Vogue articles from August 2004

Vogue archives from August 2004

amazing grace; Three extraordinary women-Max Kelly, Sarah Dudley Plimpton, and Elyn Zimmerman-have very different experiences of widowhood.
August 1, 2004... Byline: Dodie Kazanjian Widow is a dark word, with implications that are ancient and dire-black vestments, endless sorrow, a life robbed of its future. (The widower, by contrast, has always been socially desirable, as potential husband or...

girl of the moment olya thompson.
August 1, 2004... The colorful silk costumes of the Ballets Russes have always inspired Olya Thompson-which comes as no surprise since she grew up in Russia, where she trained as a dancer. Usually spotted in Manhattan's West Village, at art openings, or just...

party politics; In his inaugural column, William Norwich charts the social slings and arrows of an election year.
August 1, 2004... Byline: William Norwich I want you to know, gentle readers, I want to promise you, that I took the recent so-called spring social season very seriously. Well, maybe seriously is not the right word. Let's say instead that I responded to it...

she's my inspiration; Today's young lions have rejected the artsy Sturm und Drang of youthful nineties fashion in favor of knowing polish and wry elegance.
August 1, 2004... Byline: Hamish Bowles From Charles Frederick Worth on, male designers have sought an ideal woman to embody and shape their aesthetic. Worth had his wife, the comely Marie Vernet, by his side when he concocted crinolines for the court of...

stop press! Sometimes it takes a writer to tell a new story in tweed and lace and PVC.
August 1, 2004... Byline: I Rini Arakas Leave it to a fashion journalist to know what's missing from a style-setter's closet. When these folks turn designer, the clothes they produce have all the direction one would expect from pro trend-spotters, and all...

this old house; What's in Balenciaga's basement.
August 1, 2004... Byline: Sarah Mower When Diane Kruger turned up on the arm of Nicolas Ghesquiere at the Met Costume Ball, she was wearing a dress with the kind of unidentifiable mystique that sends fashion-watchers into a frenzy of guesswork. In champagne...

the price is right; At what cost comes a perfectly tailored suit.
August 1, 2004... Byline: Melissa Ceria Candice Hanson remembers the time she was standing in the locker room of her gym in a beige skirt suit with a flower applique and a woman nearby walked up to her. "It was Halle Berry," says Hanson, a Los Angeles...

at her feet.
August 1, 2004... Those Hollywood Gingers and Caroles of old could teach us a thing or two about seduction: They never resorted to vulgarly baring flesh to drive their leading men wild; the mere sight of their marabou-trimmed boudoir slippers peeping from the...

dark angel; Cult icon Jonathan Rhys Meyers makes bad guys beguiling.
August 1, 2004... Byline: Maggie Bullock Other actors are always asking me how to break into the business. I've no idea-I never had to do it," says Jonathan Rhys Meyers somewhat sheepishly. Not a lament on the lips of most rising stars, perhaps, but just...

tainted love; A shuffle of spouses and a slew of socialites spark heady passions.
August 1, 2004... Byline: Sarah Kerr Her prettiness suggests innocence; her manner is demure. But Naomi Watts excels at portraying women who are on intimate terms with their libidos. When we first see her in We Don't Live Here Anymore, playing the quiet...

family business; Siblings Keeth and Erinn Smart give fencing an all-American flair.
August 1, 2004... Byline: David Colman When Keeth and Erinn Smart joined the venerable Fencers Club, they had no idea what they were getting into. The closest they had ever gotten to a saber was Luke Skywalker's glowing one at the movies. After all, their...

MAKING WAVES.
August 1, 2004... Byline: Joanne Chen You'd never guess that swimmer Michael Phelps is perched on the brink of stardom. He's a bit awkward, as nineteen-year-olds tend to be-his arms are too long, his hair's got a mind of its own, and his flip-flops dangle...

summer games; A celebrity menage a trois heats up Williamstown's sizzling stage.
August 1, 2004... Byline: Adam Green To most people, the phrase summer stock evokes images of I-thought-she-was-dead B-movie queens stumbling through barn-theater productions of Mame and graying soap-opera lotharios sleepwalking through desultory...

california dreaming; A complex, touching memoir by the daughter of Hollywood's most famous screenwriter.
August 1, 2004... Byline: Kate Bolick Had Fitzgerald lived to finish The Last Tycoon, the book's narrator, Cecilia Brady, might have emerged an icon for that fictionally underrepresented minority: Hollywood children. "Though I haven't been on the screen, I...

port of call; On the spectacular coast of Corsica, Calvi remains a secret hideaway-for now.
August 1, 2004... Byline: Richard Alleman Three hours by ferry from Nice (barely 30 minutes by plane), Calvi, on the west coast of the French island of Corsica, is the summer's hottest Mediterranean destination. Often compared to St.-Tropez in the...

paved paradise; A big-city backyard becomes an oasis for a breezy midsummer meal.
August 1, 2004... Byline: William Norwich Mess up the glasses, please," instructed Antony Todd. It was just a matter of minutes before party time, a late lunch in his Greenwich Village garden, invoked in a very impromptu style: a beautiful day with an...

inspiration Urban Oasis.
August 1, 2004... Do try this at home-with Vogue's perfect party starters. 1) Shine a little light on the scene with a stainless-steel ship's lantern; it's a city-chic alternative to the more expected torches and more rustic Chinese lanterns. Stelton lantern,...

under cover; A powerful novel delves deep into the head-scarf furor.
August 1, 2004... Byline: Megan O'grady The debate over Muslim women's right to wear head scarves has lately been making headlines in Europe, but it has raged for decades in Turkey, where scarves are banned from schools-despite the fact that the majority of...

this note's for you; Could there be anything more decadent than a truly couture fragrance.
August 1, 2004... Byline: Plum Sykes When the people from Jean Patou called in the fall of 2002 and said they were launching "couture" fragrances, and would I agree to be their first guinea pig, I was skeptical. It seemed that every other company was making...

MAKING SCENTS.
August 1, 2004... Byline: Maggie Bullock From unearthing a rose essence bottled in 1895 to filling hollowed-out antique pocket watches with her own handmade solid scents, Berkeley, California-based perfumer Mandy Aftel blends history and romance into...

lovely & amazing; At 36, with a new, buzzed-about film and a freshly minted Estee Lauder contract, Ashley Judd has never felt-or looked-better.
August 1, 2004... Byline: Gaby Wood Ashley Judd doesn't seem to have aged a day since breaking into Hollywood more than ten years ago. But what might Judd-with her luminous smile, Greta Garbo-shaped eyes, and trademark arched brow-look like in her 50s or...

the full face; Stop obsessing over wrinkles.
August 1, 2004... Byline: Maggie Bullock From her bright-eyed good looks to her crisp white jeans, Olivia* is every inch the chic, ageless Manhattanite: pretty, poised, clever-even with a not-so-tiny needle plunging swiftly into the skin above her...

just like old times; She's 39, but a new fitness-assessment test says she's 52.
August 1, 2004... Byline: Marina Rust I was 30, on vacation in Aspen with a doctor friend. The house had just one flight of steps, but I was huffing and puffing. "It's the altitude," explained the friend. "This is what it's like to feel old." I was...

SIMMER DOWN.
August 1, 2004... Byline: Adena Spingarn Zipping around Audi's racetracks comes something surprisingly small: a pair of ClimaCool 3's, Adidas's newest generation of temperature-control cross-trainers. Thanks to auto buffs in the design department, air-duct...

the age issue.
August 1, 2004... Byline: Namehere Fashion is having a Seventeen Going on 70 moment, if you'll pardon the phrase: Ossified notions of "age-appropriate" have been radically turned topsy-turvy. The everything-old-is-young-again trend has 20-somethings...

titlehere; Forget edgy, eclectic, vintage, retro, sexy.
August 1, 2004... Byline: Mark Holgate Alice Temperley looks as though she would rather be anywhere but here. The 29-year-old London designer is wandering around the Victoria & Albert Museum's retrospective of Vivienne Westwood, but, try as she might, she...

free spirit; With her sassy attitude and wealth of pop-culture references, Stella mccartney has worked her rebel style into seriously groovy glamour.
August 1, 2004... Byline: Hamish Bowles Stella McCartney's closet is a thing of wonder, worthy of the playful fanfare with which she announces it-"ta-tuuum!"-even before she has opened the doors to reveal the room's treasures. McCartney had planned to build...

miss congeniality; Think of Kate Spade and think of mules, cocktails, cinch waists, and ice cream colors.
August 1, 2004... Byline: Julia Reed Kate and Andy Spade are the Nick and Nora Charles of the design world. They smoke; they drink; they frequent watering holes like Donahue's and Elaine's, where they almost always occupy the very first table. They have a...

the thinker; Drawing on her unique blend of interests and influences-from a well-heeled Italian upbringing to intellectual rigor to the wilder shores of quirky femininity-Miuccia Prada has worked a quiet revolution in the way women dress.
August 1, 2004... Byline: Sarah Mower Three weeks before she stepped up to receive the International Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America, Miuccia Prada confided something subversive about what she was going to wear that night. "I don't...

queen carolina; From the banquettes of Studio 54 to the parlors of the Upper East Side, Carolina Herrera has always set the bar for spectacular elegance-and the standard for New York's most glamorous grandmother.
August 1, 2004... Byline: Joan Juliet Buck. On a hot day, a beautiful woman emerges unwrinkled from a car in the west Thirties, her movements fluid and quick as she straightens up into perfect posture. She wears a white shirt, beige trousers, high-heeled...

sister act; Best known for the headlines they've made being college girls, the First Daughters are about to give the country a glimpse of who they really are by joining their father on the campaign trail.
August 1, 2004... Byline: Julia Reed It is Mother's Day, and Barbara and Jenna Bush, the president's twin daughters, are, fittingly, spending the evening in Manhattan with their mother. The first lady's in town for official business the next day, and her...

all the king's women; Good genes, bad history.
August 1, 2004... Byline: Jonathan Van Meter About an hour and a half into my first meeting with the Presley women, the similarities between Lisa Marie and Priscilla begin to surface. They are both, in their own way, shy. They are very funny and like to...

scoop dreams; At the controls of his very own 300-pound soft-serve ice cream machine, Jeffrey Steingarten transforms Mister Softee into one of the world's tastiest frozen desserts.
August 1, 2004... Byline: Jeffrey Steingarten There is a Mister Softee truck on my corner. I love its little song so much, I sometimes sing along. "Here comes Mister Softee, the soft ice cream man," it goes, "the creamiest, dreamiest soft ice cream, you get...

senior moment; Fashion's feeling hugely affectionate-big, matte-red lipstick kiss here-toward the silver-haired grandmere in her Harris tweeds and her swing coat.
August 1, 2004... Byline: Lynn Yaeger More than once, an authentic grandmother has sidled up to Patricia Kennedy in the street, cast a cold eye on her nipped-in waist, her pearl-buttoned gloves, her silk faille chapeau, and said something like "Honey, you...

time of your life; Rejoice.
August 1, 2004... At last May's Star Ball, Danielle Steel, in a sexy lace confection by Olivier Theyskens at Rochas, shared the spotlight with her daughters Victoria and Vanessa Traina, who wore elegant evening dresses by Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent. Role...

the baby boom; Everything new to make sure that the kids stay in the picture.
August 1, 2004... Makie Makie Yahagi and her designer, Yuji Ogata, create handmade designs that include bright, cheerful, folksy prints (right), plush fleece duffle coats, and the tiniest tweed jackets, some of which come with just a touch of deconstruction...

great timing.
August 1, 2004... Byline: Namehere It occurred to us as we put together this issue-the fourth dedicated to great style at every age-that one could do no better than take inspiration from women designers and models who have not only seen it all but, quite...

permanent vacation.
August 1, 2004... Byline: Andre Leon Talley Resort has become big, serious business. It is the best way to forecast what's coming in fashion. It bridges the gray retail months between late October and the New Year. Resort? It isn't just for...

sounds of silence; Placid expressions, brooding souls.
August 1, 2004... Byline: Stacey D'erasmo A winter day, 1975. I was fourteen. Sitting on the mocha wall-to-wall carpet in our Maryland ranch house, leafing through Vogue, what did I know about anything? Not much, though I often had occasion to write it all...