Vanity Fair’s 2011 Hollywood Issue

J'adorable.

During our standard morning editorial meeting (coffee, us, and three cats), Lo says to T, "Say, T," he says, "Why don't we do a post on the Vanity Fair annual Hollywood cover, which just came out?"
"Lo, my darling," replied T, "Is it another Liebovitz-style cover with a dozen stars in millions of dollars worth of clothing and jewelry staring blankly at the camera?"
"You have surmised correctly, dearest," said Lo.
"Ugh. So tired."
"Just take a look at it."

Vanity Fair’s 2011 Hollywood Issue
Photographed by Norman Jean Roy

Ryan Reynolds, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, James Franco, Jennifer Lawrence,

Anthony Mackie, Olivia Wilde, Jesse Eisenberg, Mila Kunis, Robert Duvall, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Andrew Garfield, Rashida Jones, Garrett Hedlund, and Noomi Rapace.

Hunh. That's actually a pretty hot picture.

“We wanted to evoke the glamour of 1930s Shanghai, an era of smoky, alluring elegance,” says fashion and style director Jessica Diehl. “We had the gentlemen looking dashing in black tie, whilst the ladies were radiant in spring's gowns—from Gucci to Yves Saint Laurent—and glittering with diamonds from Chanel and other arbiters of glamour.”

Alright, yes. It's still the same cover they've been putting out for 20+ years, but this doesn't actually look as tired as we thought it would.


Observations:

* Say what you will about Anne Hathaway, that girl's got presence.

* Gyllenhaal, on the other hand, doesn't. Bored, we sat through that Prince of Persia movie the other night and we were shocked at what a charisma void he is. Cute, but doesn't exactly command attention.

* Is it us, or is this an unusually varied mix of practical-unknowns, up-and-comers, current stars, and one old veteran?

* Does Duvall look like he's thinking "What the fuck am I? The babysitter?"

* How is it they always get one girl to wear the really slutty dress when all the other ones are dressed formally? We salute you, Olivia Wilde. There must be a LOT of tape keeping that thing on.

* Obviously, we don't have a problem with glamour, but we really do think this type of picture is a bit played out on VF's end. Just once, we'd like them to do a Hollywood cover that really surprises people. When you have some world-class attractive people, many of whom have world-class charisma and performing skills, there are so many interesting ways to portray that other than glamming it up, old-school style. In fact, we think the behind-the-scenes photos are more interesting than the cover:










[Video/Photo Credit: Norman Jean Roy, Rachel D. Williams, and Joanna Isobel Kelly via vanityfair.com]


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Labels: Fashion, Magazine Cover/Editorial, Vanity Fair