of the People, alchemy, transformed one hinged on daring and her darling little bounds—or
refers to Miuccia Prada Jeremy Strong Kingsley Ben-Adir silhouettes, lots of sister dive headfirst borders
in the most formal of sees the shadows into a reggae icon embellishments, into the season’s
ways, but she doesn’t of current crises. for the film Bob and a joie de vivre sunniest separates 264
stand on ceremony. By Maya Singer Marley: One Love. that rejects the Last Look
Wendell Steavenson By Marley Marius stuffy and stilted
meets a designer who 214
has built an empire in The Menagerie 224 238 Cover Look La Belle Époque
her own image: iconic, A childhood in Family Ties Maximum Miuccia Prada wears a vintage look from her
iconoclastic—and war-torn Kosovo led At the end of her Capacity debut fall 1988 collection. To get this look,
enormously influential Petrit Halilaj to make first year as Dior Long a source of try: Face Serum, Augmented Skin Cream,
some of the most CEO, Delphine quiet shame, the Reveal Skin Optimizing Refillable Foundation,
182 exuberant, playful Arnault is proving big, messy bag has Monochrome Hyper Matte Lipstick in B02
Strength in contemporary art to be a powerful been reclaimed as Quartz, and Universal Lip Balm. All by Prada
Numbers around. Dodie protector of a marker of modern Beauty. Details, see In This Issue.
Vogue celebrates a Kazanjian meets the legacy—and a womanhood. Photographer: Stef Mitchell.
global cast of female optimist on the brink leader poised to Emily Ratajkowski Fashion Editor: Alex Harrington.

EAU DE PARFUM
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Letter From the Editor
UNITED FRONT
CLOCKWISE FROM FAR LEFT:
ANNA WINTOUR AND MIUCCIA
PRADA IN MILAN IN 2019;
STELLA MCCARTNEY AND
PHOEBE PHILO IN 1997; SARAH
BURTON, PHOTOGRAPHED
BY MIKAEL JANSSON, VOGUE,
MARCH 2017.
delightfully unpretentious,
and gently impatient by
nature. As much as she
loves art and culture, she’s
not content to simply
consume and support it; she
wants to create culture—
which she has done brilliantly with the Prada Foundation in Venice
and in Milan, two sites of art exhibitions, concerts, cinema screenings,
lectures, symposia, and more. The foundation’s home in Milan,
Excellent Women
designed by architect Rem Koolhaas’s firm OMA, has transformed
that city into nothing less than a cultural hub and art world
destination. “Fashion is one third of my life,” she says, which is both
true and utterly remarkable given that she leads a fashion company
with $4.5 billion in annual revenue.
YOU WOULD NOT THINK, WHEN it comes to Miuccia Prada, We are devoting a large part of our issue this month to women
that there is still such capacity for surprise. But in Milan for the designers. You may have noticed that there have been quite a few
ready-to-wear shows last fall, we were struck and amazed all over creative directorships going to men recently. Good for them—new
again by the vibrancy and intelligence of what we were seeing at faces are cause for excitement, irrespective of gender. But we
Prada and at Miu Miu. With Prada this is, of course, down to couldn’t help but want to celebrate the fact that women designers
Miuccia and her creative partner, Raf Simons. Never have I known still comprise a vital sorority in our industry—of new thinking,
two similarly immense design talents who have achieved such a creativity, mutual respect, and, in many cases, genuine friendship.
TO P LE FT: COU RT ESY O F D E RE K B LAS B ERG. TO P RI G HT: PA I M AG ES/G E T TY IM AGES.

rare and intensely mutual collaboration. Take Phoebe Philo and Stella McCartney, who’ve known each
But when I and the other editors considered the quality that other since they were students at Central Saint Martins—they’re
extends between both houses—so restless and modern at Prada, so peers and friends, both. The same could be said of Emily Adams
playful and pugnacious at Miu Miu—it was Miuccia’s creativity, Bode Aujla and Aurora James and Rachel Scott—and many more
brilliance, and confident spirit that dominated the mind. At 74, who are celebrated in the pages that follow.
Miuccia has simply never been more relevant—a designer with the Women dressing women—a simple idea and a powerful one too.
towering stature of a head of state, and the ever-renewing intellect And let me say that it wasn’t just Miuccia Prada’s work that made
of a star undergraduate. me think of it this fall. Sarah Burton’s finale as the creative director
I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking of her as something more too: at Alexander McQueen was simply amazing—bold, provocative,
a role model. For here is a woman making clothes for women—a feminist, beautiful. After a quarter century at the British house,
designer whose understanding of how women actually live their Burton had nothing left to prove—and yet this collection sent her off
lives drives her work. When it comes to fashion, reality is first and into her next chapter on a tide of adoration and acclaim. Whatever she
foremost; her clothes reveal a clarity of thought. They are not chooses to do next, women all over the world will be cheering her on.
extreme. “I try to respect women,” she said to the writer Wendell
Steavenson, who traveled to Venice and Milan to interview her
for our cover profile this month.
It would be a wide-ranging conversation. My own talks with
Miuccia rarely land on fashion. We talk about art. We talk about
politics. We talk about our families. She is catholic in her interests,

ANNA WINTOUR
Global Editorial Director
Global Network Lead & US Deputy Editor TAYLOR ANTRIM Global Head of Fashion Network VIRGINIA SMITH
Creative Editorial Director MARK GUIDUCCI Global Editor at Large HAMISH BOWLES
Editor, Vogue.com CHLOE MALLE Global Director, Vogue Runway NICOLE PHELPS
Global Network Lead & US Fashion Features Director MARK HOLGATE
Executive Fashion Director, Vogue.com LISA AIKEN
FA S H I O N SOCIAL
Sustainability Editor TONNE GOODMAN Senior Director, Creative Development and Programming,
Fashion Market and Collaborations Director WILLOW LINDLEY Social Media SAM SUSSMAN
Director, Fashion Initiatives ALEXANDRA MICHLER Manager, Social Media TAYLOR LASHLEY
Jewelry Director DAISY SHAW-ELLIS Associate Manager, Social Media TAYLOR ANDERSON
Archive Editor LAIRD BORRELLI-PERSSON Associate Manager of Community ALEXANDRA DITCH
Senior Fashion News Editor, Vogue Runway LAIA GARCIA-FURTADO
Fashion and Style Writer CHRISTIAN ALLAIRE V I D E O/ M U LT I M E D I A
Fashion Writer HANNAH JACKSON Vice President, Head of Video THESPENA GUATIERI
Editors NAOMI ELIZEE, MAI MORSCH, CIARRA LORREN ZATORSKI Senior Director, Programming LINDA GITTLESON
Fashion News Writer JOSÉ CRIALES UNZUETA Associate Director, Creative Development ALEXANDRA GURVITCH
Menswear Editor MICHAEL PHILOUZE Senior Associates, Creative Development LUCY DOLAN-ZALAZNICK,
Market Editor MADELINE HARPER FASS SAMANTHA RAVIN
Assistant Fashion Editors LANIYA HARRIS-PRINGLE, NICOLE MARTINI Video Developer & Producer JORIS HENDRIK
Global Talent Casting Director IGNACIO MURILLO
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Features Editor MARLEY MARIUS Copy Manager, Senior Digital Line Editor JANE CHUN
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Entertainment Associate KEATON BELL
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MIRANDA BROOKS, ADAM GREEN, ROB HASKELL, NATHAN HELLER, Director of Special Events JESSICA NICHOLS
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Contributing Editor ALEXANDRA MACON Contributing Editor LISA LOVE
C R E AT I V E C O M M U N I C AT I O N S
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KARLA MARTÍNEZ DE SALAS
Commerce Director JULIE TONG
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Commerce Editor LILAH RAMZI
Editor in Chief, China MARGARET ZHANG
Commerce Writers ALEXIS BENNETT PARKER,
LAURA JACKSON, KIANA MURDEN Global Creative Director JUAN COSTA PAZ
Commerce Producer CLARISSA SCHMIDT Global Network Lead CHIOMA NNADI
Associate Commerce Producer KYLEE M C GUIGAN Global Print Strategy Lead & European Content Operations Director MARK RUSSELL
Associate Producer FLORENCE O’CONNOR Global Network Lead & European Deputy Editor SARAH HARRIS
Associate Manager, Business Operations MEGAN COOPER Global Network Lead & European Features Director GILES HATTERSLEY
Associate Manager, Audience Development MOLLY BARSTEIN Global Network Lead & European Beauty & Wellness Director JESSICA DINER
Associate Production Manager CASSANDRA PINTRO Global Fashion Network, Deputy Director LAURA INGHAM
Production and Editorial Coordinator, Vogue Runway IRENE KIM Global Visual Director JILL CAYTAN
Executive Assistant to the Editor in Chief LEILA ALI Global Director, Talent & Casting ROSIE VOGEL-EADES
Assistant to the Editor in Chief SAMMI TAPPER Senior Global Content Planning Manager MILLY TRITTON
External Policy Advisor HILDY KURYK Associate APAC (Taiwan, India, Japan) Content Operations Director VAV LIN

JENNIFER LAWRENCE
MINI
DOLCEVITA
Contributors
Miami Nice
“Island Time” (page 250) sent photographer
Theo Liu and Vogue contributing fashion editor
BOTTOM : P E T RI T HA LI LA J. PA LACI O D E CRI STA L . MUSEO REI NA SO FÍ A . 2020. P HOTO: ALEX MOLTÓ BOR R EGUERO, ALEJAND RO. D ETAILS, SEE IN TH IS ISSUE.
Jorden Bickham down to Miami Beach, where
TO P LE FT: YU KI N O MO OR E. TO P RI G HT: P HOTO G RA P H ED BY ST E F M I TCHE LL . FASH I O N ED ITOR : ALEX H AR R INGTON, PRODUCED BY KITTEN PRODUCTION.
they shot model (and hometown hero) Devyn
Garcia—seen at center, in Marni—with her Mad About Miuccia
younger sister, River (left), and their model This month’s cover story, simply titled “Mrs. Prada” (page 170), had writer
turned firefighter mom, Jennie (right). (Although Wendell Steavenson meet the inimitable Miuccia Prada in Venice and Milan.
she posed for other Vogues during her career, Their conversation is paired with a portfolio, shot by Stef Mitchell and styled
this story marks Jennie’s US debut.) Together, by contributing editor Alex Harrington, in which Gigi Hadid wears 19 different
the crew cavorted on the beach, stopped in Prada and Miu Miu looks, dating from the late 1990s to spring 2024. (The
to the shops on Washington Avenue, and had selections, made by Vogue’s sittings editors, were the result of fierce debate.) But so,
a seafood feast at Joe’s Stone Crab, a local too, did the cover star dip into her archives: Encouraged only to “wear something
mainstay—enjoying just another day in paradise. bright,” Mrs. Prada picked a scarlet coat from fall 1988—her very first collection.
Sky Glow
In “The Menagerie” (page 214), Vogue contributing editor Dodie Kazanjian
profiles Petrit Halilaj, the Kosovar visual artist known for his irreverent
drawings, sculptures, and installations reckoning with war, displacement,
identity, and freedom. (When Halilaj was 13, Serbian troops forced him and
his family from their home in the former Yugoslavia, sending them some
70 miles southwest to Albania.) This April he will debut new work in The
Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden, a
project about which he and The Met’s director, Max Hollein, for now remain
mum. Expectations, however, are sky-high; as Hollein tells Kazanjian,
Halilaj “gives you a very emotional and individual experience, and through
his art, makes it something that a whole generation can relate to.”
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Up Front
Sounding the Alarm

As the Sudanese war threatens to spill beyond
its borders, can activist Niemat Ahmadi help force an
international reckoning? By Alexis Okeowo.
T
he videos keep coming: armed fighters taunting Women Action Group (DWAG), her nonprofit that works to
men with their hands tied behind their backs, raise awareness of violence in Sudan. Over the past 15 years, the
bodies piled in an open grave. The videos are from group has lobbied Congress and held conferences on genocide
Sudan, where two generals began a struggle for with high-profile attendees from the US State Department and
power last spring that has killed more than 12,000 the UN, as well as foreign diplomats and the prosecutor for the
people, displaced 6.6 million, and turned the International Criminal Court (ICC). “In many instances people
nation into a battlefield, one that has flooded social media with view women as victims, but they fail to see their leadership and
images and videos that give the impression of a country burning courage and what they do to contribute,” she told me.
alive. The Washington, DC–based Sudanese women’s rights The challenge for Ahmadi’s organization now is desperate.
activist Niemat Ahmadi can’t stop watching the footage. Nor can Two decades ago, the Darfur genocide became a cause célèbre.
her friend and fellow activist Sadya Eisa Dahab. “Shooting and Today, as the wars in Ukraine and Gaza dominate headlines, the
burning, people running for their life,” said Ahmadi when conflict in Sudan receives little attention from the international
I visited her at home on a recent winter day. “It’s shocking.” Trees community. “Maybe they are fed up,” said Dahab, who recently
shook in the wind outside, but Ahmadi’s two-story house in the helped her daughter and 11-year-old granddaughter flee the
Northeast district of Washington was warm and smelled of violence in Sudan. “The fight is not from outside. It is among the
incense; candles were lit on almost every surface on the first floor, two generals, and they made agreements and cease-fires and
which felt like a smoky tea room in Khartoum. truces—and then broke them 24 hours later. Even all the >1 0 4
For Ahmadi, 53, who has thick, dark hair, almond-shaped eyes,
and a restless but patient energy, the videos bring back memories HOME FRONT
of the 2003 genocide she eventually fled in Darfur. It was THE WAR IN SUDAN, OVERLOOKED BY MANY, HAS BECOME A
HUMANITARIAN CRISIS. SUDANESE PHOTOGRAPHER AND FILMMAKER
when she arrived safely in the US that she formed the Darfur HASSAN KAMIL CAPTURES LIFE ON THE GROUND.

* The alchemy of senses
Up Front Conflict in Sudan
international NGOs who are working in Sudan, they left.” After names of victims of the Janjaweed, since paper records could be
a coup in 2021, a council of generals had run Sudan, until Abdel confiscated at government checkpoints. She took photos of
Fattah al-Burhan of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and victims and of their burned homes and villages and met with aid
Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, leader of the Rapid Support Forces groups. It all helped: A massive advocacy movement began taking
(RSF) paramilitary, started vying for power. hold around the world.
Neither general has fought humanely. “There’s no good or bad She remembers being excited by how effective her work
armed side,” Kholood Khair, founding director of the Sudanese was. “I would send information to people in the US and they
research group Confluence Advisory, says. “But this war is one that would go protest,” Ahmadi recalls. Stanton says that when he
is being waged on civilians. And they would be ‘the good guy.’” first met her, “she was already a major leader in the Save Darfur
Ahmadi wants to focus attention on the catastrophic bombings of movement. It was Niemat who really made it into a movement
residential neighborhoods and markets, the looting of homes that included Darfuris. Before that, it was a collection of people
and businesses, the rampant killings and sexual violence—so that who were mostly Europeans and Americans. Niemat was a
Sudanese people don’t “die in silence,” she said. This is what she’s huge inspiration to everybody.” But she was threatened as she
good at, says Gregory Stanton, a former State Department official traveled around Sudan, and in early 2005, she had to flee to
and founder of Genocide Watch. “She’s a powerhouse. Her group Kenya for her safety. “I was devastated to leave. I felt guilty,” she
is the best at getting the word out. I would follow Niemat wherever says. In Kenya she applied to a Columbia University fellowship
she would lead me.” through the Ford Motor Company—and won it. She decided to
make the US her home, where she’d apply for asylum after her
A
hmadi grew up in a part of Darfur called fellowship ended. Her pain at leaving Darfur drove her to action.
Kabkabiya with six brothers and six sisters, and “I wanted to do everything possible. I started speaking. I think
a large extended family between 2007 and 2008, I traveled to 23
of aunts and uncles close states.” She met with then president
by. Most of her neighbors George W. Bush, whose administration
were farmers, growing facilitated aid to Darfur and gave
cash crops like grain, and Ahmadi’s parents support to the UN deployment. By
did the same. Ahmadi loved to pick 2009, she’d founded DWAG.
tomatoes and cucumbers with her brothers
when she wasn’t in school. “We also had While Ahmadi struggled to get word out
gardens full of fruits and vegetables,” she of the violence in Darfur in the early
says. “My childhood was: come home from 2000s, evidence of the current conflict is
school, throw down your bag, and run everywhere. “There’s a TikTok of a
to the gardens. Sometimes we’d pretend genocide basically in slow motion,” says
we were going to study, and we’d climb William Carter, Sudan country director
a mango tree, singing and reciting some of for the Norwegian Refugee Council
our favorite subjects,” Ahmadi recalls, in Sudan, a humanitarian organization.
like Arabic-language poetry. Early on she “The scale of what’s happening in
wanted to be an artist but ultimately Sudan—we’re talking about famines and
decided to study psychology and preschool RAISING THE STAKES ethnic cleansing and state collapse—is
NIEMAT AHMADI, FOUNDER OF THE DARFUR
education as an undergraduate in Khartoum. WOMEN ACTION GROUP, DEMONSTRATING IN so serious that it will probably spill into
“I was the first among my sisters to go to WASHINGTON, DC, IN 2009. the whole region, over the borders if
college,” Ahmadi says with pride. “I wanted it’s not tackled more assertively.” In early
to get as much education as I could. I wanted to do things. December, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken released a
I wanted to defy the norms of a woman who just gets married and statement acknowledging “war crimes” in Sudan and calling the
stays home—that idea that you only can be complete if you’re RSF’s and SAF’s actions in Darfur “ethnic cleansing.” But the
married.” Her parents were supportive; her father especially urged statement has done nothing to prevent the RSF, which evolved
her to go to college. “I felt like I had to pay back when from the Janjaweed, from their targeted purging of thousands
I graduated,” she says. of people in Darfur. “We have a government that does not think
That meant working for international relief organizations in the people of Darfur are worth saving,” Stanton says.
Darfur, the vast western region of Sudan where, by late 2002, she And women and girls have suffered much of the current
and her colleagues were seeing signs of a coming crisis. Ethnic Arab violence, especially by the RSF, which is systematically abducting
CH I P SO MO D EV I LLA /G ET T Y I M AG ES.
nomadic herders, as part of the government-backed Janjaweed and raping residents in both Darfur and Khartoum. “So
militia, had begun attacking Indigenous African farming villages regardless of where you are in Sudan, women are the currency
near her town and assassinating businessmen and local leaders. in a marketplace that is transacted through violence,” Khair,
The violence continued when she returned to Khartoum to earn the policy analyst, tells me. The rival military factions are also
her master’s in sustainable development. “I would be in class targeting human rights activists, journalists, doctors, and other
and my family would call me,” she remembers, “and I’d hear the politically active, pro-democracy figures in an effort to eliminate
sounds of guns and shooting. It was terrifying.” Ahmadi soon dissent, though neither force is likely to be able to rule the
began documenting atrocities firsthand, memorizing dozens of country in the near future. >1 0 6

Up Front Conflict in Sudan
Khair describes conditions in the capital as especially dire. Weeks after the panel, Ahmadi spoke before the Security
“Khartoum is completely gone,” she says. And because the city has Council on the pervasiveness of sexual violence in Darfur. “The
no green zones or safe routes, no international humanitarian vicious war that erupted on April 15 in Sudan has been largely
assistance has been able to get in. Doctors Without Borders has fought, sadly, over women’s bodies,” she said. “And I don’t think
been working at a few hospitals but is running out of surgical this is news to this Council.” Then, in December, Ahmadi and
supplies, and Khartoum residents have set up what are essentially a small delegation of her fellow activists arrived again in New York
soup kitchens. The SAF and the RSF have tried to seize much for a conference among the member states of the ICC—which
of the aid in the rest of Sudan for their soldiers, and more than has opened an investigation into war crimes in Sudan. She wants
20 million people are facing extreme hunger, according to the the international community, ideally with the African Union
World Food Program. “Some of the worst things in the world are at the lead and with pressure from the United States, to intervene
happening in Sudan right to protect civilians and open
now, but it’s going on basically a humanitarian corridor for the
unnoticed,” Carter says. delivery of aid. But President
“What I hear when I speak Biden has said nothing
to diplomats, when I speak to so far about Sudan. (Though
senior policy folks, is that they the US Department of the
say, ‘Oh, well, you know how Treasury has imposed sanctions
everyone’s concerned about on the properties and entities
Ukraine, everyone’s concerned of one Sudanese paramilitary
about Gaza,’ ” Khair says. leader and three former senior
“And I just think, Well, you officials, along with those
can care about more than of four companies associated
one conflict at a time.” If the with both generals.) The
generals are allowed to African Union also has done
continue their fight, it is likely little beyond suspending
the violence will spill over Sudan and calling for a
into neighboring countries cease-fire. DWAG’s strategy
in the region. Already the now is to mobilize the
United Arab Emirates has Sudanese diaspora to push
been accused of moving HILLTOP VIEW
their congresspeople; they
weapons and drones to the A LANDSCAPE OUTSIDE THE CITY OF KADUGLI IN SUDAN. have a letter campaign for
PHOTO BY HASSAN KAMIL.
RSF, which it denies, while elected officials and newspaper
supposedly trying to broker a op-ed sections. “The crisis
peace agreement. Meanwhile, Egypt and Iran are supporting the in Sudan, the reason it has been going on so long,” Ahmadi says,
SAF. Khair fears the war could last for years to come. “is because of impunity. I do think if there is accountability, that
will be a deterrent.”
A
hmadi says she does not feel consumed by her work, Ahmadi went home to Darfur in 2021 after 16 years away. Her
partly because it feels like a calling, and partly voice becomes soft when she talks about her trip. “It was emotional,
because of the people she meets along the way. In and it was hard, and it was beautiful at the same time,” she tells
September she spoke with Amal Clooney at a me. “You see the level of destruction. Every single home has lost
panel during the UN General Assembly. “All of multiple people.” But people were generous, bringing gifts to her
you who have been following Sudan will know mother’s home. “I broke all my rules,” Ahmadi says, laughing.
of her fantastic work,” Clooney said at the panel of Ahmadi, who “I’m not a dessert person, but I ate all kinds of desserts.” Her mother
sat serenely in a salmon pink blazer and big hoop earrings. Ahmadi told her she supported what Ahmadi had done with her life and
had, in fact, rushed to the UN from a delayed train. “I never that she admired the way Ahmadi had helped the family, bringing
wished to live to see this,” Ahmadi told the room. “People killed, two nieces and a nephew to the US from Sudan for school. They
slaughtered, recorded and broadcasted live…. Sudan needs an still live near her, in the DC area. “So I have created a small family
atrocity prevention approach that will prioritize accountability for here,” she says. She tells me that most of her time is spent working,
those who are responsible. We appeal to ordinary citizens and but she does cook for friends and dance—“Put on my music and
those of you who are policy makers. Be the voice of the people of make my own party,” she says—and see the Darfuri community in
Darfur who have been silenced.” Richmond, Virginia, where they recently gathered to eat Sudanese
Clooney met Ahmadi in 2021 when Clooney represented victims dishes and listen to a musician from their region.
of the Darfur genocide at the ICC in The Hague. “Niemat The Sudanese people, surviving on the ground, are what keep
was a great ally on the case,” Clooney says. “She is a formidable her and other activists inspired. “What’s amazing is the way women
advocate for the rights of women and children: the forgotten and young people step up, at the risk of their own lives. While the
victims of a forgotten war. At a time when the UN Security bombing is happening, they’re feeding the wounded. They’re taking
Council is deadlocked and the world is distracted, voices like people to hospitals,” Ahmadi says. “We’ve been left to fend for
Niemat’s are essential—she shames us all into doing more.” ourselves, but we are also showing that we can do it for ourselves.” *

team at Vivienne Westwood, is part of a new generation of fiercely
proactive hunters whom fashion fanatics around the world enlist
to find the buzziest and most highly sought-after vintage of the
moment. That one archive Chanel fall 1991 belt that Linda Evange-
lista wore on the runway? Valencia’s got it. The elusive Marc Jacobs
Kiki boots? Doja Cat bought them from his shop.
Of course, you didn’t always need a bespoke hunter to find good
vintage, but the culture around archival fashion has pushed the mar-
ket to a new frontier replete with its own trend cycle, must-haves, and
hype products. The days of casually strolling into a consignment shop
on Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan to find an
affordable Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche jacket? They’re long over.
Today’s vintage enthusiasts aren’t hoping to be surprised by a great
find—they’re hunting to order and know exactly what they want.
“Now anybody can have fashion—that’s the new thing,” says styl-
ist turned curator Renée Howard. “It makes it less special. I know
that only a couple people in the world have the pieces I have from
years ago, and that’s what makes others want them.” Which only
makes her wardrobe—ranging from vintage Versace and John Galli-
ano to contemporary Schiaparelli—all the more prized. For Howard,
a longtime client of Valencia’s, this newfound fevered fascination
with rare vintage can largely be explained by noting that high fashion
used to be, for the most part, produced in limited quantities—so if
you have it, you know that practically no one else does. “That’s why
you don’t just get rid of fashion,” Howard says: Because the unsung
treasures of the past have become today’s grails.
Howard and Valencia first connected over Instagram when she
commented on one of his posts of John Galliano’s newsprint dress
for Christian Dior. “I have it, and I don’t think he believed me, so he
asked for a photo,” says Howard. And while she told Valencia that
she had no plans to sell the piece anytime soon—Galliano’s work,
both for his eponymous label and for Dior, is currently among the
rarest and most covetable vintage—they became fast friends and
soon started working together to curate her wardrobe.
There’s also the internet of it all. Over the past couple of years,
by way of Instagram fashion archives and the advent of TikTok
The Thrill of the and Depop, vintage reselling has evolved from a niche pursuit to a
fully fledged industry. “Now it’s more name-driven than anything
Chase else,” says Roberto Cowan of the Tucson-based Desert Vintage,
which he runs with Salima Boufelfel and which specializes in
increasingly fleeting period pieces and the cerebral designers of the
Looking for that rarer-than-rare vintage 20th century—plus some Yves Saint Laurent. Clients today, though,
McQueen or Marc Jacobs? are becoming more and more specific with their requests—a West-
wood corset, a John Galliano bias-cut slip dress—which, these hunt-
José Criales-Unzueta tracks down the ers argue, is deeply tied to what we see online.
new wave of vintage hunters. “If it’s a piece you can link back to a runway image, it automat-
ically is worth tens of thousands of dollars,” says Cherie Balch of
P HOTOG RA P H ED BY ST EV EN M EI SE L, VO GU E, M A RCH 20 06.

the Canadian shop Shrimpton Couture, who is known for finding
A
s I join a video call with Johnny Valencia, the founder of the dreamiest and most fantastic of vintage couture dresses. (That
Pechuga Vintage, I notice his attention split between two applies to non-runway pieces that have been documented on celeb-
screens: his phone’s, where he’s talking to me from Los rities too.) Still, if the original appeal of vintage was in finding and
Angeles, and his computer’s, where he’s scrutinizing an wearing something no one else has, the 2024 tweak is that it should
online auction of Mouna Ayoub’s Chanel by Karl Lagerfeld collec- also be something that people recognize—and therefore know how
tion. The French Lebanese socialite is doing away with 252 pieces hard it is to find. Vintage dealing has become a competitive sport.
from her substantial haute couture archive, and Valencia is eyeing “When you’ve been doing this for long enough, stuff makes its
the magnificent black silk crepe gown from Chanel’s 1992 couture way to you,” says Balch, who consistently and instinctively “pre-buys”
collection that Christy Turlington first wore on the runway, and that to stock her archive—a quality that proved essential when >1 1 0
Lily-Rose Depp reintroduced at the 2019 Met Gala.
“I like to see myself as a vessel for transitory beauty,” says Valencia PAINTING THE PICTURE
with a laugh. The vintage dealer, who started his business officially Models (from left) Sasha Pivovarova and Lily Donaldson in
in 2018 after years of amateur thrifting amid a career in the buying John Galliano–era Dior, now highly sought-after, in 2006.

LAGOS.COM
sourcing Chanel for her client Kiely MacLean’s wedding wardrobe.
MacLean had originally bought a light blue fall 1976 Chanel couture
dress from Balch—only to have the piece stolen when her car was
broken into weeks before her wedding. “She understood how special
all this was to me, and that I really wanted vintage Chanel,” says
MacLean, a CEO and entrepreneur in the environmental industry.
MacLean created a detailed mood-board-like document replete with
photos of pieces she loved from previous runways, which informed
Balch’s hunt through her archive. MacLean was thrilled to settle on
both a pink couture gown from the ’70s and a tiered iteration from
2013. “Cherie is like a fairy godmother,” she gushes.
Though Balch’s extensive archive sets her business apart, the pro-
cess of finding pieces is the same for any vintage hunter and requires
building an extensive network of dealers across different specialties:
designers, time periods, antiques. The bigger the Rolodex, the higher
the success rate of finding just the piece your client is looking for—
be that a prospective bride, a celebrity (or their stylist—Balch often
works with Samantha McMillen, who regularly dresses Elle Fanning
in vintage pieces from her collection), or a mere fashion obsessive.
The key, assuming one already knows their way around the right
auctions and estate sales, is to remain grounded—or, as Cowan puts
it, to not get “paddle-happy.”
“I can get excited and bid for something I don’t need, or that I
shouldn’t buy,” Cowan says. He and Boufelfel have learned, with
time, to remove themselves emotionally from the transaction. “You
need to practice some detachment,” Boufelfel says. They now bid
silently and leave before the actual action starts.
Daphne Javitch, a womenswear consultant
TO P : P HOTO G RA P HE D BY E LLE N VON UN W E RT H, VOGUE, O CTO BE R 19 9 1 . BOTTO M : P H OTOGRAPH ED BY STEVEN MEISEL, VO GU E , AUGUST 20 03.
turned health coach who is a recurrent cus- OUT OF THE PAST
tomer at Desert Vintage, describes her ward- What vintage hunters are hunting now:
robe as “98 percent vintage and 2 percent romantic Vivienne Westwood (left) and iconic
Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel (above).
The Row.” Her personal style, minimal and
uncomplicated, dovetails nicely with the sort
of pieces Cowan scouts and buys. “Roberto now his work is insanely expensive—it’s just
is famous for having the most stamina to so hot right now.”
hunt,” says Javitch. “He also manages to get There’s also the futures market to contend
into the closets of ladies who have incredi- with: Who are the designers working today
ble vintage collections that seem to be out of that vintage hunters will be chasing in 20
limits for everyone else.” years? Jonathan Anderson is a name that
Equally as important as access, though, is comes up, as is Schiaparelli’s Daniel Rose-
the ability to forecast where the vintage tide berry (Howard recently had Valencia hunt
will shift next. Howard recalls with some down a pair of his sold-out golden-toe boots
awe how Valencia anticipated the wave for her). Sarah Burton’s work at Alexander
of interest in Thierry Mugler’s work circa McQueen is already popular—and the fact
2021 as Casey Cadwallader’s own iteration that she just left her post will only make
of the French house gained traction on pop her runway collections more covetable, says
stars and celebrities. (Valencia hunted down Balch. (McQueen is currently trending as a
two Mugler pieces for Howard prior to the whole—a new designer at the house, in this
designer’s 2022 passing—the famous Vampire dress from his fall case Seán McGirr, always ignites a newfound interest in its archive.
1981 collection and a pair of velvet shorts from Mugler’s fall 1991 One of our hunters is looking for Lee McQueen’s original, infa-
Music-Hall lineup—both of which he found by scouring auc- mous “Bumster” trousers from the early ’90s, which were produced
tions.) At the moment, Valencia is keeping an eye on pieces from in very limited quantities, making for a hard—but not impossible—
Halston and Stephen Sprouse, Boufelfel and Cowan think it’s high search. “You just have to know who to call,” says Valencia.)
time that Joan Vass and Ann Demeulemeester got their flowers, The one question not to ask vintage hunters: What’s the next big
and Balch hopes people dive into Emanuel Ungaro (still, she thinks thing? “We don’t speak of it until it’s in our hands,” says Howard.
that the most underrated of them all is Marc Bohan and his work The thing about vintage is that the moment people start to talk
at Christian Dior). All of the vintage hunters I spoke with, though, about it, it becomes a thing—and thus both harder to find and more
agree that John Galliano’s work is currently among the most (if expensive to buy. The other thing about vintage? Longing is for-
not the most) sought-after. “For years, because of the controversy ever, and the wheel keeps spinning. Valencia didn’t land that Chanel
around him, his items did not move at resale,” says Balch, “but his dress that he was eyeing during our call—it sold to someone else for
talent is hard to ignore, as is the beauty of what he created—so $82,242—but not to worry: There’s always next time. *

Live at the Apollo
Grammy nominee Omar Apollo
is coming into his own.
like to go where things are uncom-
I fortable, or complex,” says Omar

Apollo. “Making music isn’t easy.
That’s why I’ve dedicated a lot of
my life to it.” It’s also why the 26-year-
old musician hasn’t taken much of a
break since releasing his debut album,
Ivory, in 2022. A lush blend of R&B
and hip-hop along with Latin trap
and Mexican corridos, Ivory revealed
Apollo’s chameleonic versatility and
earned the singer-songwriter his first
Grammy nomination for best new
artist. Not long after, he left his home
base of LA to open for SZA on the
North American leg of her arena SOS
tour. “It’s not my show, so I was kind
of scared of how the crowds would
react,” he says. But “seeing people’s
expressions, it’s huge.” In October,
Apollo released Live for Me, a sparse
and raw EP that was, in a way, an
exercise in further discomfort. (One of
the EP’s tracks, “Ice Slippin,” is about
the winter he came out to his family.)
“Those songs helped me find where
FASHION EDITOR: MAX ORTEGA. HAIR, LACY REDWAY; MAKEUP, HOLLY SILIUS USING YSL BEAUTY.
I was going,” he says. And this year,

PRODUCED BY FAMILY PROJECTS. SE T D ES I G N: O LI V I A GI LES. D E TA I LS, SE E I N T HI S I SSUE.
there is new music on the way.

The son of working-class Mexican
immigrants from Guadalajara, the
singer (born Omar Apolonio Velasco
in 1997) grew up in Hobart, Indiana,
where he first taught himself to play
the guitar. “Music gave me a feeling, a sparkle,” he says. After gaining always been drawn to subjects that are hard to grasp, rather than
traction on SoundCloud, Apollo was signed to Artists Without A those that feel concrete or bright. (He is clearly aware of wider
Label in 2017 (he later switched to Warner), and quickly ensnared world issues: When we speak in early January, he’s just wrapped up
in a cycle of releases and tours. “I wasn’t really thinking about it,” he a benefit concert for humanitarian aid in Sudan and Gaza.) “I’ve
says, looking back. “My brain was just on autopilot.” He recorded talked to my therapist about it, but I really like being in a different
one whole version of Ivory, then scrapped it and started over. “I had place.” In this case, dislocation added perhaps an even greater force
to discover myself,” he says. to his new work. “I get kind of lost in the process of making music,”
That sense of clarity is crucial for Apollo, who values his instincts. he acknowledges. “I’m surfacing emotions, and I’m not zoomed out.
Last summer, that meant leaving LA for London, where he set up But later, I am like, Wow, I really wrote this from my soul. I felt this
shop in Little Venice, a quaint neighborhood named for its canals. “It really deeply.”— 
was a little too quiet,” he jokes. The neighbors slipped him notes out-
lining their objections to the volume of Apollo’s speakers. In between
CUT UP
recording, he’d invite friends on bike rides through its many parks.
Born to Mexican parents who immigrated to Indiana,
Aside from the occasional noise complaint, the cloudy skies of Omar Apollo (in Commission) learned to play guitar on YouTube.
London—a contrast to sunny LA—suited him. Apollo says he has Photographed by Justin French.
VOGUE.COM MARCH 2024 115

Scent Symphony
The latest mash-up: Cartier x Scriabin.
Chloe Schama investigates
the ever-expanding fusion of live
music and fragrance.
n March of 1915, a crowd of fashionable patrons gathered for
I the New York premiere of Alexander Scriabin’s Prometheus: The

Poem of Fire. The Russian-born Scriabin had composed the piece
by means of what he called his “color hearing,” a synesthesia-
inspired interpretation of the correlation between notes and hues—
something the staging at Carnegie Hall was meant to reflect. “Over
the heads of the musicians stretches a gauze screen,” reported
one gushing contemporary account, “and across this screen play
many-colored lights, blending, sweeping onward in overpowering
beauty.” It was the first complete performance of the first com-
position arranged this way, notes musicologist James Baker, and a
culmination of the pianist and composer’s future-forward music. or Smell-O-Vision, which debuted in 1959 and 1960). Other olfac-
Mere weeks later, the avant-garde visionary died, taken down by tory interventions have sought to influence not how we receive art,
a simple infection. but how they might affect us physically: A nightclub scented with
This month, more than a hundred years after that premiere, a orange, seawater, and peppermint, one Netherlands study found,
new iteration of Prometheus will unfold at Davies Symphony Hall fosters more energy on the dance floor. In 2009, Green Aria: A
in San Francisco—one that involves not just color but scent as well, ScentOpera was performed at the Guggenheim, and last fall, the
with three distinct fragrances released at key moments throughout Icelandic artist-run perfumery Fischersund teamed up with Jónsi,
the performance. The effect intends to create an all-encompassing the Sigur Rós frontman, for “A Night of Scent and Music” at Le
experience—and given that the myth of Prometheus describes noth- Poisson Rouge, the Manhattan experimental music space.
ing less than the triumph of human ingenuity against the brute So many other of these multisensory adventures, however, have
forces of nature, a concert that seeks to elevate its patrons to another been curtailed by practical realities. How, for instance, do you
plane seems appropriate. sequence a series of scents—clearing out one before you release the
“We are, I would say, sensorial people,” says Cartier in-house per- next? And of course it’s one thing to suffer through a dull perfor-
fumer Mathilde Laurent, who cooked up the project several years ago mance; imagine being trapped in a concert hall rapidly filling with a
with her good friends Esa-Pekka Salonen, San Francisco Symphony’s scent you find unpleasant. Laurent, though—perhaps a bit more of a
music director, and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet. (Scent, says Thibau- mad scientist or poet than your typical in-house perfumer—is not one
det, has always had a powerful sway over him: “I remember scent as to back off from a challenge. Calling from the Fondation Cartier in
much as I remember pictures, situations, people,” he tells me.) Montparnasse, she describes a few of her experiments with olfactory
The combination of fragrance and performance is not new. installations—a staircase that ascends through plumes of fragrance
Plumes of incense have wafted around the organ pipes and through within a glass box, for instance, to allow visitors to, as she put >1 2 0
the choir’s chancel in Catholic Church ceremonies for centuries,
while in the 19th century theaters sometimes distributed scented
G E TT Y I M AG ES.
PLAY IT LOUD
fans to help with body odor issues. More recently, there have been
Dropping the needle on fragrance in a concert hall is a complicated
technology-driven experiments to combine scent with motion- tango involving perfumers, producers, and directors incorporating chemistry
picture entertainment (think of the “scent tracks” of AromaRama and scent-distribution technology.

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SMELL TEST
H AIR , LACY R EDWAY; MA KEU P, YAD IM CARRAN ZA. PRO DUCE D BY VIEWFIN D E RS. D E TAILS, S E E IN T HIS ISSU E .
This month, San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall will feature fans
TOP: CRAIG MOLE/COURT ESY O F SAN FRAN CISCO SYMPHO N Y. BE LOW: FAS HIO N E D ITO R: MAX O RT EGA.
under each seat to distribute scent throughout the space.
Hall without preconceived aversions or predilections, and will only

describe them in broad terms: “It’s storms; it’s chaos,” she says of
the first scent, which is associated with the earliest, dark iterations
of the Prometheus myth. “It’s the smell of dangerous nature.” (A
fragrance for a turbulent Monday morning commute?) The second
scent, timed to Prometheus’s offering of fire, comes from a preexist-
ing Cartier concoction, La Treizième Heure Eau de Parfum, a leath-
ery, woodsy scent that reminds me of winter nights, furs wrapped
around shoulders, dark skies punctuated by stars. The third relates
to a more joyful, creative time. Man is in a good place: “He is going
it at the time, experience “the smell of the rain.” For the San Fran- to be able to create beauty and to achieve the elevation of the soul,
cisco Prometheus, the technology will involve dry diffusion, which of the mind, the intelligence,” says Laurent.
encapsulates the fragrances without water and uses fans underneath Apart from the Cartier fragrance that’s already on store shelves,
each seat to intermittently distribute them. It’s hard to imagine when the other perfumes will never be bottled and sold in a store. And why
most of us think of fragrance as something spritzed from a bottle should they? It took more than a century to harness the personal
or emanating from a scented candle, but the technology, Laurent and technological chemistry to pull off a concert like this—if you
says, “allows us to be very quick with the different smells—they can want to experience it, you will need to be in the hall (or hope for an
appear and disappear.” (At a test in October, the trio fine-tuned their encore performance). “It’s important to show that things are made for
approach, making sure the scents weren’t too overpowering.) something,” Laurent tells me, “and that they are made very sincerely,
When it comes to the aromas themselves, Laurent is reluctant to purely.” It’s all a part of the beauty of performance, says Thibaudet:
reveal much detail, preferring that people arrive at Davies Symphony “It’s something you can truly only experience in person.” *
Red Hot
Found in fashion and beauty every single season,
a red lip has singular staying power.
ibrant red is the first color that beauty market this year—$4 billion to be
V a baby perceives after black and

white. Ancient Romans painted
their villas vermilion tones and
wove carnelian-colored threads into their
tunics. In Egypt, red clay adorned bodies
precise—with an array of tones ranging
from cranberry to tomato leading the way.
A third of Clé de Peau Beauté’s diamond-
and gold-infused lipsticks are shades of red
(the luxury ingredients purportedly help
during celebratory moments. For Swiss psy- with hydration, or at least a feeling of quiet
chiatrist Carl Jung—not just the founder of luxury). Dior’s new Rouge Dior collection
analytical psychology but a proponent of has 24 different shades; the brand’s creative
the idea that we are all ruled by underly- director, Peter Philips, shares that “many
ing “color energies”—it represented both a women actually consider a red lip their
warning sign and passion. version of a nude.” The Rosso Valentino
There are, needless to say, innumerable Refillable Lipstick line starts its homage to
reasons a red lip persists. For the modern the shade with the ruby-lacquered tube, and
woman—touring the world like Taylor red shades come in two different finishes;
Swift, who reportedly wears Pat McGrath’s the makeup brand Hourglass burnishes its
LiquiLust Legendary Wear Matte Lipstick, vegan credentials with a carmine alternative
or walking the Golden Globes red carpet like in the Red 0 formulas. The red lip may be as
Rachel Brosnahan in a shade that matched classic as it comes, but there’s always room
her gown and her hair ribbon—a crimson for reinvention.— 
pout elicits feelings of power. The models
on the catwalk with glossy-as-a-sports-car
lips at Gucci’s spring-summer runway show IN THE SHADE
certainly projected an assured capability. Adut Akech wears Valentino Beauty,
Dolce & Gabbana jacket,
Research has indicated that lipstick is and Bulgari earrings. Photographed
poised to take up an increased share of the by Campbell Addy.

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What Is It With the Price
of Clothes?
Are you reeling from sticker shock in a way that seems new?
Emilia Petrarca is here to tell you that you’re not alone.
’m n o t s a y i n g t h a t I High-end brands have
I p r e d i c t e d l a s t ye a r ’s
inflation—but if you’re
as addicted to shopping
as I am, you probably saw
the writing on the wall too:
long been aware that a higher
price tag could actually make
an item even more desirable.
“Over the last couple of years,
we’ve found that higher price-
At least since the start of point items sell the best,” says
the pandemic, the prices of Sherri McMullen, founder
luxury goods seem to have of the McMullen boutique
sky roc keted f rom reall y in Oakland, which carries
expensive to really, really, quiet-luxur y brands like
really expensive—or f rom Khaite and The Row along
aspirationally splurge-able to with lesser-known design-
no-way-can-I-afford-that. ers and artisans. (Of course,
A few months ago I book- when you’re paying $10,000
marked a pair of designer for a bag, you’re probably not
leather boots in the hope shouting about it from the
that I could maybe budget rooftops, but then again, you
for them, only to find that by don’t need to: Such a piece
the end of the season they’d carries its own stealthy sig-
gone up by $200, not down— naling to a smaller and self-
for no apparent reason other selecting audience.)
than being in demand. When On the other hand, many
they finally went on sale, it shoppers find current prices
was at the price I’d first seen. to be almost offensively high.
(Needless to say, I still don’t “No one wants to feel like
own these boots.) they’re being duped,” says
“I started to be extra Malinsky, who finds herself
horrified about five years wondering: “Are these brands
ago,” says Becky Malinsky, just pushing the limit to see
a former newspaper editor how much I will spend?” As a
who now writes a popular personal shopper and stylist,
shopping newsletter. Prices, she sees clients rethinking
she noticed, seemed to have reached a sort of fever pitch. “I was like, their investments. “Even when funds are unlimited, there comes a
What is going on?” point where people are like, How many things do I want to buy when
There are myriad factors at play, but dramatic rises in the costs I could redo my bathroom for the same price?”
A N DY WA RH OL , I MAG E A ND A RT WOR K © 2024 TH E A N DY WA RH OL

of shipping, materials, and manufacturing may have forced many Last October, when Phoebe Philo finally dropped her first solo
FOU NDATI ON FO R TH E V I SUA L A RTS, IN C./ LI CE N SE D BY A RS.

brands to hike their prices to make a profit—and, in turn, to shift collection after years of anticipation, the overwhelming public reac-
their focus away from aspirational shoppers and toward the kind tion was one of rapturous excitement—followed by some woeful
of super-wealthy customer whose spending habits are not directly eye-watering at the sight of the prices: On the low side, custom-
dictated by the economy. Chanel, for example, typically reviews the ers could find a pair of $450 sunglasses—but shoes ran anywhere
prices of its handbags twice a year (as do many similar companies), a from $1,100 to $1,750; trousers $1,400 to $2,400; knits $3,600 to
process that generally results in a small increase, but its classic quilted $4,800; and handbags $3,500 to $8,500. The highest-priced item
flap bag now retails for more than $10,000—nearly twice as much was a $25,000 shearling coat, followed by a $19,000 sequined dress.
as it cost five years ago. To be fair, Philo is far from alone with these kinds of numbers.
Not that any of this is stopping people from buying, though—in Visit almost any luxury store, or sort from high to low on any
fact, Chanel is reportedly opening private stores intended solely for designer website, and you’ll likely find something similar—and
these top clients. “The definition of luxury, to me, is exclusivity,” says someone pulling out their credit card or filling up their >1 2 4
stylist Amanda Murray. “It’s why people spend all of this money—
because they don’t want to walk down the street and see someone SEEING DOLLAR SIGNS
else wearing the same thing.” The bottom line: Fashion has gotten more and more expensive.

Imaan Hammam, Body by Victoria Invisible Lift Demi Bra & Body by Victoria Smoothing Shimmer Brief Panty
virtual shopping cart. (Philo’s drops, which are small-batch to min- become a resale sleuth,” says Malinsky. But sometimes even resale
imize waste, sell out almost instantly.) Meanwhile, a pair of jeans and sample-sale prices can feel expensive. (My RealReal credits cer-
from Hedi Slimane’s Celine can cost upwards of $1,150; a Khaite tainly aren’t stretching as far as they once did.)
Fair Isle cashmere sweater, $3,400; and an intricately embroidered Along with shopping secondhand—and more and more sales—
Prada mini skirt, $6,500. I’ve been leaning on my own closet. (After all:
Just because numbers are higher across the Nothing looks better than free!) I’ve also turned
board, though, doesn’t mean that everyone— To alleviate the feeling of away from bigger luxury brands and toward
or even big spenders—can adjust accordingly. smaller, independent labels such as the New
“I’m a big Prada girl—I usually buy two pairs sticker shock—and, York–based Kallmeyer. While the prices may
of shoes every season, and maybe a runway of course, to offset costs— be only slightly lower, I feel like I have a better
look,” Murray says. “But now I look at the sense of where my money is going and who
price point and it’s just: Wow—that skirt with I will go down rabbit I’m supporting—both of which are important
the flowers on it is $11,000. Obviously, it’s so holes on The RealReal to me if I’m going to be spending that much.
beautiful—but it’s clearly not for me; it’s for Designer Daniella Kallmeyer originally
someone else.”
and stalk items until priced her signature 007 blazer at $595—a
In the face of such numbers, price- they drop to a price that fraction of the price of its luxury counterpart—
conscious shoppers are simply buying fewer but when the cost of its poly-wool blend inev-
big-ticket items—and when they do decide
feels more reasonable itably went up, rather than simply increase
to take out their wallets, they’re being much the price she saw an opportunity to improve
smarter about it. “I’m always asking: What is the material? Where the piece’s construction and material to make it more versatile.
is it from?” says Marlowe Granados, a writer and filmmaker whose It now costs $750 and is made of a sustainable Japanese wool.
style I’ve long admired. “I would understand a price that accounts “It’s more expensive,” Kallmeyer says, “but they’re actually getting
for craftsmanship, and for materials—but when it’s a viscose blend, a better product.”
I’m like: What are we actually paying for?” Then again, there’s another tried-and-true way to avoid sticker
To alleviate the feeling of sticker shock—and, of course, to offset shock we haven’t yet discussed: Just close your eyes, if you can. “I can’t
costs—I will go down rabbit holes on The RealReal and stalk items think about it for too long, or else I’ll get upset,” Granados says of
until they drop to a price that feels more reasonable. “I’ve definitely her approach. “I’ll deal with the consequences later.” *
Home Grown
LE FT: D EW I TA N N ATT L LOYD/COU RT ESY OF J. LOH MANN GALLERY. R IGH T: TONI D E J ESUS.
the J. Lohmann gallery. (Amor perfeito is
Portuguese for both “pansy” and “perfect
love.”) De Jesus also left his fingerprints
Fanciful work by ceramist Toni De Jesus in the clay—a soft-paste porcelain created
conceals a personal message. from a recipe provided by the Nantgarw
China Works Museum—making an already
personal project even more so. He presented
the work with several other floral pieces
W
hen Glynn Vivian, a public (including a pot covered in orchids native to
art gallery in Swansea, Wales, Madeira, where he grew up), calling the col-
approached Toni De Jesus lection “He Loves Me…He Loves Me Not.”
about participating in a show De Jesus’s father was taken aback when
called “Queer Reflections” in 2022, the Por- he first saw Amor Perfeito, but that reticence
tuguese British artist jumped at the chance. soon relaxed into acceptance. “It was due
There was, however, one problem: His to this piece,” the artist reflects. “It’s quite
father didn’t yet know he was gay. impactful how a bit of porcelain could make
So, De Jesus—a ceramist known for his you live your true self.”— 
poetic experiments with form and pattern—
came out through his work. Inspired by a
19th-century plate with a pansy motif from
Nantgarw China Works, a former porcelain
factory in Wales’s River Taff valley, he set
out to craft a modern, queer-coded vase that
also embraced the delicate floral. “I knew
the connotation pansy has with the queer
community—and how they’ve reclaimed
the word,” he says. “I also wanted to do so.”
The result? Amor Per feito, a vessel FLOWER POWER
adorned with purple and yellow pansies
that, after debuting in Swansea, traveled to
the Design Miami fair in December with

Doutzen Kroes, Body by Victoria Invisible Lift Demi Bra & Body by Victoria Smoothing Shimmer Brief Panty
2024
*
*
In a 28-day study applying a 1% Pentavitin® formulation, skin remained hydrated for 72 hours.
COLEHAAN.COM/VOGUE
FROM THE HEART
Galliano, seen here at his home in France in 2022,
is nakedly honest in recounting his experiences.
choice phrases, “I love Hitler,” and “People like

you would be dead—your mothers, your fore-
fathers, would all be fucking gassed.” Some-
one recorded the rant with his phone. It’s an
upsetting video: Upsetting because of what the
man is saying—noxious, shocking things—
and upsetting, too, because the man saying
them is drunk beyond proper cognition, eyes
dim, slurring his words. This man, of course,
is John Galliano, creative director of Dior at
the time and, by general consensus, one of the
world’s great fashion designers, acclaimed for
his theatrical magpie vision and the maximal-
ist joie de vivre of his clothes. How did this
person, so affirming of life’s splendid variety
in his art, find himself in such an abject state,
giving voice to such hate?
That is the question at the heart of High &
Low: John Galliano, Kevin Macdonald’s new
documentary. Produced in association with
Condé Nast Entertainment and grounded in
probing interviews with Galliano himself—
as well as with confidants including Naomi
Campbell and Kate Moss and former col-
leagues such as LVMH executive Sidney
Toledano—the film seeks neither to absolve
nor to condemn. Rather, it serves as a robust
examination of a complex, contradictory char-
acter. “It’s a kind of detective story,” says Mac-
donald. “Me trying to figure this man out: the
world he comes out of, the experiences that
shaped him, what’s going on in his head. But
if you watch the movie, you see that John’s
trying to figure that out too. In some ways, he’s a mystery to himself.”
Live to Tell By his own admission, Macdonald “isn’t a fashion person.” British,
and a bit younger than his subject, he was aware of Galliano as a
figure in the zeitgeist, the prodigy–enfant terrible who shot from
The powerful, engrossing documentary working-class obscurity in south London to the apex of fashion,
High & Low: John Galliano sees becoming the first designer from the UK to take the reins at a Pari-
sian couture house. One pleasure of making the film, Macdonald
the designer tell the story of his life. says, was acquainting himself with Galliano’s work—its synthesis
By Maya Singer. of rich storytelling, far-flung references, and dazzling craft. High &
Low gives Galliano his full measure as an artist. “But then there’s
that video,” adds Macdonald, who previously directed the documen-
here’s a little hidden park, Le Jardin des Rosiers–Joseph- tary One Day in September, about the murder of Israeli athletes at the
T Migneret, in the heart of the Marais in Paris. The secluded

spot takes its name from the principal of a local elementary
school, who—after witnessing the roundup of 165 of his
Jewish students in 1942—committed himself to the anti-Nazi resis-
tance and scrambled to keep as many other young people from the
1972 Olympics in Munich. “And it’s repellent.”
“I’ve got relatives who died in the Holocaust,” he continues. “But
I, personally, like John, and I think he’s a genius. I also know he’s
an addict—and so what I see, too, in that video, is a man who’s
destroying himself.”
gas chambers as he could. “N’oubliez pas!” commands a plaque in The film’s point of view is kaleidoscopic, its narrative juxtaposing
the park. “Do not forget!” the ecstasy of creation, the insane pressure of heading a global luxury
A leisurely 10-minute stroll away from Le Jardin des Rosiers– brand as the fashion industry was speeding up, and the demons left
FRA N ÇO I S HA L A RD.
Joseph-Migneret, you will find La Perle, a hip brasserie with outdoor over from an often cruel and closeted childhood. (One can trace
tables jammed up against one another in the classic Parisian manner. these same arcs in Alexander McQueen’s extraordinary career and
People go there to be seen, and one night in 2011 what onlookers ultimately tragic life.) The key juxtaposition in High & Low, though,
saw was a man insulting the couple beside him, saying, among other is between the scourge of antisemitism and the scourge of >1 3 7

@ F P M O V E M E N T | F P M O V E M E N T. C O M
EXPLORE THE CAMPAIGN
F P M OV E M E N T. C O M
addiction. One theory offered for Galliano’s remarks at La Perle—
put forward by an addiction psychiatrist who worked with Galliano
during his recovery—is that, by planting himself in a public spot in
one of Paris’s historically Jewish neighborhoods and saying things
like “I love Hitler,” he was committing “social suicide.” If that was
the subconscious plan, it worked: When the video emerged, Galliano
was pilloried in the international press, sacked from both Dior and
his LVMH-owned namesake label, and cast into exile—canceled, as
we say nowadays. Then, controversially, he came back. In 2014, John
Galliano, clean and sober, was appointed creative director of Maison
Margiela, and his collections continue to earn critical acclaim.
“What do you do with someone like John Galliano? What I
like to say is, ‘We don’t do cancel culture—we do counsel culture,’ ”
notes Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the Anti-
Defamation League. (Greenblatt’s predecessor in that role, Abe Fox-
man, decried Galliano’s comments before offering him guidance on
making amends.) “I do think there’s a difference between someone
The Custom of
who’s not in control of himself saying those things—and maybe not the Country
even understanding why he’s saying them—and what we’re seeing
now, which is famous people, people in positions of power, going A new exhibition traces how a love of
on social media and broadcasting their antisemitic views to a global
audience,” Greenblatt continues. “And one difference is that in 2011,
nature grew in Beatrix Potter.
the public response was overwhelming—this behavior is abnormal;
W
it’s not acceptable. What you see in the film is that John understood hen author and illustrator Beatrix Potter would
that, and that he’s gone on to learn and to become a better person.” trudge through England’s Lake District in her
Macdonald leaves it to viewers to judge the sincerity of Galliano’s favorite wood-sole clogs and tweed skirt (a piece
attitude shift. Some may choose to believe him when he says, in the of sacking added to fend off the rain), she often
film, “It was a disgusting thing, a foul thing, that I did…. It was just carried a walking stick with a magnifying glass in the handle—
horrific.” Others may remain in doubt. Watching the film, Galliano the better to inspect specimens of yellow cowslip or twisting
still seems taken aback by the fact that the man slurring those vicious meadowsweet. “I can imagine her tramping up and down the
words is actually him. But that’s the thing about addiction: People hills,” says Morgan Library & Museum curator Philip Palmer,
become unrecognizable to themselves. Accountability requires reck- “getting the magnifying glass out to look at plants and mush-
oning with mistakes you don’t remember making. rooms and animals.”
In another era, Galliano’s rants might have drifted off into the Palmer organized Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature, on view in
Paris night, remembered only by the customers at La Perle who heard Manhattan at the Morgan through June 9, which traces the story
them. But by 2011, there were plenty of video-enabled smartphones of the best-selling children’s book author 120-plus years after
around, and we’d just entered the social media echo chamber. The the publication of The Tale of Peter Rabbit. The presentation is
takedown of John Galliano was an early example of the power of rooted in Potter’s passion for the natural world, which began in
these technologies to gin up an outrage machine. Now, of course, it’s her cloistered childhood in Victorian London (homeschooled
all outrage, all the time—and in another accident of timing, High & by governesses, with few friends and little parental interaction),
© V I CTO RI A A N D A LBE RT M US EU M, LO N D O N/COU RT ESY O F FRE DE RI C K WA RN E & CO. LTD.
Low is coming out at a particularly fraught moment. Whether you where she found solace in sketching animal and plant life from an
define the term broadly or narrowly, antisemitism is more visible now early age and maintained a menagerie of pets: mice, newts, birds,
than it has been for many years. It feels less “abnormal,” as Greenblatt a stalwart spaniel named Spot, and rabbits christened Benjamin
puts it. Macdonald, though, didn’t intend his documentary to play H. Bouncer and Peter Piper. In her 20s, a fascination with
LI N D ER B EQU EST. M US EUM N O. BP.238 ( FO R TO P) , B P.14 25 ( FO R BOT TO M) .
into debates over, say, the conflict in the Middle East, or what con- fungi almost led to a career as a mycologist, and later in life
stitutes bigotry. He was interested in questions raised by Galliano’s she became dedicated to sheep farming and land conservation.
story about what to do about bigots: When to punish, when to for- In this exhibition, watercolors, sketchbooks, scientific draw-
give. “At the start, I thought, Well—Galliano is an interesting way ings, and family photographs
of talking about cancel culture,” he recalls. “But I gave that up pretty sit alongside a collection of
quickly. There are so many layers to John, and I realized that it was picture letters addressed to
much more interesting just to tell the story of the man. youngsters—in which, through
“And John was incredibly open,” Macdonald continues. “He was charming sketches of animals
allowed to look at cuts of the film, and there’s stuff that must have and a gently humorous tone, she
been hard for him to watch, but he didn’t object to anything—or, perfected the storytelling skills
actually, he had two notes: One was that I’d said something was ‘cou- for which she is so beloved.
ture’ when it was ‘prêt-à-porter,’ and he wanted that corrected. And —  
the other was: He didn’t want the film to be depressing—not for his
own sake, but for other addicts. I think the way he looks at La Perle
DOWN THE GARDEN PATH
is that while it’s the thing that destroyed his life, it also saved his life.
top: A sketch from Potter’s archive.
Whatever else people take from the film, that’s what he wants people left: The writer and illustrator,
to see—that there is life on the other side.” * age 15, with her cherished dog Spot.

Quick Change
The promise of color-adaptive beauty
products? Your most flattering
shade is just a chemical reaction away.
he first compliment I received at Vogue came thanks to a
T drugstore impulse purchase. It was 10 years ago, during my

first days as a beauty assistant at our labyrinthine old 4 Times
Square offices. As I made my way down a corridor known for
star sightings ( Julianne Moore once smiled at me there), I ran into
a colleague, Chioma Nnadi, whom I’d heard editors describe as the
most stylish person on the planet. “You always have the perfect lip
color,” she said, and asked me what it was. Flattered, I told her about
the chubby MoodMatcher pencil I picked up next to the cash reg-
ister at Hudson Square Pharmacy downtown. On contact its color
changed from a light blue to pink, after which I’d blot everything
away, leaving only a cherry ice-pop stain that stayed all day. (Even
now, MoodMatcher is billed as “the original color change lipstick”
that “works with your chemistry to create a totally customized shade market use Red 27.” The colorless hero dye shifts to a sheer red tint
that’s truly your own.”) above a pH 2.5, while another common ingredient, Red 21—the
I recently reminded Nnadi of this exchange, and she revealed that dye used in Lip Glow and Estée Lauder’s Pure Color Envy Color
she still has the product somewhere—and so do I. Lately, however, Replenish Lip Balm—goes from beige to reddish between pH 0 and
newer “pH-matching” and “color-adaptive” formulas have launched 3. Red 27 also swaps what Wong calls “hiding power,” an ability to
with ingredients so good you can sleep in them, like Youthforia cover what’s underneath, for staying power. “In makeup, there are
BYO Blush Oil, and textures so natural you don’t have to dab them, pigments and dyes,” she explains, likening the former to oil paints,
like the Rosy Lip Enhancer that Hermès Beauty creative director the latter to watercolors. “Pigments are little, solid particles that have
Gregoris Pyrpylis applied to models on the house’s spring runway. hiding power. So in regular lipsticks and eye shadows, you generally
(As he puts it, one shade has the ability to “become one with the skin, have pigments. But this is actually a transparent dye. It will sink into
just like the collection.”) But even before my 4 Times Square days, the skin and stain it a little bit.” The effect plays up whatever color
Dior Beauty was designing the inaugural Lip Glow “color awakening already exists in your lips—or cheeks, if you like to wear it there.
balm” of 2009. “It was the first time that the color-reviver technology (When it comes to more sensitive areas like the eyelids, however,
was used in a more institutional product,” says Peter Philips, creative the use of Red 27 and Red 21 is not FDA-approved.)
and image director of Christian Dior Makeup, noting that Dior’s Layering can customize the hue, an approach that Rihanna
general credibility made it feel less like “a gimmick.” (Years later I endorses. The Fenty Beauty founder added just one Match Stix
would wear Lip Glow to my wedding, doing my own makeup in my Color-Adaptive Cheek + Lip Stick (in the shade Strawberry Pop)
childhood bathroom.) to her core collection. “I love its ease,” Rihanna tells me over email
It’s 1:05 a.m. in New York when I finally hop on a call with when I ask how she’s using it herself. She takes it “everywhere”
Michelle Wong, the Sydney-based chemist and educator at Lab Muf- and likes to swipe the balmy formula “on the apples of my cheeks,
fin Beauty Science whose popular TikToks simplify industry-speak. and even bring it up to the temples to give that really fresh wash of
“It sounds much cooler than it is,” she says of the “technology” behind color, but with some drama”—drama that she can play up or down
pH-powered makeup. “As far as I know, most of the ones on the “with how many layers you apply.” After Fenty changed the industry
with a 40-shade foundation range in 2017, a single product designed
for everyone feels futuristic. “I’m all about beauty for all—creating
ROUGE AGENT
options that really work for people and their skin tones, their skin
Most pH-powered makeup uses Red 27, a dye that
shifts to a sheer red tint on contact. Model América González, types, their style,” Rihanna says. “What’s more beautiful than a color
photographed by Nadine Ijewere, Vogue, April 2023. that becomes uniquely you?”—  

The End of Glitter?
Or are we just at the beginning—of a new era
of microplastic-free, perfectly-healthy-to-eat (!) sparkle.
Tamar Adler reports on glitz to feel good about.
id you know that blue morpho but- amateur seamster—to make room for boxes sparkle, opalescence, and fins. “Glitter has
D terflies, one of the most iridescent

animals on earth, have only brown
pigment in their wings? Or that the
single most vibrantly colored living thing is
the berry from an African plant called Pollia
and boxes of loose glitter, glittery nail pol-
ish, glitter eye shadow, glitter bath bombs,
and so on.
Glitter is in the air, both figuratively
and, I recently learned, literally—from Lil
this emotional play to it,” says Donni Davy,
makeup artist for the opulently bedazzled
Euphoria. Glitter is transgressive—you don’t
wear it to look sexy; you wear it to look cos-
mic. “Without light, glitter just looks like
condensata—which doesn’t have any pigment? Nas X as a glitter cat at last year’s Met Gala particles,” Davy says. “But when the light
P RO P ST Y LI ST: LU N E KU I P E RS.
“You’re trying to distract me,” says my (courtesy of Pat McGrath) to #Mermaid- hits, it comes alive.”
husband, to whom I’m helpfully reciting core, the social media aesthetic that merges My husband’s objection derives from the
these facts. He’s relentless. He should have unfortunate fact that glitter is composed of
been a lawyer. “Tell me you’re not about to microplastics—bits of plastic smaller than
RAZZLE-DAZZLE
fill our house with glitter.” five millimeters. And microplastics are now
In October the EU banned microplastic glitter,
The delicate thing is that I am. I’m prompting a wave of reformulations in found in, among other things, tap water,
packing away his sewing supplies—he’s an cosmetics. Photographed by Lara Giliberto. breast milk, fruit, rain, and antarctic >1 4 4

snow. They’ve made their way to locations making FDA-approved edible glitter out fellow Hard Candy alum Dineh Mohajer
as far-flung as the Mariana Trench and of mica—a group of 37 silicate minerals and Halsey (who is “very much into sparkle
Mount Everest. The glitter found in much found in granite and other rocks—dextrose, and glitter,” Chavez tells me). Microplas-
nail polish or eye shadow has historically rice protein, and food dyes. When my tic glitters were never an option. “We said
consisted of polyethylene terephthalate samples of Fancy Sprinkles arrive, I bake to our labs: Please don’t show us anything
(PET) or polyvinyl chloride (PVC), layered a batch of corn muffins and blanket them that isn’t cleanly formulated,” Chavez says.
with aluminum and styrene acrylate, and in glitter. Corn muffins have never been I smugly sign for a shipment of lip gloss,
then finely cut into geometric shapes. All so golden! I pour Champagne Rose Gold plus five vials of loose glitter—in shades
the glitter ever made still exists. Remember Fancy Sprinkles into my seltzer and cheers like Saint Ceremony, Out of Body, and
how in the 18th century Antoine Lavoisier to my success. Ascent—and a number of glimmery and
declared that matter can never be destroyed? But my cheers were premature. What pearlescent Shadowsticks and Eye Paint.
I think he meant glitter. I want is sparkly makeup, not muffins. The glitter in all of them comes f rom
Attempts to suspend Fancy Sprinkles in sustainably mined, finely milled mica or
n October the European Union, infer- Vaseline are only nominally more success- borosilicate. I murmur in my husband’s
I ring that microplastics shouldn’t be

so omnipresent, banned microplastic
glitter. By 2027, it will be illegal to put
glitter in shower gels and face wash. By
2035, in any makeup at all. How many
ful than my efforts with salt. I can’t achieve
anything like Euphoria’s glittery tears. Per-
haps I’ve been doing needless work. Maybe
cosmetics companies have already figured
this out. Donni Davy’s exquisite line, Half
direction about how hope sparkles eternal
if one is only willing to do one’s research.
This is further proven by my tests of Gen
See, an environmentally conscious cosmet-
ics company that works with a sustainable
pounds of microplastics have you licked off Magic, hasn’t yet been reformulated to meet mica mine in Hartwell, Georgia. Gen See
your lips in your decades of adulthood? I EU regulations—though she says she’s Mixed Media Metallic Liquid Eyeshadow
call Phoebe Stapleton, associate professor excited by the challenge. “It’s going to push is a joy to apply to my eyelids—which I’ve
of pharmacology and toxicology at Rutgers. innovation. It’s a necessary and ultimately now become accustomed to blanketing with
“Microplastics are in our blood, our placen- good thing.” Davy sends me a synthetic- sustainable gold sparkles every morning.
tas, our body tissues. They’re everywhere I admit to a certain amount of theatrical-
we’ve looked so far,” she says. The sources of ity when I dump a package of pink glitter
our internal microplastics are wide. “Glit- directly onto our backyard. But it’s Bioglit-
tery makeup isn’t of any more concern than
I paint on some Nails ter, the only cellulose glitter that will actu-
all other sources of microplastics. But there Inc Bioglitter polish ally decompose naturally—thus certified
isn’t any less concern either.” by European third-party auditors, whom it
I search “biodegradable glitter” and dis-
and flutter around like a would be folly to doubt. I think about glu-
cover that in recent years, there’s been glitter climate-resilient fairy ing some to my nails. But I don’t have to!
made from the cellulose of eucalyptus trees Bioglitter is the shimmer in all of Nails Inc’s
and wood pulp—materials that are used in Bioglitter polish. I paint some on and flutter
some biodegradable plastic bags. According mica-based Half Magic Glitterpuck, a around like a climate-resilient fairy.
to a number of researchers, however, these shimmery powder, which has admirable But why not flutter around like a morpho
“biodegradable” glitters are only theoret- sparkle and much more staying power than butterfly? The most promising advances
ically biodegradable: They only decom- my homemade attempts. in sustainable glitter are perhaps unsur-
pose in particular conditions—specifically, I learn from James Newhouse, head for- prisingly based on shimmer in nature: the
in industrial composters. Which would mulator for the beauty brand Chantecaille, wings of a blue morpho butterfly, the feath-
mean coming home f rom a night out that the company, founded in 1998, has ers of a peacock and kingfisher, and the
and scraping one’s makeup off into a never used microplastic glitter. He sends Pollia berry. All get their remarkable effects
compost bucket whose contents will be me a lipstick that twinkles with micro- f rom something called structural color,
appropriately processed. scopic gold, even once applied. I feel like which relies on microstructures that inter-
But then I have an epiphany! Remember Beyoncé. Newhouse, a chemist by training, fere with light. Two producers—Sparxell
edible glitter, that modish ingredient which explains that its glitter comes from boro- in the UK, ChiralGlitter in Canada—have
sparkled atop lattes and pizza circa 2017? silicate pearl pigment, while the trio of engineered cellulose nanocrystals that
Per instructions on Craftsuprint.com, I shadows in Chantecaille’s spring 2024 col- mimic these naturally occurring struc-
combine kosher salt with red food coloring lection derive their sparkle from mica from tures, and both tell me they’re already in
and bake it at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, the Responsible Mica Initiative. (Though conversations with cosmetics companies
using the precious time to find Vaseline— mica is a naturally occurring substance, as they work to scale up production. No
which should turn my homemade glitter mica mining has historically been plagued matter how often I check, samples don’t
into lip gloss. I eagerly retrieve my baking with humanitarian violations, mostly stem- arrive from either, leading me to believe
sheet. I grant that my salt is Diamond Crys- ming from illegal child labor.) I’m not a I overplayed my insistence that I wasn’t a
tal Kosher and my red food coloring is made regular makeup wearer, and my avant-garde corporate spy.
of organic beets, but what I end up with is assays with Chantecaille’s glittery eye shad- In the meantime, I’ll wear my responsi-
not sparkly at all. I apply it as lip gloss and ows elicit a shrill scream from my son. ble mica and borosilicate sparkles, and keep
look like I have smallpox. On to more experiments! I call Jeanne faith that the future is sufficiently bright
Might professionally made edible glit- Chavez, veteran of 1990s cult-favorite cos- and bedazzled. And that—thankfully—we
ter offer more promise? Recently, a com- metics brand Hard Candy, to talk About- won’t have to cause further ecological insult
pany named Fancy Sprinkles has started Face, the line she has developed with her to get there. *

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On His Terms
With leading-man roles on screen and stage, the
cerebral, highly disciplined actor Tobias Menzies is stepping
(carefully) into the spotlight. By Sarah Crompton.
W
ith his red cap pulled down over horn-rimmed glasses, Apple TV+’s series Manhunt in March, and he’s currently onstage
Tobias Menzies walks into a London hotel with the in The Hunt, an adaptation of the 2012 Thomas Vinterberg film
wariness of a man who might just be recognized. It’s directed by Goold, playing at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn five
his face that would catch him out, those deep lines years after its London premiere.
running from eyes to chin. “He had those even as a young man,” “I’ve got to be honest, I really liked it,” Menzies says of the status
says his friend the theater director Rupert Goold. “It’s like someone he enjoyed in Manhunt. “Being in the engine room of it and part of
has taken a knife and carved them. And I feel those lines run deep the storytelling decisions.” The series is part thriller and part his-
inside him as well. He’s grown into his face like a lot of actors do.” tory lesson, set over the 12 days following Lincoln’s assassination
Menzies’s smile is warm and his handshake firm, and though he in 1865 as Stanton attempts to track down the president’s killer,
lives not far from here in north London’s Crouch End, he is dressed John Wilkes Booth (it’s based on historian James L. Swanson’s 2006
more as a country dweller than a man-about-town, in jeans and blue bestseller). Episodes skip forward and backward, tracing the story
gilet zipped over a soft mustard-and-red-checked shirt. Only his of a tumultuous time and the ideological schisms that caused the
Grenson trainers, white and red and with flashes of the same yellow, Civil War and continued long after it. Stanton, a brilliant lawyer
suggest he might belong to an artier milieu. and strategist, is at the center of everything, clashing with Lincoln’s
“I don’t get recognized on any intrusive level, but it’s not a part of successor, President Andrew Johnson, as he attempts to preserve the
[the job] that I love,” he admits as we settle down to talk. “I like to late president’s legacy.
watch people—I don’t like them to watch me.” I’ve asked him about As gripping as any detective story, Manhunt addresses painful facts
the experience he’s having at 49—that of a talent stepping into his of America’s past: “The implications of losing Lincoln and what
prime. Blame it on The Crown, in which he played the second incar- that meant for African American people,” says showrunner Monica
nation of Prince Philip across two seasons (a role that won him an Beletsky, who spent four years developing the project and who has
COU RT ESY O F A P P LE .
Emmy), and last year’s wry, acclaimed comedy You Hurt My Feelings, followed Menzies’s career since they overlapped as students >1 5 0
in which he starred opposite Julia Louis-Dreyfus (“He’s one of the
most warm and present actors I’ve worked with,” says its director, TRACKING DOWN
Nicole Holofcener). And now, he’s appearing in two leading-man Menzies leads the new Apple TV+ series Manhunt, based on the best-selling
roles, as Edwin Stanton, Abraham Lincoln’s secretary of war, in book about the search for Abraham Lincoln’s assassin.

at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London (she
on a stint studying there from the US). “You could argue in a way
that the Confederates won the peace,” Menzies points out. “What
is important about Monica making the show is that she is a person
of color, and arguably the big fallout from Lincoln’s assassination
was that Reconstruction was lost until 100 years later and the Civil
Rights Movement of the 1960s. Voting rights, land rights—they
didn’t happen. A lot of the things that African Americans have been
fighting so hard for, for so long, were on Stanton’s agenda.”
Menzies studied carefully for the role (“He prepares months in
advance,” says Beletsky), working to find Stanton’s voice and make
his accent seem effortless, but also reading widely about the Civil
THE ACCUSED
War and its aftermath. Doris Kearns Goodwin’s classic history Team
Menzies stars in
of Rivals was a particularly rich source: “It takes you into this very The Hunt, a St. Ann’s
disparate group Lincoln collected around him,” Menzies says. “There Warehouse revival
was such a diversity of opinion and a lot of antagonism, but that was of the acclaimed
part of the power of it.” Menzies also studied Gregory Peck’s tow- 2019 London play.
ering performance as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. “I was
thinking of those archetypes that American literature and film are
full of,” he says. “Because it’s such a whirlwind story with so many dif- Cheek by Jowl. “I was interested in companies that were making
ferent characters floating through it—so you need a moral compass.” their own work,” he says, “and I tried to go to train with [the radi-
The key to the character became a combination of “stoicism and cal movement coach] Jacques Lecoq in Paris; but I didn’t have the
radicalism,” Menzies says—and as an actor, he’s exceptionally good money for that, so I went to RADA.”
at playing men who are fighting such opposing impulses, with strong He never dreamed of being a famous actor. “My obsession as
currents of feeling running beneath an impassive surface. “He is one a kid was tennis,” he says, with a grin. He was good enough to be
of those rare actors who does a lot with silence,” Beletsky says. “He on the fringes of the team for the county of Kent but gave it up
makes you believe you can feel what he is thinking, and he can do when he realized he would never be truly first-class. He stopped
those things without saying a word.” playing for a long time. “Periodically I
Goold, who has directed Menzies would pick up a racket and try to play a
many times onstage—including as Ham- Menzies is attracted to roles that bit, and my game had completely fallen
let, as Valentine in Tom Stoppard’s Arca- conceal depths. “There is a certain apart and it made me so angry. It was so
dia, and as Edgar in King Lear—thinks frustrating. A few years ago I thought,
this quality has become stronger as magic about that. Part of the Let’s start again, do my 10,000 hours,
Menzies has grown older. “He’s got this maths is that there is more on the and let’s fix it.” He approached the task
wonderful physical expressiveness, but with “monomaniacal” intent, working
there’s a slightly remote quality to him, inside than on the outside” for a year on his forehand, and a year
I suppose,” Goold says. “The quality I on his backhand, then adding his serve.
find really compelling in him is his committed curiosity. It’s quite Now he plays three times a week at a local tennis club, either with a
rare, especially for British actors, to keep their craft developing, to coach or taking on other members in clay court matches. “I’m pretty
become more rigorous and investigative, and I think Tobias is an obsessive about it,” he says. “I just find it fascinating. It is such a
outlier on that.” mental game—a very interesting microcosm of one’s brain.”
Their most recent collaboration is The Hunt, a haunting story in His hero is Novak Djokovic. “He has less natural flair than Nadal
which a small-town teacher becomes ostracized when a six-year-old or Federer but there is an epic quality to his tennis. He is able to
child accuses him of abuse. Menzies will be reprising his devastat- endure and suffer, and so he can do it all in some way. There is a sort
ingly observed performance from the play’s 2019 London premiere. of purity to what he is doing. I think only if you have struggled with
“When we put it on, we felt it to be about false accusations and the tennis do you realize that even though it looks plain, what’s going
way that cancel culture was creating pariahs,” says Goold. “But it is as on, the footwork, the ability to get to that ball and then hit it—it’s
much about someone who is shut out from their community because just rather remarkable.”
they choose to live apart. There is part of Tobias that is like that.” Menzies admits that his attitude to life mirrors his tennis. “I
Menzies acknowledges that he is attracted to roles that conceal am probably on the methodical end of things, yeah,” he says, with
depths. “It’s partly a taste thing,” he says. “I like the kind of acting another low laugh. I ask about his film roles, which have been getting
where I can’t see the performance, I can’t see how it is happening. bigger and richer of late. He loved filming in New York with Holof-
There is a certain magic about that. Part of the maths is that there is cener on You Hurt My Feelings—“It was definitely bucket list”—and
more on the inside than on the outside, there’s a kind of mystery there.” is currently appearing alongside Brad Pitt in the as-yet-untitled For-
mula 1 drama directed by Joseph Kosinski, which is filming scenes
M
enzies was born in London, his father a radio producer at Grand Prix around the world.
for the BBC, but after his parents separated when he Before the actors’ strike interrupted production, they had shot two
MA RC BRE NN E R.
was six, he lived with his mother, a drama teacher, and scenes at Silverstone in the UK. “It was bonkers because we are in
his brother in Kent. On their regular cultural outings, amongst everything else. So we did this scene on the grid before the
he was inspired by contemporary dance and the experimental theater race and the grid is live: real drivers, real cars, celebrities wandering
companies he saw: Pina Bausch, Complicité, Shared Experience, around.” He pauses, then adds: “It was like C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 2 6 0

Tangier Dreams
With its fleet of exciting cultural hubs and
smart new hotels, the storied North African city
has never been more inspiring to visit.
here are few cities in the world as
T romanticized—or misunderstood—
as Tangier. Perched on the north-
ernmost tip of Morocco, near where
Africa reaches out to Europe across the
Strait of Gibraltar, this teeming, multicul-
explore the vast spa
c o m p l e x , w h e re a n
outdoor pool is fringed
by palms. Though less
tural metropolis is dominated by one period than 15 minutes from
of history in the Western public conscious- the ancient heart of the
ness: its mid-20th-century phase as a colo- city, with its lush, oasis-
TO P LE FT: A N DR EW MO NTG O ME RY/V I LL A MA B ROU KA .CO M. TO P RI G HT A ND BOT TOM : VILLAMABROUKA.COM.

nial “international zone,” when it became as like setting, it feels a
infamous for its liberalism (read: licentious- whole world away.
ness) as its sweeping Mediterranean views The jewel in Tang-
and architectural marvels. Here, William S. ier’s f reshly polished
Burroughs drafted Naked Lunch in a frenzied crown, however, is Villa
haze of hashish and oxycodone; Mick Jagger Mabrouka, the former
recorded “Continental Drift” in a Moroc- home of Saint Lau-
can palace; and Yves Saint Laurent estab- rent and his partner,
lished his final home within a peaceful, leafy Pierre Bergé. It was
villa overlooking the bustling medina and, A PLACE IN THE SUN
opened by design guru Jasper Conran last
beyond it, the craggy southern edge of Spain. clockwise from top left: Villa Mabrouka’s year as a sister property to L’Hotel, his riad
Yet over the past few years, Tangier has elegant garden; a table set for afternoon tea in the in Marrakech beloved by the London cre-
undergone a quiet renaissance. Locals have villa’s Mynott pavilion; the former primary ative set. In Tangier, Conran lets the villa’s
bedroom is now the sumptuous Marrakech suite.
founded a new wave of cafés, galleries, and gorgeous architectural features sing, punctu-
cinemas showcasing the city’s contemporary, ated by bohemian antiques and zesty flashes
cosmopolitan vibe. (Keep it quiet, though, Tanger, reviving an iconic Art Deco movie of butterscotch yellow and lime green—as
as the emphasis here is on building a slow theater—is a fresh spate of ambitiously de- well as a Slim Aarons–worthy pool ringed
and sustainable kind of tourism, where pro- signed hotels. Kicking things off last winter by butterfly-laden palm trees and fragrant
moting the rich creative spirit of a younger was the Fairmont Tazi Palace, situated on bushes of mint leaf. It’s the best of both
generation, rather than catering to the vices a hilltop surrounded by a eucalyptus forest. worlds: Moroccan design flair and French
of Westerners, is the mission.) Saunter through its lavishly decorated cor- hospitality (don’t miss the oysters and fish
Accompanying this surge of newly ridors (the building, an Andalusian-style tagine prepared by an in-house cook), and
opened cultural hot spots—including the fortress, once belonged to an adviser of the old-world glamour that also looks toward
Museum of Contemporary Art, housed in former king); wander its landscaped gar- the future. Or, to put it more succinctly:
a former prison, and the Cinémathèque de dens perfumed with pomegranate trees; or It’s Tangier.— 

The only podcast that takes you
inside the world of Vogue
HOSTED BY CHIOMA NNADI

AND CHLOE MALLE.
FOLLOW WHEREVER YOU GET
YOUR PODCASTS.
into the thrall of a lopsided power dynamic with
Billie, a cutthroat and self-assured beauty CEO who
issues sharp adages from her lacquered thumbs. With
the relationship conducted entirely over text, Lily’s
life becomes suspended in the digital limbo of an
anticipated blue text bubble, the ellipsis of the novel’s
name. They meet when Lily is reporting on one of
Storied Lands the “disease-oriented galas”—an Alzheimer’s Unfor-

gettable Evening—and we accompany Lily on a roller
coaster of self-doubt and eventual self-actualization
A range of backdrops set against the backdrop of the rise of digital media.
Lawrence, who wrote for W and WWD for the bet-
provide the grounding for ter part of two decades, deploys
spring’s best fiction. her insider fluency with aplomb,
describing the microaggressions of
office politics as deftly as the nepo-
he follow-up to 2017’s National Book Award finalist The baby influencers turned vegan cater-
T Leavers, Lisa Ko’s Memory Piece (Riverhead Books)

is a moving, strikingly evocative exploration of New
York’s art, tech, and activism scenes across the decades.
The novel follows three teens from mall-bound suburban New
Jersey into adulthood as they forge their own paths in a rapidly
ers.— 
Set in the not-so-remote past of
the 1990s, Ordinary Human Failings
(Little Brown and Company) feels
just distant enough to offer a foreign
changing world. Chafing against the landscape, devoid of cell phones
assumptions projected onto them as and an immediate multicultural
Asian American women and resist- perspective that greater connectiv-
ing the stifling expectations of their ity affords. The Green family is at
immigrant parents, they yearn for the center of Megan Nolan’s grip-
freedom—from the demands of race, ping new novel; they’ve settled into
gender, and family—while grasping insular life on a London housing
at the expansive futures they once estate, having haphazardly fled Ireland after the daughter, Carmel,
imagined.—   became pregnant. Circling this unfortunate family is a hungry
A faded estate on Maryland’s Ches- young tabloid reporter, who senses in the Greens just the kind of
apeake shore, packed with family mess that his readers love to disdain. With her careful and caring
members for a Fourth of July weekend novel, Nolan shows how misfortune can
and haunted by its history, provides the start with a few bad decisions and how
M EM O RY P I ECE : R I V ERH EA D BOO KS. O N TH E TO BACCO COAST : FSG. EL L I PSES: P E NGU IN RAND OM H OUSE/DUTTON.
backdrop for Christopher Tilghman’s culpability is entangled in providence
elegant, boisterous, and moving new and privilege. Her prose is slicing and
novel, On the Tobacco Coast (Farrar, exacting; this is a book that smarts but
Straus and Giroux). Mason’s Retreat is also comforts with its precise generosity.
the name of this farm and ancestral seat, tumbledown in haute — 
OR D I NA RY H U M AN FA I L I NG S: L I TT L E, BROW N A N D CO MPA N Y. H EL P WA N TED: W.W. NORTON.

WASP fashion, a place of brackish marsh air, oyster shells, and The events in Adelle Waldman’s
drawers jammed with mismatched cutlery. Tilghman has now fleet-footed novel Help Wanted (Nor-
written four acclaimed novels located amid this landscape, ton) take place at a box store of declin-
exploring rich themes of race, class, and privilege along the ing fortunes in upstate New York—a
way. Tobacco Coast is the first set in the present, and it teems setting that in Waldman’s steady hands
with convincing characters: Kate and Harry, the owners grap- proves to be a crucible of ambition and
pling with mortality; their three grown children warring with survival. We are with Team Move-
respective partners; a pair of French cousins; ment, the corporatized name given to
a clutch of aged neighbors. Tilghman ranges the employees who show up at 4 a.m.
through them—the inner life of a Vassar coed to unload trucks full of household
is as accessible to him as that of a 96-year-old goods and move them to the retail floor.
Chesapeake matron—as they assemble for a Waldman is unsentimental about her low-wage protag-
gloriously described meal where buried con- onists, investing them with foibles as well as everyday
flict and sublimated pain inevitably intrude. heroism, and she’s mesmerizing on the details of their
—  work, the mechanical belts, the “throwing” of boxes,
A wry and winning debut f rom Vanessa the meticulous unpacking. A single paragraph on the
Lawrence, Ellipses (Dutton) charts the course difficulty of untangling bras has thrilling specificity.
of a mentor-mentee relationship as toxic as it In their petty and casually unempathetic supervisor,
is intoxicating. Lily, a 30-something magazine Meredith, the novel finds its engine of suspense, a
writer grappling with her role in the endan- middle-management villain whose team comes to believe
gered ecosystem of prestige print media, slips must be promoted to be vanquished.—..

STOR E
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Mrs. Prada Almost everyone refers to Miuccia Prada in the
most formal of ways, but she herself has never been
one to stand on ceremony. Wendell Steavenson
meets a designer who has built an empire in her
own image: iconic, iconoclastic—and enormously
influential. Photographed by Stef Mitchell.
IT WAS NOVEMBER AND A little windy on the balcony of the who could link art and academic inquiry to put on the kind of
Ca’ Corner della Regina, the 18th-century palazzo that is home ambitious, multidisciplinary exhibitions she wanted the founda-
to the Prada Foundation in Venice, where Miuccia Prada was tion to show. She had been struggling, for example, to find the
posing for photographs against the backdrop of the Grand Canal. right person to oversee an exhibition on feminism: Who could
She clasped a red silk coat (from her very first collection in 1988) unite such a disparate field—and how best to communicate com-
over a citrine sweater, bright and sharp against the gray sky and plex and challenging concepts?
the terra-cotta, ochre, and verdigris of deliquescent Venice. She “I want culture to be attractive,” she said.
wore no discernible makeup; her long blond-and-auburn hair was When lunch was over, Prada helped clear away the plates to a
unstyled and hung in soft curls at her shoulders. When it fanned side table, looped the heavy chains back around her neck, and our
in the breeze, she joked about looking very 1990s, like Cindy interview began.
Crawford in a wind machine.
Afterward, several of us gathered around a table for lunch. Mrs. “Fashion is one third of my life,” said Prada, who has created two
Prada, as she is deferentially known, took off the two grand gold celebrated fashion labels, Prada and Miu Miu, and, together with
necklaces (one of lions’ heads) and the other medallions she was her husband, Patrizio Bertelli, helms the Prada Group, a global
wearing and laid them on an adjacent chair, as if relinquishing the luxury brand with $4.5 billion in annual revenue (as of 2022) and
heavy chains of office, and began, Italian-mama style, to spoon over 13,000 employees. (Prada Group also has a stake in Church’s
rice onto our plates. The lunch was simple: chicken patties, braised shoes.) The second third of her life, she says, is “culture and the
endive, spinach, and salad. The vegetables, she said, came from her Fondazione.” Since its creation in 1993, the Prada Foundation has
garden in Tuscany—oh, yes, she nodded, she takes a close interest become a leading proponent of contemporary art. “After, there is
in the planting. There is not much, I would come to understand, family and friends, and possibly some pleasures.” She paused to
that Prada does not take a close interest in. reconsider. “Actually, they all overlap. I try to make my life useful.”
Prada, now 74, reminded me of the late Queen of England: a Prada likes the word useful; she dislikes the word luxury, which
diminutive older lady, magnificently costumed, who commands she finds vulgar. And here is the rub, the nub, the dichotomy that
a regal presence with a softly-spoken manner and a genuine curi- runs through her life and her work: Miuccia Prada is an extraor-
osity about both things and people. She is surprisingly warm, dinarily successful fashion designer selling beautiful, expensive
self-deprecating, and has a gentle, musical laugh. We discussed clothes and accessories. She is also—something confirmed with
the current exhibition at the palazzo, “Everybody Talks About the a nod when I asked—politically left of center, with a doctor-
Weather,” a thought-provoking interplay of historical paintings, ate in political science (she also studied mime for five years), a
contemporary artworks, and scientific information about the cli- former member of the Italian Communist Party who marched
mate crisis. Prada lamented that it was difficult to find curators for women’s rights. “I always thought there were only two noble
170
ANGLE OF REPOSE
“I am interested in the
lives of people,” says
Prada, photographed
here at the Prada
Foundation in Venice.
“It’s not designing—
it’s putting together
personalities,
histories, pieces
of life, good, bad.”
Fashion Editor:
Alex Harrington.
SHE’S GOT...
clockwise from top
left: Gigi Hadid
wearing Prada from
fall 2007, fall 2017,
Miu Miu spring
2008, and Prada
spring 2009.
...THE LOOKS
clockwise from
top left: Hadid
in Prada fall 2013,
spring 2011, fall
2009, and fall 2010.
173
professions: politicians or doctors,” she told me. “Doing clothes
[while coming from] a group of very important intellectuals—for
me it was like a nightmare. I was so ashamed, but anyway I did it….
The love of beautiful objects prevailed.” Her political opinions have “To have an idea of a woman
mostly had to be kept private. “I work for a luxury company,” she as a beautiful silhouette—no!”
said, laughing at the irony. “It’s not perfect for a political position like
mine—this was always the biggest contradiction in my life.” Prada says. “I try to
respect women... I try to be
Miuccia Prada was born Maria Bianchi into a well-heeled bourgeois
Milanese family in 1949. Her grandfather Mario Prada had founded
creative in a way that can
Fratelli Prada (“Prada Brothers”), a leather-goods shop, in 1913; her be worn, that can be useful”
mother took over the family business in the 1950s.
“When I was young,” Prada told me, “I always wanted to be dif-
ferent.” She immersed herself in the activist generation of the 1960s,
but she always loved clothes—while everyone else was wearing jeans
at demonstrations, she famously wore Yves Saint Laurent.
“Some people,” I suggested, “don’t want to do what everyone knits and gauzy transparents, retro and future, plastic and crystal,
around them is doing.” socks with high-heel sandals, the bourgeoisie and the rebel—cool.
“ That is probably really deeply a part of myself,” Prada She played around with 1950s nostalgia, 1980s minimalism, and
acknowledged. hideous color schemes from the 1970s.
And while she rebelled against the bourgeois assumptions of her “Of course badness is everywhere—in the movies, in art, in life,”
upbringing, she joined the family business, taking it over from her Prada told me, “but somehow what they call bad taste was never
mother in 1978. That same year, she met Bertelli, the founder of a accepted in fashion. Back then it was kind of a scandal, an insult;
rival leather-goods company, at a trade fair. They joined forces, both even now, fashion is sometimes the place of clichéd beauty, but it’s the
personally and professionally (marrying in 1987), and she began cliché of beauty that has to be completely taken away—yes, changed.”
playing around with the idea of a nylon backpack: practical, light- Success was sudden and stratospheric. In 1993, Miuccia Prada
weight, water-resistant, useful. When it first went on sale in 1984 began to design a second label, Miu Miu—the name is what her
it was far from successful, but a high-end brand making a product family called her when she was a child—which seemed to provide
that was then considered a cheap, everyday item was groundbreak- an outlet for her whimsy, with sparkles and pink and cartoon curves
ing; soon it became an iconic piece—one that illustrated a tectonic that spoofed girlishness. She also expanded early into Asia, added a
shift in fashion. In 1988, having renamed herself Miuccia Prada (by men’s line in 1993, and debuted Prada Sport in 1997, pairing perfor-
having her unmarried maternal aunt legally adopt her), thus bond- mance fabrics with urban chic and presaging athleisure by a decade
ing herself to both the brand and the family business, she launched or two. Prada set trends—she never followed them, always chasing
her first ready-to-wear line. “I’m not even able to draw,” she told that which was “more interesting, more new, more daring, more
me—but she knew what she wanted to wear, and she worked with exciting,” as she told me. “Risk is something I kind of like.”
an intuition that suggested a deep reservoir of knowledge. “Miuccia is just being very true to herself,” said Bertelli, explaining
Prada and Bertelli had a son, Lorenzo, only two months after his wife and partner to me. “Interrogation, curiosity, intellectual hon-
that first show. (A second, Giulio, followed two years later.) When esty…. She may be quite a contrarian, but she has very specific his-
I asked her how she had managed that first year, she was sanguine. toric references, and she has an understanding of costume which is
“We didn’t even know, within the family, that at the same time we absolutely deep.” More than mere form and function, Prada’s clothes
were building [Prada],” she said. “Probably, we like to be working, are, she insists, narrative. “I am interested in the lives of people,”
we like to be active.” she said. “So, it’s not designing—it’s putting together personalities,
Her first collection, an exemplar of the Prada style, featured neu- histories, pieces of life, good, bad.”
trals contrasted with bright colors; straight-cut masculine trousers For Catherine Martin, the costume designer with whom Miuc-
and clumpy, rubber-sole loafers; details and silhouettes that harbored cia Prada collaborated on Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby, Pra-
echoes of military uniforms; and a knee-length skirt that would soon da’s work embodies a kind of practical feminism centered around
become a signature. nothing less than “what it means to be a woman—a powerful
Prada was original. She opposed the pristine, languid lines of woman, and a working woman, and a mother, and a homemaker,
Armani and the va-va-voom of Versace and Dolce & Gabbana, and a sexual being.”
her Milanese peers. “To have an idea of a woman as a beautiful “I personally have many characters in myself,” said Prada, “and I
silhouette—no!” Prada said to me. “I try to respect women—I tend think that many people have different characters in themselves: the
not to do bias dresses, super-sexy. I try to be creative in a way that feminine part and the masculine part, the gentle and the tough.”
can be worn, that can be useful.”
One whole collection was made of nylon; another was an ironic It comes as little surprise, given her youthful background in agit-
exploration of her own dislike of lace. Her work, famously dubbed prop and protest, that Prada remains very much aware of the wider
“ugly chic,” made clashing—acid green and brown, chunky cable world far outside fashion—its wars and suffering, its array of cri-
ses and injustices. “That’s why I am always ashamed,” she told
RUFFLED AND READY me. Publicly but quietly, as well as personally, Prada supports a
Hadid redefines sporty chic in a coat, shirts, briefs, myriad of causes, including cancer research, but she tends to be
and bag from Miu Miu’s spring 2024 collection. discomfited by showy fundraising galas, preferring engagement
175
became really friends,” and by buying art to understand it. “I hate
the idea of being a collector,” she said. “For me, it was kind of part
of the learning process.” In the past, she has been discreet about the
She is very much aware of extent of her involvement with exhibitions, allowing the foundation
her age. “It’s strange,” to establish itself independently from the fashion brand, though
now she has publicly taken on the role of director. “I’m trying,” she
Prada says, “because every single said, “in my last years to be more political, more effective.”
morning I have to decide The Prada Foundation opened its site in Milan in 2015. Conceived
and designed by Rem Koolhaas and his firm OMA (also respon-
if I am a 15-year-old girl or an sible for the dramatic interior of the Prada store in SoHo in New
old lady near to death” York), the space was built around an abandoned distillery and is a very
Miuccia mix of iceberg cool and warm opulence. A gleaming white
tower is finished in concrete mixed with marble dust; beams installed
to protect against earthquakes are painted orange; the original dis-
tillery building (known as the Haunted House) is gilded in 24-karat
gold leaf; the Podium exhibition space is clad in foamy-looking aer-
to mere charity. The company invested in the development of a ated aluminum panels; and the Godard cinema has a wild garden on
regenerated nylon yarn, ECONYL, launched in 2019, which it the roof. Inside the foundation’s spectacular and almost surreal spaces,
now uses in its products, donating 1 percent of the sales to their you can grope your way through a pitch-black Carsten Höller laby-
Sea Beyond project with UNESCO, which is dedicated to ocean rinth and emerge into a room of hallucinogenic mushrooms hanging
preservation and education. “It’s something real, tangible—it’s not upside down and spinning; recoil at a Damien Hirst canvas composed
just a gesture,” she said. “If you really want to be generous, you have of dead flies; or ascend in a giant elevator that can hold a hundred
to impact your life.” people to view the entirety of Milan and the jagged Alps beyond.
Prada cleaves to a kind of no-nonsense practicality. “I do clothes The German artist Thomas Demand, whose work has featured
for a commercial company, and our goal is to sell clothes,” she in 11 projects with the Prada Foundation over the past two decades,
says. She is less interested in exploring fashion as a kind of gen- describes the foundation’s Milan home as “public discourse—you
dered costuming than she is in allowing people to find their own can see intelligent things which you can’t see anywhere else. It tries
way of expressing themselves, which is in turn about "freedom— to convince people that art plays a role in our life.” The foundation
representing yourself. We should be able to be who we choose to commissions new artworks, hosts concerts and cinema screenings,
be, always.” She insists that “fashion is a little small thing, I think: lectures, and symposia. Patronage, though, is another word Prada
Get dressed in the morning, and afterwards you do something else.” doesn’t like. “When they say you are sponsoring culture, I say, ‘No—
Mostly, she wants her clothes to be “useful, [so that] people feel we want to be part of creating culture.’ It’s not about money—it’s
happy when they wear it,” she said, before correcting herself: “Happy about bringing together efforts, people; proposing and finding solu-
is a big word.” Instead, she wants people to feel “confident—that tions.” The site in Milan has done nothing less than pioneer the
they can perform in life. Fashion is a representation of one’s vision regeneration of an industrial district; it has turned the city into a
of the world. Because otherwise, I think fashion is useless.” contemporary art destination. On a Saturday, Demand says, the
space is full of people walking and talking. “Milanese people really
I
met Miuccia Prada for the second time at her apartment in use it as a corso,” a promenade, he said.
Milan. She still lives in the same building she grew up in,
with various family members in apartments upstairs from The evening before we spoke, Prada had hosted the legendary con-
her. The gate was opened by a butler and I was led across ductor Riccardo Muti, who was visiting Milan to teach a series of
a leafy, cobbled courtyard into a large, modern, vaulted classes in front of an audience at the Prada Foundation.
room separated by huge bookcases into quadrants of seat- “He’s incredibly interesting,” Prada told me. “He talked about the
ing areas. Sofas were upholstered in jewel tones, large modern and structure of conducting, what it means to be a conductor. He said
contemporary paintings created blocks of color on the walls, and a how much every single phrase, every single note has a reason.”
green velvet Verner Panton Cloverleaf sofa nestled on a black shag- That same evening, I had attended the opening of a show at the
pile rug. In an adjacent space, a long gallery containing a Damien foundation’s Osservatorio, an exhibition space in an attic above the
Hirst vitrine of surgical instruments gave out into a pretty garden. flagship Prada store in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. “Calcu-
We sat at a table painted with an antique map of the world, with lating Empires,” co-curated by Kate Crawford, a leading scholar in
Prada sipping from a cup of herbal tea. Looking at the many books the social implications of artificial intelligence, examined the con-
surrounding us, I asked her what she was reading. Rising, animated, nection between technology and power over the past five industri-
she walked away and quickly returned with five books under her arm: alized centuries. A few days before, recounted Crawford (wearing
a history of women and resistance; a history of fascism; The Kremlin a classic Prada pleated skirt with a kilt buckle), Miuccia Prada had
Ball, a novel of political fiction by the late Italian writer Curzio done a walk through of the exhibition accompanied by Hans Ulrich
Malaparte; a volume of Schrödinger bookmarked with a children’s Obrist, the director of London’s Serpentine gallery, and immediately
drawing; and a thick tome of philosophy that “a friend told me it is grasped the intent of the main work—a vast and intricate diagram
very easy to read.” She laughed. “I read one third so far!” depicting the connections between communication and computa-
The Prada Foundation is an outlet for Miuccia Prada’s intellec- tion, quantum mechanics and algorithms, architecture and astro-
tual brio. She has had the unusual good fortune to educate herself spheres—and making a comparison to Marx’s analysis of production
in contemporary art by “reading, and talking with artists—many methods in the 19th century.
176
While Prada is an intellectual shark, constantly learning, thinking, charge of technology, marketing, sustainability, and the company’s
and working, in conversation she is gently funny, laughs often (usu- new fine jewelry division.
ally at herself ), listens intently, and questions her own statements. In 2020, Prada stunned the fashion world by announcing that Raf
As we spoke, she often voiced an opinion and then worried that it Simons, the enormously respected Belgian designer, would come
might come across as too polemical. aboard to codesign the label alongside Miuccia Prada as an equal
“When you’re really smart and you have a lot of thoughts, I think creative partner, collaborator, and instigator.
you want to expose them to the rigors of conversation with other When I asked Simons why he had said yes, he answered me in one
people,” Catherine Martin told me. “Miuccia is like a one-person word: “Miuccia—as simple as that.”
salon.” Prada says she has very little social life, but this is a little Like his collaborator and creative partner, Simons didn’t go to
disingenuous. “I think she doesn’t like to be social just for the sake fashion school (he studied industrial design) and easily admits that
of being social,” her son Lorenzo Bertelli told me. “She loves to be “my interest in art is much bigger than my interest in fashion.” The
confronted by people with different points of view.” two had long been admirers of each other’s work, and both spoke
“I am better at working than talking,” Prada said. “If I want to of the need for reality, practicality, meaning, and, yes, usefulness
know somebody, I want to work with them. All the enthusiasm, in their collections. And though their collaboration began with
the research—I like working, it’s a way of really communicating a the understanding that if either really hated the other’s idea, they
mindset, ideas.” wouldn’t do it, they both told me that they have found working
Her circle is both wide and distinguished. Wes Anderson designed together nothing less than a meeting of minds.
the café at the Prada Foundation in Milan in pistachio and pink, a “It’s going very well,” Prada said. “We have the same taste, and
pastiche-homage to traditional Milanese cafés; the late Franco-Swiss most of the time we have exactly the same idea. He’s a very nice
director Jean-Luc Godard donated his atelier-cum-living room, person and intellectually honest—the most important quality.”
which is now on display there; Jacques Herzog, the Swiss avant- “It clicked in an incredible way,” said Simons. “I think that we
garde architect, describes the latticed Prada building he built in are [both] dialogue people—she likes collaborating, she likes to
Tokyo with his partner, Pierre de Meuron, as an “interactive optical work with people—needs it, I think. Anything can be a starting
device”; a Höller slide connects Miuccia Prada’s polished concrete point, whether we love it or hate it or think it’s silly or funny or sad
office to the ground floor; Hirst, meanwhile, created a Prada hand- or stupid or political.”
bag studded with insects. Prada told me that she is very much aware of her age. “It’s strange,”
Thomas Demand recalled that when he first met Prada, he had she said, “because every single morning I have to decide if I am a
been trying to figure out how to realize a complex art installation, 15-year-old girl or an old lady near to death.” But her creative drive
and she had told him that his difficulty reminded her of her own has hardly dimmed. The collaboration with Simons—their latest
designing handbags. Prada, Demand said, “recognized the trial, the collection presented new riffs on military motifs and transparency
error, the way things come together in manufacturing and don’t look against the backdrop of a slime waterfall—has blended cool with
like what you want, and [so] you have to take it off the table,” he said. commercial to critical acclaim, and her own recent shows for Miu
“[She was] hands-on, and also honest.” Miu have been cutting-edge and timely. Her scissor-chopped outfits
Prada acknowledged her role of sage arbiter, a little chagrined, for spring 2022—“a joke for me about the erogenous zone,” she had
perhaps, that wisdom comes with age. Though she seems to enjoy said afterward—went viral on TikTok and were modeled on the
the exploration more than the explanation, she told me that she runway beside a film by Moroccan-born artist Meriem Bennani.
knows when something is right because it makes her smile. (Increasingly, Prada has invited artists from around the world to
create video displays to accompany her shows.)
Prada is, at heart, a family business. The Prada-Bertelli family
M
dynamic is discussion, debate, dialectics. Conversations with Prada aria Bianchi wanted to be different. Miuccia
and her husband and son veered easily into the heavyweight terri- Prada worked hard to be good and to do good,
tory of philosophy and philology. According to Lorenzo, different and then to get better and to do more. Mrs.
views produce a better synthesis. (Lorenzo also said that it was Prada, in her golden age, is a push and pull of
quite hard to change his mother’s mind—unless he had a very contentment, yet still seemingly never satisfied.
well-prepared argument.) “When people say, ‘Are you happy about
“I like to push, because in the push you become more creative, your achievement in fashion?’ I really, sincerely, couldn’t care less,”
more intelligent,” Prada told me. she said. “I think about what I have to do next. I am ambitious, I
I asked Patrizio Bertelli why his partnership with his wife had want to be good. And sometimes I think I am good—a great exhi-
been so successful. “I ask myself the same question all the time,” he bition, a good piece of clothing—but only for a second.”
said. “We never worked because we were anxious to become famous She admits that she finds it difficult to be proud of herself.
or rich—we worked for the pleasure of doing something that was “Decent is not enough,” she told me, going on to mention a past
interesting and constructive, and to enjoy it, to have fun.” exhibition that had not turned out as she had hoped. “For me,” she
Their two halves—one creative, the other commercial—have said, “it was a failure.” She said she avoids her own shops “because
forged a powerhouse global brand in the span of a single lifetime. my imagination is so high, I am scared of the reality.
Prada is now listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, though I asked her if it was difficult to be a brand.
the family still owns 80 percent of the business. The couple, now “To do it: no,” she said. “Because it’s basically [about what] we
both in their 70s, have been careful in planning a smooth succes- liked. The concept is very easy. But then you have to live it, embody
sion. A new CEO, Andrea Guerra, was installed just last year, it, be responsible for it.” She said she would love to be able to con-
and Lorenzo, who gave up a professional rally racing career with centrate on pure creativity, to spend the “whole day working only
his own Fuck Matiè team to join the company in 2017, is now in on fashion—it’s like a vacation!” But there were always multitudes
177
178
STAND AND DELIVER
Hadid wears a spring
2024 Prada jacket, knit
top, skirt, shorts, belt,
and shoes. opposite: left
to right, top to bottom:
Prada spring 1996; Miu Miu
spring 2011; Prada spring
2024; Prada spring 2008;
Prada fall 2022; Miu Miu
fall 2008; Prada fall 2014;
Miu Miu spring 2010;
Miu Miu spring 2022. In this
story, for Gigi Hadid: hair,
Akemi Kishida; makeup,
Karin Westerlund. Details,
see In This Issue.
P HOTOG RA P H ED AT DAYLI G H T STU D I OS.
S ET D ES IG N : A N N E AU BE RT.
LEANING IN
The designer in a rare
moment of rest.
“I am better at working
than talking,” she
says. “If I want to know
somebody, I want
to work with them—
it’s a way of really
communicating a
mindset, ideas.”
“I like to push,” Prada says,
“because in the push
you become more creative,
more intelligent”
of decisions and requests, and “every single day you have to solve
at least, creatively, 20 different things…. And now we have to solve
the problem of the Chinese New Year!” Apparently no one had yet
come up with a good concept for the shopwindow displays.
“And you are involved in this decision?” I asked.
“I am involved in everything!”
I raise the notion—surely something she’s heard once or twice
before—that she must be a perfectionist.
“Possibly,” she conceded. “Yes.”
O
n that final third of her life—the part that’s about
family and fun—Prada is reticent. Past interviews
have revealed only scant, banal details: She loves to
be in nature, especially in the mountains; cuts her
own hair; drinks a cup of hot water first thing in
the morning. From the few glimpses she allowed
in my conversations with her—her sons and husband are fixated
on cooking and kicked her out of the kitchen a long time ago; she
is planning an exotic garden of succulents and spiky plants at her
house in Southern Italy; she has lost several people close to her in
recent years, “but recently I am again in a good mood”—it was clear
that this part of her life is as rich and full as the others.
It’s hard not to sympathize with her guardedness: Prada is the
public face of a global brand, but deliberately has no social media
presence, very rarely appears on television, and often seems shy in
public, bowing briefly at the end of her runway shows before disap-
pearing behind the curtains.
“She looks very reserved,” said Bertelli, “but it’s a question of
privacy—she’s not shy.”
I asked him what made his wife happy. “When she works, she
is happy,” he said. “When she does beautiful things, she is happy.
When she travels, she is happy. When she spends time with intelli-
gent people, she is happy.”
Lorenzo said that his mother was happiest with her family,
which recently had a new addition: Lorenzo’s first child, a daugh-
ter. “Now, for sure, that she has a grandchild,” Lorenzo said, “she
is super happy.”
Prada smiled broadly when I asked her about her granddaughter.
“I have to learn everything,” she said, “because I don’t know the
education points today. Also dealing with young kids with media,
telephones, and so on, all the arguments that I don’t know how to
master. I have the responsibility of educating the girl,” she said.
“I think I will be a good [grandmother]—I will teach, but I will
also be fun.” *
180
PRO DUCE D BY K I T T E N PRO DUCT I O N. PHOTO G RA PHE D AT
FO NDA ZI O N E PRA DA , CA’ COR NE R D E LL A REG I N A I N V E NI C E .
D E TA I LS, S E E I N T HI S I SSUE .
LOUISE TROTTER,
CARVEN
For Trotter’s 2023 debut
for Carven (founded
in Paris in 1945 by
Marie-Louise Carven),
she played to her own
strengths and that of
the house: fashion and
functionality, writ
large. Doutzen Kroes
wears a Carven parka
and shirt; carven.com.
Fashion Editor:
Camilla Nickerson.
in Numbers
There have never been
more female designers—
or more questions about why
they sometimes still
need to fight for their place
in fashion. Vogue celebrates
a global cast of women
whose work and influence
speak for themselves.
Photographed
by Bibi Borthwick.
Strength
MARY-KATE
AND ASHLEY OLSEN,
THE ROW
Whether they’re feeling minimalist
or maximalist, what’s always
right about the Olsens is their
instinct to make it chic—and to do
it with conviction. Liya Kebede
wears The Row; therow.com.
L EFT: COU RT ESY O F V I CTO RI A B ECKHA M . R I G HT: L AU N CH ME T RI CS SP OTLI GH T.
VICTORIA BECKHAM
Victoria Beckham—above, taking a quick runway turn in 2018, and above left at her London home—is the rare celebrity
designer whose second act has utterly eclipsed her first. Launched in 2008, Beckham’s eponymous ready-to-wear collection has
evolved alongside her, from the body-con “results” dresses of its early days to a spring 2024 show with everything from knit
leotards and jersey dresses inspired by her youthful dance training to the kind of outdoor jackets and brogues she wears with her
family at their English countryside retreat. (If you saw the wildly popular Netflix documentary about her husband’s storied life
and football career, you likely caught glimpses of it.) “This is a very personal collection,” she said backstage at that show, but her
philosophy hasn’t changed since her Spice Girls days. As she once told Vogue: “What we did was celebrate being different.
We showed it was okay to be who you are. And that’s what this is about—empowering women through fashion.”—nicole phelps
REI KAWAKUBO,
COMME DES GARÇONS
When Comme des Garçons’ Rei Kawakubo burst

upon the scene in 1981, the fashion world had never
witnessed anything like it: Her clothes didn’t depend on
darts and seams, and employed fabrics—rumpled and
frayed, some glowing with the sheen of cheap polyester—
entirely new to the Paris runway. And they were almost
always black. Perhaps more than any other woman
designer, she has radically rethought assumptions about
femininity and upended conventional ideas of “sexiness.”
If we now accept without question a genderless playbook
that flaunts unfinished hems, asymmetry, and overblown
silhouettes, we can thank Kawakubo—who has long
since graduated from that early didactic black to prints
and pieces that embrace, with a heavy dose of irony,
proto-feminine polka dots and brocade blossoms. “I never
intended to start a revolution,” Kawakubo (seen here
in Paris in 2023) once said, in a rare public statement.
TO MMY TO N.
She just wanted to create, she said, “what I thought

was strong and beautiful. It just so happened that my notion
was different from everybody else’s.”—lynn yaeger
186
DONATELLA VERSACE
Beyoncé in sculpted chain

mail at the premiere of Renaissance;
Amal Clooney in glittering bronze
paillettes at the Fashion Awards in
London; Anne Hathaway—up next in
The Idea of You, early this summer—
seen here in this liquid gold tank dress:
Nobody understands evening
glamour quite like Donatella Versace
(even if the woman herself prefers
tailored black jackets and pants of the
sort she’s selling in the new Versace
Icons collection, which, she told Vogue,
was “a little reminder about who is
in charge”). Donatella has led Versace
for over a quarter century—few
women designers working today can
lay claim to that kind of longevity
(with the exception of her fellow
Milanese visionary, Miuccia Prada;
see page 170). Perhaps it’s because of
her close relationship with her late
brother Gianni that she doesn’t see the
world—or the design studio—in
strict binaries. “Obviously, anyone who
identifies as a woman understands
a woman’s body differently than a man
HA I R , OR LA ND O PITA ; M A K EU P, T YRO N M ACHH AUS EN .
PUG H AT M HS A RT I STS. D ETA I LS, S E E IN T HI S I SSUE .
does,” she says, “but all designers

PRO DUC E D BY A L ST U D IO. SE T D ESI G N : M O NTA NA
have different strengths. For me it’s

about a strong and confident point
of view. We have to ensure that female
voices are listened to, promoted,
and championed.”—n.p.
Anne Hathaway
Photographed by Annie Leibovitz
Hathaway wears a Versace dress;
select Versace boutiques.
Fashion Editor: Max Ortega.
DAMI KWON
AND JESSICA JUNG,
WE11DONE
This Seoul label is
pronounced “well-done,”
and that’s certainly
true of Kwon and Jung’s
streamlined look, with
its au courant whiffs of
both the ’90s and the
noughties. Kroes
wears We11done shirt;
we11-done.com.
beauty note
A modern power lip can
do more than you think.
Clinique Dramatically
Different Lipstick Shaping
Lip Colour in Angel Red
is designed to enhance
lip definition over time.
188
VICTORIA BECKHAM, ISABEL MARANT
One is a former pop star who’s now an established designer; the other is a rock star of a designer. What got
them there was their own look and attitude projected with confidence on to their clothes. Kroes wears a
Victoria Beckham jumpsuit; victoriabeckham.com. Kebede wears an Isabel Marant jumpsuit; isabelmarant.com.
HA I R , EUG EN E SOU LE I MA N ; M A KEU P, LAUR EN PA RSON S. P RO DUCE D BY ST UD I O DE M I.
S ET D ES I G N: JEA N- HUGU ES D E CHATI LLO N . D E TA I LS, S EE IN TH IS I SSU E.
Taylor Russell
Photographed by Paolo Roversi
Russell—making her New York
theater debut in The Effect at
The Shed this month—wears a Dior
shirt and pants; Dior boutiques.
Fashion Editor: Vanessa Reid.
MARIA GRAZIA CHIURI, DIOR
For Maria Grazia Chiuri, leading a fashion house doesn’t mean

anything if you only ever put yourself at the center of it. “From the
beginning, the idea was to show how much fashion is a big
community,” says Chiuri, seen above in Dior’s Paris atelier. “I needed
to have other voices to speak about femininity, about feminism,
about values.” From that first collection for spring 2017, with its
HA I R , TOSH ; M A KEU P, L AU RE N BOS. P RO DUCE D BY ROSCO P RODUCTI O N .
clarion call of We Should All Be Feminists (emphasis on we),

she has rejected the industry’s deification of the solo designer voice
in favor of a choir. In her time at Dior she has worked with, and
lionized, everyone from artist Judy Chicago to designer Grace Wales
Bonner to choreographer Sharon Eyal—not to mention legions
of artisans and makers from her native Italy, as well as Mexico,
India, and across Africa. For spring 2024, Chiuri looked to witches
for inspiration: their wisdom, their intuition, their connection
to nature. “Knowledge was something that patriarchal society had to
take from women,” she says. The parallels with today’s insidious
assaults on women’s agency and freedom aren’t lost on her. “Fashion
is political because it works with the body. There is no other way to
think about it—and that’s central to my work.”—mark holgate
Photographed by Viviane Sassen
Sittings Editor: Taylor Angino.

191
VIRGINIE VIARD, CHANEL
Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel opened her first boutique in Paris in

1910, long before women in France even had the right to vote.
By the time they finally won suffrage more than three decades
later, she’d built a fashion empire that liberated women from
the trussed-up silhouette of the era. In many ways, her exacting
approach to dressing—unfussy, unadorned, and unequivocally
chic—is right in step with the current mood, even a century-plus
later. That’s not lost on Chanel’s artistic director, Virginie Viard,
the first woman at the helm of the house since its trailblazing
HA I R , TSUK I ; MA K EU P, G RAC E A HN . PRO DUCE D BY CA N VAS PRO DUCT I ON .

founder. “Of course Karl raised me,” says Viard of her longtime
friend and mentor Karl Lagerfeld, with whom she worked
for 32 years. (He famously called her “my right arm…and my left
arm.”) “But more and more, I find myself rediscovering Coco.
That sense of freedom and modernity—it feels like her moment SE T D ESI G N : V I KI RU TSC H. D ETA I LS, S EE I N T H IS I SSU E.
now.” Since she took on the role in February 2019, Viard

has shown a keen sense of how stylish women want to move
through the world—witness actors Phoebe Tonkin (above)
and Louisa Jacobson (at right). “When a woman tells me that
she feels good in her clothes,” Viard says, “that they give her
strength and confidence, it’s really the best.”—chioma nnadi
Phoebe Tonkin and Louisa Jacobson

Photographed by Norman Jean Roy
Tonkin and Jacobson both wear
Chanel dresses and jewelry; select Chanel boutiques.
Fashion Editor: Eric McNeal.
192
SARAH BURTON,
ALEXANDER
MCQUEEN
Last October, Burton
departed the label
she oversaw for 13 years
with a show that was
a glorious tour de force,
underscoring her
strengths: scalpel-sharp
tailoring and exquisite
artisanal effects.
Kebede wears Alexander
McQueen jacket
and pants; alexander
mcqueen.com.
VANESSA BARBONI
HALLIK
AND ELIZABETH
GIARDINA,
ANOTHER
TOMORROW
For New York–based Hallik
and Giardina, there can
be no style without serious
consideration of ethical
and environmental
concerns. Kroes wears
Another Tomorrow
jacket and pants;
anothertomorrow.co.
195
GILDA AMBROSIO AND GIORGIA TORDINI,
THE ATTICO
Gilda Ambrosio (left) and Giorgia Tordini had no work experience in fashion studios when
they launched The Attico with a collection of retro slip dresses and boudoir-ish robes in 2016.
Despite the attention they’d garnered on social media, the skepticism that greeted their
debut suggests that the fashion industry is more than a little bit sexist. “It’s a paradox,” they say.
“Who more than women know what women want, feel, and need?” Eight years later, their
line—comprised of everything from vintage-inflected party frocks to tomboy cargo pants and
sweeping duster coats—is stocked in 250 stores worldwide; last September, they staged their
first-ever fashion show on a street in Milan’s chic Sempione neighborhood; and Dua Lipa and
Hailey Bieber have both been seen wearing pieces from the label’s spring collection.—n.p.
RACHEL SCOTT, GAËLLE DREVET, AURORA JAMES,
EMILY ADAMS BODE AUJLA, CATHERINE HOLSTEIN
“I struggle with the concept of a woman designer,” says Diotima’s Rachel Scott,
O P P OSI T E : A MBROS I O A N D TORD I N I : A RMA N NA FÉ E I. GA R DE N S A N D F RA MES : GE T TY IM AGES.
“because then that’s all you are. Men can be geniuses, but women are ‘collaborative.’”
The New York–based Scott’s work is almost always described in the context
of Jamaica, where she’s originally from, and in relation to the communities she
works with for some of her crochet. “But I actually think that’s more indicative
of what it is to be a designer: people working together.” Scott is part of a cohort of
designers whose fantasy is to dress our reality, our everyday. Such is the case
of Emily Adams Bode Aujla, who helped redirect contemporary menswear with
P RO DUCE D BY A RT P RODUCT I ON . S ET DES I G N : JAV I E R I RI G OYE N.
T HI S PAG E: HA I R, SA B RI N A SZI N AY; M A KEUP, JA N ESSA PA RE .
her distinctive nostalgic and lived-in sensibility, which she’s since expanded
into womenswear. Ditto Aurora James of Brother Vellies, whose work with African
craftspeople for her New York–based accessories label, and subsequently through
her nonprofit organization, Fifteen Percent Pledge, helped draw a blueprint
for creating sustainable, community-first impact through fashion. See also
Catherine Holstein’s Khaite and Gaëlle Drevet of the Frankie Shop, who have
given new shape to the wardrobe of the contemporary woman. Both separately
and together, these designers have defined today’s generation of American
womenswear as both expansive and considered.—josé criales-unzueta
Photographed by Tess Ayano

Designers and mannequins wear fashion from female designers including
Diotima, the Frankie Shop, Rodarte, Marina Moscone, Brother Vellies, Bode, and Khaite.
Fashion Editor: Jasmine Hassett.
197
198
TORY BURCH
In the dozen or so years that

Tory Burch has been doing
fashion shows, there have been
few minidresses. Pencil skirts
and full skirts with sweeping
Claire McCardell–like volumes,
yes, but rarely anything above the
knees. That changed for spring
2024. “I’m not personally wearing
the short hoop dress,” modeled
here in pink viscose jersey by her
friend Emily Ratajkowski, Burch
says, “but I wanted to really
believe in it and love it, and I spent
a lot of time challenging myself.”
Hoops of this sort were once used
for crinoline rings; Burch said
she likes the idea of turning what,
once upon a time, held women
back into something freeing.
“Where women are today,” Burch
says, “they’re coming into their
own idea of their own sexuality,
their individuality, and when you
think about the landscape of how
you address those needs, you need
to have diversity.” Thus, it wasn’t
all minis on her spring runway:
Burch also showed leg-elongating
P RO DUCE D BY A RT P RODUCT I ON . P HOTO G RA P H ED AT SQUA RE D I N E R.
pants in a coated jersey and

nylon taffeta zip polos—pieces
as utterly unencumbered
as that little pink dress.—n.p.
HA I R , SA B RI N A SZI N AY; M A KEU P, JA N ESSA PA RE .
Photographed by
Tess Ayano
Emily Ratajkowski takes a coffee
break in a Tory Burch dress, earrings,
and bracelet; toryburch.com.
Fashion Editor: Jasmine Hassett.
beauty note
For a universal glow, La Mer
The Hydrating Illuminator levels up
its signature Miracle Broth
with light-diffusing abilities that
work with every skin tone.
ALBERTA FERRETTI, GABRIELA HEARST
They might seem like poles apart—the romantic (Ferretti) and the realist (Hearst)—
but where they meet is the strongly held belief to always put women first. Kebede wears
Alberta Ferretti; Neiman Marcus. Kroes wears Gabriela Hearst; gabrielahearst.com.
GRACE WALES
BONNER
The Jamaican British
designer’s work is
driven by critiques of
race, gender, and
history—and crackles
with the energy
of someone who
fearlessly engages
with today’s
world. Kebede in
Wales Bonner;
walesbonner.net.
201
ANNA OCTOBER
Unstoppable is the word that describes Anna

October, the Ukrainian designer (here at
near left with her friend, Brooklyn-based
Ukrainian artist Yelena Yemchuk) who has
been working with a growing team between
Paris and Kyiv. October’s clothes—like
their creator—are confident. They are also
deeply sensual: A genius with body-
caressing slip dresses, the designer likes to
play with texture and contrasts, pairing a
ruffled cape with tailored pants, or using
peekaboo crochet inspired by vintage doilies
discovered in a craft museum. October, who
SE T D ESI G N : M O NTA NA PUG H AT M HS A RT I STS.
wants women to dress to please themselves,

said her designs are “date-ready”—
though the kinds of rendezvous she
imagines could just as easily be with oneself
or a friend as with a romantic interest.
D E TA I LS, S E E I N T HI S I SSUE .
PRO DUC E D BY A L ST U D IO.
—lpird borrelli-persson
Photographed by Annie Leibovitz

Portrait taken in Yelena Yemchuk’s
studio in Red Hook, Brooklyn.
WA L L A RT: YE L E N A YE M CH UK . N A N G O L DI N . SA M TAYLO R -JO HN SO N.
TO BY MOT T/DAS HWO O D BO O KS. CU LT MT L.
203
SIMONE ROCHA, SUPRIYA LELE,
STELLA MCCARTNEY, GRACE WALES BONNER,
MARTINE ROSE, PHOEBE PHILO
Taking the long view, the rich list of women designers working
and showing in London spans generations and ranges
from Mary Quant and Vivienne Westwood to Sarah Burton
and Clare Waight Keller, with each of them honing an
individual, sometimes idiosyncratic, aesthetic. Dublin-born
Simone Rocha (1) is just one of a contemporary cohort of
female designers working in London with an eclectic point of
view. If her label is defined by an ethereal and poetic reverence
evoking the rituals of modern womanhood, the South London–
born, half-Jamaican menswear trailblazer Martine Rose (5) is
defined by an off-kilter twist on mundane corporate tailoring
and sportswear. Spellbound fans of Grace Wales Bonner’s (4)
sermonistic shows, meanwhile, bow down to her colorful and
craft-led precision (not to mention the sellout throwback
sneakers in her Adidas Originals collaboration), pieces
constructed through rigorous academic research that
draw on her Jamaican British heritage. Asian British designer
Supriya Lele (2) infuses the body-flaunting, form-focused
pieces in her collections with the jewel-tone color palette and
details of traditional Indian dress. No contemporary designer,
though, knows cultish adoration better than Phoebe Philo (6).
Her instantly shoppable return to fashion after a six-year
creative hiatus broke the internet when Philophiles flocked
online to buy sumptuous coats and waist-grazing tailoring
from the first drop of the ex-Céline creative director’s M A RCH 2014. GA RD E N S: G E T T Y I MAG ES.
new eponymous brand. Of course, Stella McCartney (3)

ROC H A: A N G E LO P EN N E T TA , VOGU E,
is well acquainted with the concept of fashion brand as global

phenomenon. Since its inception over two decades ago,
her label has pioneered eco-conscious design, and has led the
industry in innovative materiality, regenerative farming,
and upcycling long before everybody else began talking
about sustainability.—laura hawkins 1
Grace Wales Bonner portrait by Zoë Ghertner.
Fashion Editor: Camilla Nickerson.
204
L EL E : W IL L GRUN DY/ K IN T ZI N G. M cCA RT NEY: A N N I E LE I BOV I T Z, VOGU E , AUGUST 2004.
WA L ES BO N N ER : PRO DUC E D BY CON N ECT T HE D OTS. D E TAI LS, SE E I N T HI S ISSUE .
ROSE : A N D RE AS L A RSSO N. PHI LO : DAV I D S I MS, VO GU E, MA RCH 2013. GA R DE N S AN D FRAMES: GETTY I MAGES.
6
3
5
PHOEBE PHILO
She’s back—and how.
It’s fashion (and a
business approach)
on her terms: Make
it special and unique,
and in smaller,
more sustainable
numbers. Yet again,
she catches the
moment. Kebede
wears Phoebe Philo
jacket and pants;
phoebephilo.com.
NADÈGE VANHÉE-
CYBULSKI,
HERMÈS
You likely won’t know
her because—as always
with the storied French
house—the team comes
first. But her impeccably
made clothes resonate
with intimacy and
intelligence. Kroes wears
Hermès jacket, top,
and pants; Hermès
boutiques. Bibi Borthwick
images: hair, Soichi
Inagaki; makeup,
Celia Burton. Details,
see In This Issue.
P RO DUCE D BY HO LMES P RODUCT I O N. S ET DES I G N : ROXY WA LTO N .
P HOTOG RA P H ED AT WA DD I N GTON STU D I OS.
207
CHEMENA KAMALI, CHLOÉ
Every day, Chemena Kamali takes this

walk across Paris’s Pont du Carrousel
to get between home and work—yet these
days she could be forgiven for thinking
of her work as a kind of home: Kamali
was appointed creative director of Chloé
last October, the third time she has
worked for the brand. Like any home, it
evokes a very specific series of emotions.
When the Düsseldorf-born Kamali, 43,
was interviewing for the job, she told the
people at Chloé: “I’d really like to bring
back the feelings I had when I fell in love
with the house in the first place—and
I strongly believe that there’s a lot of
women around the world that share that
longing, because Chloé really is an
emotional brand.” The days she is referring
to are when she worked on former Chloé
creative director Phoebe Philo’s design
team in the early 2000s, when clothes were
created with absolute intuition. It’s an
approach that will inform Kamali’s Chloé,
which debuts during Paris Fashion Week
in February. Uppermost in her mind,
though: The spirit that Chloé founder
Gaby Aghion started the house with in
1952. “Gaby was someone who said,
‘I want to dress women to feel more free,
to feel more at ease, so you can live your
life in them, because you have stuff to do,’”
she says. “Chloé shouldn’t impose
anything on you; it lets you be yourself.
That’s what’s powerful today.”—m.h.
Photographed by Inez & Vinoodh

Sittings Editor: Taylor Angino.
208
HA I R , PAW EL SO LI S; MA K EUP, SA ND RI NE CA NO BOC K.
P RO DUC ED BY V LM P RO DUCTI ON S.
RIGHT ANGLES
“Stockmann is heroic,”
Strong says of his
character in An
Enemy of the People,
opening on Broadway
in March, “but he’s
also an egotist.”
Loro Piana jacket,
sweater, and pants.
Fashion Editor:
Edward Bowleg III.
History Lessons
In the new stage adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy
of the People, Jeremy Strong sees the shadows of current crises.
By Maya Singer. Photographed by Norman Jean Roy.
I
t’s hot out the day I meet Jeremy better to draw tourists. Stockmann discov-
Strong near his home in Brooklyn ers that the waters are poisoned—infected
to chat about his return to the stage. by runoff from the tanneries upriver. At
“Unsettling” is how the 45-year- first, the doctor has the press and the
old Succession star describes the late working-class public on his side, but when
October weather as we stroll along a the costs of his proposed fixes become clear,
waterfront dotted with sunbathers stretched they turn on him. Cue pitchforks.
out amid fallen autumn leaves. “Every year, You can see why the story put Strong in
it’s another ‘hottest year on record.’ How did mind of the admirable scientists who began
we get here?” he muses. “That question—it’s warning of the catastrophic effects of car-
one reason I had to do this play.” bon emissions decades ago. On the other
The play Strong is referring to is An hand, I suggest to Strong, Stockmann cuts
Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen. In a a somewhat less noble figure. “Stockmann
new adaption by playwright Amy Herzog is heroic, in certain ways, but he’s also an
opening on Broadway March 18, Strong egotist,” agrees Strong. “He’s unequivocal
takes on the role of Dr. Thomas Stock- in his certainty that he’s right, that no one
mann, a man who discovers an inconvenient else has a valid argument. And he gets more
environmental truth and is pilloried by his and more fixed in this identity as the lone
community for revealing it. “It’s easier for man versus the mob as the play goes on.”
them not to believe,” explains Strong of the Strong—and Gold and Herzog—are inter-
villagers’ reaction to Stockmann’s scientific ested in exploring these nuances. “What
data. “Believing would be too disruptive— feels so resonant about the play today, in
politically, economically. You don’t have to these strange times,” Strong says, “is that it’s
stretch to see the analogy between what about speaking truth to power—but it’s also
Ibsen wrote in 1881 and what’s happened about what happens when people take sides,
vis-à-vis climate change.” and communication breaks down.”
Strong hadn’t been planning to embark
on a grueling 16-week Broadway run. After As it happens, Gold wasn’t pitching a proj-
the final season of Succession wrapped last ect to Strong when he brought the play to
year, he was ready for a break—which he got, his attention. Gold had no intention of
courtesy of the SAG-AFTRA strike that staging An Enemy of the People; he’d simply
allowed him to spend a mellow summer at come across the text in the small library of
his house in the Danish countryside with his Ibsen-alia amassed by Herzog, his wife, in
wife, Emma, and their three young daugh- preparation for her 2023 Broadway revival
ters. But the issues raised by An Enemy of the of A Doll’s House, starring Jessica Chastain.
People felt too urgent to pass up when his old “It was sort of a, ‘Hey, check this out,’ ” says
friend theater director Sam Gold urged him Gold. “I saw a lot of Jeremy in the character
to read the play. “I texted Sam as soon as I of Stockmann, a man who’s willing to sac-
finished it,” recalls Strong. “I was like, Yeah, rifice for the sake of his convictions. That
we’re doing this.” same commitment to truth is present in all
An Enemy of the People is an angry play. of Jeremy’s work.”
Ibsen wrote it in a fury of hurt and bewil- Call it crossed wires, or call it kismet.
derment, Strong explains, after his 1881 play Either way, those messages zapping back
Ghosts, about a woman whose son is dying and forth between friends planted a seed—
of syphilis, was met with a scathing response and in terrifically short order, the current
from virtually every quarter of Norwegian production was mustered. It helped that
society. Ibsen assumed, Strong says, that he’d Herzog, fresh off A Doll ’s House, already
be greeted as a hero for taking on such verbo- knew how to shake the dust off an Ibsen the Square, and the theater was available
ten themes as incest, euthanasia, and venereal classic and that the principal creative trio for the exact dates he had free.” Circle in the
disease; instead, his play was derided as “filth.” share deep bonds: Herzog and Strong Square presents work in the round, and that
In some countries, the work was banned. “It met as undergraduates at Yale; Strong and 360-degree view is vital, Gold explains, for
was a real lesson in what happens when you Gold began collaborating early in their a play about competing perspectives. There’s
rock the boat,” Strong notes. theater careers, teaming up for a 2010 off- the truth of fact, Stockmann’s truth, but there
Ibsen channeled his post-Ghosts sense of Broadway production of the 18th-century are other truths too. The town’s economy
martyrdom into the hero of his next play. play The Coward; Gold and Herzog are, as would be hard hit by the baths’ closure. Jobs
Stockmann is a whistleblower taking on his previously noted, married. (Remarkably, An will be lost. And what about the polluting
small town’s sclerotic power structure, repre- Enemy of the People marks the spouses’ first tanneries? Must they be shut down? Forever?
sented by his brother, Peter, who is also the production together.) Herzog gives such complexities airtime.
mayor. The village’s economy is reliant on its “I’ve never had the stars align this way,” It was important to her, for example, that
“healing waters,” and large investments have comments Gold. “Like, right after Jeremy the character of Peter, the mayor, not come
just been made in its municipal baths, the said he wanted to do it, I called Circle in across as a straw man or a totally cynical
212
DRAMA SCHOOL “If you think back to when Ibsen was concept of “truth” is up for grabs? Gold,
Director Sam Gold (left) is married to writing, this science was new; it was like, Herzog, and Strong all bring up Naomi
playwright Amy Herzog (center), who What’s a microbe?” explains Sopranos and Klein’s Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror
adapted An Enemy of the People; Herzog
and Strong met as undergraduates at White Lotus star Michael Imperioli, who World, in which the author launches her-
Yale. Gold wears Billy Reid and A.P.C. plays the role of Peter. “He’s asking, ‘You self into the orbit of anti-vaxxers, climate
Herzog in Proenza Schouler. Strong wears want me to stake the future of this town change deniers, and election conspiracy
P RO DUC ED BY BO OM P RO DUCT I ON S.
Loro Piana. Details, see In This Issue.

on some invisible bugs?’ In that light, his theorists. “History keeps repeating itself,”
position is pretty reasonable.” says Gold. “This dynamic Ibsen lays out, it
operator. Rather, he’s the political expo- “It’s tricky, though,” says Strong. “Because recurs again and again. These ways we get
nent of the collective will to unknow, when at the end of the day, Stockmann is right. polarized. And all the reasons people will
knowing threatens to unravel the fabric It’s not that he wants to bring this infor- look at someone armed with a set of cold,
of society. “His arguments have to carry mation forward; he feels like he has to.” But hard facts, and say, ‘Well, that’s what you
weight,” Herzog explains. “He has to believe how do you do that, Strong goes on to ask, believe. I believe something else.’ ”
in the thing he’s protecting.” at a moment like our own, when the whole C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 2 6 0
213
The Menagerie
A childhood in war-torn Kosovo led Petrit Halilaj to make some
of the most exuberant, playful contemporary art around.
Dodie Kazanjian meets the optimist as he prepares for a major
installation at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
ANIMAL FARM
Halilaj’s mantra is
coexistence, and this
extends to all manner
of flora and fauna.
Photographed here at
the Tate St. Ives in 2021
by Angela Suarez.
T
hrough art, I’ve always been
saving my life,” says Petrit
Halilaj. “It was always a way
out and a window to imag-
ination and dreaming and
telling stories.”
Born in 1986 in what was then Yugoslavia
and is now Kosovo, Halilaj was 13 when his
family home was burned to the ground by
Serbian troops; he and his family—he has
four younger siblings—were later placed
in an Albanian refugee camp. It was here
that a visiting Italian psychologist, Giacomo
“Angelo” Poli, gave drawing paper and felt-
tip pens to a group of kids and told them to
draw their fears and dreams. The 38 draw-
ings that Halilaj did in response—half of
them of birds in idyllic landscapes, the other
half of burning houses, tanks, and Serbian
soldiers with guns and bloody knives from
the massacres he had witnessed—eventually
fueled one of the most electrifying and
humanistic careers in contemporary art.
Halilaj is now a conceptual artist whose
seductive and often childlike sculptures,
drawings, installations, and performances
tell highly personal stories about a world
in which refugee crises, homelessness, and
wars are common occurrences. Since his
work appeared at the Berlin Biennale in
2010, Halilaj has represented Kosovo at the
Venice Biennale and had solo shows at the
New Museum in New York, the Hammer
Museum in Los Angeles, Tate St. Ives in
England, and many others around the world.
This month, he is installing a major project
on the roof garden of The Metropolitan
Museum of Art. When we connect, he has
just returned to his house in Berlin after a
week of teaching at the École Nationale
Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. (He
also lives and works in Pristina, the capital
of Kosovo, and in Italy.) A blond, slim, wiry
figure with a prominent nose, he speaks fast
and laughs often. Halilaj is not supposed to
discuss the Met project in advance, but his
enthusiasm for it brims over.
“Even if I cannot tell you exactly what
it will come there,” he says, in his volu-
ble but sometimes inscrutable English,
“what I’m bringing is more this sense of
building a personal map and trajectory
of my life and dreams and imagination
with reality. It’s actually coming from my
experience of the last two years, traveling
not only back to Kosovo, but to Albania,
Montenegro, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia,
Serbia, all these countries that I was very
scared of before.” He began this journey in
Albania, where his refugee camp had been,
and continued with many visits to schools
“It’s rare to find art (and an artist) that
is at once bitingly critical and unabashedly
hopeful,” says curator Elena Filipovic
TAKE FLIGHT
clockwise from top left: An installation at the
Museo Tamayo in Mexico City in 2023; at the Tate
St. Ives in 2021; an original drawing made by Halilaj
in a refugee camp in Albania when he was a child.
TO P RI G HT: © P E T RI T HA LI LA J. P H OTO © TAT E ( MAT T G REE N WO O D) . BOT TOM : P E TR I T H ALILAJ, OR IGINAL D RAWINGS
TO P LE FT: P H OTO G RA P HY BY G ERA RD O LA N DA A ND EDUA RD O LÓ P E Z (G LR EST UD I O) . COURTESY OF MUSEO TAMAYO.
for much of the year. “The story Petrit is tell-
ing is always his story, but it’s also our soci-
ety’s story,” Max Hollein, The Met’s director,
tells me. “He gives you a very emotional
and individual experience and, through
his art, makes it something that a whole
generation can relate to. And that makes
it extremely powerful.”
FRO M T HE KU KËS I I CA MP, 19 9 9, FE LT-T I P P EN O N PA P ER . © P E TR IT HA L IL A J.

G
rowing up in the small village
of Runik in northern Kosovo,
Halilaj could draw before he
could talk. He could sketch
two pictures at once, using
both hands, and he got a
lot of attention for it. Kosovo had lost its
autonomy in the late 1980s, when Serbian
dictator Slobodan Milosevic seized control.
in small towns. “I thought knowing more come f rom very different backgrounds” The Albanian majority in Kosovo, to which
people and more places in the region will for The Met’s roof garden. “They will sus- the Halilaj family belonged, was persecuted
help me to heal and see a possible togeth- tain each other sculpturally, blend together and forced “to live in parallel systems, hid-
erness. The wars showed how unrespected in kind of a chorus that makes a new song.” den and underground,” he remembers. It was
many minorities were. And I feel that, The exhibition, which he was invited to dangerous for Halilaj and his four younger
through culture, we can bring people to a take on by Sheena Wagstaff, head of mod- siblings to play in public spaces or even go
new conversation.” He tells me he’s col- ern and contemporary art at The Met until a to school. His family and all the other ethnic
lecting “an ensemble of sculptures that will year ago, opens on April 30, and will be there Albanians in the region were systematically
216
forced out of the country. “My house was
T RAV ES Í A CUAT RO, MA DR I D/ ME X I CO C IT Y/GUA DA LA JA RA . P HOTO: G E RDAST U D IO. BOTTOM R IGH T: PETR IT H ALILAJ & ÁLVARO UR BANO,
burned in early ’98, then my grandparents’

W H AT CO M ES F I RST, 2 80 X 2 20 X 2 20 CM , RESI N , C E ME NT, M ETA L, WO O D, A L I V E C HI CKENS. © PETR IT H ALILAJ & ÁLVARO UR BANO.
TO P RI G HT: COU RT ESY O F TH E A RTI STS A ND CHE RTLÜ DD E , B ERL IN ; KU RI M A NZUTTO, MEXICO CITY/NEW YOR K; MENNOUR , PAR IS;
house in early ’99. They imprisoned my

father and all the other men in surrounding
villages, and then we were forced to walk for
days until we finally arrived in Albania. We
ended up in refugee camps in Kukës, one
of the first cities after you cross the border.”
It was a grim and dull environment, but
Halilaj “found a lot of happiness” with his
brothers and sisters because of their mother’s
love and creative imagination. “My mom has
an artist’s mind,” he tells me. (Their father
had been a cartographer; their mother made
clothes for women on her home sewing
machine.) This is where Halilaj met Angelo, HATCH AN IDEA attended the Brera Academy of Fine Art
the Italian psychologist, who encouraged top: An installation Halilaj mounted in Milan and stayed with Angelo and his
him to make drawings. “The way he talked with his husband, Álvaro Urbano, in Venice family on weekends.
in 2023. above: Another work by Halilaj and
to us, he was really able to make us share Urbano, What Comes First, from 2015.
He also came out as gay. “I knew I was
experiences,” Halilaj remembers, “which is gay,” he says, “but I never could tell any-
the beginning of healing after a trauma.” one in Kosovo. I never saw two gay men in
Angelo was only there for two weeks, but When the war ended, Halilaj and his Kosovo together. But in Milan, there was a
when he left Halilaj wrote to him, and family returned to Kosovo and struggled whole community.” The world of contem-
Angelo, who saw his talent and had kept to restart their lives. Halilaj went to an art porary culture opened up to him in Italy,
all his drawings, wrote back. They cor- school in nearby Peja, a larger town, where not just visual art but literature and cinema,
responded for several years. When Kofi he fell in love with painting, sculpture, and especially Pasolini and Fellini. He went to
Annan, the then secretary-general of the art history. He longed to study in Italy, and Turin and discovered arte povera through
United Nations, visited Halilaj’s refugee talked about this in the letters he was still the work of Alighiero Boetti, Mario Merz,
camp, Halilaj showed him a large drawing writing to Angelo. When Halilaj was 17, and Marisa Merz. He remembers think-
of a child watching a massacre. “I made it to Angelo and his wife invited him to come ing, “Wow, you can use all these materials
ask Kofi to stop the war,” he tells me. The and live with them and their 20-year-old that come from reality to express how we
scene was captured on Albanian television. daughter. For the next four years, Halilaj understand the world. I don’t want to do
217
In 2011, the artist
Álvaro Urbano danced up
to Halilaj at a club and
said, “Are you the chicken
guy?” Nine years later,
they married in a joyous
celebration in
their studio and home
just painting. I want to tell stories through

everything you have around.”
In 2010, having graduated from Brera
Academy and moved to Berlin, Halilaj par-
ticipated in the Berlin Biennale. It was his
debut show on the global stage. When he
learned that he’d be given a budget of about
30,000 euros for his Biennale contribution,
he realized he could use part of the money
to help build the house that his parents
dreamed of having in Pristina, in order to
give their younger children better educa-
tional opportunities. The piece he made for
the Biennale was a life-size replica, a ghost
image of the framework of their long-lost
house. It was exhibited with live chickens
roaming around and through it, just as they
had been back in Halilaj’s childhood home,
and it bore one of his long poetic titles: The
places I’m looking for, my dear, are utopian
places, they are boring and I don’t know how
to make them real. The actual Pristina house
was eventually finished by his parents. “My
parents currently live in it,” he says, “and my
four siblings were also there until they moved
out.” Elena Filipovic, who curated a Halilaj
show at Wiels Contemporary Art Center in
Brussels in 2013, describes his Berlin exhi-
bition as “not art imitating life or even the
inverse, but real life made into an art form.”
Chickens have played a large part in
Halilaj’s art and life. “I talked to chickens
as a chicken, in their language, when I was
a kid,” he says. For a group show in Istanbul
in 2008, he lived with chickens in a house
he had built in a children’s playground. (The
piece is titled They are Lucky to be Bourgeois
Hens.) And he began his ongoing drawing
ME N NOU R, PA R IS ; CHE RT LÜ D D E , B ER LI N .
series of Bourgeois Hens—pencil sketches of

SU BLI M I NA L . COU RT ESY T HE A RTI ST,
© P E TR I T H A LI LA J. P HOTO : I MAG EN
fowl with a regal manner—in 2009. Hali- SOLAR POWERED

laj’s mantra is coexistence. He wasn’t allowed A view of the
exhibition “To a raven
to bring live chickens to “Runik,” his current and hurricanes that
show at the Museo Tamayo in Mexico City, from unknown places
where he has reinstalled his Berlin Biennale bring back smells of
ghost house. Instead, he brought 50 exam- humans in love,”
Museo Reina Sofía—
ples of the birds and creatures and costumes Palacio de Cristal,
that he had made C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 2 6 0 Madrid, 2020–2021.
218
Painstaking preparation,
and a dose of actorly
alchemy, transformed
Kingsley Ben-Adir into
a reggae icon for the
film Bob Marley: One
Love. By Marley Marius.
Photographed by
Norman Jean Roy.
Catch a Fire
POSITIVE
VIBRATION
Actors Kingsley
Ben-Adir and
Lashana Lynch,
who costar in
Bob Marley: One
Love, both wear
Bottega Veneta.
Fashion Editor:
Eric McNeal.
Y
ou’d be forgiven for not quite
knowing where you’ve seen
Kingsley Ben-Adir before. He
was, for years, a steady presence
on the London stage, doing A
Midsummer Night’s Dream in
Regent’s Park, Much Ado About Nothing at the Old
Vic, and new dramas including Gillian Slovo’s
The Riots at the Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn and
Arinze Kene’s God’s Property at the Soho Theatre.
But his work in television and film has been qui-
eter, characterized by mostly supporting parts in
projects like Peaky Blinders, The OA, High Fidel-
ity, and, last year, Marvel’s Secret Invasion and
Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. (It was little more than
instinct that pulled him away from the theater; in
2014, against his then agent’s advice, Ben-Adir
declined an offer to make his West End debut in
Shakespeare in Love, determined, he says, that he
should “get some camera experience.”)
Yet it feels strange to call the 37-year-old
a character actor—not only because of his
marquee-idol good looks and reedy six-foot-two
frame, but also because, over the past few years,
SUN IS SHINING
Ben-Adir has developed a knack for playing Great Men. In 2020,
above: A still from Bob Marley: One Love, in theaters February 14.
shortly after appearing as Barack Obama in Showtime’s The Comey opposite: Ben-Adir wears a Gucci by Sabato De Sarno jacket, shirt, and pants.
Rule, he popped up again as Malcolm X in Regina King’s One Night In this story: hair, Nai’vasha; makeup, Jessica Smalls. Details, see In This Issue.
in Miami…, a part that won him the Gotham Award for break-
through actor. (“I was like, ‘I didn’t know you could get nominated
for breakthrough work at 34,’” he joked at the time.) teenage years in northwest London, as the late 1990s turned into the
Ben-Adir continues the theme this winter with Bob Marley: One early aughts, when he was beginning to fall in love with performance.
Love, starring as the iconic Jamaican reggae singer, songwriter, and “There were certain films and TV shows that kept making me cry,”
Rastafarian opposite Lashana Lynch as Marley’s wife, Rita. Narrow- he says. Once, for, “like, a friend’s friend’s birthday,” Ben-Adir was
ing its focus to an especially turbulent chapter in his life, the film cap- dragged along to see In America, Jim Sheridan’s 2002 drama about
tures Marley’s near assassination in Kingston in 1976; his subsequent a poor Irish family making a go of it in New York City. Quite to his
flight to Europe, where he recorded and toured Exodus, his ninth surprise, “I just remember jamming, just being transfixed with his
studio album, in 1977; and then his triumphant return to Jamaica for relationship with the small girl…and then Paddy Considine, at the
the One Love Peace Concert in April 1978—an event attended by end when he’s saying goodbye to Frankie…I could not stop crying.”
over 30,000 people. (A few years later, in 1981, Marley would die from He’d experienced something similar with Good Will Hunting (“It
melanoma at 36.) King Richard’s Reinaldo Marcus Green directs, with moved me”), and then, at about 16, when he was asked to prepare a
Rita and two of her children, Ziggy and Cedella, aboard as producers. scene from A Raisin in the Sun at his secondary school. “I just ran-
The part was so plum—and seemed so absolutely wrong for domly got thrown into a drama class at that age because of being not
him—that at first, Ben-Adir thought going up for it would be a academic,” he explains. “A lot of kids who were on the edge of being
waste of time. “Years ago you’d get sent an audition and you’d start expelled got thrown into drama.” Well, whatever was meant to hap-
CH I A BE LLA JA M ES. © 2023 PA RA M OU NT P I CTU RES. A LL RI G HTS R ES ERV E D.

going, There’s no point in me taping for this, because Leonardo pen to him there, did: “I remember reading one of the speeches—I
DiCaprio is going to play it,” he says. “You can start smelling the can’t remember what it is, it was so long ago—and choking up.” Ben-
sense of, This is kind of too good.” And, anyway, Ben-Adir couldn’t Adir would eventually enroll at London’s Guildhall School of Music
really sing, he couldn’t really dance, he definitely couldn’t play the & Drama—which counts Daniel Craig, Orlando Bloom, Damian
guitar, and he’d recently bulked up to 215 pounds for Secret Invasion. Lewis, and Michaela Coel among its alumni—graduating in 2011.
“I’m like, Anything I do is just going to put them off.” In Ziggy’s telling, it was also “just a feeling” that compelled his
But the stakes changed when he saw an early version of King family to throw their weight behind a narrative film about Bob Marley.
Richard, and understood that the Marley family would be watching (Ziggy had previously served as an executive producer on Marley, the
his tape right away. “So then there’s a kind of pressure to it,” he acclaimed 2012 documentary by Kevin Macdonald, in which he, Rita,
says, flashing a sly smile. “There’s a bit of danger. So I thought, and Cedella had also all participated.) “We took a step to try and get
What’s the harm?” it done,” he says. “But the funny thing is, for us, everything works out
the way it should work out. We live with that spiritual kind of rule.”
It’s always been about a feeling for Ben-Adir. Also, often, tears. If one can submit to serendipity while also maintaining vertigi-
We are at the Manhattan offices of Paramount Pictures, in a com- nous standards, then that’s the sensibility that governed the project
fortable (if oddly oblong) room behind the studio’s private theater. more broadly: The Marleys—and Paramount—took as much time
Dressed in a marled blue quarter-zip sweater and tan joggers, a tiny as they needed to get One Love exactly right. (This June will mark
gold hoop winking discreetly from one ear, he is vividly describing his six years since the film was announced.) C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 2 6 1
222
PRO DUCE D BY CA NVAS PRO DUCT IO N . S ET D ESI G N : V I K I RU TSC H. HA I RCUT BY CHA Z H AZ LI TT.
Family
Ties
At the end of her first year as Dior
CEO, Delphine Arnault is proving to
be a powerful protector of legacy—
and a leader poised to make waves.
By Gaby Wood. Photographed by
Annie Leibovitz.
PLACE AT THE TABLE

Arnault, wearing Dior, at Dior’s under-
renovation flagship in Manhattan.
“It made you dream,” she says
of visiting Dior at 30 Montaigne in
Paris with her father as a girl.
Fashion Editor: Tonne Goodman.
O
 the morning of February 1 last year, imperturb- asymmetrical white shirt collars. There’s an occasional kinky touch
ably recovered from a party to mark her departure from strappy black gladiator boots with kitten heels and pearl but-
from Louis Vuitton, Delphine Arnault stepped tons. There’s a cotton dress made of many different kinds of lace, and
into her new office in Paris as chairman and CEO a blurred, X-ray-like projection of the Eiffel Tower on a black coat.
of Christian Dior. The eldest child and only “How many looks do you have?” Delphine asks.
daughter of Bernard Arnault—who is, more often “Seventy-eight,” Maria Grazia replies. “Because Rachele cut five.”
than not, the richest man in the world—she had moved up through Maria Grazia’s 27-year-old daughter and cultural adviser, Rachele
the ranks of her father’s companies at LVMH over the course of Regini, is behind us, readying the models and overseeing operations.
a couple of decades, quietly absorbing every aspect of the fash- “Isn’t she a bit too skinny for this one?” Maria Grazia wonders out
ion business. Now here she was, at 47, with the crown jewel in loud, about one of the models. She turns to Delphine: “I’m obsessed.
her hands: the first fashion house her father had ever bought, the I don’t want to show too-skinny girls. I want healthy girls.” Then,
place where he had taken her at weekends as a child, the home of quietly: “It’s an intense week for you, huh, Delphine?”
the much-loved Monsieur Dior (as its employees still call him), Indeed it is. Five days earlier, Delphine and her partner, Xavier
who, 77 years ago, changed the way women dreamed about their Niel—with whom she has two young children—had attended a din-
lives. Christian Dior is a name inextricably linked to the history ner at the Palace of Versailles for the King and Queen of the United
of France—and on that day Delphine Arnault became the first Kingdom (Queen Camilla was dressed by Dior; the French first lady,
woman ever to be in charge. Brigitte Macron, was dressed by Vuitton). Delphine wore an embroi-
Not long afterward she called her friend Larry Gagosian in New dered wool haute couture coat with a floor-length gown in lace and
York. “Larry,” she said, “I’ve got this big office. But it’s lonely up here!” champagne-colored crushed silk. Tomorrow she will be speaking for
Being a member of the Arnault family, while companionable in the first time to 600 delegates invited to a Dior Summit at the Lou-
many respects, carries its own form of isolation. Close-knit and vre, a few floors beneath the Mona Lisa. The same spring-summer
very private, the Arnaults have been subject to increased public runway show will be put on for them, and they’ll be entertained with
attention since their patriarch parceled out talks, parties, and dinners over the next cou-
decision-making responsibilities over the ple of days. “It’s great for them,” Delphine
future of LVMH to his five children (via “He never stops,” she says says, “and I think it’s important.”
a holding company where they each have a of her father. “Seeing that as
20 percent stake). “When you grow up in a At dusk, Delphine and I walk a couple of
well-known family, you don’t have the right a child forms quite an blocks under her ample umbrella to the
to make any mistakes,” Delphine’s brother impression—the dedication Dior boutique, where the delegates to the
Antoine explains. “People look out for the following day’s symposium have gathered
slightest flaw.” he gives to his work” for welcome drinks. She marvels at Maria
I first meet Delphine Arnault seven Grazia’s calm organization. John Galliano
months into her reign at Dior, in the lobby of creative direc- and Raf Simons, she recalls, would be up all night on the eve of a
tor Maria Grazia Chiuri’s studio in Paris. Discreet in demeanor, runway show, panicking and remaking things, whereas Maria Grazia
fragile-featured, with a composure to match her impressive nearly is always done on time. (“I think it’s very important not only for me,
six-foot height, Delphine greets me in a navy Dior trouser suit, her but also for the people who work with me, to have time for their
hands in its pockets. It’s the eve of the spring-summer 2024 show, personal life,” Maria Grazia tells me later. “It’s nice for everybody to
and in the studio three black leather seats have been arranged in have dinner at home.”)
front of a sample of the neon pink and yellow set. Models are walk- The original site of Christian Dior’s 1947 debut is 30 Avenue
ing back and forth, small adjustments made, accessories considered. Montaigne—or “Trente Montaigne” for short. Extensively remod-
Tiny turrets of strawberries and raspberries are laid out before us. eled, it reopened in its new incarnation in March 2022. And that’s
Maria Grazia, clad in jeans and a black sweater, sits next to Delphine not the only sign of a company expanding at speed. There are store
and introduces a little gray poodle, whose color, they both note with directors from all over the world here—“the heart and soul” of the
a smile, is perfectly on brand. “It’s gris Dior,” Maria Grazia says. company, as Delphine will tell them. They haven’t been brought
If, in 1947, Christian Dior was telling a story about women’s together since before COVID, and since then Dior has created
lives—the war they’d emerged from, the future they hoped for— more than 6,600 jobs. One million of their iconic Lady Dior bags
then the first two women to lead his company are telling a new one. have been sold.
With Delphine as CEO and Maria Grazia as creative director, the The delegates are here so they can feel part of something both
house of Dior is moving into an era in which two busy working venerable and new—and keep sales on target. More than 40 lan-
mothers are in a position to determine what women wear, how they guages are spoken among them. Delphine greets as many people as
feel, and how the people who make the clothes feel too. In Maria she can, traveling through the US, Mexico, Southern Europe, and
Grazia’s view, “fashion has to help you to feel that you’re free.” As Japan in the space of a few minutes. She asks what is and isn’t selling,
Marie-Josée Kravis, a family friend who has sat on the board of which celebrities young people look up to in different zones, who
LVMH for 13 years, observes, “Here you have two really talented are the competing brands? And then, always: How is the Lady Dior
women who are living the message daily. I think it’s a great example bag doing? The price was increased globally in July. Is it too high
for women everywhere.” for their particular market?
As the clothes appear, Delphine and Maria Grazia settle into Meanwhile, there are rowdy whoops from the selfie-taking
each other’s company with ease. Delphine absorbs, never intervenes. crowd—a giant Dior school reunion. The Korean delegation has
She has seen this collection in progress twice before. “Every time gathered for a photo on the new glass staircase designed by Peter
you see it you get to know it a little better,” she tells me. Dior’s Marino. They invite Delphine to join them, and she gamely takes
1947 New Look is reflected in black pleated skirts and refracted in her place at the center of the group.
226
S
ome weeks later, Delphine and I have lunch at Le Stresa, “I’ve never rebelled,” she says, smiling at the obvious question.
a small, family-run Italian restaurant on a side street Asked if there is a Harry Windsor in the Arnault family, she says, “I
near the Avenue Montaigne. It’s a favorite among the hope not!”—and her friends have certainly never heard her say she
fashion and film crowds and is packed with models and wants to do anything else. Like her father, Delphine has an instinct
moguls during Fashion Week. “I love this place because for what will sell. Some, but not all, of this comes from experience.
it’s kind of homey,” Delphine says as she greets one “It’s not a rational thing,” she explains; in fact, the only professional
of the brothers on duty. We’ve just spent an hour at the recently challenge she identifies in the course of our lunchtime conversation
rehoused Dior archive, sighing over vintage shoes rescued from flea is that it can be hard to predict, when hiring people, whether they
markets and drawers full of original sketches by Christian Dior will have this knack. It’s her father’s gift: “When he sees 15 bags on
and Yves Saint Laurent. Not for the first time, she told her driver the table, he immediately goes to the bag that’s going to sell,” she
that we would walk. With her usual elongated elegance, Delphine tells me in amused amazement.
is wearing a cropped cream bouclé jacket with CD logo buttons Delphine is clearly, by nature, a listener—“all ears, all the time,”
over black wool trousers and a white slogan T-shirt that alludes to as one of her friends put it. This unflashy quality may be her great-
Édith Piaf. She orders a caprese salad with a minestrone soup, and a est strength, and it marks her as unusual in the very male echelons
conversation emerges around her finely of LVMH: staunch and sensitive in her
tuned sense of privacy. support of creative people, the originator
The puzzle of speaking to Delphine of a prize for young designers, a proven
Arnault is this: She is palpably friendly spotter of talent. If there is a jeopardy at
but relatively silent. In the course of Dior, it’s that it must never fail to lead
several conversations with her, I didn’t the creative field, and in that respect Del-
get the sense that her brief answers to phine is poised to steer it without ego.
my questions were a mark of hauteur
or even reticence; though she may have Brutal in business, relentlessly hard-
been wary of being interviewed, she working, and firm as a father, Bernard
gave me a number of opportunities to Arnault is known as “the wolf in cash-
observe her world. It was more that she mere.” In 2022 he persuaded the LVMH
seemed not to have a narrative rela- board to raise the mandatory retirement
tionship to her own life: Nothing came age for the chief executive and chair-
out as a story. This is, perhaps, a form man from 75 to 80. That now gives him
of modesty, and the modesty in turn another five years to oversee his five
a mark of politeness. One thing that children. Unless they get unanimous
emerged repeatedly in my conversations board approval, they cannot sell their
with others—aside from the Arnaults’ shares in the company for another 30
tireless work ethic—was that they have years, and, after that, they can only pass
very good manners. “Delphine has a them on to Arnault’s direct descendants.
form of reserve that I find extremely The image of sibling unity, while by all
touching,” Antoine Arnault tells me. accounts accurate, is also a response to
“Some confuse this with arrogance. My a potential vulnerability: Arnault has
sister is very discreet by nature, and the taken over companies previously owned
education we received obviously nur- by warring families.
tured this discretion.” When she acts, MAKING AN ENTRANCE Though he has repeatedly said it’s
he says, she acts thoughtfully: “At 25 Delphine, then 16, with Bernard Arnault backstage not automatic that a child of his should
it’s called shyness, at 50 it’s maturity.” at Paris Fashion Week, 1991. succeed him at the helm of LVMH (it
With me Delphine was at her liveliest is “not an obligation, nor inevitable,” he
when praising others, whether it was the recently told The New York Times), it’s
artists whose work she owns or the shop assistant at Dior who’d been presumed that one of them will eventually take his place. Who that
there for decades and had recently broken her foot. Her affection becomes will depend in part on who actually wants the job: Arnault
and admiration for her father were equally evident. One person I has likened it, tellingly, to a priesthood. Once a month, the father
spoke to described the father-daughter pair as having “deep respect” and foreman gathers his children for a 90-minute working lunch
for one another. on the top floor of the LVMH headquarters at 22 Avenue Mon-
I came to think of Delphine as a relative of Henry James’s taigne. “He’s involved us from when we were quite young,” Delphine
BE RT RA N D RI ND O FF P E TRO FF/G ET T Y I M AG ES.
fictional Maisie: the eldest child of divorced parents who is pre- explains. “He talks to us about the group strategy, discusses questions
cociously attuned to what the adults ignore. Sidney Toledano, Del- that arise. He’s always wanted to pass on his knowledge. It’s a lot of
phine’s mentor at Dior, speaks of her resilience (“Don’t think life work to choose the houses one buys carefully.”
was easy,” he says mysteriously). A photograph of her with her Now encompassing more than 70 brands, the LVMH Moët
father, taken when she was 16, portrays them as an echo of each Hennessy Louis Vuitton group is, as Delphine puts it, “the lead-
other—Delphine, almost at Arnault’s height, has a sweetness of ing business in Europe.” In fact it’s the largest luxury conglomer-
expression that makes her look closer to 12. “I think we all forget ate in the world, encompassing not only fashion labels but hotels,
that she was rather young, still an early teenager, when her father vineyards, a world-class art museum, and a huge amount of very
really built LVMH,” Kravis observes, “and her father is a very good profitable Champagne. Dior’s significance within this empire is
teacher. She’s grown up with the company.” not merely sentimental: It controls 41.4 percent of LVMH. The
227
I
luxury company plays a heritage role, and an ambassadorial one too: t was a very healthy, calm lifestyle, centered on studies and
Arnault pledged 200 million euros to the restoration of Notre-Dame sport,” Delphine reflects, of her childhood. “We weren’t
cathedral and is sponsoring this year’s Paris Olympics to the tune of allowed to go out much. I mean, a little, but it was all about
150 million euros. French economists have deemed him to be more working hard. We’d always seen our father working hard—and
powerful than a head of state. my grandfather. He was at the office on Saturday mornings—
His daughter, in a more quiet way, contributes too—to French they worked together. Sometimes I’d go with them.”
schools. “I work a lot with education,” she tells me when I ask about Arnault was born into a family construction business in Roubaix,
causes she supports. “It’s something I do personally with specific northern France. His parents married the same year Christian Dior
schools that I know, who identify very good talents. Students who unveiled his New Look, and three years later his maternal grandfather
are super bright and don’t have money to pay for a scholarship, things handed the reins of the business to his father. Arnault was just 26
like that.” It’s not something she talks about publicly. when Delphine was born. He was married then to his first wife, Anne
The dynasty’s wealth has made them an object of some hostility Dewavrin, who was also from the north of France. Delphine has
in certain quarters of a country founded on the principle of “égal- early memories of her mother’s wardrobe in Roubaix: “She had a ’70s
ité”: Last April protesters stormed LVMH headquarters with smoke look with long skirts and boots. A bit Céline,” she says. Delphine and
bombs during long-running strikes over the national retirement age. her younger brother Antoine were “raised with very strict principles,”
Delphine’s response to this is apparent bafflement and hurt, along Kravis tells me. Famously, Arnault would help his children with math
with protectiveness of the staff. “That, sadly, had nothing to do with before dinner. Delphine’s friend Almine Rech—a gallerist who sold
LVMH,” she says, shaking her head. “They were railway workers. It Delphine her first painting—adds: “The more advantages you have,
was intrusive and violent—for no reason. I found it quite frighten- the more you have to prove: That’s how you are brought up in France.”
ing that they could come into the LVMH Though like all siblings she and An-
headquarters—there were staff who were toine would bicker a lot, as the eldest,
trapped and inhaled a lot of smoke.” Delphine was expected to set an example.
Although the Arnaults’ Shakespearean “Delph” was a studious child who en-
drama has drawn international atten- joyed math and economics especially. In
tion, under French law the redistribu- fact, she was always so well-behaved that
tive gesture of their patriarch is almost Antoine couldn’t quite believe it when
prosaic. Legally, you have to leave assets he caught her smoking a cigarette out of
to your children and couldn’t disinherit her window at 16. She insists that she has
them even if you wanted to. So while no creative streak. “When I play Piction-
the intrigue over who will emerge at ary,” she says, “no one wants to play with
the top remains, the primary interest in me!” She was also keen on tennis—as an
the Arnaults is not so much familial as adult she has played with Roger Federer
national. Who will be the custodians of and his wife, but it was paddle tennis….
these slices of French history, and the As Antoine remarks wryly: “Despite her
guardians of its future economy? perseverance, I have to admit that she
As the CEO of Dior, Delphine is the is less gifted than the Williams sisters!”
protector of a myth. Everything about The Arnault children were brought up to
it—the original gray-and-white color be competitive: “Just, you know, trying
scheme, the oval-backed chairs, the TWO OF A KIND to do your best,” Delphine says. “That’s
references to the New Look, the fabric Delphine with her younger brother what you do—of course being very con-
printed with a map of the streets around Antoine Arnault in Paris, 2011. siderate of others, but always trying to
the shop—is designed to inspire the do the best you can do.”
sense that if you buy anything by Dior you will own a piece of his- “That sounds exhausting,” I suggest.
tory. When Maria Grazia looks back to her arrival at Dior seven Delphine laughs. “Yeah. It is exhausting!”
years ago, she realizes how wrong she was to think of it as a fashion She remembers fondly the three less-driven years they spent in the
label like any other. “In Paris, Dior is not a brand. It’s much more, US, living in New Rochelle, New York, while her father attempted
because it’s part of the history of Paris and of the French,” she to set up a US branch of the family real estate business. “It was a
explains. “For me it was initially very difficult to understand this Franco-American school, so half the classes were in French and half
because I came from Italy, and we don’t have this kind of relationship in English. I think American school is less pressurized, so it was fun.”
with fashion.” This was reinforced by the globe-traveling exhibition The family returned to France when Delphine was 10, by which time
“Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams” and by the republication she was fully bilingual.
MI C HE L DUFOUR /W I RE I MAG E /G E T TY IM AG ES.
of Christian Dior’s autobiography, Dior by Dior (which Delphine It was around then that her father made his first acquisition: a
recently reread and found to be the template for everything that company that included the house of Dior. “He’s always had a par-
followed). The expansion of 30 Montaigne now includes the Galerie ticular affection for it,” Delphine says. “He had this vision very early
Dior, where the changing room used by Dior’s original models has on: to make Dior the most desirable brand in the world—along with
been reconstructed to look as though those ’50s women had just Vuitton!” she adds quickly. At the time, the company that owned
stepped out to lunch. Even a star-shaped piece of metal that the very Dior was in bankruptcy. There were, Delphine says, “five Dior
superstitious Monsieur Dior found on a sidewalk has been exhibited shops.” Now there are 245. Arnault took Delphine to 30 Montaigne
behind glass, as if it were a Roman relic. straight away. “I was pretty awestruck,” she recalls. “It was fascinating
“Dior is the most famous French name in the world,” Delphine for a small girl to arrive at Dior—to see all those dresses, the bags,
says confidently. the hats…. It made you dream.”
228
GREAT STRIDES
Delphine in Dior,
in Manhattan in
November 2023.
In this story: hair,
Braydon Nelson;
makeup, Francelle
Daly. Details,
see In This Issue.
I suggest that must have given her quite a bit to talk about with At 17, Delphine sold perfume at Dior, before going to the London
her school friends. Immediately, the family modesty takes over, as School of Economics and to business school in Lille. She was given
if shutting a door. “We didn’t speak about that,” she says quickly. her first Louis Vuitton bag at 18—a Noé. Though she worked at
That first visit to Dior was the beginning of a long-standing McKinsey for a couple of years after graduating, she was always bound
habit: Arnault went on to take his children into stores every Sat- for the family firm. As Toledano puts it, she “has Dior in her blood.”
urday, paving the way for the sorts of trips he makes with Del-
phine now. “When I go to Asia with him, as I have several times Delphine Arnault’s sense of humor tends toward irony. “Her humor
this year,” she says, “we spend a week visiting a huge number of has a nice bite to it,” Gagosian comments, “but she’s never mean.”
shops.” These tours are like celebrity appearances—Arnault is Long-term collaborators have benefited from the scale of her vision,
often delightedly mobbed in China. On their most recent visit, she the nuance in her approach and the mischief in her smile. She’s
reports, laughing a little, “we visited 250 shops in five cities, walked passionate about contemporary artists—their lives as much as their
P RO DUC ED BY A L ST U D I O. SE T D ESI G N : M A RY H OWA RD ST U DI O.
an average of 15,000 steps per day, were on our feet for 16 hours a work—and has brought them into the fold with great commitment.
day, in 95-degree heat. He never stops. Seeing that as a child forms She has a fearless relationship to risk, but is more moderate and ana-
quite an impression—the dedication he gives to his work.” lytical in her thinking than many in the fashion world, who rely on
When she was 15, her parents divorced, and Arnault married the impulse or intuition. Beneath her sleek exterior, she is a woman who
Canadian concert pianist Hélène Mercier. (Arnault also plays clas- gets to work and gets the joke. Rech reminds me that the Arnaults
sical piano, and the children were brought up to do that too, though are from the north of France. As a result, she says, the family sense
Delphine claims, once again, to have no creative talent.) Arnault and of humor is basically British.
Mercier went on to have three sons together—Alexandre, Frédéric, Delphine’s first job within LVMH after graduating was with John
and Jean. The latter two were taught literature by the future first Galliano in 2000. She was 25. Galliano was at Dior but also working
lady Brigitte Macron, who remains a good friend of Delphine’s. on his JG label out of an old doll factory in the 11th arrondissement—
Dewavrin—“Mamoune” to her grandchildren—has since married that’s where Delphine began. At the time, they were reviewing the
Patrice De Maistre, the former wealth manager of Liliane Betten- brand’s graphic identity, and Delphine helped Galliano find graphic
court. Antoine observes that Delphine is like their mother “in her designers, manufacturers, and suppliers. Very quickly, Galliano
altruistic and pleasure-seeking character. Both of them cultivate the remembers, she could see what he was looking for: “a sense of irony.
French ‘art de vivre’ and a remarkable sense of family.” Sometimes that doesn’t work in France. C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 2 6 2
229
Has the sun set on the
evening dress? Spring
runways offered a
lighter, brighter vision
for formal dressing—
one hinged on daring
silhouettes, lots of
embellishments, and
an all-in joie de vivre
that rejects the stuffy
and stilted. Bring it
on! Photographed by
Campbell Addy.
Night Shift
SHINING EXAMPLES
Model Adut Akech cuts an
appealingly textured
figure in a boxy Max Mara
jacket (maxmara.com)
and JW Anderson skirt
(jwanderson.com for
information). opposite:
Akech makes a long
story short, matching her
Dolce & Gabbana shirt
(select Dolce & Gabbana
boutiques) to a spangled
vest and shorts from
Stella McCartney
(stellamccartney.com).
232
COUPLES RETREAT
above: Akech’s top and pants from Rabanne
(net-a-porter.com) make a narrow, neutral palette the
stuff of dreams. Her partner, model Samuel Elkhier,
wears an Ouer polo; ouer.studio. left: Akech wears
Louis Vuitton; select Louis Vuitton boutiques.
Elkhier wears a Givenchy jacket and top; givenchy
.com. Hermès pants; Hermès boutiques.
233
SHEER PERFECTION
Have we discovered,
in this diaphanous
delight from Giorgio
Armani (armani.com),
the ne plus ultra of
going-out tops? (We’d
venture a resounding
yes.) Optic white
Schiaparelli pants
(Maison Schiaparelli,
21 place Vendôme
75001, Paris) provide
a grounding force.
234
WALKING ON
SUNSHINE
All fun, no fuss:
A jaunty Gucci dress
and easy, breezy
jeans (gucci.com)
give Akech plenty
to smile about.
GROUND RULES
above: Ralph Lauren Collection shirt
and skirt; ralphlauren.com. Dior Fine Jewelry
earrings. left: Akech takes shimmering,
glimmering cover against the growing dark in
a Michael Kors Collection top and skirt;
michaelkors.com. Proenza Schouler shoes.
In this story: hair, Lacy Redway; makeup,
Yadim Carranza. Details, see In This Issue.
PRO DUC E D BY V I EW FI N D E RS.
237
Maximum
Capacity
Long a source of quiet shame,
the big, messy bag has
been reclaimed as a marker
of modern womanhood.
Emily Ratajkowski gives a
few of them a real-world
stress test. Photographed by
Larissa Hofmann.
ONE WITH
EVERYTHING
Traveling light? Think
the opposite of that:
Ratajkowski fills up
and steps out with a
gloriously capacious
holdall (and some
boots that hold their
own). Bag from Loewe;
loewe.com. Gucci
jacket. All-In boots.
Fashion Editor:
Alex Harrington.
OPEN FOR BUSINESS
It’s in there somewhere—
she just knows it!
Ratajkowski plumbs
the depths of her
mega Coach bag; coach
.com. Miu Miu top,
skirt, briefs, and belt.
241
SQUARE DEAL
A tidy little
Fendi tote (fendi
.com) splits the
difference between
cool discretion
and big, bold
statement-making.
242
KEEP IT MOVING
Meltdown? What
meltdown? With a
sturdy Ferragamo
bag in her grip, there
isn’t a thing that
Ratajkowski can’t
handle; ferragamo
.com. Loewe top,
shorts, and shoe.
CARRIED AWAY
Have earbuds,
a change of shoes,
and a fetching
assortment of
purses, will travel.
Miu Miu bag;miu
miu.com. Acne
Studios dress.
244
GOOD STUFF
Trusting her Loewe
to contain the chaos,
Ratajkowski takes
It-girl insouciance to
an entirely new
level; loewe.com.
Cartier watch.
245
SORT IT OUT
The detritus of
contemporary life
seems a lot more
dignified when
carried around in
something from
Bottega Veneta
(bottegaveneta.com),
wouldn’t you say?
All-In top. Michael
Kors Collection skirt.
NESTING
INSTINCT
Ratajkowski lets
things go a little
sideways, toting a
bag from The Row
(therow.com) with
a cheery yellow
pocketbook from
Polo Ralph Lauren
(ralphlauren.com)
tucked inside it.
Ferragamo jacket.
Marni pants.
247
REMAINS
OF THE DAY
BOTTOM: Hermès
bag; Hermès
boutiques. cenTer:
Loewe shoes.
FAIR SHAKE
Wielding that
Hermès handbag,
Ratajkowski makes
a joyful mess in
an H&M bodysuit.
Bottega Veneta skirt.
In this story: hair,
Tamara McNaughton;
makeup, Dick
Page. Details, see
In This Issue.
P RO DUC ED BY LEO N E I OA N NOU AT P O N Y P ROJECTS. SE T D ES I G N: CA Z S LAT T ERY.
P HOTOG RA P H ED AT T HE O CU LUS AT WO RL D TRA D E CE N TE R.
249
Island Time
At home in Miami Beach, model
Devyn Garcia, her mom, and her darling little
sister dive headfirst into the season’s
sunniest separates. Photographed by Theo Liu.
FAMILY TIES
Devyn Garcia wears
a Louis Vuitton hat.
OppOsite: Jennie
Pickens, Garcia’s
mother, wears a Dries
Van Noten dress;
driesvannoten.com.
Garcia wears a
Zankov dress;
Bergdorf Goodman.
Fashion Editor:
Jorden Bickham.
MAIN FEED
Above: Pickens wears Eres (eresparis.com) and
Free People (freepeople.com). Garcia peers
out from the belly of the beast in Gucci sunglasses.
River Covalt, Garcia’s 12-year-old sister, wears
Hunza G (hunzag.com) and Wales Bonner
(walesbonner.net). LeFT: Pickens cracks up at Joe’s
Stone Crab in a Gap tank top and Dolce &
Gabbana pants (select Dolce & Gabbana boutiques).
Garcia wears Zankov; Bergdorf Goodman.
253
STEP IN TIME
Garcia is all but airborne
in a blouse and skirt
from Louis Vuitton;
select Louis Vuitton
boutiques. Proenza
Schouler shoes.
Pickens matches the
kicky mood in a
top and skirt from
Bottega Veneta;
bottegaveneta.com.
Khaite shoes.
255
FOR THE BIRD
A brilliant pair of
Loewe sunglasses
lights up the dark.
256
THAT’S A WRAP
Garcia wears a Dolce
& Gabbana swimsuit;
select Dolce &
Gabbana boutiques.
Hermès towel
(worn as skirt) and
bag. In this story:
hair, Charlie Le
Mindu; makeup, Emi
Kaneko. Details,
see In This Issue.
PRO DUC E D BY SE L ECT SE RV I C ES. SE T DESI G N: CA Z S LATT ERY.
PHOTOG RA PH E D AT ESM É M I A MI B E AC H HOT E L.
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259
ON HIS TERMS He invented something new in that role: a out the character’s layers, beyond his mulish-
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 150 man forever breaking his own heart. Strong ness. He’s warm, he loves his family and is
theater on steroids—really, really fun.” He has comes across as less haunted than his Succes- generous to his friends. He sees himself as a
nothing but praise for Pitt—“a lovely, lovely sion princeling, and much, much smarter—a caretaker, and it’s that identity that fuels his
person, very collaborative, very nice to act thinker. Talking to him, you get the sense desperate desire to fix what ails his community.
with, and supersmart”—but working with him that he’s a man continually figuring things Ultimately, he’s a tragic figure. But the play isn’t
brought Menzies face-to-face with a level of out and for whom every answer only prompts without hope.
fame that he doesn’t aspire to. “How does he more questions. This makes him a lively “Anytime you’re adapting an old work, you
go out? It is very constraining to have that level conversationalist—a keen, sympathetic lis- have to make choices about what to leave
of visibility.” tener, quick to probe for deeper meanings, face alone and what to update,” says Gold. “If you
Partly from a desire to preserve his anonym- hardening into furrowed intensity as he works update too much, you lose the resonance—
ity as much as he can, Menzies took an early through an idea. But then, when Strong smiles, that sense of, yeah, we’ve been here before. But
decision never to talk about his private life. “Is you see the boy. “Playful,” as Herzog describes you can also look for opportunities to apply a
that old-fashioned of me?” he asks. “I’m going him. “Earnest,” as Gold does. It’s easy to imag- modern-day perspective.”
to stick to my guns. It’s partly natural shyness on ine him bringing out that childish aspect of Dr. “For me, that opportunity is in Stockmann’s
my part. But to be a bit more grandiose about Thomas Stockmann—and his woundedness daughter, Petra,” Herzog adds, referring to the
it, the idea of celebrity moving into the arts and when people don’t live up to his expectations. one character in the play who emerges unsul-
acting does have an effect on how we watch.” It’s harder—though not impossible—to lied and underanged. “Frankly, she’s a little
Through it all Menzies is genial and engaged, imagine Strong in the role he shot before underdeveloped in the original, but Ibsen has
asking a lot of questions, yet there is something starting rehearsals for An Enemy of the People. set up this fascinating possibility, this profes-
formal about him too. This is someone who is In The Apprentice, he’ll play Roy Cohn, mid- sional young woman, a schoolteacher, who’s
deeply serious about acting, pursuing projects century legal titan, master manipulator, and determined to think for herself. I wanted to
that interest him and then immersing himself mentor to Donald Trump (played by Sebastian draw her out.” Played on Broadway by Vic-
in them. I ask if being able to choose work of Stan). The film, which is still in production toria Pedretti, Herzog’s Petra provides the
quality and interest is part of this new level of at press time, directed by Ali Abbasi (Holy play’s horizon: The most admirable character
success, and Menzies says that it has come at a Spider), centers on Trump’s rise to notoriety onstage is the one teaching the community’s
good time. “The question for me would have in New York City in the 1970s and 1980s—a young people. Teaching them, you suspect, to
been whether as a younger person I would have rise orchestrated, in part, by Cohn. “Trump’s do better. Present-day reality may be a mess,
handled it very well,” he tells me. “I just think shadow, his long dark shadow, is itself a shadow but there is, thank heavens, a future.
at some base level, it has taken me time to get of Cohn,” says Strong. “It’s like he gave him “I’ve got three kids, five and under, so I think
really good.” He laughs gently. “If I’d had a lot the playbook: Here’s how you shape the world about the climate issue a lot,” says Strong, as we
of exposure early on, I don’t think I’d have been in your image. You can say whatever you want, make our way back toward his home, where
ready. I know I am a lot better now than I was as long as you say it forcefully enough. Eventu- he’ll be spending the rest of the afternoon
10 years ago. Acting keeps you very humble ally, people will fall in line behind you.” playing the part of dad. The house is new,
because you never quite know day-to-day. You Roy Cohn was a man who believed in lies— located on a leafy Brooklyn block, and as the
can do all the work in the world and try the as in, he believed you could, by sheer insistence, SAG-AFTRA strike dragged on, Strong had
best you can, and sometimes it just lifts off and make them true. “I guess I’m fascinated by deni- enjoyed getting to know the neighborhood.
sometimes it doesn’t.” * alism,” Strong replies when I point out that the He’s become an expert in the nearby play-
characters he inhabits in The Apprentice and grounds. Now, though, he’s ready to work.
HISTORY LESSONS An Enemy of the People seem to be in dialogue. “I need a job, I need a focal point in my life,
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 213 “Stockmann and Cohn, they’re like inverses of I need a challenge,” he tells me. “I like to feel
There’s a TikTok of Strong that’s been each other—the guy who gets punished for tell- like I’m walking the plank when I work. Going
making the rounds. You’ve probably seen it: ing the truth, and the guy who gets away with back to the theater after all this time, it feels
A hotel in Milan, 4 a.m., and he and Jessica everything.” Until he doesn’t: As Strong points very dangerous.” Strong’s last theater outing,
Chastain are dancing around in sunglasses to out, truth eventually caught up with Roy Cohn. The Great God Pan, also by Herzog, was staged
the Madonna track “Hung Up.” It’s very silly. He was disbarred, stripped of his clout—“the in 2013. In that play, he starred as a man who
And Chastain and Strong know it—they’re currency that mattered most to him”—and died comes to suspect he was a victim of childhood
reveling in acting like goofballs, these two thes- in the closet, from a disease, AIDS, that right sexual abuse; here, too, Herzog and Strong
pians we’re accustomed to seeing in “serious” up to the end of his life he pretended he didn’t were probing into the nature of knowing, of
mode. Like costarring in James Gray’s melan- have. You can only deny facts for so long. truth. It’s a rich, combustible theme.
choly film Armageddon Time. Or doing Ibsen I ask Strong whether it’s taxing to play a “I think of Stockmann as a guy who’s
adaptations by Amy Herzog. “I was in London character like Roy Cohn. Strong is well-known somehow wound up with a live grenade in his
a while ago and these schoolkids started yell- for his immersion, Method-style, in his roles; hands,” says Strong. “One way or another, it’s
ing at me—TikTok, TikTok! ” Strong recalls. “I he lives inside the skin of his parts, offstage and going to blow up. So what do you do?” *
had no idea what they were talking about— between takes. For Kendall Roy, that meant, in
I don’t do social media, I had no idea I’d gone effect, becoming clueless and entitled; playing THE MENAGERIE
viral.” He laughs. Not a belly laugh, more like a yippie activist Jerry Rubin in the Aaron Sor- CONTINUED FROM PAGE 218
chuckle of bemusement. “What a weird world. kin film The Trial of the Chicago 7, he asked over the past 13 years. “The costumes are alter
But—hey, new fan base!” Then he turns to me, the crew to spray him with real tear gas, so egos that tell stories,” he explains. (He wears
pulling down the brim of his baseball cap a little he’d know how it felt. As Gold says, Strong is them and performs at openings—he’s been
sheepishly—or, perhaps, shielding himself from committed. In taking on Cohn, does he worry a white raven, a chicken, a raccoon, a moth,
onlookers’ glances of recognition as we stroll the about the character’s toxicity seeping into him? among other life forms.) As part of the show,
busy riverfront promenade—and smiles. “I really don’t see it that way. Your task as he painted a large-scale chicken spreading its
Smiling, you see the child in Jeremy an actor is to try to embody someone’s strug- wings in flight on the body of an Aeroméxico
Strong. His default expression—so familiar gle and their needs; you have to understand Boeing 737. The plane became what he calls
to fans of Succession—is a kind of hangdog the why and how of their actions,” Strong “a political flying chicken,” crossing borders
look. The writers of that series seem to have responds. “You can’t go into the process think- throughout the Americas without a visa.
shaped the character of Kendall Roy around ing, Wow, this guy’s deplorable, end of story.” In 2011, at Berghain, the famously louche
Strong’s capacity to project world-weariness. With Stockmann, too, Strong is quick to point techno club in Berlin, the artist Álvaro Urbano

danced up to Halilaj and said, “Are you the know who Kingsley Ben-Adir was. I really started shooting, he could understand “every-
chicken guy?” They met again two months didn’t,” Green says. “I’d heard the name, and thing Bob was saying. So his emotional point
later. Soon after that, they started living maybe I saw him in something and didn’t of view, his spiritual point of view, all of the
together, along with 12 uncaged and free- realize I saw him.” But reviewing his tape, “I complexity of the patois that he speaks in—I
flying canaries. In 2020 they married in a joy- was like, Whoa, who’s this guy? He really had knew what he meant.”
ous celebration in their studio and home. “It incredible presence, and he did a lot in the While Ben-Adir resists the idea that, as its
was the most emotional and beautiful day of pauses—a lot in the silence.” What he showed leading man, he approached One Love differ-
my life,” Halilaj says. them, Ziggy says, was more dropped-in, more ently than he would another project—“I feel
Nine months later, their joint installation emotional, “than just a surface interpretation like I put the same amount of pressure on
“Forget Me Not,” a spectacle of giant fabric of Bob Marley.” In the film, Ben-Adir’s Mar- everything that I do,” he says. “I don’t want to
flowers suspended from a glass dome ceiling, ley is endlessly kinetic—bouncing on the balls just turn up. I find that quite depressing”—
opened at the National Library of Kosovo in of his feet as he sings and strums—but also playing Bob Marley certainly gave him more
Pristina. It was timed to coincide with the fifth interior, attempting to reconcile the conflict- to juggle. But he had firm supports in place,
annual Pristina Pride Week. All the flowers had ing demands of his family, his faith, and a the Marley family chief among them. “I spent
some connection to the artists’ lives, including career that was taking him further and further a lot of time talking to them about acting.
an exact replica of the lily that was in their from home. Because they’re all musical, they speak the lan-
engagement bouquet. Halilaj has been in the Continues Green, “I knew that I was never guage of story and meaning and journey and
forefront of the gay rights movement, lobbying going to find Bob Marley. I was never going to feeling,” he says. They were also very present
the prime minister of Kosovo for LGBTQIA+ find somebody with his exact voice and exact on set, along with the late Neville Garrick,
rights, especially the right to marry, in the new look.” But Ben-Adir had the foundation— Marley’s longtime friend and art director. “It
civil code that is being written. “This law is and, after reassuring conversations with Rami was nerve-racking,” Ben-Adir says, “but after a
extremely important to ensure that the whole Malek and Austin Butler, both of whom had while, seeing them behind the camera became
society will have the same rights,” Halilaj says, lately taken on ambitious musical biopics of this beautiful thing, because I could trust that
“and that there is space for everyone to love their own (Bohemian Rhapsody for Malek, if anything was off or didn’t feel right, these
and to live.” Once a year, Halilaj and Urbano Elvis for Butler), Green felt confident that Jamaicans, they’re going to say something.” He
travel to a country they’ve never been to before. prep (and hair and makeup) would get his star laughs. “They’ll tell you straight.”
They spent Christmas this year in Morocco, the rest of the way. Lynch was another important resource.
with three days in the desert and no phones, Lynch, known for her exciting recent turns “Days when Lashana was there were always the
and then, on the way home, went to Madrid in No Time to Die, The Woman King, Matilda best days,” he says. Quickly and wordlessly, she
for New Year’s celebrations with Urbano’s large the Musical, and The Marvels, joined the cast became a sort of guardian—checking if he’d
Spanish family. as Rita not long thereafter—and without a eaten, if he’d slept, if he needed water—rather
Filipovic, who will soon be the director moment’s hesitation. Both of Lynch’s parents as Rita had been for Marley, Lynch imagines.
of the Kunstmuseum in Basel, has been and had moved to England from Kingston, so for “I feel like I immediately stepped into Rita
remains one of Halilaj’s most intuitive advo- her, the movie was personal. “When I spoke when I saw Kingsley’s need on set,” she says.
cates. “It’s rare to find art (and an artist) that to my agent about the project, I thought, All “Truly, I would grab him by the shoulders and
is at once bitingly critical and unabashedly of my life steps, all of my career steps, have be like, ‘If you don’t rest today, I’m slapping
hopeful,” she tells me. “He maintains a child- amounted to this moment,” she tells me. you.’” Yet she also admired how completely he’d
like wonder without for a moment being naive We’re seated in the vaguely tropical-themed steeped himself in the work. “I don’t think I’ve
about the political forces that incite war, that café at the back of Pier59 Studios in Chelsea, ever seen or worked with someone so commit-
divide ethnicities, and that ultimately are and despite her jet lag—Lynch had flown in ted,” she says. “It forced the cast, the supporting
fueled by interests of power.” from London just for the day—her eyes are artists, the heads of department, everyone to be
On The Met’s roof garden, there can be very bright, her skin glowing. “Even if I was play- on their A-game.”
high winds. Halilaj was amused to find in his ing a palm tree in the background,” she adds, A highlight of the four-month shoot, for
contract with the museum a clause specifying “I would need to be connected to this movie.” everyone involved, was spending time in
the art should be able to survive hurricanes. Before she’d actually taped, Lynch met with Trench Town, the part of Kingston memorial-
“The stories I deal with in my art come from a Green “and I basically threatened him and ized by Marley in songs like “No Woman, No
very difficult history, but normally they go to a said, ‘You need to get it right, even if I’m not Cry,” “Natty Dread,” and “Trenchtown Rock.”
safe place in a museum. It’s funny to think that part of it. My whole country will come for For one thing, there was the chance to engage
my sculptures should have to survive hurricanes you.’ ” But after a chemistry read with Ben- with and give back to the community there,
at The Met. So sculpturally, metaphorically, Adir, the part was hers. which remains among the poorest in Jamaica.
these works that represent very different ethnic “Helping locals profit from the making of this
backgrounds, will bend together, supporting The preparation started instantly, and went on movie, in a way that is going to be substantial
each other, to survive a hurricane.” * for about five months. Ben-Adir slimmed back and have a long-term effect—it’s an experience
down. He listened to Marley’s albums over and that people in those types of neighborhoods
CATCH A FIRE over again, and learned to play the guitar. He hardly get,” says Ziggy. “It was such a special
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 222 has Caribbean roots—his maternal grandpar- thing, and that’s one thing I think my father
An important first step was finding their direc- ents, with whom he was very close, were immi- would’ve been very proud of.”
tor. Green was still editing King Richard—the grants from Trinidad and Tobago (“Trini to the And Ben-Adir was thrilled to feel so wel-
biographical sports drama about Richard, bone,” as he puts it), and he was brought along come there. “You’d spend all day doing a scene,
Venus, and Serena Williams that would win to Notting Hill Carnival from infancy—but and then you come back and you’re talking to
Will Smith an Oscar in 2022—when he was learning Jamaican patois was a whole ordeal. all the locals and the neighbors, and then you
approached. Yet upon meeting, he and Ziggy With the help of a seven-person dialect team end up chilling on someone’s porch, talking
mostly discussed Stone Cars, a 14-minute short from Jamaica, specialists from America, and to them for half an hour,” he says. He’d been
Green had made on a shoestring budget in his own pure grit—over several months, he prepared for a level of scrutiny, a touch of sus-
South Africa years earlier. “The fact that that painstakingly transcribed phonetically some picion, from the people for whom Bob Marley
was what pulled him in made me realize, Oh, 50 archival interviews of Marley’s—Ben-Adir remains a national hero, even more than 40
he wants something real,” Green says. finally reached a point of something close to years after his death. But what he encountered
Green was hired in March 2021, and by fluency. “It’s the most complicated acting task was just the opposite. “I think they saw the
February 2022 the movie had its Bob. “I didn’t I’ve ever faced,” he says. Yet by the time he intensity that I was working at, and I think the
261
Jamaicans kind of respected it,” Ben-Adir says. FAMILY TIES Niel, who dropped out of school at 19,
“They were like, This English boy crazy.” CONTINUED FROM PAGE 229 made his first million by the age of 24 in a
And honestly, she just got the right people colorfully French way: by inventing a sex chat
It was a strange thing, when One Love together.” When Galliano’s Jack Russell terrier service for the Minitel, France’s precursor to
finally wrapped last April. “I enjoyed the had a litter, Delphine took one of the puppies. the internet. Evan Spiegel, the cofounder and
responsibility—it really makes you feel alive,” Delphine married Alessandro Vallarino Gan- CEO of Snap, describes him as “an unbeliev-
Ben-Adir reflects. “And then afterwards you feel, cia, the heir to an Italian wine fortune, in 2005, able friend and mentor to me.” In his early
Oh, everything’s just slow.” But he can do slow and Galliano designed her a fairy-tale wedding 20s Spiegel would stay in the Arnault-Niels’
too—in fact, his body gave him little choice. dress that took some 1,300 hours to make. “That pool house when he came to Paris, and when
After flying from Jamaica to New York, where was fun,” he remembers. “The fittings were he went out walking with Niel people would
he spent a week going to jazz clubs, seeing com- bonkers—all the in-laws were there, the real come up to Niel in the street “to thank him for
edy sets, and just wandering around with friends, mother, the other mother….” The reception— what he’d done for France.” Now Spiegel and
Ben-Adir was zapped. “My immune system for hundreds of guests including politicians, his wife, Miranda Kerr—who were introduced
crashed. I was in bed for four days in sweats,” he business leaders, actors, and fashion stars; “the to each other by the couple—have bought a
remembers. “The adrenaline just disappeared.” Mount Olympus of VIPs,” according to Le house next door.
Between jobs, at home in east London, he Monde—took place at the Château d’Yquem, Delphine and Xavier’s daughter, Elisa,
keeps a very low profile. He does housework, owned by Delphine’s father. It was on the cover is 11, and their son, Joseph, is 7. (Niel also
reads scripts, and listens to podcasts (about and took over 22 pages of Paris Match. The mar- has two older sons from a previous relation-
soccer, mostly—Ben-Adir supports Arsenal— riage lasted five years. ship.) Becoming a mother puts things into
though he also name-checks Steven Bartlett’s Delphine wasn’t in charge of Dior in 2011 perspective, Delphine suggests: “Everything
The Diary of a CEO). No social media for him; when Galliano was dismissed after making becomes relative.” “She’s an incredibly con-
he’s too discreet even to share his wife’s name, antisemitic remarks to strangers, but, as she cerned mother,” Rech had told me of Del-
though I understand that they are recently recalls, “I was in the room when my father’s assis- phine. “I remember how happy she was when
married and don’t have children. Instead, he tant came in and said, ‘John’s been arrested by the she was pregnant, with her boy. She had a few
chatters happily about his love of long walks police.’ It was a shock. The things he expressed, weeks where she could not go to her office and
and cold swims. “It’s also how I socialize with the words he said: They weren’t acceptable,” she she could go to school, whenever it was the
my pals: We all meet at the same place and says, more in sadness than anger. “It was a very moment, to pick up Elisa.”
swim and sauna and then catch up,” he says. tough moment for the house. But it’s in moments
“When we were young, we used to go out and like those that one learns a huge amount.” A few years before Galliano’s departure, Del-
drink and get trashed, but now we have more A year earlier, Delphine had started seeing phine had befriended another designer. “We
healthy stuff. We meet to swim and have black her current partner, Xavier Niel. Sometimes had many secret meetings,” Nicolas Ghesquière
coffee and then go home.” referred to as “the French Steve Jobs,” Niel recalls. “It’s quite funny to think about it now—
When we speak, Ben-Adir still seems to be is a tech billionaire who founded the telecom Paris is very big but also very small.” He was at
processing the One Love whirlwind. One senses company behind the French internet service Balenciaga, she was deputy managing director
he hasn’t quite come down from the high. “It’s provider Free, and who is also co-owner of Le at Dior, but she also played an important role
powerful. And privilege doesn’t sum it up, or Monde. If Delphine is influenced by her father, in the search for talent in the wider group. They
honor doesn’t sum it up—it’s like you’ve been her outlook on life is now shared with Niel, a spoke about a job, but Ghesquière wasn’t ready
let into this really special, unique legacy, and businessman who did not grow up wealthy and to move. Even years later, when he was offered
you’ve got to share in the private intimacy of who is something of a hero in France thanks to the post as creative director of womenswear at
one of the great musicians of all time and his his large-scale gestures in support of new tal- Vuitton, he said no initially—until he discov-
family. I mean, Jesus Christ.” He erupts into ent. His business incubator, Station F, is known ered that Delphine would be moving there too.
self-conscious laughter. “Now I’ve said it like as the world’s largest startup facility, and 42 is a “And that was the deciding factor for me.” She
that, it’s kind of stressful.” * pioneering free computer science school. has, he says, changed his life.
In This Issue
bag; miumiu.com. Tailor: Zunyda Watson. 212–213: On Gold:
179: Jacket, knit top, skirt, 195: Éliou ear cuff. 197: sweater; billyreid.com.
shorts, belt, and shoes; Manicurist: Eri Narita. Tailor: Jeans; apc-us.com.
prada.com. Manicurist: Eri Lauryn Trojan. 200: On On Herzog: jacket; proenza
Narita. Tailor: Lauryn Trojan. Kebede: shoes from Dear schouler.com. Boochier
Table of Contents: 52: schouler.com. On Pickens: Tailor for Miuccia Prada: Frances; dearfrances.com. earrings; twistonline.com.
Dinosaur Designs earring; Eres swimsuit; eresparis Ombra Renzini. Both holding a jacket from On Strong: sweater and
dinosaurdesigns.com. .com. Free People pants; free Stella McCartney; stella pants; loropiana.com.
Manicurist: Mamie Onishi. people.com. Khaite shoes; STRENGTH IN mccartney.com. 201: Éliou Grooming for Strong, Amy
Tailor: Zunyda Watson. khaite.com. Top right NUMBERS ear cuff. 201–203: Tailor: Komorowski; hair for Gold
72: On Garcia: minidress; photo: hair, Akemi Kishida; 182: Zero + Maria Cornejo Jen Hebner at Carol Ai and Herzog, Marin Mullen;
jwanderson.com. On makeup, Karin Westerlund. pants; zeromariacornejo Studio. 205: Wales Bonner makeup for Gold and
Covalt: top; aritzia.com. Pants; Manicurist: Eri Narita. Tailor: .com. 186–187: Manicurist: (4): Hair, Sondrea “Dre” Herzog, Frankie Boyd. Tailor:
net-a-porter.com. On Lauryn Trojan. Live at Meri Kohmoto. Tailor: Jen Demry-Sanders; makeup, Susan Balcunas.
Pickens: dress; michaelkors the Apollo: 115: T-shirt and Hebner at Carol Ai Studio. Yadim Carranza. 207:
.com. Manicurist: Donna D. pants; commission.nyc. 188: Gabriela Hearst Ana Khouri earrings; ana CATCH A FIRE
Tailor: Sew On Set Tailor. Tailor: Susie Kourinian. Red pants; gabrielahearst.com. khouri.com. Manicurist: 220–221: On Ben-Adir:
Contributors: 98: Top left Hot: 120: Bottom photo: Sacai bracelet; sacai.jp. Adam Slee. Tailor: Carson sweater; bottegaveneta
photo: On Covalt: Hunza G Jacket; select Dolce & 189: On Kebede: shoes from Darling-Blair. For Bibi .com. Ferragamo pants;
swimsuit; hunzag.com. Wales Gabbana boutiques. Fleur du Dear Frances; dearfrances Borthwick images: ferragamo.com. On Lynch:
Bonner pants; walesbonner Mal bra top; fleurdumal .com. Both holding a coat Manicurist: Adam Slee. dress; bottegaveneta.com.
.net. Proenza Schouler shoes; .com. Earring; bulgari.com. from The Row; therow.com. Tailor: Carson Darling-Blair. Dinosaur Designs earring;
proenzaschouler.com. Tailor: Tailor: Susie Kourinian. 191: Manicurist: Lora dinosaurdesigns.com. Cuffs
Ombra Renzini. On Garcia: De Sousa. Tailor: Mattia HISTORY LESSONS from Lizzie Fortunato (shop
dress; Marni Soho. Proenza MRS. PRADA Akkermans. 192–193: 210: Jacket, sweater, .lizziefortunato.com) and
Schouler shoes; proenza 174: Coat, shirts, briefs, and Manicurist: Mamie Onishi. and pants; loropiana.com. Dinosaur Designs (dinosaur

In the early days at Vuitton, they did every- the living room: warm, commanding, com- above the dining table, is a regular visitor to the
thing by hand. “You cut out prototypes, work- posed. She had been at the office all day but house. “It’s very comfortable for me,” he tells
shop them, remake new prototypes. I don’t was now wearing a fluid black suit designed me. Bradford, a defiantly political (and hugely
think people imagine that’s how it’s done,” by Maria Grazia: wide silk velvet trousers successful) artist who grew up in South Central
Ghesquière says. “Delphine was with me and a velvet-fronted double-breasted jacket, LA, laughs over promising to take Delphine to
throughout. We’d be at lunch with the Princess cinched at the waist but worn with such ease a soul food restaurant (“She’ll be totally fine!”),
of Monaco for a Vuitton project on Monday, that it could have been pajamas. In heels she and says: “She comes from a famous family. But
and on Tuesday we’d be sitting on the floor of was architectural, taller than all of her guests that doesn’t have anything to do with me and
the studio cutting out prototypes for bags. It except one: the spirited Ségolène Gallienne, her sitting around talking. You can see the love
was a really fun time.” Ghesquière remembers her best friend since the age of five. The two in her family. Some people you see and they feel
that they would often be in fits of laughter. of them look practically like twins, and on the like a warm blanket.”
Delphine introduced Ghesquière to the sofa they sat close together, both dressed in That evening’s 11 guests, who included Eva
people he’s still working with now—she built Dior, Ségolène’s hands resting on Delphine’s Jospin and Jean-Michel Othoniel—artists Del-
the team not only for the sake of the work, knee as they spoke with relaxed intimacy. phine had collaborated with—a curator, a fur-
Ghesquière says, “but with our well-being in Ségolène and Delphine first met because niture designer, and the photographer Brigitte
mind too.” It didn’t surprise him at all when they had the same swimming instructor in Lacombe, withdrew to the small round dining
Delphine founded the LVMH Prize 10 years Saint-Tropez, where they have continued to room, dimly lit and spectacularly decorated
ago—her gift for talent-spotting and support spend summers. Ségolène’s father, the late Bel- with an autumnal centerpiece made of purple
was already marked. “It reveals a lot about her— gian billionaire Albert Frère, was the co-owner, calla lilies and russet leaves. The glass plates
the way she thinks about the future,” he says. with Bernard Arnault, of the Château Cheval were hand-painted with lily of the valley, a
Much of what Ghesquière came to under- Blanc winery. Friends reminisce about nights Dior motif. Circumspect servers brought cured
stand about Delphine he observed from dress- out with the family: Alexandre DJ’ing in night- fish, a meltingly good steak, baked apples with
ing her. For 10 years, she wore his clothes clubs, the women fond of tequila shots, Karl caramel ice cream, and a tower of tiny choco-
every day, and told him how she felt in them. Lagerfeld in tow. “She likes to have a good lates. The conversation flowed: the exceptional
Inspired by her, he “changed a thousand time,” Gagosian says of Delphine, admiringly. art exhibitions in Paris, homes in the country,
things: lengths, fluidity of materials, structure.” Rech fondly points out that Delphine is so dis- the last years of Yves Saint Laurent, Lagerfeld’s
Clothes accompany our feelings, he reflects. “If ciplined she’ll be with her personal trainer early insatiable reading habits, the belief that Dior
you’re feeling vulnerable you’re going to pro- in the morning, no matter how late she’s stayed still mattered because Christian Dior himself
tect yourself a bit, if you feel stronger you’ll out the night before. was a benevolent figure—unlike Coco Chanel.
need that less.” He suggests that such an inti- While the guests had drinks before dinner, Delphine and her partner looked at each
mate knowledge of this in a CEO will make Elisa—who is tall like her mother—darted in other indulgently, and there was some gen-
an enormous difference—it matters that she and out of the living room in jeans and a green tle teasing across the table. “She’s his biggest
is a woman. T-shirt. On the walls were works by Cindy cheerleader. He’s her biggest cheerleader,”
Sherman, Takashi Murakami, and Henry Taylor. Bradford says of them. In some relationships,
The visitor to Delphine Arnault and Xavier Throughout the house there were metalwork one partner gets all the attention, he observes,
Niel’s home in the 16th arrondissement of furniture pieces by the Lalannes, who used to but not in this one: “She smiles when he’s
Paris is greeted by a rounded entrance hall, and work for Dior in the days of Saint Laurent. talking and he smiles when she talks. I think
by ground floor rooms with curved edges and Sculptures by Frank Gehry and Ugo Rondi- it’s healthy for the soul. You absolutely see it
generous floral arrangements, leading to giant none stood in the garden. (While the Fonda- in them.”
French doors and a garden. The space offers a tion Louis Vuitton collects art, Delphine buys They both stand in the hallway to say good-
kind of instant calm. art she wants to live with.) bye, snatches of conversation still floating in
One evening last fall, as respectful staff Mark Bradford, whose monumental paint- the air as their guests emerge, past the gates
took my coat, Delphine strode forth from ing of an aerial view of Los Angeles hangs and the guards, into the Paris night. *
designs.com). 4kinship x boutiques. 240–241: Estée Lauder Pure Color ISLAND TIME THE GET
Mary Jane Garcia ring; Top, skirt, briefs, and belt; lipstick. Fara Homidi 250: On Garcia: Zankov 258–259: 3. Necklace,
4kinship.com. 223: Jacket, miumiu.com. In the bag: Essential lip and face briefs; zankovstudio.com. $8,550. 6. Ring, $4,480.
CO MPA NI ES ME NT I O NE D I N I TS PAG ES, W E CA NN OT GUA RA N T EE T HE AUTHENTICITY
OF MERCHANDISE SOLD BY DISCOUNTERS. AS IS ALWAYS THE CASE IN PU RCHAS IN G
shirt, and pants; gucci.com. Michael Kors Collection compacts. Louis Vuitton 251: Hat; select Louis
A WO R D A BOU T DI SCOUN TE RS W HI LE VOGUE TH OROUG HLY R ES EA RC HES TH E
A N I T E M FROM A NYWHE RE OT HE R THAN THE AUTHORIZED STORE, THE BUYER
Manicurist: Mamie. sweater. 242: On the floor: agenda cover; select Vuitton boutiques. Gabriela LAST LOOK
Tailor: Zunyda Watson. Dries Van Noten refillable Louis Vuitton boutiques. Hearst dress; gabriela 264: Shoe; Dior boutiques.
lipstick. 243: Top, shorts, Diorshow Iconic Overcurl hearst.com. 252–253: Right 266: Shoes; khaite.com.
FAMILY TIES and shoe; loewe.com. Waterproof mascara. photo: On Pickens: Loewe 268: Shoes; brothervellies
224–229: Tailor: Jen 244: Dress; acnestudios Shoes; loewe.com. 249: sunglasses; loewe.com. .com. 269: Shoes; prada
Hebner at Carol Ai Studio. .com. Hanging: Alaïa bag; Bag; Hermès boutiques. On Garcia and Covalt: .com. 272: Shoes; Hermès
TAKES A RISK AND SHOULD USE CAUTION WHEN DOING SO.
maison-alaia.com. 245: Skirt; bottegaveneta.com. Gucci sunglasses; gucci boutiques. 274: Shoe;
NIGHT SHIFT All-In boots; all-in-studio All-In boots; all-in-studio .com. 254–255: On Garcia: select Chanel boutiques.
232–233: Left photo: .com. Watch; Cartier .com. Louis Vuitton agenda Gucci sunglasses; gucci
On Akech: Irene Neuwirth boutiques. In the bag: Gucci covers; select Louis Vuitton .com. Shoes; proenza
CONDÉ NAST IS COMMITTED TO
earrings; ireneneuwirth shoes and bag; gucci.com. boutiques. On the floor, schouler.com. On Pickens: GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL
.com. 236–237: Left photo: 246: Top; all-in-studio.com. clockwise from left: Hermès Gucci sunglasses; gucci SUSTAINABILITY. SCAN HERE
FOR DETAILS.
Shoes; proenzaschouler Skirt; michaelkors.com. Plein Air complexion balm. .com. Khaite shoes;
.com. Right photo: Loewe shoe; loewe.com. Fara Homidi Essential lip khaite.com. 256: Loewe
Earrings; (800) 929-DIOR 247: Jacket; ferragamo compact. Loewe shoes; sunglasses; loewe.com.
for information. Tailor: .com. Pants; Marni Soho. loewe.com. Dries Van Noten 257: Loewe sunglasses;
Susie Kourinian. Loewe shoes; loewe.com. refillable lipstick. Aerin Rose loewe.com. Towel and bag;
In the bag: Louis Vuitton de Grasse Joyful Bloom Hermès boutiques.
MAXIMUM CAPACITY ping-pong set; select Louis solid perfume. Manicurist: Proenza Schouler shoes;
238–239: Jacket; gucci Vuitton boutiques. Gris Manicure by Elle Gerstein proenzaschouler.com.
.com. Boots; all-in-studio Dior Eau de Parfum. 248: using Chanel Le Vernis. Manicurist: Donna D.
.com. Cartier watch; Cartier Clockwise from top left: Tailor: Hailey Desjardins. Tailor: Sew On Set Tailor.
263
Last Look
Dior
PRO P ST YLI ST: LU NE KUI PE RS.
Ring, ring! Spring is calling, and the message is clear: Ballet-inspired flats—with each of those
seen here from houses headed by women—are the shoe silhouette of the season. Let’s start
with Dior: The squarish toe box of its silk satin slippers winks at ballet pointe shoes, while the pearl
dangle—like the C and D monograms adorning the straps—is there purely for the fashion
of it all. Want to really walk the ballet walk? Crisscross them up your ankles for an entrechat.
P H OTO G RA P H E D BY L A RA G I L I B E RTO

H&M STUDIO S/S 2024
BLAZER
$249 USD
LAUNCHING FEBRUARY 29 IN SELECT STORES AND AT HM.COM

Last Look
Khaite
To be fully transparent: You need a pair of mesh shoes—that is, if you haven’t
already taken the chic plunge. Khaite’s version, featuring meadowy
3D embroideries of lily buds in snow white and royal purple, is splendidly
suited for spring—clearly the perfect way to step into the new season.
P H OTO G RA P H E D BY P EY TO N F U L FO R D

H&M STUDIO S/S 2024
COAT
$369 USD

Last Look
Brother Vellies
Brother Vellies founder Aurora James calls these the Picnic
Shoe. The Mary Jane flat with a heart-shaped Swarovski crystal
buckle has a cheery Pepto-pink hue derived from natural dyes.
As for the name: It’s inspired by the shoes James herself
wore as a teenager during strolls and picnics in her local park.
They’re for daydreaming—either in them, or about them.
P H OTO G RA P H E D BY O L I V I A GA L L I

Prada
Prada’s sumptuously boxy satin slides—with the sort of hip-to-be-square
toe that could very well be a thesis of the house’s design ethos—are
rendered in a fiery tangerine color that’s become a bit of a recent tonal
signature. ’Tis the season, apparently, for right angles to just feel so right.
P H O T O G R A P H E D B Y D E L A L I AY I V I

H&M STUDIO
SHORTS
$249 USD

S/S 2024
JEANS
$99 USD
Last Look
Hermès
Whether you’ve been adoring your Kelly or merely clamoring for one, get ready for a
new object of affection: the Kelly slingback. Handcrafted with goatskin leather, the flat
features two buckles: an adjustable one on the ankle strap (function) and one at the toe
(form), where a palladium-plated oversized Kelly bag buckle finishes things off with grace.
P H OTO G RA P H E D BY C L É M E N C E E L M A N

H&M STUDIO S/S 2024
SKIRT
$99 USD

Last Look
Chanel
Chanel’s spring-summer 2024 runway featured several models deploying these
brilliantly embellished ballet flat slingbacks. On a bed of white lambskin, an
embroidered smattering of strass crystals in various shapes and sizes envelops
everything—while topping it all off is a neat black bow with a miniature
double-C logo. Wherever you’re headed, they’re a step in the right direction.
P H OTO G RA P H E D BY JAC K I E KU RS E L

H&M STUDIO S/S 2024
DRESS
$129 USD

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MAR

FASH I ON ED I TO R: E RI C Mc N EA L. H A I R, NA I ’VAS HA ; MA KEU P, JESSI CA S M A LLS.

P RO DUC ED BY CA N VAS P RODUCT I O N. SE T D ESI G N : V I KI RU TSC H.

52 MARCH 2024 VOGUE.COM

A SINGLE DOT MARKS THE SPOT

P RO DUC ED BY S EL ECT S ERV I C ES. P HOTO G RA P HE D AT ES MÉ M IA M I BE AC H H OTE L. D ETAILS, SEE IN TH IS ISSUE.

FASH I ON ED I TO R: JO RD E N BI C KH A M. H A I R, CH A RLI E L E MI NDU; MA K EU P, E MI KA N EKO.

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TO P LE FT: COU RT ESY O F D E RE K B LAS B ERG. TO P RI G HT: PA I M AG ES/G E T TY IM AGES.

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Sounding the Alarm

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P HOTOG RA P H ED BY ST EV EN M EI SE L, VO GU E, M A RCH 20 06.

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like to go where things are uncom-

I fortable, or complex,” says Omar

I was going,” he says. And this year,

there is new music on the way.

VOGUE.COM MARCH 2024 115

n March of 1915, a crowd of fashionable patrons gathered for

I the New York premiere of Alexander Scriabin’s Prometheus: The

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Florida’s most stylish vacation destination.

Hall without preconceived aversions or predilections, and will only

V a baby perceives after black and

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’m n o t s a y i n g t h a t I High-end brands have

A N DY WA RH OL , I MAG E A ND A RT WOR K © 2024 TH E A N DY WA RH OL

FOU NDATI ON FO R TH E V I SUA L A RTS, IN C./ LI CE N SE D BY A RS.

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choice phrases, “I love Hitler,” and “People like

T Migneret, in the heart of the Marais in Paris. The secluded

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he first compliment I received at Vogue came thanks to a

T drugstore impulse purchase. It was 10 years ago, during my

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D terflies, one of the most iridescent

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I ring that microplastics shouldn’t be

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TO P LE FT: A N DR EW MO NTG O ME RY/V I LL A MA B ROU KA .CO M. TO P RI G HT A ND BOT TOM : VILLAMABROUKA.COM.

152 MARCH 2024 VOGUE.COM

HOSTED BY CHIOMA NNADI

Storied Lands the “disease-oriented galas”—an Alzheimer’s Unfor-

T Leavers, Lisa Ko’s Memory Piece (Riverhead Books)

OR D I NA RY H U M AN FA I L I NG S: L I TT L E, BROW N A N D CO MPA N Y. H EL P WA N TED: W.W. NORTON.

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David O. Marlow, May 15, 2017, Architectural Digest

When Comme des Garçons’ Rei Kawakubo burst

She just wanted to create, she said, “what I thought

Beyoncé in sculpted chain