Vogue Oct-15

QUESTIONS with Lupita Nyong’o The Oscar winner and our October cover girl is about to return to the stage this fall in Eclipsed. She also gives a voice to Raksha, the wolf mother, in the remake of The Jungle Book and will appear in Mira Nair’s Queen of Katwe as well as Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which is out this December. We caught up with her when she came to Vogue for her fitting, and we asked 73 of our burning questions. Denim for DAYS And nights. Fresh takes on the most classic of wardrobe staples are here, with our guide to the best jeans of the season—and investment pairs to carry you beyond, stylishly. Winter blues have never looked better than this. The Collections in REVIEW In the…

On the strength of a single mesmerizing (and Academy Award– winning) performance, Lupita Nyong’o has attained the level of fame where she’s now known by her first name only. This is her second Vogue cover in just over a year, and we’re delighted that she is gracing it with her presence again so soon, especially at a time when she has two very different projects on the horizon. On September 29 she will make her New York stage debut at the Public Theater in Danai Gurira’s challenging play Eclipsed, set during the Liberian Civil War, for a six-week run. Then, on December 18, she will be seen—or, perhaps more accurately, heard—in director J. J. Abrams’s reimagining of the Star Wars universe in The Force Awakens, where Lupita will voice a…

THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL To me, Cara Delevingne has always been an admirable woman [“Cara Out Loud,” by Rob Haskell, photographed by Patrick Demarchelier, July]. I think she has a rare personality, strong talent, and seems like a completely genuine person. Nevertheless, reading her interview was eye-opening. Its rawness and pure honesty pulled me in. Too often such pieces tend to feel artificial, mainly because actors and actresses want to appear relatable. But that wasn’t the case here. I hope all future VOGUE profiles have the rawness that this one had. Anira O’Bannon Bel Air, MD Cara Delevingne’s ability to be honest about who she is, not only with herself but also with the world, is a quality rarely seen in everyday people—let alone those in the spotlight. Most…

ALICIA Vikander “I have admired Annie for a long time, so I felt privileged to see her work in action. I was amazed by how much she knew about our characters. When we stepped into the frame, she made Eddie Redmayne and me feel so at ease.” THE ACTRESS ON HER SHOOT WITH LEIBOVITZ FOR “PAINTER’S PROGRESS,” PAGE 256 MERT ALAS and MARCUS PIGGOTT Mert and Marcus sound as though they could be a comedy duo or some kind of musical act. “One plays while the other sings!” Mert Alas jokes. He and Marcus Piggott are, of course, top photographers who, together, have shot nearly every star under the sun. That includes the flawless Lupita Nyong’o, who, for “Paris, Je T’aime” (page 268), traipsed around town with them in the…

On the last morning of my son’s life I made him a Dutch-baby pancake. We watched with excitement through the window of the oven as the batter puffed to a great height, magically rising inches above the rim of the pan. As soon as I took it out, the pancake began to slump; I rushed it to the table, where I sprinkled its golden-brown surface with confectioners’ sugar. We sat contentedly, my two boys and I, and ate wedges of the eggy pancake with blackberry jam. Lucian had requested this breakfast, his favorite. It had been a hectic week, and on that Saturday I wanted to give him a special treat; I felt so happy to be at home with him and his little brother, Theo, who had just turned…

It’s the life cycle of a newcomer’s relationship to New York: You get here right after it was great, and for the first three years, the city is yours,” says Garth Risk Hallberg, walking down Second Avenue in Manhattan’s East Village. It’s summertime, and a nostalgic wander through the city turns into a competition to spot the erasures of time and gentrification: the dive bar that’s now a TD Bank, the Off Track Betting turned yoga studio. It takes a softer gaze to see what remains of the past—and for those of us who didn’t grow up here, a romance for the New York of film, song lyrics, and our imaginations. That complexity of vision illuminates the 36-year-old’s first novel, City on Fire (Knopf), an epic of New York set…