Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2016 i Vanity Fair

MICHAEL LEWIS Speaking of the trailblazing Israeli psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, Contributing Editor Michael Lewis says, “People watched their work obsessively because they knew this was a world-historic collaboration. But most interesting to me is that this was a love story. They had this glorious ability to understand each other, but in love stories we also have great misunderstandings.” Lewis explores the lives, work, and relationship of Tversky and Kahneman in “Bond of Brilliance,” an adaptation from Lewis’s new book, The Undoing Project, on page 132. WILLIAM FRIEDKIN Shortly before Father Gabriele Amorth (right), the world’s pre-eminent exorcist, died in September, he allowed Academy Award–winning director William Friedkin (The Exorcist, The French Connection) to visit him in Rome—to witness and film an exorcism. In “Battling the Devil,” on…

“My friend Lisanne Falk and I—both 13 years old and Ford models at the time—were close friends with Betsy Cameron, another model, who happened to be an aspiring photographer and who was like a big sister to us. One day, Betsy asked us to visit her home in Southport, Connecticut, and take a series of fun photos for a possible book about friendship. We got to play dress-up in vintage costumes and crimp our hair and wear makeup, and we were thrilled to create fantasy worlds for Betsy to photograph. This particular picture was the last of the day. We wore red lipstick and felt so grown up. The book never came to pass, but this photo was chosen to run in the first issue of Life magazine when it…

RULE BREAKERS Vetements, the subversive Paris-based label run by brothers Demna (also Balenciaga’s creative director) and Guram Gvasalia, has taken the fashion world by storm. With an ethos of not adhering to trends, their unique signature is to recut, reshape, and re-assemble different styles—and their latest assemblage is more disruptive than ever. The spring-summer 2017 collection features unprecedented collaborations with 17 heritage brands, from Brioni to Juicy Couture, and Manolo Blahnik to Dr. Martens. Fashionable forward thinking. (vetementswebsite.com) EYE ON . . . Let there be light! (1) The Bluetooth LED Smart Bulb synchs to your phone so you can change the color and brightness and turn the bulb on and off. It’s high-tech mood lighting, with an energy-efficient bonus. (smfx.com, $39) (2) The Lumio multi-functional lamp looks like a…

Relax and rejuvenate at these remote, and luxurious, locales … 1 Canyon Ranch Wellness Resort at Kaplankaya Where: Kaplankaya, Turkey. Latest Treatment: Massage plus warm pool equals the Watsu Aquatic Experience. The soothing combination addresses chronic back pain, arthritis, sleep disorders, and more. Best Time to Go: June through September. How Much: Spa treatments range from $60 to $1,035. (canyonranch.com) 2 Amanemu Where: Ise-Shima National Park, Japan. Latest Treatment: Be one with nature (literally) at the newest Aman resort. Amanemu Seasonal Journey for winter uses seasonal Kampo (medicinal) herbs, essential oils, and a natural hot spring to refocus the mind. Best Time to Go: Year-round. How Much: Spa treatments range from $120 to $690. (amanemu.com) 3 FX Mayr Health Center Where: Maria Wörth, Austria. Latest Treatment: Mayr Pre-Lab is an…

‘Even doing what I love, I feel very much an outsider,” says FKA twigs, the 28-year-old British singer, songwriter, dancer, and director whose innovative work has made her unique in the world of music. But, she adds, “In many ways, I embrace being outside of the bubble.” Here, FKA twigs (born Tahliah Debrett Barnett) talks with Lisa Robinson about her work, her values, and her private life. LISA ROBINSON: You’ve said you don’t like the word ‘fans’—why not? FKA twigs: I think ‘fan’ implies somebody who’s submissive, sycophantic, in awe of everything you’re doing. I don’t think it’s realistic for someone to have an undying loyalty to everything you ever make. I’d rather say ‘someone who likes my music,’ or ‘people who follow my work.’ L.R.: With elements of R&B,…

BECAUSE François-Henri Pinault, C.E.O. and chairman of the luxury group Kering (which includes Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Saint Laurent, and Balenciaga), chose to ignore advisers who suggested that creating a charitable foundation to combat violence against women was perhaps not “on-brand” for a company that sells glamour. because during a meeting in 2006 with his wife, actor and activist Salma Hayek, and playwright Eve Ensler, Pinault was shocked to learn statistics about the abuse of women globally. Around this time, Pinault transformed his family-owned company from a conglomerate to a luxury group (60 percent of that group’s employees are female, as are 80 percent of its customers). So, in 2009, Pinault launched the Kering Foundation, focused on addressing sexual violence in the Americas, female genital mutilation and other harmful traditional practices…

Find the girl,” Alfred Hitchcock instructed Universal Studios in 1961. He’d seen a TV commercial for Sego, a popular diet shake, featuring a blonde model. Tippi Hedren got the call on Friday, October 13, and was offered a contract before she ever saw “Hitch.” Hedren’s first film, The Birds, earned her a Golden Globe; the second, Marnie, a psychoanalytic mystery-romance with Sean Connery, swept her into Hollywood’s front ranks. It also unraveled Hitchcock’s obsession with his leading lady—Hitchcockian in itself—as he commissioned a plaster cast of her head, built her dressing room beside his studio-lot bungalow, and, worst of all, made offensive advances. Hedren rejected him. “I’ll ruin your career,” he seethed. “Do what you have to do,” she said as she left his office, slamming the door. They didn’t…

It’s a debate that’s raged for generations: Is an artist’s integrity diminished by a relationship with the fashion world? The 29-year-old painter and sculptor Jane Moseley, who was born and raised in L.A. and then studied art at Bard College, spent six years in New York and upstate refusing the lure of the modeling industry. “I struggled; I smoked a lot of cigarettes; it was real bleak,” she says of her days as a starving artist. She shot down model requests, got some buzz for her cheerily macabre artwork, and made ends meet with odd jobs, such as working on a pearl farm in Tahiti. Then, last year, she moved back to L.A. and approached fashion with more tolerance. “I became a little less invested in my image and more…

What is your idea of perfect happiness? Reading quietly, in high grass, among loved ones (who are also quietly reading). Followed by a boozy lunch.What is your greatest fear? Violent death. Death generally. Which historical figure do you most identify with? Aspirationally speaking, Virginia Woolf and Zora Neale Hurston. Which living person do you most admire? I feel almost certain I don’t know them. It would be one of these types who dedicate their lives to the welfare of others, whereas the people I tend to know are people making stories out of the dramas of themselves. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? Narcissism, solipsism. What is the trait you most deplore in others? The same. What is your favorite journey? Any walk through Rome. What do…

At this point, I suspect that Donald Trump is deeply regretting his rash decision to run for the presidency. It’s difficult to know if he envisioned the kind of scrutiny that seeking office would bring down upon him and his family. The thing is, megalomaniacs tend to believe that whatever they say or think is fact, regardless of how at odds those notions are with reality. A man who surrounds himself with supplicants and family members—offering no opposition to his random thoughts and opinions—comes to believe that he is always right. This is the point when men—and it’s largely the preserve of men—wade into swamps of trouble. In drawing attention to himself, which is the basic point of his political career, Trump got more than he bargained for—but also as…

Tory Burch has created a veritable empire in just over a decade— there’s her namesake lifestyle brand, a sportswear line, and even a charitable foundation. Off duty, the American designer and entrepreneur escapes to a Tuscan oasis: Porto Ercole, Italy. KEY PHRASE TO KNOW: “Your boat or mine?” FAVORITE PLACE TO STAY: Hotel Il Pellicano (5). [Jackie Kennedy, Slim Aarons, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and Sophia Loren are among the many icons who have stayed here over the years.] LUGGAGE BRAND: Raden—in silver (7). PACKING LIST: A hat, sunglasses (4), swimsuits, tunics, espadrilles, our Gemini Link camera bag, and our tennis whites (6) for the occasional game. TYPICAL DAY: It begins with breakfast overlooking the sea; then we take a boat out and anchor by a quiet cove for hours of…

PODCAST Chandler is a news fanatic, and he says he tries to listen every night to the PBS NewsHour podcast, which he appreciates for its straightforwardness. “I like them because they sort of throw the facts at you and let you sit back. I cannot watch Fox or CNN or MSNBC,” he says. “It’s nice to be able to think for yourself a little bit.” PETS He and his wife are the owners of four dogs and five donkeys. “There’s White Donkey Number Two; there’s Big Daddy. There’s Shay Shaw—spell it as you wish. There’s Red, and there’s Carlos the Drug Dealer.... They all have different personalities.” His current favorite is White Donkey Number Two, though. “He’s the most personable. He’s the first one that will come up and rub…

Artist Laurie Anderson and director Todd Haynes were the honorees at the 14th annual Gala in the Garden, benefiting the Hammer Museum, in Los Angeles. The evening, supported by Bottega Veneta, brought out artists and entertainers of all stripes, including author Karl Ove Knausgård and actress Sarah Paulson, who introduced Anderson and Haynes, respectively. Rufus Wainwright closed out the night with a three-song set, which included his 2004 ballad “The Art Teacher.” BEST DRESSED ... Vanity Fair and Saks Fifth Avenue toasted the 2016 International Best-Dressed List—with help from past I.B.D.L. honorees—at Saks’s flagship store, in New York. ... AND UNDRESSED New York Academy of Art trustees Naomi Watts and Christina Di Donna hosted a drawing-party fund-raiser, featuring nude models, at the Tribeca art school. SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY Draper James founder…

André Bishop worries. That much is clear. Within the generous confines of his warmth and support, you can sense the worry. It never robs him of wit, and it never stops that sly, conspiratorial smile, but he worries. You would, too! After all, he’s run two consecutive and wildly successful theater endeavors (the only person I’ve ever known to turn the trick twice): first, Playwrights Horizons, which he inherited from its progenitor, Bob Moss, turning it into one of the most prolific and important of Off Broadway birth sites, and for the past 25 years Lincoln Center Theater, with its trio of beautiful performance spaces, tucked like Russian dolls into an elegant corner of the Upper West Side, where classics, premieres, debuts, and spectacle vie for attention, bumping up against…

My October issue arrived, fittingly, on September 14, just hours before my husband and I would be going, yet again, to see the Boss— this time at Gillette Stadium for the last show of the River Tour. Thanks to David Kamp’s well-written article “The Book of Bruce,” I would have a little different perspective this time. I have been listening to Bruce since 1978, when my college-freshman roommate from Summit, New Jersey, opened my eyes (and my ears) to the wonders of E Street. Years later, my two children, now 25 and 23, would see the “heart-stopping” E Street Band multiple times—the kids’ faces on the big screens at Fenway the ultimate highlight. Yet now, tonight, after reading the article, I would listen to Springsteen’s musical poetry with a better…

With the season’s festivities approaching, these accoutrements are ideal for all those cocktail parties…

I conic Spanish director, screenwriter, and producer Pedro Almodóvar is known for a host of critically acclaimed films. There are Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, All About My Mother (Oscar No. 1), Bad Education, Talk to Her (Oscar No. 2), and Volver, just to name a few. His latest film, Julieta, a motherdaughter drama, arrives in the U.S. next month. Herewith, V.F. ventures inside the creative atmosphere of the filmmaker’s Madrid office.…

How long are you willing to wait for a sequel? Maybe you saw Terry Zwigoff’s profane, raucous anti-holiday holiday comedy, Bad Santa, back in 2003 and thought, I’d like to see more of that. Well, 13 years later, your Christmas wish is finally coming true. A sequel, simply called Bad Santa 2, will be released this month, perhaps one of the more unexpected products of our burgeoning nostalgia economy. Will fans show up? Hard to say. The college kids who loved Bad Santa back in the early aughts are now in their 30s, many with kids of their own who will be eagerly awaiting a visit from the real Santa. And, really, the whole spirit of Bad Santa is one allergic to sentimentality, which nostalgia depends on to survive. The same…

An exuberant man of boundless vision—part Raymond Loewy, part Buckminster Fuller, part Willy Wonka, and a smidgen Pepé Le Pew—Philippe Starck is nominally an industrial designer but truly an almost-anythingyou-can-think-of designer. He became famous in the 1980s and 90s for his prong-like toothbrushes and citrusjuicers for Alessi, his sculptural chairs for Kartell, and his groundbreaking interiors for Ian Schrager’s first generation of boutique hotels, among them New York’s Royalton and Miami Beach’s Delano. Since then, his interests have ranged wider still, from his StarckBike line of electric bicycles to the Venus, the yacht he designed for Steve Jobs. In this year alone, Starck has launched a voice- and appcontrolled “smart” radiator valve, a trio of signature parfums, and a modular woodstove and log-storage unit, while also unveiling his redesign, in…

Back in 2003, I published a book called Moneyball, about the Oakland Athletics’ quest to find new and better ways to value baseball players and evaluate baseball strategies. The team had less money to spend on players than other teams did, and so its management, out of necessity, set about rethinking the game. In both new and old baseball data—and the work of people outside the game who had analyzed that data—the Oakland front office discovered what amounted to new baseball knowledge. That knowledge allowed them to run circles around the managements of other baseball teams. They found value in players who had been discarded or overlooked, and folly in much of what passed for baseball wisdom. When the book appeared, some baseball experts—entrenched management, talent scouts, journalists—were upset and…

ON STEWART (The Daily Show host, 1999–2015): My wildest dream for The Daily Show when I started was “This will be fun. Hopefully we’ll do it well.” Success for me would’ve been feeling like I figured it out. That I got to express the things I wanted to. It was never “I want this to be a cultural touchstone … but only for a very small portion of America.” And I was hoping to stay on TV longer than nine months this time. The Daily Show premiered on Comedy Central on July 22, 1996, at 11:30 p.m. The format loosely tracked that of a conventional newscast: five or so opening minutes called “Headlines,” read by former ESPN anchor Craig Kilborn, followed by “Other News,” then usually a pre-taped “field piece”…