Indholdsfortegnelse for Volume 2, 2024 i W Magazine

Emerald Fennell Director, “Lucky for You, I’m a Vampire” (page 120) Who do you consider the most original filmmaker in history? Charles Laughton, and he made only one perfect film, The Night of the Hunter. Imagine the masterpieces he would have gone on to make if its terrible reception hadn’t forced him to give up. A huge tragedy. What was your first job in the film industry? I was an agent’s assistant, opening fan mail and answering the phones. I loved it so much. What was the first image that served as a source of inspiration for you? The woman in the bath in The Shining. I watched it way too young, and it totally reconfigured my brain. What was the first image you ever cut out of a magazine?…

Before Arthur Jafa became an art world sensation, he was a sought-after but under-the-radar filmmaker. He was the cinematographer for Daughters of the Dust, a 1991 film by his then wife, Julie Dash; for Spike Lee’s Crooklyn, in 1994; and, in the 2010s, for the music videos for Solange’s “Don’t Touch My Hair” and “Cranes in the Sky.” He worked under Stanley Kubrick on Eyes Wide Shut, codirected the video for Jay-Z’s “4:44,” and shot documentaries on subjects including Malcolm X and Audre Lorde. Then, in 2016, at the age of 56, he was invited by the Hammer Museum to display a selection of items from his personal collection of historical and pop cultural images, amassed over decades and organized in hundreds of binders, as part of the museum’s “Made…

IS THE LIFE OF A STAR ALL IT’S CRACKED UP TO BE? I: “I’M SO HAPPY” On a sunny winter’s day in Beverly Hills, Sandra Hüller, wearing a navy Chanel swimsuit, was doing the breaststroke across an amoeba-shaped swimming pool. Hüller, who is nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for Anatomy of a Fall, in which she portrays a woman who is accused of killing her husband, can be wonderfully inscrutable on-screen. In both Anatomy of a Fall and her other 2023 film, the stunning The Zone of Interest, she never relies on movie star poses or mannerisms. But for the W shoot with Justine Triet, the director of Anatomy of a Fall, Hüller would be channeling the life of perhaps the greatest screen goddess of all time: Marilyn Monroe.…

In 2018, Editor at Large Lynn Hirschberg had the idea to create an issue where film directors contributed photographic stories for W. Greta Gerwig was the first to participate, shooting a memorable portfolio that coincided with her directorial debut, Lady Bird. It was a first for the magazine, and a first for Gerwig. Last summer, as we awaited the highly anticipated release of Barbie, we were certain that it would be a big success—but no one could have known just how complete Barbie’s world domination would be. Gerwig became the first woman ever to direct a film grossing over a billion dollars, and fans everywhere swarmed movie theaters dressed in pink. For our seventh annual Directors Issue, and her return to W, Gerwig chose one of Barbie’s stars, America Ferrera,…

“I hate mood boards,” says Olivier Schawalder. “I don’t need them, because everything is in my head.” For this story, the Paris-based hairstylist mentally assembled editorial, advertising, and film images from the 1960s and early ’70s (think Charlotte Rampling and Marisa Berenson), along with some drop-dead-chic Yves Saint Laurent perfume ads from the early ’80s. Not every muse was human—one of the looks was inspired by the iconic sweep of hair on Elnett hairspray cans. “My work usually contains a lot of graphic shapes and bold color,” says Schawalder. “Everything is always straight, perfect, and triangular. Here, I wanted to get away from that and explore styles that are more wearable but still have my touch.” Chalk it up to his Swiss upbringing, or the fact that he spent several…

Polly Mellen Fashion Legend Last year, you gifted the Savannah College of Art and Design [SCAD] your archives, which document your legendary career as a fashion editor at Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, and Allure from the 1950s through the 1990s. The files include your work with photographers such as Richard Avedon and Irving Penn, and correspondence with the Vogue editor Diana Vreeland. How did this decision come about? I had shelves and shelves of boxes sitting in my house in Connecticut. People wanted me to donate them to all the obvious places, like the Met. But I wanted them to be where they could educate young people. André Leon Talley had been on the board of SCAD and said to me, “Please, Polly, consider SCAD. This is where they will do…

In the firmament of fine watchmaking, few names shine brighter than Omega. A Swiss company with an impressive history dating back to 1848, it has been responsible for some of the industry’s biggest hits, including the canonical Seamaster and Speedmaster collections that have long beguiled aficionados. But despite the fact that haute horology is booming and the archives of the world’s leading manufacturers are being picked over by eagle-eyed collectors, one Omega offering, the Constellation, remains hidden in plain sight. Released in 1952, the Constellation was the last word in accuracy. Its name and the single star at 6 o’clock suggested a connection to the heavens, and it featured a distinctive 12-sided raised face that was subsequently referred to as a “pie pan” for its resemblance to an upside-down baking…

It is a meeting of two high-style, high-concept creative powerhouses. Luca Guadagnino has built a reputation as one of the most elegant filmmakers around, the visionary behind I Am Love (starring Tilda Swinton), A Bigger Splash (Swinton, Dakota Johnson, Ralph Fiennes, Matthias Schoenaerts), Call Me by Your Name (Timothée Chalamet, Armie Hammer), Suspiria (Swinton, Johnson), and Bones and All (Chalamet, Taylor Russell). Jonathan Anderson, meanwhile, has proven to be one of the most cerebral designers of his generation. He launched his own line, JW Anderson, in 2008 and joined Loewe as creative director in 2013. His work has been worn by everyone from Jennifer Lawrence to Anthony Hopkins, Jamie Dornan to Cate Blanchett, Aubrey Plaza to Dame Maggie Smith. It is no small news, therefore, that Guadagnino has tapped Anderson to…

CHANNELING THE SPIRIT OF OLD HOLLYWOOD FOR A NEW ERA. On a bright but freezing January day in New York, America Ferrera was swirling a martini glass beside a baby grand piano in the Presidential Suite of New York’s Carlyle hotel, swathed head to toe in ivory silk, her hair styled into a high-volume bob so shiny it was nearly reflective. As she fished the olive from her drink and placed it suggestively between her front teeth, cocked her head, and gave the camera a sly side-eye, she looked like the type of bygone Hollywood heroine who could segue from hot-blooded seduction to melodramatic meltdown without mussing up her peignoir. Greta Gerwig, who directed Ferrera in the role of Gloria in last year’s pinked-out cultural juggernaut Barbie, calls that…