cool conviction.

Byline: Anna Wintour

Vogue is often concerned with exteriors and the choices that go with them: which dress to wear, which lipstick, and, this month, how long to grow your hair (page 374). But this issue shows that we're just as often the interior states of women: their courage, wisdom, and whimsies.

Gwyneth Paltrow has graced the cover of Vogue many times before, but she's never looked as radiant as she does now. As Jonathan Van Meter reveals, Paltrow's last few years have been extraordinarily challenging. The death of her father, the birth of her daughter, marriage to a rock star, and the ongoing difficulty of maintaining a film career at the very top: All have brought out her essential good sense and determination. She's brilliant in her new movie, Proof-and I say that as one who doubted that anyone could approach Mary-Louise Parker's performance in the original play. (On the subject of new films, I also urge you to see Shopgirl, based on Steve Martin's novella, in which Claire Danes gives her best performance yet. See page 84.)

Stella Tennant is another beauty whom we've watched grow in these pages. Mario Testino and Sally Singer's story of Tennant ...