September issue: Fashion Press also goes back to school
Every year, it’s an unavoidable ritual for any self-respecting fashion enthusiast or professional to get hold of the famous September issue. An indispensable compass for navigating the meanders of trends and sniffing out designers’ universal muse: the aptly named zeitgeist.
Once again this year, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, GQ and consorts spoil us with the most desirable cover stars. Let’s take a closer look at an issue that, in 130 years for the first, has never ceased to surprise us.
Elle US
And we start with Elle US, which has chosen Zendaya as its cover girl. To coincide with the release of Luca Guadagnino’s film Challengers, the actress star of the Dune films and the Euphoria series appears under the eye of photographer Steven Klein in deep-sea superwoman mode.
Zendaya wears pieces by Louis Vuitton, Bvlgari, Dundas, Michael Kors Collection, Christian Louboutin, Ralph Lauren Collection, Valentino and Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen, JW Anderson and Celine by Hedi Slimane.
In the issue, Zendaya gets the chance to talk about Tashi, her character in the upcoming film Challengers. “I still don’t understand the decisions she makes, and we’ve had many conversations about her psychology and why she is the way she is. What was important to me was that she didn’t apologize for it. Sometimes characters who are messy, conflicted and wield power over other people are reserved for [actors] who don’t look like me, so when I get the opportunity to play a character like that, I take it!”
The woman who plays the mythical Venus de Milo in the current Lancôme x Le Louvre capsule collection also confides in us about fame. She says, “After the last Spider-Man and the last season of Euphoria, there was a visceral change. Before, I could get away with going places and getting in and out. But in Boston, I ended up going straight home, because it was really too stimulating.” He adds, “It’s about keeping the peace and letting things be their own, but also not being afraid to exist. You can’t hide. It’s not funny either. I’m navigating this more than ever”.
Vogue China
Perhaps the most spectacular, athletic and poetic September Issue of the year, Vogue China features Chinese model He Cong.
The resulting issue is an ode to the Asian Olympic Games in Hangzhou, China, with He Cong masterfully styled by fashion photographer Leslie Zhang and dressed by Vivienne Sun.
The result is a dialogue between sport and fashion, with each discipline feeding off the other.
Commenting on this initiative, He Cong said: “Vogue’s inclusion of the theme of sport not only signifies the fashion world’s interest in and admiration for sport, but also aims to convey our affection not only for fashion, but also for the positive, energetic lifestyle embodied by sport. I’m convinced that sport can not only preserve our physique, make us healthier and stronger, but also alleviate stress and enrich our lives”.
Vogue France
Vogue France puts the spotlight on Kosovo Albanian pop superstar Dua Lipa (aka Barbie Siren in director Greta Gerwig’s latest blockbuster).
The French edition invites us, through the promising pen of Arthur Dreyfus, to a balancing act featuring an artist with 88 million fans, sometimes a fiery performer, sometimes an introspective one.
To capture Dua and her dualities, the magazine once again called on photographer Mert Alas for a futuristic and enigmatic escapade in a most phantasmagorical nocturnal London.
The result is an artist sublimated by light, where ardor meets fragility and fearless audacity meets vulnerability.
In Service95 magazine’s weekly newsletter, the singer also shares her best tips and covers a wide range of topics related to fashion, beauty and society.
Harper’s Bazaar
Both the French and American editions have chosen a choral issue (giving readers the chance to choose the cover with their favorite idol) to celebrate “icons” from every angle.
The front cover features Kendall Jenner, the most discreet of the Kardashian-Jenner clan, one of the world’s most followed reality TV families, immortalized by photographer Mario Sorrenti.
The other covers of September’s Harpers Bazaar also feature the singer behind the hit “Say So” (2019) and darling of Generation Z, Doja Cat, as well as actor Paul Mescal and the mysterious and unpredictable French film legend Catherine Deneuve, who is as adored in France as she is across the Atlantic.
GQ Magazine
The men’s magazine GQ has chosen to feature the pop genius and newly elected artistic director of Maison Vuitton, Pharrell Williams.
This jack-of-all-trades genius is not only an outstanding musician-producer, he’s also a prominent figure in fashion and streetwear, not least with his Billionaire Boys Club brand. For Louis Vuitton, he designed the luxury brand’s biggest men’s collection to date.
The designer is immortalized here by photographer Fanny Latour-Lambert on a Parisian bridge (the Pont Notre-Dame), an environment Williams knows well for having chosen and privatized the Pont des Arts to host his latest Louis Vuitton menswear show.
Throughout the issue, he discusses how he sees the paradigm shift taking place between luxury design and pop culture. I look at myself as if I were the real customer. So I design what I want and what I want to do.” From his native Virginia Beach to his new Parisian pied-à-terre, he presents an intimate conversation where his studio and showroom gravitate.
He poses in a Louis Vuitton-Givenchy outfit, Loewe shoes and a Binata Millinery hat.
Vogue US and UK
Last but not least, Vogue offers us an exceptional issue, resurrecting the supermodels of the 1990s: Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington and Naomi Campbell. Powerful women who have in common the fact that they were the first to earn astronomical salaries, to achieve international fame and to walk the catwalks of the greatest fashion houses. The first to give them such status? Gianni Versace.
Sublimated by Rafael Pavarotti’s photography and Edward Enninful’s styling, these superwoman models pose with the crème de la crème of Italian-American design: Evangelista in Michael Kors, Crawford in Bottega Veneta, Turlington in Versace and Campbell in Prada.
And not to make anyone jealous, for once the American and British editions of Vogue are identical.
Here, the magazine’s former creative director, Sally Singer, deciphers the “it factor” of these powerful women, namely: “extraordinarily photogenic features, innate self-confidence, a sharp mind, intuitive style [and] intense curiosity”.
A summit meeting, 33 years after Peter Lindberg‘s “Headline of the Century” (January 1990) for the launch of “The Supermodels”, a four-part documentary directed by Roger Ross Williams and Larissa Bills, scheduled for release on September 20 on Première Apple TV.
Only Tatjana Patitz, who died at the age of 56 at the beginning of the year, is missing from the cast, so the Supermodel family of the nineties is complete.
“In the late ’80s to mid-’90s, high fashion went from a niche aspirational hobby to a pillar of mainstream entertainment,” Vogue declared in a press release announcing the supermodels’ cover appearance.
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Front cover photo: © Vogue
