When the vampires are played by Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie—chiseled features, haute froideur—it’s hard not to side with the bloodthirsty. The Hunger, Tony Scott’s 1983 directorial debut, opens in a New York nightclub, as Bauhaus frontman Peter Murphy sings the propulsive “Bela Lugosi’s Dead.” The lovers select their prey: […]
Tag: beauty
Proenza Schouler and Merit Beauty’s New Collaboration Delivers Great Skin and a Must-Have Bag
Last Saturday, shortly before the white-walled galleries of Phillips auction house moonlighted as a runway, makeup artist Diane Kendal detailed the particulars of Proenza Schouler’s spring 2024 beauty direction. Surprises were not in store. “We’re doing a no-makeup makeup look, enhancing all the girls’ natural features,” she said, ticking through […]
A Best-of-Summer Guide to Sunscreen and Face Wash, Inspired by ‘Barbie’ and ‘The Little Mermaid’
Hot, sticky weather means it’s time for skin care’s double feature: sunscreen in the matinee slot, cleanser after dark. Both product categories have a way of leaning into nostalgia while improving upon the script, as with Vacation’s reboot of SPF baby oil and facialist Sofie Pavitt’s new Clean Clean, unapologetically […]
Summer’s New Fragrances Bottle Up Vacation Mode | Vanity Fair
Is it the coolest time ever in New York—late ’70s, early ’80s, the punk scene? It’s got to be top three,” says David Moltz, the ebullient perfumer of Brooklyn’s D.S. & Durga, when discussing his salt-sprayed ode to Rockaway Beach. The fragrance shares its name with the sandy stretch of […]
California Naturals Brings Laid-Back, Eco-Conscious Essentials to the Shower
In 2017, when Shelby Wild was about to launch her first hair care brand, Playa, she was living a low-key version of the California dream. The former fashion stylist had left the New York grind and set up camp in a beachfront Venice house, where she balanced work hours with […]
Michael S. Smith on How to Live an Entertaining Life
Whimsy goes beyond the walls with Michael S. Smith, whose portfolio of interiors includes America’s arguably most important home: the White House. Appointed decorator by the Obama administration for the 2009 White House redesign, Smith—who studied at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Otis College of Art […]
Furcy Botanik Taps Haitian Tradition for a Grounded Approach to Skin Care
“Everybody in Haiti believes in ancient wisdom, ancestral medicine,” says Harvey Gedeon, a silver-haired beauty industry veteran who spent his childhood there. Whenever he was sick growing up, his family would summon his godmother’s mother—a traditional healer known as a doktè feuille. (The phrase translates to “leaf doctor,” owing to […]
Makeup Artist–Led Brands Have Entered the Skin Care Chat
One evening in Venice this past May, it was Anne Hathaway’s moment to shine—and her makeup artist, Gucci Westman, was responsible for making that happen. In preparing the actor for a Bulgari high jewelry event (Hathaway is a brand ambassador), Westman sought to balance a fresh-faced makeup look with the […]
Austin Butler on Motorcycles, Marlon Brando, and the Scent of Nuanced Masculinity
Call it a bit of French humor, that one of the most striking portraits of Yves Saint Laurent should show the fashion designer stripped of his clothes. The year was 1971. Photographer Jeanloup Sieff and his sandy-haired subject decided on a spare set-up: three black leather cushions stacked on the […]
The Pursuit of Beauty Fuels a Dark Streak in Fiction
“We smile while our faces burn, we love it so. Because we know magic is happening, just like in a fairy tale.” By the time Mirabelle Nour—the narrator of Mona Awad’s latest novel, Rouge (Marysue Rucci Books)—speaks this gauzy ode to exfoliation into the mirror, she is already in too […]
Jennifer Fisher’s Favorite Things | Vanity Fair
Jennifer Fisher built an empire on bijoux, but before she was a jewelry designer, she collected watches. “My two favorites that I rotate most often are my Large Men’s Yellow Gold Cartier Chrono and my Men’s Yellow Gold Rolex Daytona with a mother-of-pearl face,” she says. Still, an ever-present affinity […]
Rabanne Beauty Brings a Pop-Futurist Spirit to Makeup
The fashion press was not prepared for Paco Rabanne’s first runway show in 1966. The title alone was a provocation: “Twelve Unwearable Dresses in Contemporary Materials.” Models strode through Paris’s Hotel George V wearing jangly constructions made of Rhodoid or metal tiles, each pieced together with rings using needle-nose pliers. […]