The Vogue 120... Special Anniversary Feature
To celebrate their 120th anniversary Vogue not only tapped Lady Gaga to cover such a special issue, but released an incredibly beautiful story properly called The Vogue 120. The issues covers stylish singers, designers, actors and models - all under 45 -photographed by Norman Jean Roy, to become part of the most alluring fairytale we could possibly dream of... an extremely Vogue fairytale.
Inside, the most influential fashion-crowd get together for a stylishly-magical gathering. Big names like Raf Simons - who had a tremendous year - are joining forces with the likes of the 65th Cannes Film Festival darling, the always stylish Diane Kruger, for such enchanting encounter. The Belgian Simons, who departed Jil Sander in February after being dramatically ousted in favor of Sander herself, returning to her namesake label, was later signed to replace John Galliano as creative director of Christian Dior. On July 2, mere weeks after that, he made his debut, showing an haute couture collection, in a Parisian hôtel particulier festooned with a million flowers, that paid due respect to Monsieur Dior.
Deeper in the forest, we can find the Fab-brits... Sarah Burton, Christopher Bailey, and Stella McCartney, who beyond their English sense of style, history, and humor, are genius for turning fashion labels into global brands. Burton, taking over Alexander McQueen in 2010, proved herself the most discreet designer in the world with her wedding dress—and subsequent dresses—for the Duchess of Cambridge, while gently reorienting the brand in a beautifully feminine direction. Bailey, chief creative officer of Burberry, has built a multiplatform, multibillion-dollar organism on the power of trench coats. McCartney, meanwhile, goes from strength to strength as a spokeswoman for working mothers, the designer of the British Olympic team’s Adidas uniforms, and the instigator of such wheezes as the supermodel flash mob that set Shalom Harlow and Amber Valletta dancing on tables in red-hot evening dresses last London Fashion Week.
No fashion list would be complete without the great Phoebe Philo- She had the cool and the composure to offer fashion a semblance of sanity after the financial crash of 2009. That moment, when took control of the Céline runway with a proposal for clean, rational daywear, she set a new agenda: daywear rather than cocktail dresses; tailoring, big shirts, sweaters, pants, coats. Her system, unflagging and classily consistent, attracts adoring loyalty from all who know how difficult it is to dress with a chic froideur in daily life. It’s only added to her heroine status that she keeps out of the limelight, insisting on taking maternity breaks. She was photographed in June, shortly after the birth of her third child, Arthur.
From designers we go to Hollywood starlets... “I have a quickie relationship with fashion,” says actress Jennifer Lawrence, laughing. “I wear a dress for one night on the red carpet, and that’s it.” Fashion, though, can only imagine a long-term future with the star of the cultish The Hunger Games, which catapulted the girl from Louisville into the realms of superstardom because of her turn as the creatively attired Katniss Everdeen. (Think Gaga . . . gone wild.) If designers are fixating on Lawrence, it’s in no small part due to her sunny gorgeousness and her cool casualness toward getting dressed. Her life in L.A. is equally low-key. “I pity the paparazzi,” she says. “There are only so many pictures they can take of me on the boardwalk in Santa Monica.”
America is not only about Hollywood. Take a quick look at the designers driving American fashion - Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough of Proenza Schouler, Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte, and David Neville and Marcus Wainwright of Rag & Bone - some of the greatest fashion-minds of the moment that have made it very clear two heads are better than one. “Divide and conquer,” says Neville. “That’s our motto.” Yet working in pairs isn’t the only thing that unites these highly individualized teams. They’re also blazing radical new trails toward redefining cool, whether it’s Proenza’s urgent, innovative polish, Rodarte’s imaginative romanticism, or Rag & Bone’s sporty-street mix.... The list goes on with 120 more brilliant minds that made the cut. While you wait until August 21 to buy this treasure enjoy a glimpse of the editorial photos here
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