Harper's Bazaar October 2021

HOW DOES ONE FIND PURPOSE? It’s an idea we explore throughout this issue. Certainly, fashion serves a purpose—or many purposes. It can be a vehicle for self-expression and imagination, a source of joy or optimism. But purpose itself is an elastic word. It can connote drive, intention, ambition. It can involve goals and dreams we hatch for ourselves. It can be borne of experience—of things we try, do, survive, or endure. It can be a product of courage or fear. Sometimes the sense of purpose we embrace is immediate: to fix something, to help someone, to go or leave somewhere. Others, it’s more profound: to transform systems, to move hearts and minds, to correct historical injustices. Purpose can be the difference between a job and a cause, an activity and…

In contemplating my own purpose, I could easily fall into an existential crisis. I think I have many purposes: to be a good mother, to love and live fully. I also recognize that I am my ancestors’ wildest dream—that my reason for being is to actualize my full potential in their honor. I’m always awed by people who seem to have a strong sense of purpose, a conviction about who they are and what they want to achieve. But I also cling to the firm belief that each of our lives has immeasurable value and intrinsic purpose, whether we recognize it or not. For most of us, finding a sense of purpose is a process of experience and discovery—one that evolves as we do. This issue celebrates a range of…

“I knew MUSIC WAS MY CALLING very early on, but recently it’s become A PLATFORM for me to HELP PEOPLE in other ways.” FEATURED TRACKS FULL PLAYLIST Jazmine Sullivan created her most recent EP, Heaux Tales, to uplift women, interspersing her stripped-down songs with raw monologues from female figures in her life. “It centers on their stories so others could hear them, identify with them, and feel seen,” explains the 34-year-old R&B singer. This summer, inspired by her mother’s 2019 breast-cancer diagnosis, she joined a campaign to encourage Black women to get mammograms. “So much of my life has been about myself,” she says. “When my mom got sick, it became about easing somebody else’s pain.” For this issue, Sullivan curated a playlist focused on the theme of purpose, which,…

THE LIGHT At the start of every romance, there are invariably fireworks. They may be literal or figurative, but regardless, any good origin story involves sparks. After all, love is many things, including a beacon of light. Harry Winston has captured that pure optimism in a jewelry suite made from glittering white and yellow diamonds, pink sapphires, spessartites, and rubies, using gem-setting expertise that results in pieces as fluid as fabric. THE OBSESSION Does love exist without passion? Certainly, but that doesn’t mean it’s ideal. Passion excites the senses—there’s a reason desire is typically described as “burning.” That white-hot intensity is evoked in an ultramodern cascade of diamonds and gemstones with colors matching the layers of a flame itself—red, yellow, orange, and purple—for a truly obsession-worthy effect. THE VOW Now,…

1 SEE LAST NIGHT IN SOHO In director Edgar Wright’s new psychological horror film, an aspiring designer named Eloise (Thomasin McKenzie) is mysteriously transported back to 1966 London, where she is dazzled by a budding singer (Anya Taylor-Joy). But the glamour fades when the dark history that links them comes to light. Out October 29. 2 EXPLORE A NEW PERSPECTIVE Featuring more than 130 works by artists from 24 countries, “Afro-Atlantic Histories” reexamines the legacy of the transatlantic slave trade and celebrates the ongoing influence of the African diaspora in the West. Opening October 24 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the exhibition will include pieces by artists such as Aaron Douglas, Samuel Fosso, and Kara Walker. 3 BREAK THE MOLD Let your creativity run wild with Sculpd’s at-home…

STELLA GREENSPAN STYLIST: “The Golden Age of Nicole Kidman,” page 109 “I look for purpose in my friends and in giving back. I look for purpose in community.” NANCY JO SALES WRITER: “Radical Giving,” page 142 “The stories that mean the most to me are the ones where suffering or injustice is exposed. I find purpose in writing about ways to make the world a better place. That’s why it was exciting for me to interview the women in my piece who are working to democratize wealth.” COLLIER SCHORR PHOTOGRAPHER: “The Golden Age of Nicole Kidman,” page 109 “My purpose was always linked to my photographic and writing practice. In some ways, the thought that I could pass on representation to people who felt invisible was enough. Now my purpose…