Innholdsfortegnelse for Sep-15 i Vanity Fair

‘Good clothes,” the 17th-century English clergyman Thomas Fuller wrote, “open all doors.” And for Eleanor Lambert they also facilitated entrance to the International Best-Dressed List, the authoritative institution she founded 75 years ago. Ever since 1940, when The New York Times ran headlines naming the inaugural honorees, Lambert’s annual Poll has served as a barometer of the Zeitgeist, viewed one year at a time through the lens of fashion. When, for example, the commandingly elegant Mme. Chiang Kai-shek debuted on the List, in 1943, she had just sailed from China to address Congress—only the second woman ever to do so. In 1955 nubile screen sensation Grace Kelly, barely 25, arrived on the List fresh from her Oscar win for The Country Girl. Jacqueline Kennedy received her initial accolade in 1961,…

As the son of a W.W. II P.O.W. survivor, and someone with direct experience with the effects of PTSD, I was deeply impressed and moved by “The Bonds of Battle” [by Sebastian Junger, June]. We will be dealing with the effects of these recent, ruinous wars for many years to come, and at least we could make an effort to understand what’s happening with these soldiers and their families. I have suggested to my friends and family that they all read this important article. I feel that it is a major paradigm shift. FRANK KILMER Santa Fe, New Mexico ‘The Bonds of Battle” was excellent and informative—especially the argument that the stress of combat per se is not necessarily the only cause of PTSD. Far more subtle sources are at…

AGE: 20. PROVENANCE: Asheville, North Carolina. ALL-AMERICAN: Qualley, the daughter of actress Andie MacDowell and former model Paul Qualley, moved four years ago to New York, where she trained with American Ballet Theatre. “When you’re really serious about ballet, it’s a job—even if you’re 15 years old. You’re doing it six to eight hours a day.” POINTE BREAK: “I was offered a position in the company, and then I realized I didn’t really want it. That was a weird moment in my life. I had, like, an early-onset midlife crisis.” JETÉ OF FAITH: After leaving the ballet world, Qualley switched gears. “I went to the Professional Children’s School, in New York, and I started modeling because I could do that until I actually figured out what I wanted to do,…

As a child, Brittany Howard mixed chemicals and caused explosions in her family’s treehouse. These days, her explosions are onstage, where, as the lead singer-guitarist of Alabama Shakes, she delivers emotional, soul-baring performances. Alabama Shakes (Howard, Heath Fogg, Steve Johnson, and Zac Cockrell) are currently on a 93-city tour in support of their latest album, their second, Sound & Color—which entered the charts at No. 1. Here, Howard talks with Lisa Robinson about the band’s music, their Southern roots, and the U.S. post office. LISA ROBINSON: What were your hopes and dreams for the band when you started out? BRITTANY HOWARD: We all live pretty modest lives. Our dreams were short-term. How can we make a record, how can we get gigs, how can we get our music heard? L.R.:…

Elena Ferrante brings her addictive Neapolitan series to its devastating conclusion with The Story of the Lost Child (Europa), a frank portrait of a passionate, lifelong female friendship. Lauren Groff rips at the seams of an outwardly perfect marriage in her enchanting novel Fates and Furies (Riverhead). Margo Jefferson’s Negroland (Pantheon) is both an elegant memoir of growing up among the black elite of Virginia and a provocative examination of the performance of color. Mary Karr strikes a vein in The Art of Memoir (Harper). Greg Grandin casts Kissinger’s Shadow (Metropolitan), showing how the dark lord of diplomacy fomented political polarization at home and imperialism abroad. Sasha Abramsky’s The House of Twenty Thousand Books (New York Review Books) is an ode to his grandfather Chimen Abramsky’s worldrenowned library. Helen Phillips’s…

In a Charles Saxon cartoon in The New Yorker from 1969, an older man in a dark suit sits in his clubbylooking study, addressing a younger man, apparently his son. The son is dressed, from the perspective of 2015, quite conservatively, in a sweater and khakis, with medium-length hair. Back then, near the height of the student rebellion over Vietnam and everything else, this mildly casual look connoted “hippie” or “rebel.” The father is saying, “You know how it is, Ted. Since I went to Princeton, I was sort of hoping you’d want to go somewhere else.” Well, we all know what happened next, don’t we? Ted did go to Princeton University and eventually abandoned the revolution. By the time he made managing director at a midsize investment bank, all…

‘An Oriental calligrapher” is how Christian Lacroix describes the artist David Downton, invoking the hummingbird hover and dart of the brush in his hand. Downton is our dauphin of fashion portraiture, heir to both René Bouché and Gruau—and today in a class by himself. His haiku of line and color, informed by art history (strokes of Pablo Picasso, Egon Schiele, Franz Kline) yet free of ego, play hide-andseek with moments in time. “I like the images to float on the surface of the paper,” he has said, “as though they had just ‘happened.’ ” Most of these moments are spent with women. Beautiful women. Apparitions in kinetic transit. “I began my professional life as a jobbing, everyday, take-anything-I-could-get illustrator,” Downton recalls. “And through that it became clear what my strengths…

What is your idea of perfect happiness? Falling asleep watching a movie on a sofa because I drank too much wine at dinner, my head resting on the thigh of a loved one, who will later explain what happened. What is your greatest fear? Generally? Hurting someone’s feelings. Specifically? Being kidnapped while on vacation. Which historical figure do you most identify with? Saddam Hussein. Just kidding. Wait, maybe not. Which living person do you most admire? Howard Klein. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? My impatience. What is the trait you most deplore in others? People taking themselves seriously. What is your greatest extravagance? The glass of whiskey I have every night while I lie on the floor of my office, counting my enemies. I guess I…

MARIO TESTINO For this month’s cover and accompanying article, “Taylor Calls the Tune” (page 252), Contributing Photographer Mario Testino shot Taylor Swift (pictured). The Grammy Award winner has become such a symbol of contemporary feminism that her music video for “Bad Blood” inspired vigorous online debate. “As I see it, Taylor’s latest video was about women’s power,” says Testino. “I wanted to portray another way for a woman to be powerful—the power of seduction!” STELLA McCARTNEY Designer Stella McCartney grew up on an organic farm, and it was there that she developed her commitment to sustainable manufacturing processes. “We are the only luxury house doing this,” says McCartney. “It’s what defines the modernity of my brand.” In this month’s V.F. Portrait (page 262), she honors the talents of her like-minded…

You’re a Different Person Now Remember that time in eighth grade when you tripped in front of the whole school at an assembly? You’re the only one who does—let it go. That Online-University Ad We don’t want to judge, but this thing to our immediate right is a total rip-off. Just don’t do it—please. Craving Chocolate with Almonds and Sea Salt? The subway is for transportation, not hungering for sugary-salty snacks. Fantasize about a healthy piece of fruit instead. Professional Jealousy? We’ve all been there, stewing over the rewards we feel should have come our way. But Jake works harder than you. He’s more talented, too. Stop stewing—some people just have it (Jake) and some don’t (you). Rent or Buy? The idea of buying real estate freaks you out. Clearly,…

Scentual Mood Once heralded as the King of Cling, the iconoclastic fashion designer Azzedine Alaïa is venturing into new territory. This September, he will launch Alaïa Paris Eau de Parfum, a perfume filled with “paradoxical sensations, those that have brought me the most beautiful rencontres of my life,” he says. Inspired by the female form and his childhood memories of Tunisia, the fragrance is an intoxicating blend of airy notes and pink pepper, freesia and peony, animal hints and musk—housed in a translucent black glass that is embellished with his signature laser-cut pattern. The cap, reminiscent of a spool of golden thread, is as unique as the perfume’s creator. ($150 for 3.3 oz.; saksfifthavenue.com) INSPIRED NOTES Fashion designer Narciso Rodriguez, revered for his graphic, feminine lines, debuts his Narciso Eau…

GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN (1) Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez onstage at Madison Square Garden, 2011. (2) Karlie Kloss and Swift at the 2014 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, in London. (3) Ellie Goulding, Kloss, Swift, and Cara Delevingne at a Naked Heart Foundation benefit in London, February 2015. (4) Swift (second from left) flanked by the Haim sisters, Este, Danielle, and Alana, on a boat off Maui, January 2015. LORDE & TAYLOR (6) Swift and Lena Dunham leaving Bubby’s in New York City, December 2014. (7) Swift steps out with her cat, Olivia Benson, September 2014. (8) Swift and Gigi Hadid on a hike in Los Angeles, May 2015. (9) Swift and Delevingne shopping in New York City’s Meatpacking District, April 2014. (10) Swift and Kloss exit Sarabeth’s after…

In his five-decade career, Manolo Blahnik has designed more than 30,000 individual shoe styles (current starting price: $700). “I’m 72 years old,” the Bath, England–based Canary Islands native points out. “Not a baby anymore!” Even so, he has held fast to the passions of his childhood: Greco-Roman history, museums, movies, and books. In September, Rizzoli publishes Fleeting Gestures and Obsessions, a compendium of esoteric, exhilarating conversations between Blahnik and everyone from a Cambridge classicist and a Prado curator to Pedro Almodóvar and Sofia Coppola. In the course of these meandering dialogues, Blahnik marvels at the fragility of Caligula’s pearl-studded sandals, fixates on such art-historical minutiae as the toenails in Velázquez’s Apollo in the Forge of Vulcan, judges the naked feet of Alain Delon in Purple Noon to be “divine,” and…

Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly met while acting in 2001’s A Beautiful Mind, for which Connelly nabbed a best-supporting-actress Oscar. Now, after 12 years of marriage and three children (including Connelly’s son from a previous relationship), they are working together again, in Bettany’s directorial debut, Shelter, out this fall. Inspired by a homeless couple who lived in their Manhattan neighborhood but disappeared at the time of Hurricane Sandy, Bettany wrote the script—which he later had vetted by the Coalition for the Homeless—in three weeks. The film (for which Vanity Fair deputy editor Dana Brown served as executive producer) stars Connelly and Anthony Mackie as Hannah and Tahir, a couple from totally different worlds who bond—and fall in love—on the streets of New York City. Bettany says he didn’t want to…

Until quite recently, relationships between young people, intimate or otherwise, were initiated by the application of old-school concepts of courtship. For men, triedand-true techniques included holding the door open (but putting the toilet seat back down), telling your date how lovely she looked no matter what she happened to be wearing, and saying that you really prefer to curl up with a good book rather than watch sports on television. If these venerated traditions failed to fully achieve their intended results—and even if they did—a good deal of pleading never hurt. In the Digital Age, these tribal rituals seem not only dated but quaint. The shift to something completely different began at the tail end of the last century with the early proliferation of the smartphone. In short order, app…

What do we think about inequality? Well—all things being unequal—it kind of depends on who we are. That line from the Declaration of Independence about how “all men are created equal”? It rings true for most Americans but for a higher percentage of whites (78) than blacks (66). Know any 1-percenters? Well, nearly a third of us aren’t even sure what a “1-percenter” is. But who are the seven percent who claim that most of the people they know are 1-percenters? By definition they can’t all be 1-percenters. Are they chauffeurs? Caterers? Prep-school teachers? And even if there is a slight inequality problem here in the United States, in Saudi Arabia it’s far worse, right? Most people think so, but America is a not-too-distant second. And what is the great…

Edie Parker clutches, the vintage-inspired collection of bags from designer and company founder Brett Heyman, are carried by the most fashionable ladies around the world. The must-have wardrobe accessory, often an acrylic jewel of a rectangle, is extra chic when bespoke detailing is added. Herewith, Heyman’s favorite things … INSPIRATIONS Favorite scent Jasmine. Favorite discovery America. Who inspires you Anna Wintour. Necessary extravagance Children’s Benadryl. Favorite place in the world Between my children. Favorite charity The Parenting Center at Mount Sinai Hospital. Favorite movie Drop Dead Gorgeous. Favorite hotel Blackberry Farm, in Tennessee. Favorite colors Navy and gold metallic. Fashion idol Anita Pallenberg. CLOTHES Jeans Vintage Levi’s. Undergarments Dolce & Gabbana. T-shirt Rag & Bone. Day bag Hermès reversible tote. Favorite accessory Edie Parker Bespoke clutch with my initials in…

Thom Browne, the celebrated fashion designer, entered the Grill Room of the landmark Four Seasons restaurant in mid-Manhattan wearing his own invention— the little gray suit with matching shorts and black brogans that has the look of a boy’s prep-school uniform. He was confidently at ease in it, and although one gent quickly averted his eyes, nobody else among the traditionally stuffy, dark-suited power elite seated in the Grill seemed troubled by the glimpse of something shocking in the shape and form of his well-toned, hairy legs. “I love this room,” he said, joining me at his usual spot—Table One—in the restaurant that Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis called “the cathedral.” Unknown to us, however, Julian Niccolini, the restaurant’s popular co-owner, who’s been there for 40 years, had been arrested that day…

Gabriel-Kane Day-Lewis had hardly set foot in the black-tie casino fashioned by Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel’s fall couture show this summer when the Internet exploded with articles fawning over the 20-year-old’s prominent eyebrows. It was something of a twist, as Day-Lewis explains: “In middle school, I was always teased for my disproportional eyebrows. And now they’re actually getting me work.” His trademark features aren’t all Day-Lewis has had to grow into. The son of actors Daniel Day-Lewis and Isabelle Adjani, Gabriel-Kane first made waves when a druggy rap music video he made in college was roundly criticized. The song, “Green Auras,” was classic teenage angst. “That video was a complete misrepresentation of not only me as a person but the kind of music I do,” he says now, noting that…

I have always admired women who go above and beyond the call of duty for a cause and show a true and honest commitment to something they believe in; Linda Greer is one such woman. A senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council, she puts her ethics above all else. She has fought for so many extraordinary causes and stayed 100 percent true to her principles without compromise, showing real strength and courage. Environmental causes aren’t always met with enthusiasm, but Linda has persevered. As a designer dedicated to developing environmentally conscious products, I identify with the work she is doing and support it wholeheartedly. When I was approached to join the N.R.D.C.’s Clean by Design program as an adviser shortly after its inception, in 2009, I jumped—no, dived—at…

For as long as he can remember, Austin Stowell wanted to pitch for the New York Yankees. Growing up, he’d take trips in his father’s Oldsmobile from his Connecticut home to 161st Street to see the Bronx Bombers play, all the while dreaming of getting up on that mound one day. An avid baseball and football player throughout his life, he suffered an injury during his junior year in high school that abruptly ended his young athletic career. At the egging on of his buddies, he auditioned for his school’s production of You Can’t Take It with You; he was cast in the role of Boris Kolenkhov and instantly fell in love with the stage. Thirteen years later, the actor has more than half a dozen features under his belt,…