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EDITOR’S LETTER
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE MIX We put our summer issue together in one of the most turbulent times our country has ever experienced. The COVID-19 pandemic forced us to work remotely from home (Zoom meeting anyone?) and the horrific death of George Floyd by a policeman and the Black Lives Matter movement has us re-examining systematic racism on every level. Diversity and inclusion have always mattered to L’Officiel and we are thrilled to partner with our friends at the CFDA to include free ads from young Black designers we love. The fashion industry still struggles with the issue of diversity and model/ activist Mamé spoke to writer Jack Irvin about how she is implementing change by creating the Black Beauty Roster, a database of hairstylists and makeup artists with the skills to work on models of color. Mamé also published an open letter to the fashion industry, calling on brands, agents, photographers and casting directors
SHIRA HAAS IN CHANEL
to hire more Black people in all areas of modeling and make sure they receive equitable treatment. Every issue of L’Officiel is a diverse mix of talent. Photographer Steven Taylor shot one of our cover stars,
an arresting portfolio of images shot by Black
the rapper Aminé, at his house in Los Angeles and Dudi
photographers on the frontlines of the Black Lives
Hasson photographed Shira Haas in Tel Aviv. Casting
Matter protests. As photographer Mark Clennon
Haas, the incredibly talented star of the Netflix limited
says: “Currently, Black photographers, businesses,
series “Unorthodox” happened in true quarantine style.
organizations, and entrepreneurs are being thrust into
I posted how blown away I was by Hass’ performance
the spotlight, which is a good thing, but this can’t just
on Instagram and the star DMed me a thank you note.
be a moment – it is much deeper than that. I am a
That led to more DMs and soon Haas was being shot
Black photographer and my skills, as well of the talents
head-to-toe in Chanel. Thank you Instagram!
of my brothers and sisters, should be consistently recognized, requested, and represented, not only during
In addition to features with fabulous fashion on
a time of turmoil.”
starlets like Lucy Boynton and Eliza Scanlen and singer Ricky Martin (who cut two new albums while in lockdown), contributor Ty Gaskins put together 6
We could not agree more. - PETER DAVIS, EDITOR IN CHIEF
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@STUDIOONEEIGHTYNINE
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STUDIOONEEIGHTYNINE.COM
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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF PETER DAVIS
CREATIVE DIRECTOR GIAMPIETRO BAUDO GRAPHIC DIRECTOR GIULIA GILEBBI MANAGING EDITOR SARA ALI EDITORS AT LARGE ZACHARY WEISS CARSON GRIFFITH BEE SHAPIRO PEJU FAMOJURE MONICA MENDAL DIGITAL GLOBAL CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER CAROLINE GROSSO ASSISTANT MARKET EDITOR RYAN NORVILLE CHAIRMAN CHRISTOPHER BROWN GLOBAL CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER STEFANO TONCHI GLOBAL CRO , GENERAL MANAGER USA ERICA BARTMAN
PUBLISHERS MARIE-JOSÉ SUSSKIND-JALOU MAXIME JALOU
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER BENJAMIN EYMÈRE DEPUTY CEO MARIA CECILIA ANDRETTA
CONTRIBUTORS Sabrina Abbas Blake Hardy Aaron Hunt Jack Irvin Katie Levine Austin Hargrave Anna Bernabe Dudi Hasson Noa Rennert Ty Gaskins Nick Thompson Leith Clark Alexis Day Alexandra Oley Ellie Pritts Annabel Scanlen Felicity Cain Fabio Leidi Michele Bagi Giulio Martinelli Hervé Dewintre Austin Hargrave Nicholas Wagner Douglas Vanlaningham Florencia Lopez Fretes Laura Okita Kim Garduno Nelson Hancock Giulia Gilebbi Emily Minchella Coppi Barbieri Frank Sun Pepe Lobez Javier de Pard INTERNS Margaux Bang Alexa Hempel Alexia Flores Nell Sweeney Agatha Krasuski Taylor Jefferies Lara Godoff Robbie Gutman Sara Dowzycki Nicolette Salmi Navya Jhunjhunwala Bissa Sacchini Juliana Bakumenko INTERNATIONAL EDITIONS L’Officiel de la Mode, L’Officiel Hommes, Jalouse, La Revue des Montres, L’Officiel Voyage, L’Officiel 1000 Modèles, L’Officiel Art, L’Officiel Shopping, L’Officiel Chirurgie Esthétique, L’Officiel Germany, L’Officiel Hommes Germany, L’Officiel Brazil, L’Officiel Hommes Brazil, L’Officiel China, L’Officiel Hommes China, L’Officiel Hommes South Kore, La Revue des Montres South Korea, L’Officiel Spain, L’Officiel Hommes Spain, L’Officiel Travel Spain, L’Officiel Art Spain, L’Officiel India, L’OfficielIndonesia, L’Officiel Ialy, L’Officiel Hommes Italy, L’Officiel Art Italy, L’Officiel Kazakhstan, L’Officiel Hommes Kazakhstan, L’OfficielLatvia, L’Officiel Lebanon, L’Officiel Hommes Lebanon, L’Officiel Lithuania, L’Officiel Malaysia, L’Officiel Morocco, L’Officiel Hommes Morocco, L’Officiel Mexico, L’Officiel Middle East, L’Officiel Hommes Moyen-Orient, L’Officiel Art Middle East, L’Officiel Mykonos, L’Officiel Netherlands, L’Officiel Hommes Netherlands, L’Officiel Philippines, L’Officiel Poland, L’Officiel Russia, L’Officiel Travel Russia, L’Officiel Singapore, L’Officiel Hommes Singapore, L’Officiel StBarth,L’Officiel Switzerland, L’Officiel Hommes Switzerland, L’Officiel Art Switzerland, L’Officiel Thailand, L’Optimum Thailand, L’Officiel Turkey, L’Officiel Hommes Turkey, L’Officiel Ukraine, L’Officiel Hommes Ukraine, L’Officiel Vietnam www.lofficiel.com | www.jalouse.fr | www.larevuedesmontres.com | www.jaloumediagroup.com 12
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Kader Attia
Catherine Opie
Hernan Bas
OSGEMEOS
Ashley Bickerton
Angel Otero
McArthur Binion
Tony Oursler
Heidi Bucher
Helen Pashgian
Billy Childish
Lari Pittman
Mandy El-Sayegh
Alex Prager Robin Rhode
Teresita Fernández
Tim Rollins and K.O.S.
Anya Gallaccio
David Salle
Gilbert & George
Jennifer Steinkamp
Nicholas Hlobo Shirazeh Houshiary
Suh Se Ok
Klara Kristalova
Do Ho Suh
Lee Bul
Juergen Teller
Liu Wei
Patrick Van Caeckenbergh Cecilia Vicuña
Liza Lou
Nari Ward
Marilyn Minter
Erwin Wurm
Mr.
Billie Zangewa
Wangechi Mutu
New York · Hong Kong · Seoul
Erwin Wurm, Untitled, 2020
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L’OFFICIEL
UMA THURMAN WORE A PAIR—BRIGHT YELLOW SNEAKERS WITH THE UNMISTAKABLE BLACK LINES— IN THE HIT QUENTIN TARANTINO MOVIE, KILL BILL
Onitsuka Tiger is ever evolving. Since its founding in 1949 (a time when there were no Japanese companies specializing in athletic shoes), the brand has been working to perfect each of their shoes, improving the design with every iteration. Last year, the iconic brand celebrated its 70th anniversary. Onitsuka Tiger began at the request of a high school basketball coach who asked Kihachiro Onitsuka to develop a shoe designed for playing basketball in an indoor gym—shoes that were good for quick dashes and sudden stops. Working with the players, Onitsuka designed the ultimate basketball shoe. Through word of mouth, the shoes’ reputation spread around Japan and the brand took off. From 1956 to 1980, Onitsuka Tiger made the delegation shoe for the Japanese Olympic teams. In 1969, Onitsuka Tiger began a partnership with Blue Ribbon Sports, the forerunner of Nike, Inc. BRS was a distributor of Onitsuka shoes in the US, and Bill Bowerman, a co-founder of BRS and a highly-successful track and field coach, asked for Onitsuka’s help in designing a shoe that provided more cushioning to athletes. Onitsuka designed the Cortez shoe, which became incredibly popular (after a legal dispute between the two companies, the shoe was renamed as the Corsair). 40+ years later, the model for the shoes remains classic for both Onitsuka Tiger and Nike. In 1977, Onitsuka Tiger’s sports shoes merged into the ASICS Corporation (the iconic ASICS stripe was first introduced in 1966 (and was originally known as the Mexico line on the Limber shoe). Around the same time, the Onitsuka Tiger brand was retired.
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But in 2002, the Onitsuka Tiger brand relaunched as a sports fashion brand, just as vintage sneakers were coming back into style. The shoes rose to popularity once again, and in 2003, Uma Thurman wore a pair—bright yellow sneakers with the unmistakable black lines—in the hit Quentin Tarantino movie, Kill Bill. Not long after that, Onitsuka Tiger had opened 23 stand-alone stores. In 2008, Onitsuka Tiger released their Nippon Made series, a premium series of shoes made to highlight their Japanese craftsmanship and pay homage to the brand’s roots (the shoes are made entirely in Japan). Since 2019, Onitsuka Tiger has been under the creative direction of Andrea Pompilio, who first worked with the brand in 2013 on the Onitsuka Tiger x Andrea Pompilio collection for Pitti Uomo. In recent years, Onitsuka Tiger has collaborated with a handful of luxury brands, like Givenchy in 2019, and Valentino in 2020. Onitsuka Tiger has carved out its space in popular culture, with brand ambassadors like Will Smith’s daughter Willow Smith. The Autumn/Winter 2020 Campaign featuring the youngest Smith was shot with a desert backdrop, which, according to Pompilio, is to create awareness around the environment and world in which we live. The campaign features pieces that show the fusion of fashion, sportswear, and pop art, and balances the contemporary design of Onitsuka Tiger with Willow’s own distinct, individual style. In an effort to support the #BlackLivesMatter movement, part of the proceeds from the Autumn/Winter 2020 campaign will be donated to the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund.
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L’OFFICIEL GUEST LIST
SEX, SOBRIETY AND AYAHUASCA SAM LANSKY’S MYSTICAL, MIND-BENDING SECOND ACT WORDS PETER DAVIS PHOTOGRAPHY AUSTIN HARGRAVE
31-YEAR-OLD WRITER SAM LANSKY’S STARTED WRITING HIS FIRST BOOK “THE GILDED RAZOR” - A HARROWING JOURNEY INTO DRUG ADDICTION - WHEN HE WAS 18. HIS FOLLOW-UP, “BROKEN PEOPLE,” IS A NOVEL THAT EXPLORES THE MIND-BENDING, SELF-TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF MYSTICISM AND THE PSYCHEDELIC DRUG AYAHUASCA - ALL SET IN THE MATERIALISTIC, WELLNESS-OBSESSED BUBBLE OF LOS ANGELES.
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Peter Davis: “Broken People” felt like a follow up to “The Gilded Razor”, not so much a sequel but it kind of like the next part of a series. The main character is even named “Sam.” Sam Lansky: It’s definitely a spiritual sequel. I wanted to differentiate creatively from that book but I also wanted to continue with some of the themes and ideas that I explored in that first book. And I’ll say just being super candid, in the aftermath of releasing “The Gilded Razor”, people asked me then what happened next. The one thing I was conscious of was my first book was very much an addiction memoir in a really classical sense, in terms of how much I studied and looked at other addiction memoirs. Those books, mine included, have a kind of shape to them where it’s like there’s chaos and then there’s a big reckoning and then the person gets sober and then they live happily ever after. The end. And it has this sort of conclusive quality to it where it’s like: Okay but what is sober life actually look like? What are the challenges of that? What are the joys of that? How do you tell a story that doesn’t have any of the explosive drama of active addiction? There’s so much dysfunction. It’s exciting as a reader, which is why they kind of sell habitually. And writing about the quotidian drama of sober life of what’s in the rear feels super boring. I knew that the mundane realities of my life as a sober person are not as obviously exciting as the things that I wrote about in “The Gilded Razor” and all of those misadventures. And what I came to was that in a sober life, in a life in recovery, the struggles continue even if it’s more implosive than explosive, there’s still a lot of real feeling to be explored there.
PD: How was writing this novel different from your first book? SL: I wanted this book to feel like you’ve read, by the end of it, like you’ve just read a self-help book when actually you’ve just read a story that has hopefully entertained you and taken you on a journey. But I didn’t want it to feel preachy at all. I wanted to leave the reader with the feeling that there is hope. Hope for greater self- acceptance and greater self-forgiveness and greater self-love. PD: There are parts of “Broken People” that are so raw – about sex, relationships, and insecurities. SL: I cried a lot writing this book. So much of it came from a place of real heartache for me. There were about a dozen places in the book where I was like ‘I can’t fucking write that, I can’t say that’ - it’s too personal, it’s too intimate, it’s too vulnerable. I’m embarrassed by it. I’m ashamed of it. And those were always the places that I knew were most important. It’s the point at which it becomes too much is always the point that’s going to show you the thing that you need to see. PD: You write openly about sex. SL: I think it’s really important to write about the realities of sex, especially for queer people. I think that the sexual lives of gay men often get erased or neutered, especially in popular culture and writing. The ability to really write about what sex is like and the fear, the desire, the kind of craving, the pain of sexuality, especially as a gay man, it’s something that’s really important to me. And also so uncomfortable. I’m actually pretty prim for the most part.
PD: “Broken People” is also about Ayahuasca, which is a strong drug. I kept wondering: did Sam really take Ayahuasca? PD: You moved from New York to Los Angeles after your SL: I’ve done my own shamanic work and healing and first book. medicinal work. That came from a place of real experience. SL: New York always felt like a real survivalist culture. I hesitate to get too detailed about it, not because I’m prud- There are so many little challenges and indignities to living in ish about it, but because my own journey to that work was New York. Many of which I wrote about in “Broken People”. really complicated because I am a person in recovery. If I came LA has a very different pace and a very different texture, which out and was like: ‘Yes, I ingested Ayahuasca’ as a sober per- in many ways is really luxurious by comparison. I was really son in recovery, it might sound like an endorsement. I would struck by the culture around wellness and mysticism and selfnot want to lead any other people in recovery down a path optimization that existed in LA, which felt like it intersected that they wouldn’t be walking on their own. I feel the same with a very looks-driven, showy, materialism that was also way about Ayahuasca and shamanic work. I wanted to tell this present in LA. LA is sort of flashy in a way that New York is story about it. But I personally don’t want to be a mouthpiece not. But at the same time, there’s this real sort of new age culor ambassador for it because I would not want someone to ture that’s coinciding with that superficial culture. LA seems to end up violating or jeopardizing the kind of sacredness of their be a city at the cross hairs of mysticism and materialism. That sobriety because I made it sound okay for them to do so. was so fascinating to me as a writer. That was really the world and the ethos that I wanted to capture with this book. What PD: A lot of people don’t even know Ayahuasca is. happens when those two currents cross paths? SL: It is pretty underground. People continue to do good, smart, clinical research into psychedelics as mental health PD: You’re working on the screenplay for “The Gilded Razor”. treatment. It would not surprise me at all if Ayahuasca is used, SL: We have a script. I’m really really excited about it. I’ve as it is in certain treatment programs, as a tool for people deal- been developing it with Dustin Lance Black, who is an extraoring with addiction, disordered eating and mental health chal- dinary writer, director and Academy Award winner for the movie lenges. It can be a really powerful tool. I also think that its Milk. He’s attached to direct it. a little bit results may vary. It’s coming to the surface more now, especially in LA. LA has long been a kind of beacon of PD: Are you working on a third book? self-improvement and It was only a matter of time until that SL: I’ve started. It is another novel and it is totally different extended to using psychedelics are used not as method of than either of these two books in terms of the autobiographical escape, but mode of self-improvement alongside private Pilates or semi-autobiographical nature. It is fully a work of imagination instruction and juice cleanses. and I am just having a blast with it. 20
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CHANEL LES BEIGES WATER-FRESH TINT IN MEDIUM LIGHT CHANEL PALETTE ESSENTIELLE IN BEIGE MEDIUM CHANEL ROUGE ALLURE INK FUSION IN TRUE RED L’OFFICIEL USA
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MAMÉ ADJEI ISN’T AFRAID TO SPEAK UP WORDS JACK IRVIN PHOTOGRAPHY KATIE LEVINE
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“MY SKIN IS NOT A TREND, AND IT’S NOT TO BE TOKENIZED.”
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“I’M NOT AFRAID OF THE INDUSTRY, BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T MAKE ME. THEY CAN’T TAKE IT AWAY.”
Mamé Adjei is late for our phone interview, but for good reason. She’s on a call with the CEO of the luxury beauty concierge app Bonnti to discuss the Black Beauty Roster, a database of hairstylists and makeup artists equipped with the skills to work on models of color. With its launch, Adjei hopes to rid production companies and agencies of any excuses not to diversify their staff. The Ghanaian-American model knows all too well what it’s like to show up to a set where the staff is not prepared to work with her. “I’ve done my own makeup on set, in South Africa for example, for a five day campaign. Why didn’t I get paid [the makeup artist’s] rate? I should have gotten her rate. She just came to set, sat there, and looked at me,” she discloses. “Are you a professional if you really only know how to do people that look like you? No, you’re not.” Adjei is well-prepared to be a catalyst for change in the modeling industry. She grew up travelling the world with her father, a Ghanaian diplomat, who inspired her initial desires to study law, work with the United Nations, and affect change on a policy level. Prior to becoming a full-fledged model, she earned her degree in political science and African-American studies with a business minor at Virginia Commonwealth University. She was applying to law schools when she received an opportunity to join the pageant world, which she took by the reigns, going on to land the title of Miss Maryland USA in 2015. Later that year she became a top-five Miss USA finalist amid a controversial year for the pageant then-owned by Donald Trump. As he fired off racist statements along his presidential campaign trail, major networks and sponsors pulled out of the event. His unabashed alienation of people of color even bled through to his personal interactions with contestants, Adjei recalls of an event he attended. “He literally looked me up and down and sneered,” she says. “[He] only gave a handshake to the white girl next to me––Miss Rhode Island Teen, and totally just dismissed my existence like I wasn’t even there. I was like wow, he is fucked up.” Such experiences have taught her to approach jobs with caution. She timidly joined Cycle 22 of America’s Next Top Model, worried she’d exit the show viewed as a reality star rather than a
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serious model, but Adjei’s experience was ultimately positive. Her second place finish further launched her into a flourishing career that has since included campaigns with Fiorucci, Urban Decay, and Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty. Despite her success, Adjei still finds herself in professional situations where she’s treated differently due to the color of her skin. In the wake of George Floyd’s murder by police and the subsequent explosion of the Black Lives Matter movement, she decided enough is enough. On June 13, she published a powerful open letter asking the fashion industry to do better. She calls on brands, agents, photographers, and casting directors to hire more Black people in all areas of the modeling field and to ensure that they receive equitable treatment. “If there aren’t Black people on the marketing team, the ad agencies, and the production companies that are producing these advertisements, then I just become tokenized as the Black girl needed for this campaign, versus the Black woman who has a voice, and a platform, and can contribute to this campaign,” she details. “My skin is not a trend, and it’s not to be tokenized.” So far the letter has been effective. Through an employee of her agency, Models 1, she’s heard that it might be making its way to the chair of the British Fashion Council. “I hope that’s true and that they weren’t just gassing me up,” she laughs. Industry-wide change unfortunately doesn’t come overnight, and unfavorable situations are still going to arise until it does. Luckily Adjei’s academic background comes in clutch to educate others on a case-by-case basis, as she had to do in response to a major beauty brand’s recent casting call. “They asked for Caucasian, Asian, Hispanic, and dark-skinned Black girls––‘Adut Akech coloring’...as if she were a color from a crayon box,” she recalls. “[The casting director] might not have known that what she was saying was a microaggression and racist, but by me bringing it to light, she sent me an email like, ‘I’m so sorry that they worded it that way. They just wanted to make a point that they wanted dark skin.’ And I was like, then say you want a dark-skinned girl, because then you’re also adding to the colorism in our community.” Adjei has already gone to great lengths with her activism in the
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modeling industry, but she wants to keep the momentum going. She also recently launched Victory Over Circumstance, a platform for all types of women, especially women of color, to share their stories. She wants to showcase the tenacity of women in all walks of life whose stories may otherwise go unheard. “I believe there’s a lot of freeing through storytelling, so I really want to uplift and empower us to be vulnerable with ourselves, and to share what we’ve been going through, and to build a camaraderie that way, so that we can really help each other out,” she
elates. “I’ve heard the craziest stories from some of my friends. I’m like, you went through what? And you’re still this happy, abundant, beautiful person? And you’re able to pour into other people?” As she shares her own stories, uplifts those from others, and continues to speak up against injustices, Mamé Adjei is not only making the modeling industry a better place for herself, but for generations of Black models to come––and she’s not stopping anytime soon. “I’m not afraid of the industry, because they didn’t make me. They can’t take it away.”
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L’OFFICIEL BEAUTY LAB
IN BLOOM WORDS FLORENCIA LÓPEZ FRETES PHOTOGRAPHY LAURA OKITA PRODUCTION KIM GARDUNO
NATURE HAS ALWAYS HAD A GREAT INFLUENCE ON THE BEAUTY INDUSTRY. FLOWERS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION FOR CREATING HAIR AND MAKEUP LOOKS. 30
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PIGMENT, WET MAKEUP AT 32 NEON ORANGE, MAKE UP FOR EVER
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EYESHADOW, SINGLE EYESHADOW IN MATCHA AND PERSIA. EYELINER, HIGHPIGMENT LONGWEAR EYELINER IN BROADWAY LIPSTICK, AUDACIOUS LIPSTICK AT VIBEKE, NARS COSMETICS. MARIA BELT MAKEUP. HAIR KIM GARDUNO FOR ORIBE. MARINE DELEEUW @ ELITE MODEL. L’OFFICIEL USA
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L’OFFICIEL LIVING
L’OFFICIEL LIVING: MARKHAM ROBERTS WORDS PETER DAVIS PHOTOGRAPHY NELSON HANCOCK
Interior Designer Markham Roberts is known for timeless, all-American style. His second book Notes on Decorating (which will be published in September by Vendome Press) includes work from the past 5 years – 32 projects in total. “As Americans, we are a perfectly blended mixture of all different cultural influences,” Roberts says. “I think American decorating takes the best of all worlds and influences and synthesizes those into a style that reflects all of that. I see it as relaxed and confident, enthusiastic and optimistic.” Roberts gives L’Officiel the inside scoop on some of his favorite rooms.
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“A NEW YORK LIVING ROOM FOR A GREAT COLLECTOR OF ART. THE DECORATING IS TEXTURED AND LAYERED AND DONE TO HIGHLIGHT THE VISUAL IMPACT OF THE ARTWORK. DECORATING IS NOT ALWAYS
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EMBELLISHING AND TRICKING THINGS OUT. IT IS JUST AS MUCH KNOWING WHEN TO HOLD BACK OR TO MAKE THINGS RECEDE VISUALLY TO ACHIEVE A CERTAIN EFFECT.”
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“THE BREAKFAST TABLE OF A SKI HOUSE IN MONTANA. I LOVED THE SCALE OF THIS PROJECT AND HAVING BEEN ABLE TO CREATE AN ENTIRE INTERIOR ENVELOPE OF NATURAL AND RECLAIMED MATERIALS, USED IN A MODERN WAY, AS A BACKGROUND FOR MORE SUBTLE DECORATING, DONE TO NOT COMPETE WITH THE INCREDIBLE VIEWS OUTSIDE.”
“THE DINING ROOM OF A NANTUCKET HOUSE WE BUILT; THIS PROJECT SHOWS A VERY REFINED AND COMPLICATED WAY OF DECORATING, DONE FOR A COLLECTOR AND CONNOISSEUR, WHERE EVERY SURFACE AND EVERY PIECE WAS INCREDIBLY THOUGHT OUT AND REALIZED. THE SIMPLE TICKING STRIPE WALL UPHOLSTERY FOR EXAMPLE, IS SKILLFULLY AND METICULOUSLY DONE TO CREATE THE EFFECT OF PANELING, WHICH ECHOES THE CEILING AND WOODWORK IN THE ROOM.” 42
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“OUR DINING ROOM IN OUR HOUSE IN PORT TOWNSEND, OUT ON PUGET SOUND IN WASHINGTON STATE. THIS ROOM, WHERE I CREATED THE CUSTOM COLOR-WAY OF MY FRIEND NATHALIE FARMAN-FARMA’S DECORS BARBARES PRINT CALLED “CASSE-NOISETTE” TO WORK WITH THE ANTIQUE BESSARABIAN RUG, ALLOWED ME TO FULLY EXERCISE MY LOVE OF MIXING PATTERN AND COLOR.” L’OFFICIEL USA
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“THE ENTRY HALL OF A LONDON HOUSE DONE FOR A CLOSE COLLEGE FRIEND AND HER FAMILY. THE CLIENT HAD EXTRAORDINARY ART AND FURNITURE FROM HER FAMILY AND WE
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USED IT IN WAYS WHICH GIVE THE PIECES NEW LIFE. THE DECORATING IS RICH AND SOPHISTICATED AND STILL QUITE WELCOMING.”
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ULTIMATE WISH LIST 09/07/20 18:25
GABARDINE TRENCH COAT, BAG “THE FRINGE POUCH” IN NAPPA LEATHER WITH FRINGES AND SHOES “BV POINT”. BOTTEGA VENETA_ MODEL DIANA SANCHEZ @ ELITE MILANO HAIR STYLIST MARCO MINUNNO @ WM MANAGEMENT MAKE UP ARTIST AUGUSTO PICERNI @ WM MANAGEMENT DIGITAL OPERATOR EMANUELE CAMISASSA ASSISTANT PHOTOGRAPHER FABIO FIRENZE STYLIST ASSISTANT BEATRICE PRETTO
PHOTOGRAPHY FABIO LEIDI WORDS MICHELE BAGI STYLIST GIULIO MARTINELLI L’OFFICIEL USA
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Between supersized shapes, bold colors and heritage weaves, Dan Lee modernizes femininity and luxury through Bottega Veneta accessories. Evolution. It is the word that recurs most in Daniel
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Lee’s stories who was called to give a new modernity to Bottega Veneta, a brand made in Italy and built their cult status with their braided accessory line. Today the brand, a satellite of the Kering group, is a
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GABARDINE TRENCH COAT, BAG “THE CHAIN CASSETTE” IN NAPPA LEATHER WITH SHOULDER STRAP “BV BOLD” CHAIN AND SHOES IN CROCHET NAPPA. BOTTEGA VENETA
leader in contemporary luxury, developing the archetype of modern femininity. Linearity. Immediacy. Desirability. These are the words that shape the vocabular of the designer, who grew up in Phoebe Philo’s court during
his years at Céline. Lee is designing the new BV accessory with supersized shapes .standout colors and heritage weaves, to project the past into a the brands future while embodying a new definition of chic.
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L’OFFICIEL LIVING
BLACK LIVES MATTER WORDS TY GASKINS
MEET THE CREATIVES WHO ARE USING THEIR TALENT TO RECORD HISTORY AND CHAMPION CHANGE. The killing of innocent Black citizens Citizens continue to rally together daily like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and and many brave photographers have taken many more at the hands of police has on the responsibility of heading to the sent the nation into an uproar of action, frontlines to document history. Actively leading to widespread protests across the participating in the crowds alongside felcountry. Thanks in part to the public out- low protestors, these brave photojournalcry and daily demonstrations across all 50 ists have captured the realities and dangers states, all officers involved in Floyd’s death of protesting for equality - all in the midst have been charged, of a global pandemic. While largely peaceful, protests in New L’Officiel spoke with nine Black phoYork City, Washington D.C., Minneapolis, tographers participating in protests across and Los Angeles erupted into violence, as the country. Reporting from Brooklyn, police utilized tear gas and rubber bullets Atlanta, D.C. and beyond, their lenses to clear crowds, often when such show of have captured the hope, fear, and resilforce was deemed unnecessary. Familiar ience of communities coming together bustling city streets felt foreign as police in protest. Each photographer shares an wearing riot gear and members of the mili- image they’ve taken during the protest and tary blocked parks and roadways, enforc- put into words what they are seeing, feeling early curfews. ing, and thinking.
Mark Clennon Photo to the right New York, NY Mark Clennon is an NYC based photographer specializing in editorial, fashion, and fine art portraiture. Born and raised in Florida, Clennon started his career in tech. He quit his full-time job after only one year of amateur photography. Since then, he has built his career in NYC working with world-renowned brands including Dapper Dan, Roc Nation, Nike, Netflix, Complex, Footlocker, The FADER, Forbes, and many more. Mark’s mission as an artist is to raise our collective self-esteem by illustrating the dreams, fears, and fantasies of life that make us human. _ “As a photographer, I always try to see the world through a rose-colored lens – capturing the multifaceted beauty and power of Black women and men. But, as a Black person, I am aware of the realities of this country. This photo is a reminder that I was out of work for months due to COVID. The only reason I am back to work now is because yet another Black person has died at the hands of police brutality. Currently, Black photographers, businesses, organizations and entrepreneurs are being thrust into the spotlight, which is a good thing, But this can’t just be a moment – it is much deeper than that. I am a Black photographer and my skills, as well of the talents of my brothers and sisters, should be consistently rec–ognized, requested, and represented, not only during a time of turmoil.”
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Darnell Thompson Brooklyn, NY Darnell Thompson is an NYU graduate and NYC based content creator. He is one of the Founding Partners for Thursday Boot Company and Nothing New Sneakers. Thompson believes content creation is a great outlet to bring your thoughts to life as well as one of the best ways to help others understand your way of thinking. _ “I’ve seen things I thought I’d only read about in history books firsthand. The experience changes you, but at the same time, it makes you learn how your peers think which will change the future from this day forward.”
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Kay Hickman Brooklyn, NY Kay Hickman is a New York based documentary photographer and visual artist. Her work largely focuses on documenting the human experience as it relates to identity, human rights, and health issues. Hickman’s work has been featured in The New York Times, TIME, Vogue, Utne Reader, Ms. Magazine, OkayPlayer, Coeval, Jazz Halo and Photographic Journal: MFON Women Photographers of the African Diaspora. Hickman also Joined the Everyday Project’s Advisory Board where she works on various initiatives, as well as helping to curate Everyday Black America’s Instagram feed _ “While in the crowd documenting the rally of protestors I felt a sense of community and people genuinely coming together in support of change.”
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JD Barnes Brooklyn, NY Originall from Montgomery, Alabama, JD Barnes is a photographer who currently calls Brooklyn, New York home. Photography is his passion, his art, his truth. _ “There is no way to silence this. It’s going to keep growing. It’s going to bring about real change, by any means necessary. People need to really understand that. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. 400 plus years of repression was always going to eventually lead to this. So now that we are here, history is being made. I ask that everybody reading this choose the right side.”
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Alexis Hunley Los Angeles, CA Alexis Hunley is a queer Black female portrait photographer based in Los Angeles. Hunley has been documenting the impact of COVID-19 in her neighborhood and covering the protests throughout Los Angeles. _ “Watching non-Black people show up to protests with cameras pushing Black photographers out of the way to get “the shot” or stopping in the middle of marches to get content for their social media channels is infuriating. I don’t show up simply to document, I am there in solidarity with my community and to affirm my own existence as a queer Black woman. This is personal.”
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Peter Cooper Brooklyn, NY Peter Cooper is a Brooklyn-based photographer, editor, and video producer who has been documenting social justice, culture, and humanity since 2010. His photographs have been published in The New York Times, Forbes, Salon, Harlem Community News, Hyperallergic and The Uptown Collective. In 2016, the National Black Theatre featured his debut photo exhibit of street portraits celebrating joy in the Black community, as part of “The Alchemy of Black Joy.” _ “The scent of sage was floating in the air as this woman cleansed protestors. She then turned to the approaching police and said, “You all need cleansing too.” It was a moment of peace and connection, and opened my eyes to the possibility of radical change.”
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XEN Rockford, Illinois Xen is a writer and visual artist with an eye for turning subtleties into blunt objects; slightly stepping away from the traditional and conventional, in hopes of offering an alternate perspective on life, comprised of juxtapositions of beauty and ugly - a sort of rigid eloquence. _ “Change is as evident as time. It is the indication that life exists, and whether or not evolution is taking place. However, our opportunities for long term impact have been compromised, because instead of being able to capitalize on the moments that define our excellence, we instead have chosen Capitalism itself. Things started off strong and peaceful, with a diverse multitude that gradually began to dwindle, as the evening progressed, and police exited the precinct to make their presence known. Tensions mounted between protesters and law enforcement, following a series of events that lead up to SWAT and reinforcements arriving and surrounding protesters, eventually resulting in individuals being pepper-sprayed and some arrests. Despite the very ugly reason coming together, it was very beautiful to see young people gathered and raising their voices and taking leadership fearlessly.�
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Dee Dwyer Washington D.C Dee Dwyer is a Photographer from Southeast, Washington, D.C who produces awe-inspiring images. Dwyer is “The Visual Voice for the People” - her goal is to show all aspects of humanity. Dwyer’s raw and compelling candids unveil the souls of people. Dwyer recently exhibited her work at Photoville in the show “Perspectives” curated by the legendary photographers Jamel Shabazz and Laylah Amatullah Barrayn. In 2019 Dwyer curated her first solo exhibition “Last Bite of Chocolate City?”: images that document the “Black experience” in Washington, D.C. _ “Art, to me, is ‘Life.’ I use photography as a form of art. It is a way to stop time and reflect on a moment that can possibly shift history going forward. As a person who’s witnessed and experienced struggle, I am naturally drawn to its core. While out creating photographs, I spend time trying to understand human experiences. This is essential to my process. I create photographs that capture people in their element. I’m fascinated with photographing the ‘misunderstood’. I hope that my work will clarify many misconceptions of which the world has dumped on people that aren’t socially accepted into society and who are economically disadvantaged. This is why I fearlessly documented the protests in D.C. after the killing of George Floyd and many others who’ve lost their lives due to racism. I hope my photographs will be preserved forever so the world can see how hard we fought for Black lives because we matter.”
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Lynsey Weatherspoon Atlanta, Georgia Lynsey Weatherspoon’s first photography teacher was her late mother, Rhonda. Weatherspoon is a photojournalist and portraitist based in Atlanta and Birmingham using both photography and filmmaking as tools to tell stories. _ “Black people should be able to live in freedom without thinking we may not return home. Though a lot has transpired in the past week, our resilience keeps us motivated that change will come, only when the systemic issues that have been adopted by the nation are dismantled.”
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AMINÉ ON THE OTHER SIDE OF LIMBO WORDS AARON HUNT, PHOTOGRAPHY STEVEN TAYLOR STYLIST BLAKE HARDY
AMINÉ TALKS ABOUT HIS LONG GESTATING SECOND ALBUM LIMBO, HIS UNORTHODOX APPROACH TO NAVIGATING THE MUSIC INDUSTRY ND HOW HE PERCEIVES HIS ROLE AS AN ARTIST WITH A PLATFORM IN THE CURRENT STATE OF THE WORLD.
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TRACK SUIT, JACKET ONITSUKA TIGER
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“I’M ONE OF THE MOST REGULAR GUYS TO BECOME A RAPPER. I’M JUST A GUY WHO LIKES TO WALK MY DOG AND GET SOME COFFEE DOWN THE STREET ”
Rapper, singer and songwriter Aminé started developing his sophomore album Limbo over two years ago. Its title refers, not to the current paradox of a life on hold in quarantine and the rise of potentially the largest civil rights revolution in history, but the bind he found himself in after his first megahit “Caroline” and first album Good For You blew up, and the world wondered what else, if anything, he had left to say. It turns out that Aminé has plenty to say and that what he wrote and felt two years ago is especially pertinent today. “Fetus” (featuring Injury Reserve) sees Aminé wondering if he can bring a baby into today’s climate with a clear conscience, what “am I if I bring [a baby] into this world?” In “Burden” he tackles systemic racism from multiple angles, “When yo’ skin get darker, life get harder.” And in his track tribute to Kobe he reflects, “A lot of my innocence and being a young person died with Kobe.” Several tracks on Limbo are dedicated to other artists or people in his life that inspire him. Riri is a shout out to Rihanna, “Mama” is his go at the classic Mom tribute, “Becky,” a melancholic flipside to “Caroline,” is about his interracial relationship with a white woman and a world that won’t have it. In “DR. WHOEVER” from OnePointFive, the mixtape he released between his first and second album, Aminé reveals his personal fears and traumas, venting directly to his fans. But his music feels healthy, “good,” and smooth enough to take easily even when it’s somber. The self-proclaimed “regular guy” of the hip hop scene, Aminé has no dark hangups, drug, or alcohol fixes of which to brandish and let loose upon his listeners. His songs can be self reflective and therapeutic, but unlike artists steeped in the industry and equipped with an army to shape their self image (Aminé works with a small team and runs his own social media), he always humbles himself to tracks designed to appreciate others. His songs often extend from himself, and with the
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increased pressure on celebrities to speak up on civil rights issues, he’s pointing his listeners to the activists better suited to guide them on the way of the Black Lives Matter movement. Aminé’s characteristically clean sound aims to cut closer to the soul than it has in Limbo. His songs have always talked to his listeners in total clarity, but never aimed at them this deep. The effect is like succumbing to something you want to. The sound’s seductive, but it never feels like it’s luring you somewhere you don’t want to go. Listening to Limbo on repeat, I felt refreshed every time I got to the tail end of its endless loop, and awaited the next cruise through the aural labyrinth I was happy I couldn’t find my way out of. AH: When people talk about racism in America, it’s usually centered around the east coast, west coast and the south, but we both grew up in small suburban towns where it’s subtle. One of the ways I experienced it was with music. I felt a lot of resistance to the kinds of music my parents grew up on, hip hop and Prince, mostly, and got a lot of flak for not knowing the classic rock their parents listened to. Did you experience something like that? A: It’s always surprising to people that a rapper came from Portland. For a lot of people it’s hard to understand. The funny part about it is that for me, when I grew up, if you lived where I lived, that isn’t a hard concept to grab. There is a very small Black culture that is such a big community in Portland. It’s just not talked about as much because it is a 90% white state that doesn’t really shine light on Black people, of course. So for one of the biggest artists from Portland to be a Black guy is just funny. All my friends listened to hip hop and we’re very Bay Area influenced with our music. We listened to a lot of E-40 and Mac Dre, that’s how our house parties were. All I listened to growing up was rap. In middle school I went to a
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FINE JEWELRY CARTIER JACKET MARC JACOBS SWIMSUIT CHEZ SNOW BUNNY HEAD SCARF BONTON
JACKET LOUIS VUITTON PANTS EDWIN DENIM
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very white middle school and it was the first time I was introduced to indie music and rock. I liked it and it opened up my palette towards music, I started to listen to new types of music and new artists like John Mayer, [laughs] and that was all such a new type of music. My mother was also a big influence for me as well. But hip hop was never a surprising road for me to go down, I guess. AH: You’re in L.A, but you’re still doing it differently. You don’t have a social media manager, you do a lot of the work on your own. Do you feel a lot of pushback from the industry to conform to the way they want artists to do things? A: I feel like I’m one of the most regular guys to become a rapper. I’m just a guy who likes to walk my dog and get some coffee down the street I’m pretty much like a dad. [laughs] That’s just how I am. I’ve never been like the club guy or the guy who’s super worried about how his selfie looks on Instagram or something. I just try to be myself, and if people like that and gravitate towards that or they don’t, and whether or not the industry does or doesn’t, they’re just going to have to deal with it. It’s who I am. I’m from Portland, that’s just how most of us are.
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AH: I feel like the artists that are most steeped in the industry are also the most cut off from it. They can’t talk about anything in their music but themselves because their self-image is so manicured. But you make songs for other artists, you have one here for Rihanna, a thing for Kobe, other people like your mom, and even songs that directly interact with your fans. You’re able to extend from yourself. A: [laughs] I see your observation and you’re completely correct, actually, but I guess when I’m doing these things I don’t think about it at all. Like the Kobe track on the album isn’t really even a song, it’s just a tribute to him. He meant a ton to me, and I shed so many tears the day he died. When he died it was like I lost my step father or something. It was just devastating. I literally went out and got a tattoo for Kobe on my arm the same day that he died. In the song “Woodlawn” I mention Kobe really quick, but I knew that wasn’t enough to gather all the emotion of what he meant to young Black boys in America. Most of my friends that day, our group text was devastated. It was all of us not believing a word of what happened. I think that track, I’m really proud of it, not because of the music, but what I know it’ll mean for young Black boys in America.
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TOP LOEWE B.ZERO1 ROCK SHIRT VINTAGE NECKLACE BULGARI PANTS MARTINE ROSE B.ZERO1 NECKLACE BULGARI B.ZERO1 OPPOSITE PAGE ROCK RING BULGARI SWEATER B.ZERO1 ONITSUKA EARRINGS TIGER GENT VOLEST EAQUOD PANTS QUODONITSUKA ET QUI RE TIGER LA DEM HICIAEP ERNATE PERIONET ENIMUS ARCHIL ESTIA CONSEQUAM, SAM, CUSCIDE RE, SUM ACESTEM LANDANTOTA
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AH: You’ve evaded the celebrity spotlight in some ways, but now a time has come when people with a platform are expected to come forward. Has your perspective on how you should use your platform evolved? A: I’ve always tried to speak out on anything I believe in, like in my Fallon performance in 2017 [where he broke character and denounced Trump and the latenight-television-industrial complex in an altered verse on “Caroline”]. This year has taught me that not everyone has to be an activist. Our role as an artist or celebrity is to amplify other peoples voices. There are so many people who study civil rights, Black history and revolution that really know what they’re talking about. So for me, I’m not going to go, “I’m going to lead a protest! I’m going to do this!” I don’t want to be self-centered in the way I talk about Black Lives Matter. I would rather amplify that voice as much as I possibly can, other people’s voices. I think artists need to speak out, but also really listen to other people as well when we’re talking about these kinds of situations. AH: Have you seen the current events influence your writing? How often do you write and what is that process like? A: For me, I’m always writing on Apple notes and my voice notes on my phone. I have maybe over 5,000 voice notes in my phone.I’ll be walking down the street and I’ll get a melody idea, or someone will say something in conversation and it’ll spark an idea for a lyric and I’ll write it down in my phone. So I’m constantly writing. It’s annoying actually. I can’t ever stop thinking about writing a song. If I have an idea I have to jot it down quickly or I’ll forget it. The times have influenced me obviously, but I prefer to take in everything that’s going on and be able to sit down afterwards and start writing. Luckily I finished my album before everything happened, so I’ll probably start working on a new album right away. AH: Do you draw inspiration from any specific movies or TV shows for your music videos? A: Definitely. I’ve always wanted to get into film and TV. The spot I did on Insecure this year was my first acting role. I had got a couple of gig offers before Insecure but I turned those TV shows down because they were trying to portray me as a gangster or Aminè the rapper, but I wanted my first role to be something
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they took seriously as me playing someone else. So Issa [Rae] gave me the opportunity to play an actual character on a TV show, so I was super excited to do that. A lot of my music videos are really influenced by shots you see in other things. I was watching Snowfall and there was this scene where they had the camera rigged onto this crackhead doing cocaine or something, and the shot was so trippy and beautiful that I screen recorded it on my phone and put it into a treatment for a new music video and said, “we gotta copy this.” AH: I know a lot of your process is intuitive, but with some time in between your earliest work and now can you see a trajectory? A: Definitely, it’s been refreshing to see the actual growth in myself as an artist. I wasn’t so certain of myself during Good For You and OnePointFive, but with this music, even though I’m in limbo, literally, with my decisions, and that’s not even a marketing push, the album is called that because that’s how I feel all of the time in hip hop. I feel kind of like an outlier in hip hop and in general. This is the first time I feel really proud about what we put together. The time and the effort put into this deserves everything it has coming for it. AH: I feel like you could have taken your career into a bigger and more predictable direction after “Caroline,” will you keep things small and intimate like you have been, even as you grow? A: I knew when I came out that it was a lot of attention and fame at once. I could have gone and did another type of hit song and kept doing singles. There were so many different ways I could have done it, but I wanted to be an artist. I wanted people to know that I wasn’t a one hit wonder and that I had a career that I wanted to build. And with time and support of my team like my manager—because it is hard when you first come out and people are wondering if you’ll be a one hit wonder—there’s a lot of pressure on an artist when you first come out but keep your head down, don’t be in no fuck shit, goin’ to parties every other night, and just work on your album and make sure you’re putting something good together and it’ll work out itself. Luckily I’ve been in this thing for at least four years now and hopefully I’m in it for another ten. [laughs]
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TOP, PANTS LANVIN HAIR: ALIKA THEYANA
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WHAT WOMEN WANT 68
PHOTOGRAPHY COPPI BARBIERI WORDS HERVÉ DEWINTRE
Solar gold, sparkling stones, bold, refreshing colors: this summer we highlight covetable, precious adornments in a special jewelry min-magazine, paying tribute to the tremendous contributions of women in the world of jewelry. Iconic women of yesterday, from Coco Chanel to Jeanne Toussaint via Renée Puissant, paved the way by conquering a closed industry with brilliant designs. And women of today like Victoire de Castellane at Dior and Valérie Messika via Claire Choisne at Boucheron, continue that tradition by creating daring, collectible pieces intended for the pure joy of beauty.
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ANATOMY OF A JEWEL WORDS HERVÉ DEWINTRE
VIBRANT HUES AND AN ORGANIC DESIGN DEFINES ONE OF THE MOST EMBLEMATIC PIECES CREATED BY ELSA PERETTI FOR TIFFANY & CO. NOW PERETTI REVEALS HER NEW DESIGN, WITH A SPECIAL EDITION COLLECTION TO CELEBRATE HER 50TH ANNIVERSARY AT TIFFANY & CO. The Myth Elsa Peretti was no stranger to high design when she joined Tiffany & Co. in the 1970s. In her thirties, she enjoyed a reputation forged in her native Italy where she studied interior architecture, then in Barcelona where she became part of a coterie of exceptional artists including Salvador Dali. When Peretti moved to New York, Halston made her his muse and introduced her to the president of the great American jewelry house, who signed her to an exclusive contract.
The Click The Bone Cuff combines several sources of inspiration that correspond to key moments in Elsa Peretti’s life. Early on, bones fascinated the designer, not for their macabre appearance but for their unusual shapes. A visit to a 17th century church in Rome during her childhood was decisive: part of the crypt was decorated with human bones. Her deep admiration for Catalan modernism, of which Antoni Gaudi was a leader, did the rest.
The Know-How Designed half a century ago, the Bone Cuff exemplifies timeless modernity in a special edition reinterpreted in new bright colors (red, green or blue) with the inscription “Special Edition.” The expertise of the jeweler is revealed in the flexibility with which the piece wraps around the wrist, with specific designs for the left wrist and the right wrist. Made in silver, black or turquoise jade or in 18-carat gold and green jade, the cuffs will also be presented in a crimped version.
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L’OFFICIEL ESCAPE
AS MARILYN MONROE SANG AS LORELEI LEE IN “GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES”: “DIAMONDS ARE A GIRL’S BEST FRIEND.” IN THESE PAGES, THEY ALSO SUBLIMATE THE ICONIC ARCHITECTURE OF LONDON.
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GIRL’S BEST FRIENDS PHOTOGRAPHY COPPI BARBIERI STYLING EMILY MINCHELLA
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OPENING SPREAD CARTIER MAGNITUDE NECKLACE IN PLATINUM, EMERALDS AND DIAMONDS DISPLAYED AGAINST THE CHRIST CHURCH, SPITALFIELDS AND FENCHURCH STREET. THE CENTRAL PICTURE
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CAPTURES LLOYD’S BUILDING AND REGENT STREET, SAINT JAMES. BULGARI HIGH JEWELRY EARRINGS IN PLATINUM AND DIAMONDS. IN THE BACKGROUND THE SHARD.
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CHANEL HIGH JEWELRY GOLD TWEED NECKLACE IN YELLOW GOLD AND WHITE GOLD, YELLOW DIAMONDS AND WHITE DIAMONDS. CHANEL TWEED COLLECTION. IN THE BACKGROUND, HAY’S GALLERIA AND WATERLOO GARDENS. CENTRAL PHOTO:
TOWER BRIDGE AND FOURNIER STREET. BUCCELLATI ENGRAVED YELLOW AND WHITE GOLD COCKTAIL EARRINGS, DIAMONDS AND PEARLS. IN THE BACKGROUND: WATERLOO GARDENS.
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L’OFFICIEL ESCAPE
HARRY WINSTON NECKLACE IN PLATINUM AND YELLOW GOLD, YELLOW PEAR-SHAPED DIAMONDS AND MARQUISE-CUT DIAMONDS. IN THE BACKGROUND: PICCADILLY CIRCUS AND AN UNDERGROUND SIGN
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GRAFF BRACELET IN WHITE GOLD AND PLATINUM, PEAR AND BRILLIANT CUT DIAMONDS OVERLOOKING THE MONUMENT TO THE GREAT FIRE OF LONDON AND THE GATE TO FOURNIER STREET. CENTRAL PHOTO: THE TOWER OF LONDON AND GIBSON HALL.
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THE WOMEN WHO CHANGED IT ALL WORDS HERVÉ DEWINTRE ARTWORK GIULIA GILEBBI
FOR A LONG TIME THE DOMAIN OF MEN, THE WORLD OF JEWELRY HAS SEEN, THROUGHOUT THE TWENTIETH CENTURY UNTIL TODAY, EXCEPTIONAL WOMEN TAKE CONTROL AND REVOLUTIONIZE THE CODES OF THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS HOUSES - FROM GABRIELLE CHANEL TO VICTOIRE DE CASTELLANE VIA JEANNE TOUSSAINT, ELSA PERETTI, RENÉE PUISSANT AND SUZANNE BELPERRON.
The usually peaceful Place Vendôme was shaken to its pristine core. The famous fashion houses were in an uproar, determined to put an end to it all. Gabrielle Chanel had just presented a flamboyant collection of jewels studded with diamonds as part of an exhibition for the benefit of charities, chaired by the Princess of Poix. The jewels, which the designer Paul Uribe and the jewelry maker Lemeunier had lent a helping hand, were of superb craftsmanship. An exhibition in London was to follow, sponsored by the Marquise de Londonderry, and another was planned in Rome under the patronage of Princess Colonna. So why was the normally peaceful Place Vendôme so upset? They were distraught over the praiseworthy tone of
the critics - especially from the newspaper L’Intransigeant. The Guardians of the Temple could not accept this dithyramb. Welcome to “The Chanel Affair” of November 1932. Despite the drama, Chanel asserted that she had no intention of competing with the jewelers. Chanel was simply following a request from the De Beers group to create a craze around diamonds, whose brilliance and sales had been damaged by the economic crisis. Several renowned jewelers urgently meet at the Chambre Syndicale. They demand that the jewelry be dismantled immediately. Chanel stands up for herself. Thankfully, some jewelry has survived. Far from being anecdotal, “The Chanel Affair” sheds light on the habits
and customs of a profession, which has its roots in an immemorial past. Unlike fashion, jewelry making had for centuries been governed by guilds, brotherhoods and corporations all of which strictly supervised access to the various trades of the profession. These venerable corporations (the corporation of goldsmiths was founded in France under Saint Louis) were firmly closed to women. Women could become four-season merchants, seamstresses, drapers, haberdasheries and washerwomen, but they could not become jewelers. Apprentices, journeymen and masters are only considered male. In a few years, this all would disappear, thanks to the creative genius of women of these legendary women. L’OFFICIEL USA
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GABRIELLE COCO CHANEL UNDER A LUCKY STAR “The reason which had led me, first, to imagine fake jewels, is that I found them devoid of arrogance in an easy period of pomp. This consideration is erased in a period of financial crisis where, for all things, an instinctive desire for authenticity is reborn, which brings back to its fair value an amusing junk,” declared Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel. The London diamond dealers had a flair for asking a fashion maker to promote their precious stones. In November 1932, all of Paris rushes to Mademoiselle Chanel at 29 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré to discover its exhibition “Diamond jewelry” of 47 unique pieces. L’Officiel is full of praise: “Miss Chanel handles precious stones with the same taste, the
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same ease that she crumples a fabric - she has formed stars, crescents, knots, fringes in brilliant, of very different invoice from that of the time when this kind of jewel was in fashion.” The magazine enthusiastically rolls off the long list of personalities present: Princess Aspasia of Greece, Prince and Princess Jean-Louis of Faucigny-Lucinge, Princess Edmond de Polignac, Princess Colonna, Count and Countess Gabriel de La Rochefoucauld, Maria, Duchesse de Gramont, Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau, Mrs. Cole Porter and Condé Nast, to name a few. Chanel brings a formidable, practical sense to the art of presentation. A young Robert Bresson takes the photographs in the catalog and the adornments are placed on
ultra-realistic wax mannequins. The designer understood that pragmatism was the best attribute of modernity: everything is transformable. “If I chose the diamond, it is because it represents with its density, the greatest value under the smallest volume,” she explains. The mission is successful for the diamond dealers. By placing diamonds under the wings of fashion, they had revived the radiance tarnished by the economic crisis. Mission accomplished for Chanel as well, who had invented safe haven marketing. And mission accomplished for fine jewelry whose posterity will retain that it was, in the end and despite resistance, the marvelous accomplishment of female emancipation.
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JEANNE TOUSSAINT THE TRUE PANTHER OF CARTIER Largely dominated by centuries-old corporations who fiercely watched over the prerogatives of its members, jewelry, both in the field of design and manufacturing, was almost exclusively the domain of men - until the end of the 19th century. The Arts & Crafts movement in England did allow some women to express themselves. Think of Georgina Gaskin or Edith Dawson. However, their work, exercised alongside their husbands, was considered only a distinguished pastime. The Suffrage Movement, then the First World War and its shortage of male labor linked to the mobilization, would turn everything upside down.This revolution probably influenced Louis Cartier who made a radical decision in 1933: to entrust
the direction of high jewelry for the house founded by his grandfather in 1847, to a woman. This woman was Jeanne Toussaint whom Louis Cartier had known for a long time. Born in Charleroi to parents who made lace, she fled home at a very young age to join her sister in Paris. Her charm, which she exercised with talent, enabled her to seduce the aristocracy of the time and ultimately meet Louis Cartier at Maxim’s before the war broke out. A marriage was mentioned. The “family council” countered the idea and they remained great friends until Cartier’s death in New York in 1942. At Cartier, Toussaint worked wonders. Her sense of proportion, color, design and volume flourished in creations that attracted strong, in-
dependent women. She made the diamonds flexible, fluid, imagined new chromatic combinations and designed jewelry that was both figurative and three-dimensional. Cartier had given her a tender, yet teasing nickname: “The Panther.” And he was spoton. Jeanne Toussaint was the true Panther of Cartier. She embodied panache and a creative impulse that roared forcefully for several decades. Hence the question, posed in a lyrical tone by Princess Bibesco: “Who are you, who perfumes diamonds and who makes poetic richness?” Pierre Claudel, son of Paul Claudel, had this response, saying Toussaint is “the one who will have guided jewelry towards modernity without ever sacrificing good taste.” L’OFFICIEL USA
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ELSA PERETTI THE BEAUTY OF THE GESTURE Louis Comfort Tiffany did not wait for the suffragette revolution to give women key positions. When he took over as artistic director of Tiffany & Co. in 1902, succeeding his father, he appointed Julia Munson to head the jewelry department. Another woman, Patricia Gay, replaced Munson in 1914. Their respective creations revealed a remarkable use of the filigree and champlevé enamel and are characterized by the vividness of their colors displayed on multi-gem necklaces with unexpectedly fresh hues. Even if posterity did not retain their names, they contributed greatly to the fame of the American jeweler. Nothing to do,
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however, with the decisive impact that Elsa Peretti had in the world of contemporary design. She was already a recognized artist when she began to create exclusively for Tiffany & Co. in 1974. Her first jewel was born in her native Italy in the 1960s. In Barcelona, where she had settled, she imagined her first vase pendant, a debut in a series whose success has never wavered. Beyond her unique style, made of simple, sculptural lines, organic curves forged in gold and silver and everyday elements - beans, hearts, apples, tears, pumpkins, pliers of crustaceans, bones, starfish - the essence of sensuality. And the deep respect
Peretti shows for the cultures from which she is inspired. Her lacquer bracelets require 77 steps to comply with the ancestral technique of Japanese Urushi. Through her signature, easily recognizable designs, Peretti has strengthened what we would today call the brand image. By reintroducing silver coins into the Tiffany’s jewelry line, by imagining the customizable Diamonds by the Yard line (diamonds with round and oval contours simply attached to a gold chain adjustable in yards) - the designer, philanthropist, revolutionary and savvy businesswoman, proclaimed that luxury was everyone’s business.
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SUZANNE BELPERRON SIGNATURE STYLE In New York, the merchant Lee Seigelson transformed the gallery, founded by his grandfather, into a temple of vintage jewelry. One name electrifies its mission: Suzanne Belperron. “The craze is such that we only present certain pieces to our private customers.” The jewelry imagined by Belperron for half a century from the 1920s, confirms to each new generation of buyers the superiority of their signature, which systematically defies all trends. Since the 1960s, Karl Lagerfeld swore by this jewelry designer to the point of choosing one of her chalcedony jewels for the 2012 spring-summer collection from the house of Chanel. The talent of Belperron, born in the heart of the Jura in 1900, was revealed early: her first creations, which rejected the architectural geometry of Art Deco, showed a de-
sire to depart from the dictates and fashions of the moment. Jeanne Boivin, who herself followed only her instincts, welcomed her into the house founded by her husband René. She did more than welcome her; she encouraged her young 19-year-old recruit to freely celebrate her vision and style. Cabochons and precious stones flourished on bracelets that combine curve and purity in an impressive variety of bold materials: rock crystal, wood, platinum and even steel. At Bernard Herz, the trader of pearls and precious stones, she acquired international fame by multiplying the technical and stylistic feats of force, using lacquer in a unique, bold way and exploiting 22-carat gold for its heat by hammering it according to African techniques. Paul Flato, the crea-
tor jewelry for stars of Hollywood, made her an attractive proposition that she declined, determined to preserve the independence she enjoyed in Paris. Popular during her lifetime, Belperron quickly became a myth after her death in 1983. To the point that New Yorker Nico Landrigan, son of Ward Landrigan, the former director of the jewelry department at Sotheby’s and current owner of Verdura, decided in 2004 to give new life to her creations while across the Atlantic, the jewelry expert Olivier Baroin decided to “perpetuate the future of the expertise of any work” produced by the artist. There is a global excitement for Belperron’s creations with no need to label her name, with the argument that style was her signature.
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VICTOIRE DE CASTELLAN THE AWESOME IMPERTINENCE Contrary to what one might imagine, it was Victoire de Castellane who proposed to Bernard Arnault to create Dior jewelry and not vice versa. “I told Mr. Arnault that I wanted to create jewelry that did not exist,” she said. In 1999, the world of jewelry was very different from what it is today. The houses hid behind the magic of their name. You had to be very much an insider to even know the name of the person who designed the collections. By vigorously taking the lead in the jewelry and haute joaillerie department of the
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fashion house on Avenue Montaigne, de Castellane did more than rid the creation of her bourgeois stigmata, she paved the way for her sisters who, since then, have rightfully grabbed the foreground of the creative scene. Her style, which is more an ideology than an aesthetic, allows all themes - pirates, carnivorous plants, vampires – to flourish, refusing only the tyranny of good taste. The knots, the ribbons, the petals, the ladybugs, all defy blandness by superimposing, in their remarkably executed lines, a kind of mischievous smile
that tells us not to take ourselves too seriously. To celebrate 20 years at Dior, de Castellane imagined a collection of anthology called Gem Dior, which crystallizes more than it synthesizes the intrinsic beauty, fundamentally telluric, of precious stones. These are tangled like pieces of sugary candy. To once again escape the beaten track, de Castellane appears on YouTube with her accomplice Loïc Prigent, in the first of the many retrospectives that history will not fail to devote to her.
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RENEE PUISSANT HERITAGE CREATION After the First World War, a breath of pragmatism refreshed the creations intended for women, in both the world of couture and jewelry. This pragmatism is for the most part exalted above all by creators who understood that their fellow citizens, after having proven their valor by taking up jobs left vacant by the men who left for the frontlines, were determined to pave their way on the road to independence. At Van Cleef & Arpels, a woman who understood this new equation was Renée Puissant. She knew the house better than anyone as it was born from the love story woven between her father, Alfred Van Cleef and her mother Esther Arpels. A woman of remarkable elegance (the portraits published by L’Officiel at that time prove this), the daughter of this founding couple is also a personality endowed with a great practical sense. Her first initiati-
ves were what we would today call marketing, a word that probably did not exist at the time. In 1921, for end-of-year celebrations, she thought of selling jewelry “at special prices,” therefore less expensive than those from the usual collections. Did she just invent ready-to-wear jewelry? Her flair is also exerted in her creations. In 1926, after the death of her husband, she took on the role of artistic director of the house. It is under her direction that the creations are enveloped in a particular sensuality, endowed with triumphant volumes. She becomes a team with the designer René Sim Lacaze. It was under this mandate that the famously mysterious setting or the minaudière was born, which instantly demodulated the evening bag by combining elegance and practicality. She also introduced, with a taste for contradiction dear to the true Parisian, ele-
ments of everyday life in the design of precious objects. Think of the Zip necklace, which embodies with panache the art of transformation at Van Cleef & Arpels, and whose idea was transmitted to the artistic director by the Duchess of Windsor around 1938. She also drew her inspiration from the dresses of Elsa Schiaparelli who had transformed the zippers on aviator jackets into toiletries. The design of this necklace was long and fraught with challenges. It was not until the early 1950s that the first Zip necklace came out of the workshop. Puissant had meanwhile been swept away by the darkness of war in 1942. The dazzling posterity of the Zip necklace, which, in many ways, dominates the fine jewelry of the last century, still attests today the immense contribution of a woman who chose the path of independence and freedom right up to the end. L’OFFICIEL USA
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B(L)ACK TO SPORT WORDS EMILY MINCHELLA
WITH THE USE OF TECHNICAL MATERIALS AND AN AESTHETIC SPORT STYLE ,THESE WATCHES PLAY WITH BOTH ELEGANCE AND PERFORMANCE. 1. Lange & Sohne Odysseus watch in white gold, Caliber L 155 movement, reserve of step, rubber strap.
4. Chopard Mille Miglia GTS Chrono watch in stainless steel, automatic chronograph movement, rubber strap.
7. Patek Philippe Aquanaut watch in steel, movement mechanical with automatic winding, composite bracelet.
2. Bell & Ross BR 05 Black Steel watch in steel, mechanical caliber movement automatic, rubber strap.
5. Porthole Big Bang Unico watch in titanium, winding chronograph movement automatic, rubber strap.
8. Richard Mille RM 62-01 Tourbillon Alarm Watch Vibrating ACJ in titanium and TPT® Carbon, winding tourbillon movement manual, limited edition of 30 pieces.
3. Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Automatic watch in titanium, sapphire crystal, movement automatic, canvas strap.
6. Omega Seamaster Diver 300 watch in steel, automatic movement, bracelet rubber.
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GOLDEN HOUR WORDS EMILY MINCHELLA
DESIGNED FOR A FIERY SUMMER, THESE GOLD WATCHES RADIATE SOLAR ENERGY.
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1. Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Jumbo Extra-Plat watch in yellow gold with a dial engraved with Tapestry motif and automatic winding.
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4. Chaumet Boléro watch, small model in yellow gold, grained silver dial, quartz movement.
2. Cartier Panthère de Cartier Mini watch in yellow gold.
5. Chanel Horlogerie Code Coco Pixel watch in beige gold and diamonds, high quartz movement precision. Limited edition of 20 pieces.
3. Dior Horlogerie La Mini D de Dior Satine watch in yellow gold and diamonds, quartz movement.
6. Piaget Extremely Lady watch in pink gold and diamonds, Piaget 56P quartz movement.
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7. Rolex Oyster Perpetual Day-Date 36 watch in yellow gold, champagne colored dial, mechanical movement with automatic winding. 8. Van Cleef & Arpels Cadenas watch in yellow gold, with a dial in white mother-of-pearl, quartz movement.
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CHRISTOPHER JOHN ROGERS WORDS TY GASKINS PHOTOGRAPHY FRANK SUN
At just 26, Louisanna-born designer Christopher John Rogers lean into that instead of just making products to sell. Everything is one of the most talked about names in fashion. Rogers had an has a purpose for existing and we really believe in what we do. extremely successful 2019 - and has no plans of slowing down. Rogers won the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund and has dressed TG: Where does your inspiration come from? Michelle Obama, Lizzo, Cardi B, Tracee Ellis Ross and more CJR: Life. Seeing people on the street, their personal style, in his eye-catching, flamboyant designs that illuminate his own their dreams for themselves. The work emerges from the grey fun personality. Rogers is also an activist - from his recent insta- space found between quotidian, pragmatic garments and peoples’ gram series #CJRathome, to raise awareness regarding COVID- fantasies. 19 relief efforts and using his platform to bring awareness about police brutality in the United States and systematic racism. TG: Was there ever a moment you were challenged by what Rogers is not only a championing bringing Black culture to you identify as in the industry? the top of the fashion industry, all during a period of reform and CJR: I identify as a queer man and I know that there’s always as discussions surrounding diversity sweep the industry, but also been a space in this industry for queer folks, espeically men. his queer culture. “My Louisianian upbringing, multicultural That’s definitely a very privileged position to be in, in that regard, experiences during my time in school, and fascination with color in contrast to women who are held to a very different standard and fabric are in tandem with my queerness and really informs and offered different opportunities. Queer men get away with what I do,” he explains. so much. Obviously being a person of color adds a very specific layer to the way that I move through the world, but I tend to Ty Gaskin: Your FW20 show had such a great turn out. How work with and surround myself with people’s who are progresdid all of the support after winning the Vogue Fashion Fund sive in their approaches to life so you know, it is what it is. make you feel? Christopher John Rodgers: It was nice to see all of the genuine TG: Do you find that your sexuality places a big part in who interest in the work. What we do as a team is deeply personal and you are? fueled by specific intention, so to know that people are attracted CJR: It definitely informs my experience, but it doesn’t define to that is great. me or the work. My Louisianian upbringing, multicultural experiences during my time in school, and fascination with color and TG: How has lockdown been? fabric in tandem with my queerness really informs what I do. CJR: I wanted to travel home to Louisiana for a month or so to see my family, but I also didn’t want to get anyone sick. So I’m TG: How would you like to see the future of the relationship quarantining in Bushwick. It’s been nice to be forced to relax and between diversity and inclusion and the fashion industry? For the have time to not focus on anything work-related. industry to be just that: more diverse and inclusive. How do you feel the fashion industry will change post lockdown? TG: Were you always interested in fashion? CJR: I think shit is gonna get burned down and rebuilt. I don’t CJR: I initially was exposed to drawing, painting, and anima- know at what speed, but I’m excited to see real, genuine change tion. I started art classes when I was around 9 or 10 and always and not just an interest in optics. loved animated TV shows. Once I was exposed to fashion, it immediately bridged all of my interests: color, character developTG: Any plans for the upcoming S/S ‘21 season? ment, sculpture, mathematics, theater. I’ve always known that I CJR: We’re planning on presenting the collection in a way that wanted to cut and design clothes. makes sense for us and is in line with our brand values. There’s always an interest in showing the work in an emotive way so TG: How do you want people to perceive your work? we’ll try to find a way to debut it with that in mind, in a myriad CJR: My team and I are artists first and foremost, so we try to of ways. Stay tuned.
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LUCY IN THE SKY
WORDS SABRINA ABBAS, PHOTOGRAPHY NICK THOMPSON
LUCY BOYNTON SHINES AS THE POLITICIAN’S ASTRID SLOAN, THE FORMER ICE QUEEN OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, AS SHE HEADS EAST TO TRY HER LUCK IN THE BIG APPLE. L’OFFICIEL USA
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Earlier this year, Lucy Boynton was in a frigid New York City—which was then still as bustling as ever— filming the much-anticipated second season of Netflix’s The Politician. Today, she is firmly parked in London, having spent most of the summer riding out the quarantine alongside longtime boyfriend Rami Malek.
world, and she’s so curious about everyone, and so kind and generous with her thoughts and experiences and questions. The opportunity to work near someone like her is such an education. It provides these clearer markers of what you could hope to be or to be around in this industry.
“It’s a strange feeling to look back on that time which was so recent,” she tells me over the phone. “I mean, we wrapped at the end of February, when the mutterings of COVID were becoming a real thing in the headlines. It’s strange to feel like we’re in a very different world.”
You’ve mentioned that a lot of what you know about feminism originally came from your sister. What is something she taught you that you still keep in mind today? That’s such a good question, I was with her yesterday for her birthday talking about that and I was kind of analyzing what she has taught me in her birthday card!
Season two of The Politician sees Boynton return as Astrid Sloan—lead character Payton Hobart’s icy ex-rival—who at the end of season one renounces her privileged upbringing and moves to New York City to strike out on her own. It isn’t long before Astrid finds herself entangled in Peyton’s political (and personal) drama once again. “It’s always a kind of fun rainbow of situations that [series creator] Ryan Murphy puts us all through,” she says. Like Astrid, Boynton is thoughtful, complex, and slightly mysterious. Here, she opens up to L’Officiel USA on being a woman in Hollywood, where she gets inspiration, and how she learned to question the status quo. This season of The Politician deals a lot with the struggle between old and new ideas. What are some outdated ideas you’ve seen in your industry that you think we should move on from? There’s still a long way to go in how pretty much everyone’s stories are written that aren’t predominantly white males, but now that we’re coming into those conversations hopefully that changes. I think it’s still been a bit of a slow process, but you get into creators like Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij, who write The OA, and Brit talks very openly about how she wasn’t seeing any roles that she wanted to play that interested her so she wrote them and created them for herself. I think that there is this new way of ownership of that and taking that upon oneself, to create the material that you are not seeing.
I think just questioning everything around you slightly more. I think we all have previously found it quite easy to just accept the world as it was. Growing up, when I was at an all-girls school, I don’t think we questioned the world and the systems and what we were taught enough. I think the generation below me definitely does now, but when that wasn’t so common it was definitely my sister who encouraged me to just take a second and question everything, and surround yourself with people who know better. She would always have a stack of books to recommend. Her curiosity of the world and trying to learn from everyone has always been a continuous encouragement. You’ve become known for your red carpet looks. Has fashion always been something you were interested in? It wasn’t something I used to be too concerned with, as my sister will tell you. My fashion growing up was not anything that was cool or influential in any way! I think the costuming process in the industry really started to get me excited by clothes, and the different periods I got to investigate through costumes during a project. Working with my stylist Leith Clark was a real game changer as well, just because the fashion industry can be a very intimidating, daunting entity, and getting to experience it through her and making it much more about what I appreciate about costumes, kind of how you can alter how you feel or want to feel, and making it really about a form of expression.
The show features a cast largely made up of strong women, which even now is rare. What was it like to work in that sort of environment? Where do you get beauty inspiration from? It was really exciting, and kind of sad that you note [My makeup artist] Jo Baker is definitely the source of how different it does feel. I think that it should be ac- all inspiration in terms of beauty looks, and she is amazknowledged that these sets which are built with these ing and she has made it so much more fun as well because brilliant women are more of a rarity. Just to be around has unleashed the opportunity to do anything with it. At people like Judith Light—the word inspiring sounds these events you know people are looking to judge, and like such a cliché but it’s the one that immediately you can’t help but feel quite out of place at those things, comes to mind thinking of her. She’s just so completely so having an opportunity to take defensive ownership of involved and invested in the present and in her current yourself and just do it for you has been very liberating.
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FINE JEWELRY, JACKET CHANEL RING THEODORA WARRE BOOTS PRADA L’OFFICIEL USA
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TOP, TROUSERS, SOCKS,SHOES PRADA PRODUCTION ALEXANDRA OLEY HAIR AND MAKEUP ALEXIS DAY USING CHANEL LES BEIGES SUMMER OF GLOW AND MONAT HAIRCARE STYLIST LEITH CLARK
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DRESS MIU MIU SOCKS, SHOES PRADA RING THEODORA WARRE EARINGSAND CHARMS ANNOUSHKA X THE VAMPIRE’S WIFE L’OFFICIEL USA
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DRESS CHANEL PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH CHANEL
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SHIRA HAAS PHOTOGRAPHY DUDI HASSON WORDS ZACHARY WEISS STYLIST NOA RENNERT
WHILE THE WORLD WAS LOCKED-DOWN, ACTRESS SHIRA HAAS BECAME AN OVERNIGHT STAR. HER PERFORMANCE AS ESTHER, A HASIDIC GIRL WHO ESCAPES HER ULTRA-RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY IN WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN FOR BERLIN HAS CATAPULTED THE ISRAELI ACTRESS TO HOLLYWOOD’S A-LIST. L’OFFICIEL USA
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“I REMEMBER GOING ONTO MY BALCONY WITH MY COFFEE WHILE EVERYONE WAS IN LOCKDOWN, AND LOOKING INTO OTHER HOMES AND SEEING MYSELF ON THEIR TV SCREENS WHILE THEY WERE WATCHING UNORTHODOX”
In the hit Netflix limited series Unorthodox, viewers step into the ultra-conservative confi nes of the Satmar Hasidic Jewish community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Israeli actress Shira Haas plays a petite young woman named Esther Shapiro who becomes disillusioned with her faith and chooses to flee, just as her mother once did, to Berlin, Germany. The fi rst scenes in which Esther escapes Brooklyn play more like a spy thriller than a girl sneaking away to a new city. And at fi rst assessment, it’s not a story that most of us would fi nd relatable, but in moments of immeasurable risk, stark transformation, unexpected selfdiscovery, and even buying a fi rst pair of jeans, you would be hard-pressed not to see a piece of yourself in Shira Haas’ amazing portrayal of Esther. The 25-year-old actress, with her small frame and unique saucer-like eyes, gives a performance layered with the sort of nuanced emotion that can’t be taught, and 98
with tens of millions viewers tuning in, the world took note of her massive talent. But as the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped everyone’s lives, Haas has experienced a truly peculiar new relationship with stardom as she rocketed from a locally revered star, perhaps known best for her role in the Israeli television drama Shtisel, to one of the world’s most buzz-worthy actresses - basically overnight. “I remember going onto my balcony with my coffee while everyone was in lockdown, and looking into other homes and seeing myself on their TV screens while they were watching Unorthodox,” Haas recalls through stunned laughter during a video chat from her apartment in Tel Aviv. “I swear, and it didn’t happen just one time, it was a few times, like when I went to hang up my laundry to dry or something, so I sort of felt like [my character] was my neighbor.» Unlike other on-screen talents her age; her
fame, thus far, has largely been devoid of its peripheral trappings. In isolation, red carpet premieres, a breakneck travel schedule, and millions of eyes prying into her personal life haven’t been able to crop up. For now, she remains at home, watching her star rise as the world stands still. “It’s weird, because when I go out now I wear a mask, so they see my eyes and they start to look closer, but they don’t have enough time to put it together,” she adds. “I think the fact that I could still feel the love for the show, but remain at home sort of helped me process it. I just got to enjoy it, and take it in, and instead of maybe getting overwhelmed, I just felt the love, and was very grateful for it.” Eventually, once film and television production make their inevitably triumphant return, there is no question that Haas will be a shoo-in for future leading roles. When asked whom she may like to collaborate with in the coming years on the
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TOTAL LOOK CHANEL
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Total look, CHANEL.
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“THE FACT THAT I COULD STILL FEEL THE LOVE FOR THE SHOW, BUT REMAIN AT HOME SORT OF HELPED ME PROCESS IT. I JUST GOT TO ENJOY IT, AND TAKE IT IN, AND INSTEAD OF MAYBE GETTING OVERWHELMED”
big and small screen, she is noticeably strained by the weight of possibility. “It’s a never ending list,” she exclaims. “This is such an impossible question for an actor!” She lists names of women like Sofia Coppola, Cate Blanchett, and Meryl Streep, the sort of strong, female leads who know that acting isn’t simply reading from a script, and like them, Haas becomes her character, remaining acutely aware of the work beyond her own role. When the creators of Unorthodox asked that she shave her head to show the transformative moment in a married Orthodox Jewish woman’s life when she begins wearing a Sheitel wig to cover their head, Haas fully committed to the scene, mixing her joyous newlywed smile with stifled, heart wrenching tears as the electric razor sheers her locks. During our conversation, her hair is still growing back.
Before filming, Haas spends time getting in touch with her characters too. She amasses playlists, poems, imagery, psychological analyses, and other assorted pieces of inspiration that end up tacked onto the walls of her living room. “I’m a nerd, so I love doing the research and learning,” she confesses. Currently these include a screenshot of Claire Fisher from the long-running HBO series Six Feet Under exclaiming “News flash, other people exist!”… a blurry capture of Marilyn Monroe kicking a soccer ball… a pithy magazine clipping that simply reads “Darling, you’re different.’ There are more frivolous surroundings too, including a clothing rack of ensembles and gowns selected for the premieres of Unorthodox, as well as Asia, an independent film directed by Ruthy Pribar that garnered Haas an award for “Best Actress” at this year’s digitally-produced
Tribeca Film Festival. “I wear mostly simple outfits during the day, so I really enjoy those events,” she confesses, and while she continues to support local designers and retail shops within her Tel Aviv community much like her career, her view toward fashion has become distinctly more global. “As for international brands, there’s Louis Vuitton, and McQueen, and of course Chanel, which are all brands that I’ve gotten to try recently,” she says. “Obviously, now I love them.” And with her next projects kept firmly under wraps for the time being, it seems as if the next time the public will catch a glimpse of Haas – the one so many of us have become enamored with during the peak of this global isolation – is at the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards, where she plans to turn heads and most likely leave with a Best Actress trophy. L’OFFICIEL USA
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ELIZA SCANLEN CUTS HER TEETH
PHOTOGRAPHY ANNABEL SCANLEN WORDS SABRINA ABBAS
ELIZA SCANLEN’S LEAD ROLE IN BABYTEETH PROVES THAT SHE IS A STAR IN THE MAKING. SCANLEN OPENS UP ABOUT SHAVING HER HEAD, COLLABORATING WITH HER TWIN SISTER, AND WHY SHE’S ALWAYS SO ILL.
Eliza Scanlen keeps getting sick. The actress, now 21, made an unforgettable American debut as Amy Adams’s psychopathic (and sickly) little sister in HBO’s miniseries Sharp Objects, and later joined the cast of Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Little Women as Beth, a sweet ingénue who falls ill with scarlet fever. When asked why she keeps getting cast as characters with illnesses, Scanlen responds with a laugh. “I don’t know! It’s very strange that I do play sick people. It’s not something that I see in a script and am dying—slip of the tongue—to do.” Scanlen’s latest role runs true to form. In Babyteeth, she stars as the terminally ill teen Milla, who falls in love with a face-tattooed drug dealer in an attempt to pack as much life into what little time she has left. While we may know how this story ends, director Shannon Murphy gets us there in an entirely new way, and Scanlen’s nuanced performance as Milla further cements her as Hollywood’s next big thing.
with a bang,” Scanlen says. “That’s something I love about the film. This character doesn’t waste away. Instead, she soars.” Sabrina Abbas: You and your sister, Annabel, collaborated on this shoot for us. Did you collaborate creatively as kids? Eliza Scanlen: Oh yeah, for sure. Some of my most fond memories are of creating something together, whether it’s a drawing or a play or an imaginary world in our childhood backyard. I was actually looking back at childhood photos and videos a few days ago…and I was constantly filming things, and I could hear my voice in the background always saying something along the lines of, ‘Oh, this looks like a movie! If you look that way, it looks like a movie!’ Annabel has always been my guinea pig, so I think it’s obviously very fitting that I do what I do now.
SA: Sisterhood is a major theme within a few of your projects, like Sharp Objects and Little Women. “I like to describe [Milla] as a supernova that is What does sisterhood mean to you and why do you about to explode. Just because she is about to disap- think it’s such a powerful relationship? pear and pass away doesn’t mean she isn’t going to go ES: I think sisterhood means understanding. While
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JACKET AND SHORTS BOTTEGA VENETA
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DRESS DION LEE
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I CAN BE QUITE AN EMOTIONAL PERSON AND I THINK ABOUT THINGS DEEPLY
you might not agree with your sister, you will always try to understand them, and I think that is the real testament to a relationship. That’s why my really close friends I treat like sisters because I don’t want to lose that bond. I think sisterhood is something so special. You see in Little Women that they’re constantly fighting and bickering, but then the next moment they can all be curled up together. It’s the same thing you see in Sharp Objects. I guess the turbulent nature of that is what makes it so strong, and I see that with my sister and I. It’s really, really special and I don’t think I would be anywhere near who I am today without her. SA: Your character in Babyteeth, Milla, is doomed from the start of the film. Despite that, she never really comes across as a weak person. What did you do to get into her headspace and play into that dichotomy? ES: I think I have a bit of that in myself. I can be quite an emotional person and I think about things deeply, but my outer surface is very much not that. A big part of dropping into a character like Milla was the physical transformation. Shaving my head was extremely helpful in taking me to that place, and I didn’t quite expect how moving and transformational it was going to be. At that point I had prepared for the shock of it, but what I didn’t prepare for was the attention I got when I stepped outside my house. People just stare at you… and then there’s the other side of the spectrum where people don’t want to look at you at all. I was kind of moved by how isolating it can be. SA: You recently wrote and directed a short film about mukbangs, which are videos people film of themselves binge eating for an audience. What is it about that phenomenon that made you want to
explore it more deeply? ES: Mukbangs, for e, were a perfect metaphor for social media today, specifically how young people interact with it, and how they present themselves on social media platforms. I see it as a kind of sickness in a way. I realized there was this strange parallel between pornography and mukbangs, and they both shared this detached intimacy that I think pose the same threat… this feeling like you’re connecting with a person through a screen that distorts connection in a similar way. I wanted to make a statement on how we can accept the reality of internet culture and what it’s doing to our way of connecting, but also rise above it and try and find the authenticity in real life connection. SA: What was it like to step behind the camera instead of being in front of it? ES: I really enjoyed it, and I look back on the experience now with so many fond memories, but it was incredibly stressful too! I was wearing many hats in pre-production but once it came to filming I felt like I was in my element, and I was surrounded by people I adored. Everyone on that set was a friend. What I realized when I was directing is that I’m very much reliant on other people’s opinions. I don’t usually like being the loudest person in the room, but that was something people were asking from me, obviously, as the director… initially I felt quite uncomfortable. As an actor you’re quite confined to the group of actors working on the set, and a lot of the time you just have to sit still and not touch anything and not break anything, so it was weird to have people ask me my opinions. I was like, ‘Oh, that’s how some directors get God complexes, of course!’
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RICKY MARTIN PHOTOGRAPHY NICOLAS WAGNER WORDS ZACHARY WEISS STYLING DOUGLAS VANLANINGHAM
WITH HITS LIKE “LIVIN’ LA VIDA LOCA” AND “MARIA,” RICKY MARTIN BECAME THE KING OF LATIN POP. NOW, MARTIN RETURNS WITH TWO EPS: PAUSA AND PLAY, WHICH HE RECORDED WHILE IN QUARANTINE WITH HIS FAMILY IN LOS ANGELES.
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“THE HONESTY, THE PAIN, THE VULNERABILITY THAT WE’RE ALL GOING THROUGH WHILE THE WORLD HAS BEEN CHANGING, I THINK, COMES OUT IN THESE SONGS.”
Since the late-90s, Ricky Martin has been a mainstay on everyone’s party soundtrack. With his dashing looks and unabashed appetite for celebration, he has an undeniable staying power capable of filling up stadiums around the globe year after year. But with the world on pause, he’s taken a new approach to his music. In his latest EP, «Pausa, he’s joined by collaborators like Sting and Bad Bunny, and presents a more pared down sound. Martin fills us in on his time in insolation with his husband and four children, why he insists on getting dressed everyday, and when he might be ready to hit Play» again. Zachary Weiss: You’re at home in Los Angeles with your family. Ricky Martin: I’m spending quarantine with my four kids and my husband. My mother was also here. She came to visit the kids and she was not allowed to go back home. I’m also fortunate to have my assistant and my nanny with us. We have been friends for a very long time, so I have a great support system. We have no time to be sad in any way, shape or form. We have four kids that we need to give a sense of security. It’s been very interesting, but very beautiful at the same time. ZW: You have a new album coming out, but it’s split into two parts.
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RM: My music is very influenced by Africa and the Caribbean so there’s a lot of dancing and the atmosphere tends to lean towards more an electric, carnival type of thing, but that’s not where the world is at right now or where I feel like I am at this point. So I chose to separate this album into two, the first EP is called Pausa or “pause” in English. The next one will be called Play. I started recording this album nine months ago, but beautiful things happened while we were in lockdown and I really do feel like I got the chance to take a pause, so the honesty, the pain, the vulnerability that we’re all going through while the world has been changing, I think, comes out in these songs. ZW: There are some great collaborators on this album. RM: To be honest, it’s a lot of friends. We have Carla Morrison, Bad Bunny, Pedro Capó, and Sting, who I started working with when the lockdown started. I just reached out because I really needed to know how my friends were doing and to make a long story short, three or four days later, we were in our studios recording the parts. Sting was in London and I was in L.A. ZW: And you collaborated with your husband, Jwan Yosef too. RM: Yes! He’s a conceptual artist and of course we have to take pictures. He
understands simplicity and I wanted everything to be simple, so the cover for Pausa is just my torso in front of a wall, because that’s where we are. It doesn’t matter who you are. We are all standing in front of this wall that is not letting us go anywhere. It’s time for reflection and I think it was important to tell the world that we need to find that introspective atmosphere for us to really fight our demons. I have to say it’s been fascinating because even though it’s very easy to get seduced by all this madness, I’ve seen the light. I’ve seen the light in the sense that I think it’s a perfect time for us to change and leave behind everything that was heavy, and focus on a new way of living. ZW: When will you be ready to release the second half of this album, the Play portion? RM: We’re thinking around November, which will give me some time to work on some mixes and maybe make another song. I don’t want to say that the album is already recorded because the creative process is not over until it’s over. A perfect example of this is “Livin’ La Vida Loca,” which was born when we were already mixing my album in 1999. So that’s where we are with Play. I think we may still be locked down in October or November, but it’s important to just bring that other side of life, in general. We need it.
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SILK HAREM PANTS, PRINTED GEORGETTE SCARF, LEATHER BELT, STRAW HAT ,SANDALS BY SAINT LAURENT BY ANTHONY VACCARELLNECKLACE SAMIRA13
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OPPOSITE PAGE BLAZER BOTTEGA VENETA MESH TANK TOP ,EATHER SHORTS ANN DEMEULEMEESTER PARACHUTE EMPORIO ARMANI SILK SHIRT WITH WATERCOLOR PRINT, FLUID PANTS, CONTRAST SOLE SHOES BERLUTI
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OPPOSITE PAGE SILK SHIRT, TUXEDO BAND ,PLEATED PANTS LES HOMMES TANK TOP, SHORTS, SOCKS , SNEAKERS PRADA JEWELRY M.COHEN
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PRINTED FABRIC SUIT DIOR HAIR JOEY NIEVES @ THE ONLY AGENCY. MAKE-UP HANIC ARIAS @ THE ONLY AGENCY ASSISTANT PHOTOGRAPHY RUBY JUN. ASSISTANT STYLIST JEREMY FRIEND E MONICA MURILLO.
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“ I’VE SEEN THE LIGHT IN THE SENSE THAT I THINK IT’S A PERFECT TIME FOR US TO CHANGE AND LEAVE BEHIND EVERYTHING THAT WAS HEAVY, AND FOCUS ON A NEW WAY OF LIVING.”
ZW: Will touring be apart of the plan, if it’s allowed? RM: Absolutely. I’ve been touring since I was 12 years old and when this all started, the level of anxiety reached unknown territories for me because the information we had at the time was telling me ‘You’re never going to be able to see 20,000 people in front of you, performing on stage, ever again.’ So I was very anxious, and I started creating. I think that’s my defense mechanism as an artist. I’ve chosen this route to be optimistic and dream, so if we can do a tour, it’s going to be about celebration. Obviously I don’t know when this is going to happen, but I’m sure people are going to want to dance. It’s about liberation. It’s cathartic. ZW: Acting is another big part of your creative repertoire and I loved your role in The Assassination of Gianni Versace. RM: I love acting. I was 15 years old the first time I was on set, but music took me on a different route. I worked with Ryan Murphy when we filmed an episode of Glee, so it became a bucket list item to work with him again and when he picked up the phone and reached out about the Versace story, I was ready. So of course I want to go back to acting, but I also want to produce. Right now I’m working on a very important story from Latin America that I think needs to be told and it will probably take me four or five years to finish, so I can’t say much, but I want to, with a lot of respect, just immerse myself
in this fascinating world of film and continue to learn. ZW: Has it been a challenge to juggle these creative pursuits with parenting in quarantine? RM: It has been challenging, but at the same time it hasn’t. We are in Los Angeles, our home is spacious, we’re healthy, so I try to keep my feet on the ground and maintain a larger perspective of the world and practice gratitude. I do think that just this time in silence has been amazing for my family, not just for the bonding time, but more than anything to see what needs to stay behind and create a new constitution for life. Every day I ask questions to my family, like, «How are you feeling today?” You cannot answer ‘good,’ because good is not a feeling. So that kind of exercise has been very healthy. ZW: Have you started socializing with any friends? RM: One of the things that we were advised to do is to find a family that was following the same quarantine rules as us, so we have found friends that are willing to come here to the house with social distance, because I think it’s extremely important to socialize for our mental health. We can’t be alone as human beings. We need company. ZW: Would we recognize any of the names of any of these friends? RM: I was able to share some time the
other day with Edgar Ramirez, and it really was all about sharing. We talked about how we’re coping and how to share our experiences with others to make a difference, and then we listened to music and pretended it was 2019 again. ZW: Do you have nights at home when you dress up? You must have an impressive wardrobe. RM: I did get a large tattoo on my right leg by an artist I really respect, from my toes to my knee, so I’ve been using flip flops, but otherwise I make sure that I walk out of my room everyday wearing clothes, no pajamas and I make the kids do it too. It’s part of the rituals that help us have mental balance. It’s little things, little details like that which make a difference. But even in lockdown I’ve worn crazy Lavin jackets and other great pieces. I mean, everybody’s telling me, ‘Where are you going?’ and I might look ridiculous, because I’m not going anywhere, but whatever. I love fashion. I’m an artist, so I feel like I can do this. ZW: Lastly, what are you most looking forward to? RM: The second they open the doors I will be out there. I want to give my father a hug and travel and see friends and then I want to book my tour. Until then, I think it’s very important to make an effort every day by saying: «What will I leave behind and what do I want in my life that I need to create from now?»
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AT HOME WITH
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BLANCA PADILLA PHOTOGRAPHY PEPE LOBEZ STYLIST JAVIER DE PARDO
THE EARLY SEVENTIES INTERIOR FEATURES BOTH DESIGN PIECES AND MODERN ANTIQUES INCORPORATING LINEAR SILHOUETTES, VINTAGE PATTERNS AND OF COURSE, COZINESS.
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IN THE OPENING
PRADA DRESS WITH CHECK PRINT AND BRUSHED LEATHER MOCCASINS VALENTINO CAMICIASHIRT AND PAJAMAS PANTS IN TWILL PRINT BLUEGRACE PRINT REEDITION WITHFEATHER DETAIL ON CUFFS.
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CHANEL_CABAN COAT IN BLACK WOOL AND CASHMERE WITH EMBROIDERED CUFFS
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MAX MARA WOOL JACKET AND WIDE LEG DENIM TROUSERS WITH DOUBLE PLEAT. JIL SANDER BLOUSE AND HIGH WAISTED SKIRT.
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SALVATORE FERRAGAMO COTTON POPLIN SHIRT “ANTIGONA SOFT” BAG IN CALFSKIN,GIVENCHY. MODEL: BLANCA PADILLA @ THE COOLS. HAIR STYLIST AND MAKE-UP ARTIST: RICARDO CALERO. PRADA STRETCH DRESS, SOCKS AND SHOES.
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GIVENCHY COTTON TRENCH AND WOVEN LEATHER SHOES. EARRING DESIGN, JILL SANDER. FENDI CALIFORNIA SKY MINI TANK DRESS, IN COTTON KNIT WITH FF MOTIF AND CONTRASTING PROFILES.
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JIL SANDER COAT TOP AND SKIRT ALL RIGHT PAGE:
BOTTEGA VENETA TOTAL LOOK
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THE ROGER
Roger Federer has created his own tennis sneaker (US Open trophy not included) with Swiss performance running brand On. Called THE ROGER Centre Court 0-Series, the sneaker is made of vegan leather and is limited to 1,000 individually numbered pairs. Minimalistic and chic with black stitching, THE ROGER plays well on court and off. As Federer calls his design: “the most comfortable tennisinspired sneaker you will ever wear.” Game, set, match! — PETER DAVIS PHOTOGRAPHY JUERGEN TELLER
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