Vogue September 2019

THERE IS EVERY CHANCE that you are reading this September edition of Vogue while on vacation—and if so, I hope you are having a great time! Writing this letter, though, has me focusing on the one thing that you’re escaping from: work—specifically, the upcoming New York spring 2020 shows, which will be starting on September 6. This will be the first season under the stewardship of Tom Ford, who recently became the chairman of the CFDA, and I am delighted that, after several years of many people talking to Tom about the role, he has finally taken the plunge. How lucky we are to have him—particularly at a time of such seismic change for fashion. As you will read in the compelling interview Tom gave to the writer Rob Haskell,…

CHRISTIAN SIRIANO FALL 2019 READY-TO-WEAR Christian Siriano’s outer space elegance was born from curiosity. “I thought, What is my kind of futurism? The collection is romantic and luxurious, but it’s also powerful. It’s masculine, feminine, and empowered.” Swarovski Crystals, à la beauty marks, symbolized just that. “The makeup is super important to this look,” Siriano said of his futuristic party girl. “I was happy to take a risk—and to have fun.” “I’d love to see this look translated into the real world. Just add one coat of Snapscara and place a crystal on the outer corner of the eyes.”ERIN PARSONS, MAYBELLINE GLOBAL MAKEUP ARTIST GET THE LOOK | FACE & EYES Apply Fit Me! Matte + Poreless Foundation to the skin and Instant Age Rewind Eraser Dark Circles Treatment Concealer…

On a clear, cold winter’s day, my boyfriend Andrew* drives me to a gas station on Route 123 a little before dawn. I kiss him, then leave him standing there, raw and stoic, in the empty forecourt, his hands thrust into his peacoat pockets, as he watches me climb into the warm camaraderie of a crowded beige van. Jokes masking our nerves, we drive through the familiar gates at Langley, step out of the van and into the blacked-out bus that will deliver us to the Farm—a simulated Truman Show set in a fictionalized country called the Republic of Vertania (ROV), where we are to undergo the most demanding espionage training on Earth. We are to play the roles of first-tour case officers assigned to the U.S. Embassy in the…

When we first see her, she’s a blur, moving back and forth behind a chain-link fence. Then the camera pulls back, revealing a young woman, lithe and blonde, playing tennis but only half-seriously, in a white dress with red piping. We are in Ferrara; it is 1938, and though Italy has been Fascist for more than a decade, Mussolini’s recent alliance with Hitler has brought new racial laws to the formerly tolerant country. Italian Jews—a tiny and, for the most part, highly assimilated minority—are suddenly excluded from holding office or attending public school; their books are banned; they can no longer marry non-Jews or even employ them as servants. The local tennis club also expels them. So Micòl Finzi-Contini, the girl in the white dress, and her brother, Alberto—Jewish aristocrats…

AS WE HEAD INTO THE NEXT DECADE, these 20 designers are poised to set the bar—and the pace—for what fashion will become. They are a global group, based everywhere from Los Angeles to Paris, and they work in many different ways—some of them operate independently, from small ateliers in Lagos or Manhattan’s Chinatown, while others run Paris’s most-storied houses. They range in age from their 20s to their 40s, and their imaginations run the gamut from provocative and intellectual to sun-kissed and seductive. What unites all of them, though, is their ability to see through a kaleidoscope of perspectives: Each is aware of their own world but just as sensitive to other cultures—and each of them is also pushing creativity forward while helping to reform an industry that, in the…

While Dua Lipa was growing up between Kosovo and London—long before her career-making set at Glastonbury two years ago, or her Best New Artist nod at the Grammy Awards in February—she developed a bad habit. “I used to bite my nails,” the now 24-year-old confesses. Holed up in a Los Angeles studio in Laurel Canyon, where she is recording her highly anticipated sophomore album—a follow-up to 2017’s chart-topping self-titled debut—Lipa’s perfectly polished acrylic tips tell a different story. “I love nails now. Big, big fan,” the British-Albanian pop star says by way of explaining that she has stared down her early beauty demons, which also included a brief fragrance tryst with Curious by Britney Spears. These days, Lipa’s manicurist, Michelle Humphrey, changes up her nail designs every two weeks when…