Home/Fashion/ELLE/September 2015/In This Issue
ELLE|September 2015SEPTEMBERLisbeth Salander continues to inflict her brand of punk-rock vengeance in The Girl in the Spider’s Web. Former crime journalist David Lagercrantz picks up where the late The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo author Stieg Larsson left off. September 1September 4Dedicate it to the one you love: Brooklyn band Soda Shop’s self-titled debut album blends tambourines, dreamy vocals, and ’50s nostalgia into swing- and slowdance-worthy tracks.September 10The emotional extremes of artist Barnaby Furnas, whose work subversively mixes beauty with carnage, go on display at Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York.September 11Actress Mélanie Laurent directs Breathe, a film about a friendship between two teen girls that involves intimacy, codependence, and obsession all at onceSeptember 13At L.A.’s MOCA, artistic madman Matthew Barney premieres River of Fundament, his latest cinematic epic. Let the…2 min
ELLE|September 2015LUCKY NUMBERSSeptember is always our biggest issue of the year, but 2015 marks something even more major: the magazine’s 30th anniversary. Of course, to fete this momentous occasion, we couldn’t have photographer Paola Kudacki shoot just one cover. She captured four, all featuring the extremely elegant and prodigiously talented actress Keira Knightley. These covers highlight the magazine’s dual French and American heritage, as well as the vital role that beauty and accessories play in our fashion identity. They also represent the look of the ELLE woman now: “gorgeous skin, strong body, big accessories, big, beachy hair, and pops of color,” says ELLE Fashion Director Samira Nasr, who styled the shoot, which just so happened to be shot at a tenth-century Benedictine abbey in Avignon, France. On set, Knightley, dressed in looks…1 min
ELLE|September 2015WHEN WE WERE YOUNGYASHUA SIMMONSAssociate Fashion Editor[ELLE’s astrologer] Susan Miller told me 2015, my 30th year, would be one of great voyages. Here, I’m on assignment in Marrakech shooting for our September and October issues.ANNE SLOWEYFashion News DirectorSkinny-dipping in East Hampton. It’s not a party until someone’s naked!BRENDÁN CUMMINGSResearch ChiefWhat I love about this photo is that it shows me in my element: on an adventure in a foreign country. I’ve had a passport since I was six months old, and my childhood obsession with airplanes and all the places they could take me has only grown since then. This was taken while hiking in Motlatse Canyon near Kruger National Park, South Africa.DANIEL FISHERAssociate Art DirectorThirty was a changeeverything-in-my-life kind of year. Here, I’m about to board a plane headed for New York…4 min
ELLE|September 2015GEN ELLE ON LIFE, LOVE, AND WORKELLE’s 30th anniversary is the perfect time for us to ask the ELLE Generation about how you live today—and to explore how you’re different from women 30 years ago, to which end we revisited some questions the Gallup Poll asked in 1985. How long ago was that? Well, President Ronald Reagan was sworn in for his second term; Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union; Madonna was a “Material Girl”; we went Back to the Future for the first time; New Coke bombed; “We Are the World” shot to number one everywhere; and on December 5, 1985, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed past 1,500 for the first time in history. So, yeah—things have changed!WHAT A DIFFERENCE THREE DECADES MAKE!Thirty-year-olds today believe that things in general are looking…6 min
ELLE|September 2015BLOW UP!June 2008“With the release of Good Girl Gone Bad, the island teen dream was gone. In her place we found a sex symbol rocking her punkish crop and studded Louboutins.”July 2010“Her version of rock ’n’ roll badass is as much couture as it is street: She’s that rare pop star who has seamlessly crossed over to high fashion.”May 2012“Everything I do, I do because I wantto. Sometimes I’ll wear something and think, I’m going to get so much flak for this tomorrow, but if I want to wear it, I will.”December 2014“If she’s in the mood to be a badassor] in the mood to be supersweet..., she’ll be that way,” designer Adam Selman says. “She is who she is and she’s not apologizing for it.”July 1999“All the women in my…2 min
ELLE|September 2015THE LIT LIST1986THE HANDMAID’S TALE MARGARET ATWOOD (HOUGHTON MIFFLIN)Emma Donoghue thinks about this book “every time I get cash out of an ATM; I remember the moment when the women find their bank accounts have been closed. Not so much a novel as a horrifying prophecy, and every girl should read it.”1987BELOVED TONI MORRISON (KNOPF)“Now more than ever,” says Alice Hoffman, “it’s important for us to hear the message of this incredible novel: If we deny the past, we are doomed to be haunted by it.”1988LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA GABRIEL GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ (KNOPF)Laura Hillenbrand says, “I was gravely ill, bedbound in a dark room” when she first encountered this novel. It proved “utterly transporting, lifting me from my stillness and drenching me in a magical world. Long after I read…6 min
ELLE|September 2015SHINE A LIGHTAncient Romans believed that signet rings should represent one’s personality. General Pompey, who famously led a campaign to rid the Mediterranean of pirates in 66 b.c. and later quashed a slave rebellion led by Spartacus, had a lion bearing a sword on his—a symbol of bravery and valor. In contrast, most western Europeans’ rings bore the family crest, and came in handy for stamping wax seals onto handwritten letters. Now cable king David Yurman offers up an irreverent and nightclub-friendly take on the time-honored classic. The Signature Pinky Ring collection of pavé diamond sparklers has a secret: When placed under black light, they reveal either a smiley face, a heart, or a star—a brilliant take on tradition for the emoji generation. What’s your sign?Carlton Davis (styled by Yashua Simmons; makeup…1 min
ELLE|September 2015ON THE BUBBLENAME: Kei NinomiyaAGE: 31PROVENANCE: Oita, JapanCURRICULUM VITAE: Kei Ninomiya, the designer of the newest addition to the Comme des Garçons stable (which, in addition to the Ur-conceptual label, includes Junya Watanabe and buzzy menswear line Ganryu), earned a degree in French literature before enrolling in the fashion design program at Belgium’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts, the prestigious training ground of such greats as Martin Margiela and Dries Van Noten. But he quit to take a job as a patternmaker. “My school was Comme des Garçons,” Ninomiya says.COMME DESTINY: Ninomiya grew up on Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan’s main islands, famous for its hot springs, and became interested in fashion when he wandered into a Comme des Garçons store there in high school. “I thought it was kind of strange,”…2 min
ELLE|September 2015THE BIG CHILLRunway: Imaxtree.com (3); Ann Taylor coat and Smythe coat: Richard Majchrzak/Studio D (styled by Gabriel Rivera for RJ Bennett Represents); Rag & Bone coat, Polo Ralph Lauren coat, Sacai Luck coat, and See by Chloé coat: Devon Jarvis/Studio D (styled by Sabrina Grande); Club Monaco coat, Zara coat, Scotch & Soda coat (2), and Thakoon Addition coat: Richard Majchrzak/Studio D (styled by Anita Salerno for RJ Bennett Represents); remaining image: courtesy of the designer; for details, see Shopping Guide. Runway: Imaxtree.com (3); Paule Ka coat, Tomas Maier coat, and Bouchra Jarrar Paris coat: Devon Jarvis/Studio D (styled by Sabrina Grande); remaining coats: Richard Majchrzak/Studio D (styled by Anita Salerno for RJ Bennett Represents); for details, see Shopping Guide…1 min
ELLE|September 2015DREAM WORKSART FAIRI’ve fallen in love with the unique characters artist Lynette Yiadom-Boakye dreams up in her paintings, especially this elegant one called Any Number of Preoccupations (anyone who knows me can attest to my love for a white shoe). This month, I’m hoping to catch her show at London’s Serpentine Gallery (through September 13).TOP COATI’m making a beeline for this leather jacket I tried on backstage after Loewe’s fall show in Paris. You can’t have too many Perfectos! But my true outerwear obsession is the overcoat. Max Mara’s version is perfect: luxe, a tad oversize, and just the right shade. Madewell’s more walletfriendly iteration? The next best thing.STOCKING BROKERI don’t feel women need to reinvent their wardrobe each season; sometimes it’s about road testing new styling tricks–like Balmain’s sexy LBDs…1 min
ELLE|September 2015TRUST USKING’S GAMBITDirector Edward Zwick (Glory, Legends of the Fall) delivers a mind-bending psychological thriller in Pawn Sacrifice, about the Cold War–era face-off between American chess savant Bobby Fischer (Tobey Maguire) and the USSR’s Boris Spassky (a broody Liev Schreiber). Lily Rabe plangently portrays Fischer’s sister, who sees that, as someone else puts it, “chess is a rabbit hole.”A SINGULAR VISIONIn Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine, doc-meister Alex Gibney captures the legendary “reality distortion field” his subject created around himself—yielding grand ambitions, superachievement, and bad feelings. Both Jobs’s genius and his dark side, and how he drove Apple Inc. to glory with beautiful devices made in difficult conditions, are depicted with vivid insight and nuance.INTO HARM’S WAYOwen Wilson, in a rare action role, masterfully propels the unrelenting adrenaline ride…1 min
ELLE|September 2015ROAD WARRIORSThere’s nothing so frightening as a glimpse at a believable nearfuture, and Claire Vaye Watkins’s prescient Gold Fame Citrus (Riverhead) offers something that feels all too real. Watkins, herself a native of the Mojave Desert she appropriates for the novel, stirred up major buzz in 2012 with her prize-sweeping story collection Battleborn, and this debut novel brims with her intensity and unparalleled imagination.Set in the nightmare sprawl of a rainless, dystopian Southern California, the story opens with former model Luz and her boyfriend Ray, a once-soldier, once-surfer, living in a mansion long abandoned by its last occupant—a starlet who left behind diamonds when even fistfuls of cash couldn’t reverse the unending drought. The land of citrus, gold, and fame has been sucked dry, and Luz and Ray are among the…2 min
ELLE|September 2015ELLE 30OUR ANNUAL FALL CULTURE PREVIEW!1 THE NEXT QUEEN BEEWhen actress Skyler Samuels, 21, enrolled at Stanford, she says, “I was a total nerd. I’d never seen a red Solo cup in my entire life.” But she was curious about the whole sorority thing and decided to rush, eventually joining Kappa Alpha Theta. “I thought, Somehow this life experience is gonna pay off.” Fast-forward to this September, when she’ll star as coed Grace Gardner in Ryan Murphy’s new dark comedy series, Scream Queens (FOX)— about a sorority terrorized by a serial killer. “I’m the leader of this group of misfits,” Samuels says of her Nancy Drew–like character, who’s determined to solve the campus murders. “Grace and I are both very loyal, all about justice and not letting mean girls get you…20 min
ELLE|September 2015SUPERMODEL SOSTHE BLEACHEDBROW CUREInvisible brows, which make models’ faces a blank canvas on the runway, are par for the course, especially in Milan and Paris. But “it’s something that I have yet to get used to,” Karlie Kloss says. “It’s not a natural look.”TRY THIS: At home in NYC, “I dye them back at Yana’s herbal salon on Sixth Avenue,” Kloss says. Plus, “she does good shaping.” For a fix when Kloss is on the road: “Just For Men dye is the trick.”THE HEATTOOL FIXRedken spokesperson Soo Joo Park protects her “high-maintenance” bleachedblond hair from styling damage during fashion month with restorative treatments. TRY THIS: “At night I do a hair mask to strengthen my hair, especially after a long day of working,” she says. “To seal in the moisture from…2 min
ELLE|September 2015ORIBE ALMIGHTYHair demigod Oribe Canales doesn’t give basic blow-outs. He sculpts and fluffs with awe-inspiring dexterity, imbuing hair with a bouncy, lustrous life all its own. One of ELLE’s earliest hair collaborators, the Cuban native moved to New York City in the achingly glamorous days of Danceteria and Studio 54, and through the grapevine met and started assisting hair legend Garren. From there, he blazed a trail as a volume virtuoso, transforming then newly minted supers—Cindy, Claudia, Naomi, and the like—into a new, more-fabulous-than-ever breed of bombshell, defined in no small part by hair that billowed behind them on the runway. And now he works with their modern equivalents: J.Lo and Miley Cyrus, to name two. “Volume goes with a woman’s silhouette,” Oribe says. “It’s so feminine and sexy.”How do you…2 min
ELLE|September 2015CHOW BELLAIn1985, 31-year-old Nancy Silverton moved to New York from Los Angeles to take over the kitchen of a restaurant called Maxwell’s Plum with her then husband Mark Peel. Anita Lo was studying French literature at Columbia University. At age 11, in Birmingham, England, April Bloomfield had dreams of joining the police force. Meanwhile, a toddler named Christina Tosi was living in Springfield, Virginia, probably licking whatever bowl of batter her grandmother had put in front of her. Men ruled the food world—David Bouley, Eric Ripert, and Jean-Georges Vongerichten among them—and were celebrated in the pages of ELLE.Over the next two and a half decades, as the word “celebrity” became affixed to “chef” and cooking professionally became a focal point of pop-cultural discourse, women were generally left out of the conversation.…8 min
ELLE|September 2015ASK E. JEANDolls, we’re sitting in the luxury box seats at the greatest show on earth. And for ELLE’s swank 30th Anniversary Issue— ELLE! I love you!—I’d planned to boom through a couple of decades of Ask Eeee letters, tabulate the “30 grandest things” women most often mention they wished they could do, and— voilà!—edify the planet.Bah!It turns out that I and 60,000 Ask Eeee correspondents all either wish for the same things—to be happy, to fall in love, to use our talents to lessen the suffering in the world, to see our children thrive, to be better than we used to be, and to wear a size 6 (2, 14, 22, 8)—or we want something so impossibly idiosyncratic (seeing two hairdressers at the same time, for instance) that I put aside…9 min
ELLE|September 2015ROAD TO MARRAKECHHair by Chi Wong at Julian Watson Agency; makeup by Tatsu Yamanaka at Marie France Thavonekham Agency; production by Fred Fantun; casting by Zan Ludlum at Zan Casting; model: Cindy Bruna at Wilhelmina; fashion assistant: Yashua Simmons. Special thank-you to Les Deux Tours Marrakech Palmeraie.…3 min
ELLE|September 2015THIS IS 30“I started thinking about the Olympics when I was nine. My mom said I used to do paintings and sign my name ‘The Greatest Skier of All Time.’” LINDSEY VONN, SKIER“This has been my year of self-realization. I started paying attention to what my mind, my body, my spirit were telling me about my life, personally and careerwise.” GRACE GEALEY, ACTRESS, EMPIRE (MIDDLE)“Working with women, you just get so much shit done—the lack of ego and posturing. It is a much more supportive room.” CAMILLA BLACKETT, TV WRITER, FRESH OFF THE BOAT“I feel as if I’m reaching a new level of responsibility with regard to my physical upkeep that I previously didn’t care about. I was like, ‘I’m grungy,’ and now I’m like, ‘I’m an adult. I need to act…32 min
ELLE|September 2015HE’S TALKIN’ TO YOUThe word iconic is thrown around so often these days it’s practically lost all meaning. And then there’s Robert De Niro. He’s a seven-time Oscar nominee and twotime winner (Best Supporting Actor for The Godfather: Part II; Best Actor for Raging Bull). He also transformed downtown New York when he colaunched the Tribeca Film Festival in 2002 in the wake of 9/11, and he expanded our palates by investing in NYC eateries Tribeca Grill, Nobu, and Locanda Verde. De Niro was born and raised in Manhattan to artist parents who, despite separating when he was just a toddler, both left indelible marks. In 2014, he appeared in Remembering the Artist, Robert De Niro, Sr., an HBO documentary about his late father that sought to preserve the painter’s legacy as one…5 min
ELLE|September 2015SEPTEMBERSeptember 1Going for the gold! In L.A., Salvatore Ferragamo celebrates its shiny new Beverly Hills flagship with a special-edition, gold-and-black “Hollywood Exclusive” bag. Meanwhile, Michael Kors serves up his Gold Collection of jewelry and fragrances—just the duo to complement a Kors-approved jet-set tan.September 24Head to MOVE! at NYC’s Brookfield Place. Cecilia Dean and David Colman’s exhibit boasts installations like Splash: Don a Cynthia Rowley–designed smock and get doused in paint, all while being photographed by Swiss artist Olaf Breuning.September 9FIT’s Couture Council honors Manolo Blahnik with its Artistry of Fashion award for nearly 45 years of shodding such icons as Tina Chow (here with the designer in 1978) and—yes!—SJP.September 29Legendary shutterbug David Bailey explores the relationship between woman and bag (Tod’s Cape bag, to be precise) in a series of…1 min
ELLE|September 2015TAKE THREETHE MODELCindy Bruna, below with photographer David Bellemere on location in Marrakech, Morocco, impressed the ELLE team with her tenacity and poise during this month’s “Road to Marrakech” shoot. “We were working in 42°C [107°F], and she was wearing heavy furs and coats and never complained. Not only is she beautiful, but an absolute delight on set,” says ELLE Fashion Director Samira Nasr, who styled this story. A primer on the soon-to-be-everywhere Italian and Congolese stunner: Bruna, 20, was born in Saint-Raphaël, France, and dreamed of becoming an accountant until she was scouted by a Metropolitan Models casting agent at age 16 on a Saint-Tropez beach and quickly whisked off to Paris. Since then, she’s signed on with six agencies, including Wilhelmina in New York and Elite in London. Her…3 min
ELLE|September 2015PARIS MATCHFriquette Thevenet-MondinoFASHION EDITOR, ELLE FRANCEDRINK: Thevenet-Mondino is a fan of hotel bars for a drink between fashion shows: Le Bar du Bristol (lebristolparis.com), an elegant, wood-paneled drinks spot that serves classic cocktails with unexpected twists, like homemade infusions, and the Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme (see box, next page).EAT: Dine with locals at Les Éditeurs (The Publishers; lesediteurs.fr), a literary-themed café lined with thousands of books located in the bohemian Sixth Arrondissement on the Left Bank. Try house specialties like the Italian salad with Parma ham, candied tomatoes, and buffalo mozzarella.PEOPLE WATCH: “Cross any bridge over the Seine early in the morning or at sunset,” says Thevenet-Mondino. The oldest one in Paris, Pont Neuf (circa 1607), is fabulous for its Instagrammable backdrop.SHOP: When it comes to retail therapy, Thevenet-Mondino’s go-to is Le…5 min
ELLE|September 2015IN THE BEGINNING...ELLE MACPHERSON, Model [1]: Gilles [Bensimon, ELLE’s founding creative director] had the idea to open an American ELLE. I remember him speaking to many notable people in the fashion industry and them saying, “Listen, Gilles, we don’t think it would be very successful. The concept of ELLE is how to dress—American women just want to know what to wear.” At the time, Gilles and I were either engaged or freshly married, and the three of us [the couple, plus founder/publication director Régis Pagniez] lived in the same brownstone in Greenwich Village. We’d work during the day, and in the evenings we’d cook. And we would lay out the magazine on the floor, mapping it out, looking at the stories, the written content, the photographic content.YASMIN LE BON, First Cover Model…10 min
ELLE|September 2015AGENTS PROVOCATEURJULY 1988: “Americans believe in perfect, bonded romantic love that lasts; Europeans do not. Which is not to say that they do not love—only that they think marriage is too important to be based on anything as flimsy as romantic love.”—Erica Jong, “Are You Faithful, Darling?”FEBRUARY 1990: Gore Vidal: “I’d like to hold a Constitutional Convention... and shore up the Bill of Rights. It is now assumed that the government has every right to regulate your private life, every right to say whether you take drugs or drink or have sex. That’s going to be the big battle of the next 30 or 40 years, this question of whether you have any rights at all.”—David Rieff, “The World According to Gore”NOVEMBER 1992: Anita Hill interviewed on the release of the…6 min
ELLE|September 2015WALK THIS WAYWhen I moved to New York City in 1983, punk rock was jostling its studdedleather-jacket shoulders onto the scene. Disco was on its last legs, but Studio 54 was still the place to work the dance floor, with that mix of glitterati, literati, politicians, movie stars, and rock gods that seemed to come together only in New York. Only in New York! Words to live by for a culture-starved girl from the Midwest. That was the year Stephen Sprouse launched his Day-Glo brights; Swatch introduced its first watch; and Diana Ross performed her free concert in Central Park. One-hit wonder Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” dominated the airwaves, along with Culture Club’s “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?”Growing up in South Bend, Indiana, a small town verging…15 min
ELLE|September 2015FASHION NEWSMILANIn the documentary Jeremy Scott: The People’s Designer, fans of the Moschino creative director’s culture-bending, beautifully eccentric runway spectaculars—filled with riffs on McDonald’s logos and Barbie mirror iPhone cases—will witness his humanizing trajectory from disenfranchised teen in rural Missouri to the world stage, dressing Katy Perry for the Super Bowl. moschino.comNEW YORKFall’s pack of fashion titles promises a 360 view of the industry’s most illustrious figures: Strut the runways with perennial muse Cindy Crawford in Becoming (Rizzoli). Jump behind the lens with photographers Chris von Wangenheim in Gloss (Rizzoli), Terry Richardson in two volumes titled Portraits and Fashion (Rizzoli), and Andy Warhol in Polaroids (Taschen). And venture into the deep, dark world of Alexander McQueen’s creative consciousness in Blood Beneath the Skin (Scribner). rizzoliusa.com, taschen.com, simonandschuster.bizMUMBAI, INDIA: DESIGNED BY SISTERS…1 min
ELLE|September 2015WORKBOOK: EDITORS’ EDITIONAFTER-WORK GLAM IN A FLASHAmelia Hoffman, Photo Editor Versatility ranks high on Hoffman’s workweekuniform checklist, as her days range from prepping photo studios for a shoot to meeting prospective photographers after work. “The clothes have to be comfortable because I’m always running around,” she says. Her solution: neutral blouses with trousers or boyfriend jeans that can be easily elevated with a jacket. “For me, the jacket’s the most reliable piece—it goes a long way.”What She’s Wearing: A Sonia Rykiel cape ($3,920); Carven turtleneck ($740); Acne Studios wide-leg trousers ($620); Victoria Beckham clutch ($2,550); and Jimmy Choo suede pumps ($595). Why It Works: The slim-fitting turtleneck and wide-leg trousers provide on-the-go ease; the suede cape acts as an unexpected alternative to Hoffman’s standby jacket and adds evening drama.BLANKCANVAS CHICHaley Stark, Associate…3 min
ELLE|September 2015THE CLASSICSRunway: Imaxtree.com; ELLE issue: Gilles Bensimon (issue photographed by Richad Majchrzak/Studio D); Gap jacket: Richard Majchrzak/Studio D (styled by Gabriel Rivera for RJ Bennett Represents); Figue jacket: Devon Jarvis/Studio D (styled by Sabrina Grande); remaining images: courtesy of the designers; for details, see Shopping Guide. Runway: Imaxtree.com; ELLE issues: Gilles Bensimon (issues photographed by Richard Majchrzak/Studio D [2]); A.P.C. sweatshirt: Ben Goldstein/Studio D (styled by Sabrina Grande); I.D. Sarrieri bodysuit: Devon Jarvis/Studio D (styled by Sabrina Grande); Rado watch: Kevin Sweeney/Studio D; Saint Laurent by Hedi Slimane handbag: Richard Majchrzak/Studio D (styled by Gabriel Rivera for RJ Bennett Represents); Fendi handbags: Richard Majchrzak/Studio D (styled by Anita Salerno for RJ Bennett Represents); remaining images: courtesy of the designers; for details, see Shopping Guide. Runway: Imaxtree.com; ELLE issues: Gilles Bensimon (issues…1 min
ELLE|September 2015THE ELLE’S LETTRES 2015 READERS’ PRIZE1WE NEVER ASKED FOR WINGS VANESSA DIFFENBAUGH (BALLANTINE)In this elegantly composed novel, we follow Letty, a young single mother with a feisty six-year-old daughter and a precocious teenage son, as she attempts to build a consistent life after her hands-on parents leave the San Francisco Bay Area for their native Mexico. Readers rooted for the young family and delighted in what one calls the “subtle parallels between migratory birds, Letty’s wayward journey, and the challenges of both undocumented and legal immigrants who live on the fringes of society.”2 THE GIRL WHO SLEPT WITH GOD VAL BRELINSKI (VIKING)It’s 1970 in Arco, Idaho, and Grace, an Evangelical Christian teen, has returned home pregnant after a mission trip to Mexico. As Grace, who believes the pregnancy to be a divine gift, is shunned…1 min
ELLE|September 2015WHY CAN’T WE BE FRIENDS?WE NEED THE GUYS AT WORKBefore Kim Elsesser was a research scholar at UCLA, teaching classes on gender and writing Sex and the Office: Women, Men, and the Sex Partition That’s Dividing the Workplace (Taylor Trade), she was the number two in a group developing quantitative strategies at Morgan Stanley. She writes that she faced the usual crap: “Did I have the balls to do that trade? Was my dick big enough? Or more frequently, I needed to get some balls.” But Elsesser’s need to grow a pair paled in comparison to a more insidious problem: the obstacles to “cross-sex friendships” created by the heightened awareness of sexual-harassment laws. “I watched the head of my group play poker with his direct report”—the pretty, blond Elsesser was not invited—“and come back…3 min
ELLE|September 2015HAIR AND MAKEUPSMOKE ALARMSoftly smoked lids are “sophisticated, polished, powerful, and sexy,” says P&G Beauty global creative director Pat McGrath. The sooty look lent sex appeal to prints at Diane von Furstenberg and Burberry, and emphasized the comehither ambiance of Elie Saab and Tom Ford.TAIL SPIN“What’s interesting about the ponytail is how simple it is, but how dramatic it can be,” says Redken global creative director Guido Palau. “Dior and Boss have sleek clothing, and the ponytails reinforce that feeling.” At Derek Lam, smooth tails anchor voluminous layers.Clockwise from top left: Imaxtree.com; Gorunway.com (3); firstVIEW; Imaxtree.com (2); Gorunway.com (2); Imaxtree.com; firstVIEW. Still lifes: Devon Jarvis/Studio D…1 min
ELLE|September 2015“DEAR GOOGLE..FRANCEIn a country known for laissez-faire beauty, the fact that “Is it okay not to comb your hair?” turns up as a frequent query isn’t entirely startling. (Our answer: Toss that comb, unless snarls are causing hair breakage.)TOP QUESTION: “WHEN DOES MAKEUP EXPIRE?” European cosmetic guidelines make it easy: Products sold there (and many Euro-made concoctions that are distributed in the U.S.) are required to list on the label how long the formula will stay fresh after opening. For products that lack that handy guideline, Kelly Reynolds, PhD, a microbiologist at the University of Arizona’s Zuckerman College of Public Health, recommends playing it extra safe with anything that goes on or around the eye: Toss mascara, liquid eyeliners, and concealers after three months. “The eye has very few defenses against…7 min
ELLE|September 2015MASTER CLASSFRESH DIRECTThe burst of lilac is the first thing you see, but it’s the fresh, clear skin that defines this look. In the more-ismore ’80s, when makeup (particularly foundation) was swathed on impasto, ELLE always emphasized skin that looked like skin—and the feel here, with what McGrath calls a “fearless lip,” is unexpectedly minimalist. “Seamless blending is the key,” she says of making a complexion look this unadorned yet this flawless. She mixed two foundations, smoothing on a lighter one to highlight the center of the face and a deeper shade around the perimeter to create depth. McGrath also left the eyes mostly bare and accentuated the cheeks with a dab of blush to enhance the skin’s natural flush.WHERE THERE’S SMOKE“Sultry, smoky eyes with high-impact lashes look effortless and chic.…1 min
ELLE|September 2015DRINK ME!Wang Pang Zi Donkey Burger is hard to miss. The restaurant, situated on a busy street on the edge of one of Beijing’s ancient, alley-tangled hutong neighborhoods, boasts a banana-yellow banner and, taped to the windows, colorful photos of mysterious-looking menu items. The burgers themselves— surprisingly palatable slices of garlicky meat tucked into flaky buns—aren’t the most intriguing draw, nor are the various innards or hunks of marrow that can be ordered as sides. “Young women, especially, come here to eat donkey hide,” the chef tells me, unrolling an expanse of what looks like thick wet leather, which he will soon slice and sauté, across a kitchen countertop. “They believe it keeps them beautiful.”In China, the tradition of consuming certain foods to rejuvenate the complexion is a very old one.…7 min
ELLE|September 2015SEPARATED AT BIRTHMy wife Maureen and I are standardissue modern parents. Our children are standard-issue twins, a boy and a girl, 3¾ years old. We push my daughter toward the toy trucks and my son can hug all the dolls he likes; nothing is “for boys” or “for girls.” We want them to feel unconstrained by gender, free to pursue their interests.Yet Abe is a typical little boy. Everything is urgent. He yearns to kick balls and hit things with sticks; he is in a state of perpetual wigglehood. We keep his hair short. We keep Ivy’s long. She’s cuddly and talks about ponies. She insists on dresses. And she starts to dance the moment pop music is playing, moving Coachella-style (free arm waggle, toe touch, arms out and spinning, repeat) but…17 min
ELLE|September 2015THE ELLE LOOKGIORGIO ARMANI WITH MODEL KAROLINA KURKOVA“I got into fashion by accident,” Armani says. “I had the opportunity to state my vision and my style, creating clothes that would change attitudes and make people feel good.”Karolina doesn’t just wear clothes—she interprets them, bringing out the contrasts and naturalness of my style.” Kurkova wears: Embroidered-silk dress, earrings, bangles, sandals all, GIORGIO ARMANI PRIVÉ, prices on request, at Giorgio Armani, NYC. For story details, see Shopping Guide. Styled by Monica DolfiniLAZARO HERNANDEZ AND JACK McCOLLOUGH OF PROENZA SCHOULER WITH ACTRESS CHLOË SEVIGNY“Her undeniable confidence, her sense of self, her epic style, her intoxicating laugh, and her ballsy creative choices....There are many Chloë imitators, but no one comes close. She’s the muse of an entire generation.”What drives them? “Fashion is the one constant you…10 min
ELLE|September 2015MAD MAX3 min
ELLE|September 2015PARTY LIKE IT’S 1985So, yes, 1985 happens to be the year that the first domain name was registered, but anachronism notwithstanding, what would our site have looked like our first year in print? And, more importantly, what would we have been talking about? On September 10 Throwback Thursday, naturally all day long, we’ll be revisiting everything from the exaggerated silhouettes and megahair that dominated our fashion pages to the brains, athletes, basket cases, princesses, and criminals who defined an era.#THISIS30Help @ELLEUSA ring in the magazine’s milestone birthday with a little social experimentThirty is a big year for anyone. And though the number of days is finite, no two women’s stories are the same (see page 638 for a photo portfolio of inspiring women our age). In homage to three decades of ELLE, we…1 min
ELLE|September 2015MAGIC AMBER“Amber stuns on the red carpet, and sadly that’s the most I knew of her (besides who she is married to). I was happy the story didn’t merely feature her relationship with Johnny Depp. Of course, the beautiful celebrity couple is fascinating, but I was more interested to learn about her persistent journey toward becoming an actress. Her urge to be taken seriously is admirable, and her diligence and talent—not just her looks or relationship—will earn her more challenging, non–That Girl roles.”—Alyssa Fisher, e-mailAn Amber Heard ELLE interview quote from the cutting-room floor: “You find these placeholder girls that are there to provide a bounce for the male character. We know he’s funny because she’s serious, and she’s mad at him. We know he’s strong because she needs saving. Her…3 min
ELLE|September 201530 IS THE NEW 30Nine years ago this month, ELLE celebrated its 21st birthday at Bloomingdale’s, the site where the magazine debuted as part of the department store’s celebration of French culture. With its oversize format, signature color-rich printing, and bold, graphic design, it certainly didn’t look like any other magazine in the American market, yet it was the first fashion magazine to regularly use models who actually did look like America. The dark-eyed, dark-haired, tawny-skinned beauty Yasmin Le Bon (née Parvaneh) graced the cover of that first issue, a woman who was, at that time, relegated to the category of “ethnic” or “exotic” by both modeling and advertising agencies. Elle Macpherson, the six-foot stunner (and then wife of ELLE’s storied creative director Gilles Bensimon)—along with models Karen Alexander, Rachel Williams, Gabby Reece, Tyra…5 min
ELLE|September 2015CHERCHEZ LA FEMMEAh, women. We must be the most underrated—and most overrated— creatures going, mythologized and demonized at one and the same time, given credit and denied the spotlight concurrently, seen as the root cause of any problem as well as its solution, but rarely (if ever) just seen for ourselves. Freud certainly didn’t create the situation, but he didn’t help matters any by asking his famously vexed question: What do women want? As if what we want is different, at its core, from what other people—men, for instance—wanted.This isn’t to argue for an overriding similarity of the sexes but rather to suggest that what distinguishes women from men isn’t so easily gotten at, once you move past the biology. (Although it’s worth noting that the mammalian body plan is basically female…3 min
ELLE|September 2015HE SAID WHAT ?“Even as an adolescent I had trouble with the way I look. I always saw myself as ‘brown haired’ because of the myth that surrounds blonds—that they’re privileged somehow.…My father was a milkman; I quit school very early on— I don’t really have a formal education. What I am has nothing to do with the way I look.” —Robert Redford, March 1988“Assuming men are dogs lets women off the hook. I think a modern-day woman will tell you that women can be just as predatory as men. It propagates a falsehood that women are naturally prudish and men are piggish.” —Matt Damon, December 2003“I have a distinct memory where [my mom] looked at my nails and said, ‘Women love a man with clean nails.’ I was eight. I thought, I…5 min
ELLE|September 2015WHO OWNS JOAN?Had you been placing bets earlier this year on what online phenomenon might be powerful enough to unseat Kim Kardashian’s greased-up, half-naked Paper magazine cover, a few ideas might have come to mind: a Jay Z/Beyoncé sex tape, perhaps? Or something big and political, like Russian president Vladimir Putin’s sudden willingness to extradite Edward Snowden back to the United States? But few would have guessed a Céline ad. And yet, on January 6, when the brand released its spring ad campaign featuring Juergen Teller’s portrait of the 80-year-old Joan Didion, her signature giant shades slightly askew, a new-media tidal wave hit. “We can die happy now,” read the headline on Refinery29, while W and Grazia invoked the “broke the Internet” phrase, and other fashion magazines, as well as the New…13 min
ELLE|September 2015NEXT GENTHOMAS TAITThe 2014 LVMH prize winner’s bright future was writ large for fall with roomy power tailoring (jumbo-collared taffeta blouses, floor-scraping trousers) that had just a whiff of eccentricity—tufts of fur peeking out of armholes, anyone?DION LEEAs Miranda Kerr and Phoebe Tonkin can tell you, no one cuts a cocktail dress with the intellectual focus of this boy from Oz. His red-carpet numbers play with gravity to create drape via luxe fabrics slashed into ribbons.SIMONE ROCHAThe tawdry and pedestrian (Perspex heels, marabou, pearls) become avant-garde must-haves (clear-soled brogues! fuzzy shower slides! pearltrimmed socks!) when interpreted by this 2014 British Fashion Council New Establishment Award winnerTOMERyan Lobo and Ramon Martin’s perfect shirts and shirtdresses— inspired by strong, creative women such as Georgia O’Keeffe and Donna Karan—have become essentials for everyone from…3 min
ELLE|September 2015TEAM SPIRITIn a sense, the editors of ELLE operate like a sports team: We’re always working toward the same goal, which in our case is to curate the clothes and accessories that will bring joy (and function and a bit of fantasy) to your lives—and ours. For this epic anniversary issue, in addition to our annual report of fall’s musthaves, we look back at fashion that has inspired generations of ELLE women. And we kick it all off with this battle cry of a jersey dress by Tommy Hilfiger, also celebrating three decades in business. So enough pep talk, team—time to lace up and get shopping!Styled by Emily Barnes (hair by Yoichi Tomizawa at Art Department for Oribe; makeup by Tsipporah Liebman for M.A.C Cosmetics; manicure by Casey Herman at Kate…1 min
ELLE|September 2015BOSSY PANTSIn his fourth season as the artistic director of Boss, fashion darling Jason Wu– who made his name with FLOTUS-approved modern powerdresses–has found new and beguiling ways to marry his ultrafeminine aesthetic with the codes of the 91-year-old German house, specifically its legacy of ultramasculine suiting. The results are strong yet graceful silhouettes, like this übersexy, slimly tailored navy tuxedo created exclusively for ELLE. Both assertive and easy, seductive and practical, it’s exactly the kind of tux that suits us very well, thank you.Styled by Emily Barnes (hair by Yoichi Tomizawa at Art Department for Oribe; makeup by Tsipporah Liebman for M.A.C Cosmetics; manicure by Casey Herman at Kate Ryan Inc. for Chanel Le Vernis; casting by Sisi Chonco at Zan Casting; model: Agata Danilova at Elite Model Management)…1 min
ELLE|September 2015CASTLES MADE OF SANDThis month two wildly disparate movies share one resoundingly timely theme that hasn’t been much explored in the dark of the cineplex: the invisible hurricane of mortgage foreclosures (around 5.6 million and counting) that swept various regions across America in the wake of 2008’s financial meltdown, and the disturbing proliferation of schemes aiming to profit from the misfortunes of multitudinous families who’ve been dispossessed of their homes.North Carolinian Ramin Bahrani, a critical darling—the late, great Roger Ebert, in his review of 2013’s underattended At Any Price, dubbed him “the best new American director of recent years”—delivers an emotional wallop that promises to garner him wider attention with 99 Homes, set amid the contemporary real estate carnage of Orlando, Florida. With vividly soulful authenticity, Andrew Garfield (The Amazing Spider-Man) plays Dennis…6 min
ELLE|September 2015ODES BY JOYJoy Williams’s influential and long-revered body of work jubilantly defies the pigeonholing that can shadow artists, in particular women di una certa età. The Visiting Privilege: New and Collected Stories (Knopf), her first collection in 10 years, showcases 46 tales by a wizard of elegant economy, fearless wit, and sly surprise. Edgy, seductive concision is one key to her stories’ appeal; another is her uncanny ability to illuminate hidden pockets of the human heart.The anthology draws from three earlier collections as well as new stories previously unavailable in book form. Near the opening of “Shepherd,” about the burden of love, a young girl muses on the recent loss of her dog. “He had a famous trick. When the girl said, ‘Do you love me?’ he would leap up, all fours,…1 min
ELLE|September 2015TRUST USSPIRIT ANIMALSEach fable in Ceridwen Dovey’s ingenious Only the Animals (FSG) is narrated by a departed beast whose eloquent soul bares a moving life story. “I, the Elephant, Wrote This” begins, “My twin sister and I, like all young elephants in our herd, were raised on a feast of stories about our ancestors….”RUSHDIE RETURNSIn Salman Rushdie’s Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights (Random House), mischievous jinn with potent powers descend on a ravaged posttempest New York. A battle royale plays out between good and evil, featuring a gold digger, a lowly gardener, and a supernaturally gifted abandoned baby.THE BOOK OF LIFE“When I grow up,” Mary Karr wrote in 1965, “I will write 1/2 poetry and 1/2 autobiography.” True to her word, her latest, The Art of Memoir (Harper) is…1 min
ELLE|September 2015FOR. LIKE. EVER.Shopping Guide: For Chanel, Clarisonic, Clé de Peau Beauté, Dior, Estée Lauder, Fresh, Giorgio Armani, Guerlain, Kiehl’s, La Mer, Lancôme, Nars, SK-II, Tom Ford, go to neimanmarcus.com. For Cetaphil, Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare, Jergens, John Frieda, Klorane, L’Oréal Paris, Sally Hansen, go to drugstore.com. For Harry Josh Pro Tools, Rodin, Tarte, go to dermstore.com. For Bumble and bumble, go to bumbleandbumble.com. For Kérastase, go to kerastase-usa.com. For M.A.C, go to maccosmetics.com. For OPI, go to opi.com. For Shu Uemura, go to shuuemuraartofhair-usa.com. For Urban Decay, go to urbandecay.com. Devon Jarvis/Studio D.…1 min
ELLE|September 2015LOVE NOTESMIU MIU BY MIU MIUEven the flacon for Miu Miu’s long-awaited first eau de parfum embodies the scent’s girly-with-atwist vibe: Its opaque blue color, inspired by “the optimism of early ’60s cinema,” is playfully offset with a transparent red cap resembling a lollipop. The fragrance spotlights lily of the valley, the “beautiful and joyful” flower that Miuccia Prada celebrated in the brand’s fall 2011 collection. Because the bloom itself cannot be distilled, jasmine and rose were combined with synthetic green notes to create an abstract lily-of-the-valley effect, the sophistication of which is “roughened up” with an unexpected extract of patchouli.ALAÏA BY AZZEDINE ALAÏAInspired by his childhood in Tunisia, where his grandmother would splash buckets of cool water onto sunbaked walls to lower the temperature, designer Azzedine Alaïa wanted to manifest…3 min
ELLE|September 2015THE BATTLE FOR YOUR LIBIDOI lost my virginity on prom night, of all things, but whatever embarrassment I had about the clichéd circumstances was far outweighed by my relief at having entered the realm of the sexually active. I saved the condom wrapper and the next day, triumphantly, mailed it to my best friend in California. Established right from the beginning was the following: Sex was something that I did with guys, some of whom I liked, some of whom I didn’t, but that I only really talked about frankly with other women.Over the next few years, which I spent at a liberal arts college known for its clothing-optional dorm and frequent “naked parties,” I acquired friends with whom nothing sexual was off-limits. We mimicked the sounds we heard each other make through the…18 min
ELLE|September 2015BORN TO RUNBecoming the leader of the free world takes more than ambition (yes, glorious, admirable, fanfuckingtastic female ambition). It takes making mistakes and absorbing defeat. It takes hard work and happy (or not so) accidents. And it takes sincere effort to make the world a better place, at least some of the time. Herewith, the achievements, tactical maneuvers, gender jujitsu, and often bizarre circumstances that have coalesced to put Hillary Clinton first in line to become the nation’s 45th president.1967BUTTERFLY EFFECT: “Since Xmas vacation, I’ve gone through three and a half metamorphoses and am beginning to feel as though there is a smorgasbord of personalities spread before me,” 20-year-old Hillary Rodham writes to a friend in 1967. Her political critics would later decry her changes of mind as flipflopping. But Ralph…13 min
ELLE|September 2015EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATEDWhenever Keira Knightley is talking, she does so with the urgency of having just witnessed a robbery attempt. No matter the topic, you can feel her need to say what she needs to say concisely and clearly, in a rush of words wrapped and ribboned in a thick Middlesex English accent. Everything sounds all very exciting. It’s a genetic trait—the D in her DNA being drama. Two years married to the dapper indie rocker James Righton, with whom she has a new baby anointed Edie, the actress celebrated her thirtieth birthday in March, the events of which she’s regaling us with uninterruptable speed: “I was heavily pregnant, I couldn’t drink—what is the point of having a thirtieth birthday if I couldn’t get phenomenally drunk? But my husband took over, arranged…16 min
ELLE|September 2015BEYOND THE PALE3 min
ELLE|September 2015HOROSCOPEVIRGOTHIS MONTH FOR VIRGO: (AUG 23–SEPT 22) Tricky Neptune is still in your commitment house, so begin September wary of contractual agreements and use your knowledge of a partner to make informed decisions. When it comes to amorous meetings, Venus joins Mars on the 1st in your house of secrets, making any clandestine relationships ill advised. You’re now in the finest period in over a decade for finding love, so don’t waste energy on less-than-perfect prospects. The 13th’s solar eclipse will see positive life changes that encourage security and stability. Pluto will be ideally angled, adding the chance for more romance. If happily coupled, you may receive good news about a child or a pregnancy, and elsewhere in your chart creative pursuits could reach a thrilling breakthrough. During Mercury’s retrograde…10 min
