Indholdsfortegnelse for April 2018 i ELLE

1 READ At 41, Olivier Theyskens has lived several fashion lives: first helming his namesake brand, then holding top posts at Rochas and Nina Ricci, followed by a stint at Theory. She Walks in Beauty (Rizzoli Electa) celebrates the Belgian talent’s extraordinary career upon the relaunch of his label in Paris. 2 SHOP Having partnered with everyone from MoMA to Jil Sander, Uniqlo looks to Finnish stalwart Marimekko to brighten up spring wardrobes. Choose from kaleidoscopic tees, polka dot dresses, floral print accessories, and more—or grab one of each. Nothing in the collection is over $40. (Graphic T-shirt, $15, uniqlo.com.) 3 WEAR Racing aficionados counting down the minutes to next month’s Kentucky Derby may want to swap the crazy hat for something more subtly luxurious: Hermès’s latest range of timepieces,…

Sometimes it occurs to mee—in the middle of a 2 a.m. search for a vintage Dior maillot, or a passive afternoon hunt for the boots that might get me through another New York wintere—that I shouldn’t be doing this alone. Don’t I need the friend in the next stall, the body and life to which I’ll compare mine? Shopping online was common by the time I turned 20 and ubiquitous a few years later, but there was a time I could map the emotional milestones in my life by what I bought, and where, and who saw me half-naked as I tried on a thousand versions of myself. Clothing was the first way I defined myself in my small Northern California town, hoping to signal to the rest of my…

THE VISIONARY ANNE STAUNSAGER Danish makeup artist Anne Staunsager is sought after by magazines all over the world for her ability to pair fresh-looking skin with painterly colors and textures for an ultrachic, if unusual, effect. “I like to create looks that have an unexpected twist,” she says. Case in point: the gilt-lined pout shown above, which she devised by focusing pink pigment on the center of the mouth, layering it to build intensity, then drawing around the Cupid’s bow with a gold highlighter. The trick to making such daring makeup wearable, Staunsager says, is to keep the rest of the face as natural as possible. “I would always rather see real-life imperfections than have anyone look too polished.” THE FACE ACE GUCCI WESTMAN A legend for her backstage wizardry…

THE MICROCURRENT MAESTRO MELANIE SIMON Gimme gimme shock treatment: Electrical aesthetician Melanie Simon is the Nikola Tesla of facialists, using a professional microcurrent device to mix and match combinations of carefully calibrated wavelengths. The “electrical cocktails,” as she calls them, lift, sculpt, and depuff according to a client’s needs. For those who can’t make it onto the waiting list at her L.A. or Jackson Hole, Wyoming, offices, she developed the ZIIP, a palm-size nano-and microcurrent home device. When synced with an iPhone, it delivers quick firming, revitalizing, pigmentation fighting, and acne-busting treatments. “The electricity is at such a low level that you don’t feel it,” she says, “but it increases circulation and helps drain the lymphatic fluid that can build up around the eyes and on the jawline.” While the…

The covert ingredient is popular with NASA engineers. When screen legend Bette Davis was asked by the Tonight Show host Johnny Carson the best way an aspiring actress could get into Hollywood, she replied simply, “Take Fountain”—referring to the avenue that runs parallel to Sunset and Santa Monica Boulevards. Bette was right. It’s still faster. I know, because not long ago, I was speeding along Fountain in the back of a cab, late for an interview, applying mascara and curling my lashes, when, in the midst of my squeeze, squeeze, squeezing, the brakes were slammed: My body jerked forward and back, and I was left staring in shock at the Shiseido curler in my hand, where my eyelashes were gripped, ripped from my lid. Next, an ear-splitting scream and a…

“In a lot of ways, I have been preparing for this character my entire life,” says Maya Hawke, who plays the tenacious, theatrical Jo March in the miniseries adaptation of Little Women, premiering next month on PBS Masterpiece. Over matcha lattes in a Brooklyn coffee shop, the 19-year-old explains that she was diagnosed with dyslexia as a child. “Jo was a big inspiration to me,” she says, “as far as having the drive to pursue my love for reading and writing, even when it was challenging.” Like Jo, Hawke is passionate about the written word and spends much of her time drafting screenplays, songs, and poetry. While Hawke compares her struggles with writing to “pulling teeth,” acting has always felt “like swimming, breathing, or kissing.” Which is no surprise, considering…

With Frozen, Jennifer Lee became the first woman to both codirect a Walt Disney Animation Studios feature and make a film grossing more than $1 billion worldwide. So, naturally, she’s penned the Broadway adaptation, too. The writer-director offers a peek behind the curtain. ELLE: What’s new for the Broadway show? Jennifer Lee: There are 12 new songs, including “Monster,” where Elsa contemplates, “Am I a monster? Would the world really be better off without me?” You can’t do that in a Disney film. [Laughs] But onstage, you can be more raw. It’s Broadway; it’s 90 percent adult audiences. ELLE: Where did you find inspiration for the new material? JL: We [visited] Norway, Finland, and Iceland for two weeks. Iceland was founded mostly by Vikings but has its own interpretations of…

The best-selling novelist Meg Wolitzer once wrote that some men “see most fiction by women as one soft, undifferentiated mass that has little to do with them.” It is labeled “women’s fiction” for engaging with such supposedly female topics as, you know, sex, relationships, and parenting. Wolitzer’s engrossing new novel, The Female Persuasion (Riverhead Books), is something of a rebel yell, slapping gender right in the title and confronting the question, What does a feminist look like? The multifaceted answer comes via the four main characters: Greer, a white college student; her queer, political best friend, Zee; her boyfriend, Cory, the son of Portuguese immigrants; and her feminist icon, Faith Frank. At times, The Female Persuasion can read like a crash course in intersectional feminism, and some lines, like the…

ELLE: When you were writing The Recovering: Intoxication and Its Aftermath, was it difficult to be honest about your relationship with alcohol? LESLIE JAMISON: I really wanted to write a book that didn’t just puritanically disavow the appeal of drinking but instead tried to explore how there had been parts of it that were wonderful, and how I was drawn to it for a reason. At some points, it was actually all too easy to be honest about how good it had felt. I was wary about glorifying or romanticizing what it had been. ELLE: You write about various authors who have both struggled with addiction and made it a part of their identity as an artist, but most of them are men. L J: I reckon with the double…

It is early November in Los Angeles, almost one month to the day since the Harvey Weinstein stories broke, and I am standing outside the office of writer-director-producer Lisa Joy. Joy and Jonathan Nolan, her husband and creative partner, are the brain trust behind HBO’s big-budget drama Westworld, whose second season premieres April 22. The show is about an immersive adult theme park with a Wild West setting, where androids, known as “hosts,” fulfill the basest fantasies of visiting guests, most of them men. Not surprisingly, the role of women in Hollywood, onscreen and off, is on my mind as I press a nondescript silver buzzer labeled simply “Westworld.” It seems quietly, almost eerily, incongruous with the elaborate, violent world Joy and Nolan have created. I am thinking of an…

Considering a Kept Man DEAR E. JEAN: I am not a traditional woman. I like being the breadwinner and go-getter in our marriage. I make a very generous salary and take pleasure in my career, and I realize that my dilemma is a privileged one, E. Jean, but I struggle with feeling that I always “wear the pants.” A man taking care of me turns me on. My husband is kind, generous, loyal, tenderhearted, and quite handsome. But he is also timid and not one to speak up or act quickly. He’s good at what he does, but unlike me, he’s not career driven. He comes home from work feeling demoralized and burned-out, and he lives for the weekends. His financial contribution is such that it doesn’t really affect the quality…

“When I started in fashion, I was interested in the craft, amazed by what people could achieve with their hands,” says Isabel Marant, who founded her eponymous line in 1994 at just 26 years old. The French designer’s name is now synonymous with effortless Parisian style. And she credits her early inspiration to one far-flung locale: New Delhi, which she used to visit regularly, scouring the markets for regional silks and linens. Nowadays, as Marant prepares her women’s and men’s collections from her Right Bank studio, she’s still daydreaming of India’s cosmopolitan capital. “I miss it,” she says. “I’d like to go soon.” STAY The Imperial hotel, a mainstay of the British Raj period, is centrally located between crowded Old Delhi and the president’s estate, Rashtrapati Bhavan. The 1936 property…

For years, It Girls everywhere have been pairing Birkenstock’s classic two-strap Arizona sandal with everything from ballgowns to boyfriend jeans. Launching at Nordstrom this spring: the new Big Buckle Collection, featuring oversize, statement-making silver and gold hardware, four shades of leather, and ceramic patterns. The styling possibilities? Endless. In Partnership With BIRKENSTOCK…

KITTEN HEELS The prim classic sheds its staid reputation with artful prints and sculptural elements. TRANSPARENT DETAILS See-through straps update basic black footwear for evening. RED SNEAKERS Bold colors and futuristic soles make the commuter-chic staple worth wearing 24/7. FISHNET ACCENTS Leather and mesh nod to the sexy hosiery without being tawdry.…

THE ADVOCATE GISELLE ALI @giselle_makeup London-based makeup artist Giselle Ali is devoted to publicizing the need for a spectrum of shades for women of color. “In 2018, people are still making black models look ashy or gray, or they don’t have the right products in their kit. That’s not right,” she says. Ali creates glowing looks on models—and herself—using products she believes in, RiRi’s collection being one of them. “The Fenty campaign came and got it right out of the gate. Rihanna really thought about range and formulation. The Match Stix (2) ($25 each) are great: They’re really creamy and go on amazingly, and the color is perfect.” THE TECHNICOLOR DREAM BEA SWEET @beasweetbeauty “I love color,” says British makeup artist Bea Sweet. “You have to be clever about placement…

THE CLASSICIST RACHAEL GIBSON @thehairhistorian If you seek hair inspo that dates back further than the early aughts, the Hair Historian, curated by UK-based beauty editor Rachael Gibson, should be your new obsession. From the flowing waves of Botticelli to the “ghostly, Gothic hair” of Lucas Cranach the Elder, Gibson posts strand-centric art. “It makes you realize that trends are cyclical,” she says. “People have always been coloring their hair and trying weird bangs. I saw horn-shaped buns in a medieval painting that I saw again at Moschino. Someone was doing this in the 1400s, and now it’s on the runways. I like finding that correlation.” THE HEALTH FANATIC TAKISHA STURDIVANT-DREW @takishahair Besides the bevy of awards collected among them, what unites the stars of Mudbound, Orange Is the New…

John Boyega’s Finn was a first for the Star Wars saga: a woke Stormtrooper careening through the galaxy, questioning his purpose. The Force Awakens—and its 2017 sequel, The Last Jedi—propelled Boyega from UK-only fame to children’s toy closets all over the world, in action-figure form. And the 26-year-old star, who discovered acting as a British Nigerian kid growing up in a then-rough neighborhood in south London, has used that cultural capital to create his own opportunities, producing and starring in this month’s sci-fi epic Pacific Rim Uprising, about a hotshot freedom fighter taking on an army of intergalactic sea monsters. Is this some underwater Godzilla, or an epic parable? Boyega speaks. ELLE: Pacific Rim is a fantasy. But it’s also about nations putting aside their differences to fight a common threat.…

Curtis Sittenfeld’s You Think It, I’ll Say It (Random House) offers snapshots of twenty-first-century life: a politically charged one-night stand, a spiteful lifestyle blog reader, an e-relationship, et al. America Is Not the Heart (Viking), Elaine Castillo’s powerful debut, follows an extended family of Filipino immigrants as they grapple with a violent past and a precarious future. Lorrie Moore, best known for her short stories, delivers equally whip-smart and thought-provoking nonfiction in See What Can Be Done: Essays, Criticism, and Commentary (Knopf).…

Every time I take a picture of myself, I have a mental list of features I’m trying to hide: A mole on the right side of my cheek. A smile that shows more gum than teeth. The exact nature of my thighs. So many of us judge photos on their ability to erase these inconvenient truths of the body, but even more profound is using the camera to analyze them. In Autobiographical Stories (The Plastic Surgery), one of more than 100 portraits in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art exhibit Selves and Others, French artist Sophie Calle gives us a silhouette of her nose, the one her grandparents urged her to get fixed. The accompanying text explains why the procedure never happened: The surgeon committed suicide. Now the “problem”…

ARIES The Sun revs your curiosity until the 19th, but wait to announce any groundbreaking plans until the 15th, when Mercury pivots out of retrograde. Your ruler, gogetter Mars, zooms through your career house this month, setting the stage for success. Single? You’ll be the belle of Bumble once Venus buzzes into your mobile zone on the 24th. Mar 21–Apr 19 By the AstroTwins, Tali and Ophira Edut TAURUS Apr 20–May 20 Opulent Venus hosts a homecoming celebration in Taurus until the 24th, so flood your reward centers with the finest luxuries. Having the love goddess in your corner could spark a sexy spring awakening, too. Need to release old baggage, like a troublesome Tinder hookup? Deal and heal before Taurus season begins on the 19th. GEMINI May 21–June 21…

Politicians aside, there are few people more divisive than our cover star, Kim Kardashian West. Everyone has an opinion about her, and everyone feels comfortable, compelled even, to share it. No one is more aware of that fact than Kim herself. “At the beginning, I looked at people’s opinions,” she told writer Molly Young, who visited Kim at her Calabasas home just days after the birth via gestational carrier of her third child with Kanye West. “Now I’m content in my life, and I don’t care. But I swear, you have to be born for this. It’s not for everyone.” I first met Kim back in 2011. Our paths have crossed many times at various events and runway shows over the years. On every occasion, she’s made it a point…

Simple though they may appear, graphic novels have long tackled serious topics like teen angst (Ghost World), political upheaval (Persepolis), and even suicide (Fun Home). Betty and Veronica aside, they’ve also historically been hospitable to strong female leads. This season, some of those illustrated heroines charged the runway in shows inspired by the comic-strip universe. Titling her collection “Multidimensional Graffiti,” Comme des Garçons mastermind Rei Kawakubo juxtaposed Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s lush fruit-and flower-heavy portraits with anime artist Macoto Takahashi’s illustrations of big-eyed girls. One hangs on a museum wall; the other is devoured by teenage girls—but both, Kawakubo seemed to suggest, are real art. Meanwhile, Miuccia Prada featured the work of nine female cartoonists and other manga artists to adorn both her show’s set and her clothes. A coat came emblazoned…

CIENNE DESIGNERS: Chelsea Healy and Nicole Heim (above) HOME BASE: New York City THE LOOK: Relaxed but polished jumpsuits and separates—beloved by Gwyneth Paltrow and Emma Watson—created by a pair of FIT pals who also worked in design at Victoria’s Secret and bonded over a desire to create seasonless, sustainable garments. AMANDA SAYS: “The minimalist silhouettes and soft tailoring are, of course, beautiful, but what makes the brand even better is that everything is made in New York from textiles that have been handwoven by artisans from around the world.” NOMADIC COLLECTOR DESIGNER: Stefani De La O HOME BASE: San José, Costa Rica THE LOOK: Sleek accessories, such as high-gloss cocobolo minaudières that hark back to De La O’s training in architecture and industrial design. AMANDA SAYS: “Among the bags,…

BELT BAG Pair the ’90s utilitarian staple with an ultrafeminine frock for contrast. HATBOX SHAPES Sporty separates get an unexpected dose of formality when paired with a structured silhouette. POKER MOTIFS Carryalls and clutches embellished with a full deck bring a little luck to every situation. GRAPHIC STATEMENT Big or small, an eyecatching illustration goes a long way. Double down on the animation with a screen-printed top.…

THE MIX MASTER MIMI LU Over the past decade, California-based Juice Beauty has done more to shift perspectives about the efficacy of green cosmetics than perhaps any other company. Its luxe, high-tech formulationse—and a partnership with Goop—have set the bar for results-driven, sustainable self-care. As product development director, Mimi Lu (who cut her teeth helping to formulate everything from mascara to hair dye at L’Oréal) has spearheaded more than 100 launches over the past seven years. Her proudest moment? Creating Juice Beauty’s epigenetics inspired Signal Peptides Firming Serum, $110, which boasts a patent-pending blend of powerful, clinically proven rice peptides and a unique, fast-absorbing microemulsion technology that took three and a half years to perfect. “We have such a strict list of no-no ingredients, and having to formulate to 70…

Manhattan’s Plaza Hotel, 1992: Three-year-old Dakota Johnson is awakened in the night by her couple-of-the-moment parents, Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson, returning home from a party—Griffith still in her brown fur coat, her hands icy cold. “She smelled like snow, her perfume, and cigarettes,” Dakota recalls now, wrapped in a fluffy white robe and cradling a cup of tea. She closes her eyes. “I remember it like it was yesterday.” Scent memory has always been strong for Johnson. “I guess my olfactory organ is really on point,” she says. As a face of Gucci Bloom, she brings a certain ethereal physicality to the otherwise intangible nature of smell: See her plunge, fully gowned, into a picturesque lake alongside model/actress Hari Nef and artist Petra Collins in the fragrance’s dreamily romantic…

CADY HERON NAME: Erika Henningsen HOMETOWN: Moraga, California PREVIOUSLY: Les Misérables (Fantine) FAVORITE MUSICAL: In the Heights MEAN-GIRL MOMENT: “A real-life Cady transferred to our school, and the cool girls started spreading rumors. I did nothing. Indifference in the face of meanness is just as bad.” GRETCHEN WIENERS NAME: Ashley Park HOMETOWN: Ann Arbor, Michigan PREVIOUSLY: Sunday in the Park With George (Celeste No. 1); The King and I (Tuptim) FAVORITE MUSICALS: Wicked; West Side Story MEAN-GIRL MOMENT: “Whatever do you mean? Teenagers are so nice!” REGINA GEORGE NAME: Taylor Louderman HOMETOWN: Bourbon, Missouri PREVIOUSLY: Bring It On: The Musical (Campbell) FAVORITE MUSICAL: Aida MEAN-GIRL MOMENT: “A girl put a centipede down my straw once. Our boyfriends were twin brothers, so we felt competitive.” KAREN SMITH NAME: Kate Rockwell HOMETOWN:…

1993 GETS FIRST GIG “When I was 14, my mom worked as a secretary at a construction company, and she got me a job cleaning their offices. So I started as a young janitress. I was thrilled. I was a suburban kid—you have to have money for Sbarro at the mall!” 1996–2000 HOLDS DOWN VARIOUS COLLEGE JOBS: LUNCH LADY, CAMPUS TOUR GUIDE, CREDIT CARD TELEMARKETER “As a tour guide, I was dealing with neurotic parents all day long. I’m a people watcher, and I’m also a complete buzzard with dialogue. If I hear somebody saying something funny, that’s going to stick. I might modify that and put it in a script.” 2000 WORKS AS AN ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT, BBDS AD AGENCY “I was a terrible assistant! I spent a lot of…

After nearly a year with Peter, I found myself drunk in a Bolivian courtyard, about to sleep with someone else. It was the day before the country’s gubernatorial elections. Because it was illegal to buy booze during election weekends, we’d already stocked up. We were mixing orange soda with singani, a local brandy made from grapes grown high in the Andes, to make something unholy called Chuflay. I was ostensibly spending the summer in Bolivia to improve my Spanish, to satisfy one of the requirements of my doctoral program, but the trip was also my way of getting away from a dynamic with Peter that had turned somewhat claustrophobic. Our life back in New Haven, Connecticut, had begun to seem quarantined by the same routines that had been pleasingly dependable…

Standing in the airy kitchen of her Calabasas home, Kim Kardashian West looks like she might be the twenty-something nanny or assistant of Kim Kardashian West. Without her signature chassis of bronzer, highlighter, contouring, and skintight Yeezy garb, the 37-year-old is almost indistinguishable from the handful of staff in the room, even to someone who has absorbed probably 300 GB of her selfies. In a long-sleeve cotton shirt and athletic pants, and with her hair in cornrows (more on that later), she is softer, daintier, in three dimensions than she is in two. I shouldn’t be surprised. If anything is true of Kim, it is her endless talent for optical illusions. “Thank you for coming all the way out here,” she says politely. “I hope there wasn’t too much traffic…