Vogue USA 01.2022

OLIVIA
WILDE

ON WORK, LOVE, LIFE:
“I’M HAPPIER THAN
I’VE EVER BEEN”

UNFRIENDED

FRANCES HAUGEN
TAKES ON FACEBOOK

VOGUE
VALUES

JUST ONE WORLD,
JUST ONE LOOK
FASHION’S
NEW SUSTAINABILITY
SUPERSTARS













January 2022

GOING THE DISTANCE
DIRECTOR AND ACTOR OLIVIA WILDE WEARS A MICHAEL KORS COLLECTION BRA TOP, SKIRT, AND BELT. PHOTOGRAPHED BY ANNIE LEIBOVITZ.

8 30 38 Lismore Castle 68 wear one perfect
Editor’s Letter Smooth Moves Flip the Script in Ireland offer World to the Wise Prada jacket
sanctuary and
12 Jancee Dunn Olivia Wilde surprise in equal Ten designers 86
Contributors considers a suite is reinventing measure. By bringing fashion The Get
of noninvasive the Hollywood Hamish Bowles and sustainability
14 treatments for machine. together Old favorites get
Up Front cellulite By Alexandra 64 a new lease on life
Schwartz All or Nothing 80
How finally feeling 36 Just One Thing 92
safe made me Lives of Girls 52 Lizzie Widdicombe Last Look
want a wedding. and Women The Insider profiles 19-year- Several ways to
By Lena Dunham old climate activist
Three debuts Frances Haugen’s Xiye Bastida Cover Look Born to Be Wilde DETAILS, SEE IN THIS ISSUE.
18 and two revelations about
Eco Chambers memoirs make Facebook have 66 To get OliviaWilde’s look,try:Vanish Seamless
their mark galvanized the Hard Times Finish Foundation Stick in Blanc,Ambient Lighting
Jessica Diner and public. What Palette–Volume II,Ambient Lighting Edit–Universe
Celia Ellenberg survey 36 happens now? By The Power of the Unlocked,Arch Brow Sculpting Pencil in Dark
a new class of spas His Prints All Noreen Malone Dog star Kodi Brunette, Curator Eyeshadow in Fox, Unlocked Instant
Over It Smit-McPhee Extensions Mascara,and Confession Ultra Slim
28 56 knows something High Intensity Refillable Lipstick inWhen IWas.
Taking Hold John Derian Wild, Wild about being All by Hourglass Cosmetics. Hair, Edward Lampley;
makes his Country an outsider. By makeup,GraceAhn.Details,see InThis Issue.
Bags from Patou first foray into Taylor Antrim
and Tanner Krolle bedding The gardens of Photographer: Annie Leibovitz.
Fashion Editor: Gabriella Karefa-Johnson.

6 JANUARY 2022 VOGUE.COM



Letter From theEditor

Happy Returns CHANGING FOR GOOD WIL DE : FASH ION E DITO R: GABRIE LLA K ARE FA-JOH NSO N. HAIR, E DWARD LAMPLEY; MAKEU P, G RAC E AHN .
HE : FASH ION E DITO R: P OPPY KAIN . HAIR, S HIO RI TAKAH AS HI; MAK EUP, LY N SEY ALEX AN DER. P RODUCE D BY S HADES OF G REY.
I’M SO THRILLED OLIVIA WILDE is on our cover—a LEFT: OLIVIA WILDE IN A GUCCI FEATHER COAT, BRA TOP, AND BASTIDA: FAS HIO N EDITOR: MAX ORTEGA. MAKEUP, KUMA. PRODUCE D BY BLO C K P RODUCTIO N S. DE TAILS, S EE IN T HIS I SSUE.
familiar face for a new year. In fact, when I first saw SKIRT. SAINT LAURENT BY ANTHONY VACCARELLO SHOES.
Annie Leibovitz’s otherworldly pictures of her from Palm PHOTOGRAPHED BY ANNIE LEIBOVITZ. ABOVE: MODEL HE
Springs, which is the setting for her highly under wraps CONG IN A BODE COAT AND PANTS. PHOTOGRAPHED BY
new film, Don’t Worry Darling, I had a sense of déjà vu. EDDIE WREY. BOTTOM: XIYE BASTIDA IN GABRIELA HEARST.
I immediately thought of Vogue’s many other portraits of PHOTOGRAPHED BY MIRANDA BARNES.
Olivia, and especially the last time she was photographed—
wonderfully—by Annie, with her children, for us in 2018. is a woman who began her career relatively young, on
television—an early role was on The O.C., as our writer
One of the pleasures of this job is returning to subjects Alexandra Schwartz recalls in her profile—and then proved
and tracking the way their lives have changed. Olivia herself as a significant acting talent in dozens of films, as
well as a thoughtful advocate for political and environmental
issues through the brands she associated with. And then
in her 30s, she managed to move behind the camera and
astonish everyone by directing an immensely appealing
and intelligent debut feature, Booksmart.

Later this year comes her sophomore directorial effort.
I’m not allowed to tell you anything about Don’t Worry
Darling—except that it represents another impressive
evolution for Wilde. You may also be aware that her personal
life has attracted rather fierce attention of late. I, for one,
find her confidence through all of this—and her evident
happiness at the turns her life has taken—inspiring.

She’s just one of several subjects in this January issue
that embody Vogue Values—a set of convictions around
community, creativity, inclusivity, and sustainability
that guide the work we do. With the consequences of the
climate crisis upon us, we asked the photographer Eddie
Wrey to capture looks from a range of emerging designers
around the world who we feel are getting sustainable
fashion right. It’s no surprise that these designers are all
young—the new generation is focused on climate in a
responsibly passionate way. Another example: Xiye Bastida,
the activist who has articulated the stakes of the crisis and
has rallied others to her cause. Bastida is just 19 and destined
for even greater things. I can’t wait to see how Vogue will
revisit her in the years to come.

8 JANUARY 2022 VOGUE.COM



ADVERTISEMENT

The
Fearless
Four

Smart, funny, and fly-as-hell
Harlem is the new Prime Video
series that follows four
fashionable women at the
top of their game in New York’s
sultriest borough.
Tracy Oliver, the writer of the
box office darling Girls Trip,
and Deirdra Govan, the
costume designer of Sorry
to Bother You, have teamed
up to capture the essence
of New York’s most soulful
borough for the Prime Video’s
series Harlem.

Camille (Meagan Good) and Angie
(Shoniqua Shandai) walk down a
timeless Harlem brownstone
block, in energetic prints and
whimsical ankle-length boots.

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“Jerrie Johnson (above), who plays Tye, said,
ts‘IoowmwaaenktimetoimtsheeadepiTapyteeenlwy.”eb–aeTrgrfaaloncrytahOlselbcivouetnrav(leCsrorseaianttisoonrne, oafkheorsw,’
Executive Producer, Writer)

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Grace Byers as Quinn University, played by Meagan Good, and boots.Yet at night, she softens in the
and Meagan Good as Camille her core group of friends—Tye (Jerrie privacy of her own home, changing into a
Johnson) Angie (Shoniqua Shandai), and silk wrap. There is a duality in her style that
Capturing Harlem’s vibe—colorful, bold, Quinn (Grace Byers)—navigate their is essential to evoking the aspirational but
and global—requires invoking the patterns experiences with femininity, sexuality, functional sensibility of the social media
and the silhouettes of clothing that evoke intimacy, and self-actualization. Like true generation. “It was important for us to
effortless cool and confidence. In Prime New Yorkers, their exacting fashion collaborate with the actors and bring their
Video’s latest series Harlem, created by choices capture that big city ethos, booked own experiences as Black women to the
writer and the executive producer Tracy and busy! screen as well, and Govan did the work of
Oliver, the costume designer Deirdra helping us see the ideas through,” Oliver
Govan brings to life the styles of four Black “We had the unique opportunity of said. “With Tye, played by Jerrie Johnson,
women who are reimagining their careers, challenging the status quo, by creating we wanted to authentically represent a
their social lives and their politics. Black female characters who were queer masculine-leaning woman, depicted
Meanwhile, their romantic lives are similarly fluid, in sexuality, and fluid, in style.” by a queer masculine actor, who also wears
full, with eligible suitors and one-night –Deirdra Govan, (Costume Designer) florals, and when she chooses, dresses as
stands. “Having lived in a brownstone in feminine as her girlfriends,” she said. As a
Harlem while [the neighborhood] was “Camille is a professor who dresses in fly result, some onscreen fashion choices were
going through its first round of suits, so there is outward confidence, yet drawn from the actor’s real wardrobe. For
renaissance, I know these women there is also an inner insecurity we wanted instance, Tye’s slim fit floral suit paired with
intimately,” Govan said. “What makes to portray,” Govan said. During the day, a dapper merlot men’s dress shirt—a
Harlem style unique from other boroughs Camille walks to work on 125th Street in a costume directly taken from Johnson’s life.
in New York is the amalgamation of cultural tailored, burgundy coat and fierce vintage
influences, including a strong French Big, bold, bright, glamour, sexy, fun. These
component. But most of all, the style were the adjectives Oliver placed on a
prioritizes authenticity.” mood board to describe the singer and the
life-of-the-party Angie, the squad’s most
Over the course of ten episodes, Camille, a honest friend. The role allowed Shandai the
young anthropology professor at Columbia opportunity to fully express her vitality
and whip-smart talent. Seen often
gossiping with Camille, she stuns in
waist-shaping jeans, boldly-patterned
blouses, and trendy but functional winter
coats. “With Quinn, played by Grace Byers,
we were creating the woman who, like
many of us, still seeks approval from
mother,” Govan said. “We played with silks,
linens, sustainable fabrics; she is
sophisticated and elegant in her golden
oak blazer, with class and sex appeal.” For
Black women, negotiating aesthetic
expectations is part of how one invents her
style. And in this series, there is no
shortage of fashion statements.

Contributors

On Location: Jordan

“It was important for Eddie and me to shoot this story on location, and
for that location to be tied into a wider climate conversation,” says
Poppy Kain, a fashion director at British Vogue and the editor behind
“World to the Wise” (page 68), a portfolio featuring the work of
10 designers focused on sustainability. So she and photographer Eddie
Wrey headed to the salt flats of the Dead Sea, a site under imminent
danger due to climate change. (At present, scientists say it’s shrinking
at a rate of three-plus feet per year.) It was also a plainly beautiful
backdrop for beautiful clothing, and to cap off a glorious two-day
shoot Kain, Wrey, models Imaan Hammam and He Cong, and the
rest of their group enjoyed a sprawling wrap party in the nearby desert.
“We danced around a fire to Jordanian music and ate delicious
food cooked by the local crew to celebrate an exciting and successful
project,” Kain recalls, “one I will never forget.”

Morning Glory “We wanted to keep the FILM PRODUCTION IN JORDAN. HAMMAM:
portrait simple and classic, NATALIA PAEZ. BASTIDA: GERALDINE PATRICK
For an image of Xiye Bastida, E NC INA. S MIT-MC PH E E: TESS AYAN O. FASHION
the teenage climate activist profiled especially since Kodi EDITOR: MAX ORTEGA. GROOMING, JODIE BOLAND.
by Lizzie Widdicombe in “All or [Smit-McPhee]’s features PRODUCED BY BLOCK PRODUCTIONS.
Nothing” (page 64), fashion editor are already so uniquely
Max Ortega had a powerful—and
very specific—point of reference. “My striking,” says
first instinct was to shoot her at photographer Tess Ayano
sunrise, inspired by the Greek goddess (“Hard Times,” page 66)
Gaia, the root of creation,” he says.
With a 3 a.m. wake-up call, he and
photographer Miranda Barnes would
both catch the soft dawn light over
the Long Island Sound (they shot
Bastida in Caumsett State Historic
Park Preserve, about 50 miles east
of Manhattan), and have the roads
and location all to themselves. Plus,
Ortega adds gleefully, “you are all done
by 10 a.m. and can go home!”

12 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 2 V O G U E . C O M



UpFront

Warm Feet

How finally feeling safe made me want a wedding. By Lena Dunham.
Photographed by Jonny Ruff.

I spent the first pandemic fall living alone in a adoption after a hysterectomy at 31—and totally open
mobile home park by the beach in Malibu, to the idea that the other person might not be headed
where leathery older men watered their small there too. After the guy stopped speaking to me, I spent my
patches of lawn and I learned to drive a golf 14-day quarantine in London staring up at the ceiling,
cart—the local form of transport—to and from listening to Fiona Apple, a great and final emo emptying out.
the supermarket. It often broke down and
had to be pushed, but I have never driven a car, and so it So when my future husband rang my doorbell a month
still felt like freedom. I had a funny feeling of peace as later (we had been set up to meet casually by friends who
I looked out on the Pacific Coast Highway, as if these I guarantee did not see what was coming), I answered with
were my last days of silence and I should burrow in as a belief that I would be fine no matter the result but also,
deep as I could. I napped a lot to the sound of speeding for reasons I didn’t yet understand, a pounding heart.
cars and held my dog to my chest, engaging in an ornate I had only seen a few Instagram photos of Luis, and my
fantasy that we were the last women left after a terrible first impression was that he looked like a vampire Lord
ancient war and we were on a Viking ship being sent, over Byron. About 20 minutes into our date he told me he
many days, across the sea to safety. didn’t drink, and I asked why. “Do you really want to get
this intense?” he asked. “Always,” I responded.
I wept as I left for London in early January to make a
movie, saying goodbye to the trailer and to yet another He began to tell me a story of trauma, of generational
unsatisfying affair. But this romance, if you could call it pain and rebuilding of the self, but he did it with laughter
that, had felt different somehow. I had been completely
honest about who I was and where I was headed—toward PUT YOUR HEAD ON MY SHOULDER
DUNHAM AND HER HUSBAND, LUIS FELBER, ON THEIR

WEDDING DAY IN SEPTEMBER.

14 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 2 V O G U E . C O M

in his eyes, like he wasn’t mocking me but the absurdity of this sort of thinking was archaic and imposed on me

what the universe can dole out to two people in their brief by a system I didn’t believe in. But at the time, it was

35 years on earth. And that was the moment I understood impossible not to see a running tally of Instagram vixens

that I was likely sitting across from my soul mate, if that’s who seemed more deserving of his careful attention

a term we want to use. and really good hair. And so, when I became sick in June

From that night on, we were never really apart. Three with a bladder infection that wouldn’t quit, it seemed

weeks later, I told him with a dry mouth and clammy hands to me like the death knell of this magical period. He would

that I wanted to become a mother and was already trying. realize, finally and forever, that someone like him—

“Not, you know, with my vagina,” I stuttered. “But with my wise (he doesn’t speak ill of others without noting that

heart.” I had made the choice to date in parallel to the they are suffering their own story) and kind (he is

adoption process with the knowledge that whomever I was the only person I know who always goes to an ATM and

seeing would likely not be able to walk me all the way returns to give cash to someone who needs it) and

through it. After all, the last two guys I’d been involved talented (he hears songs in his sleep and wakes up in a

with had said “but we’re so young” when I mentioned kids. rush to record the melody)—could not make a life with

Thirty-five, I regretted to inform them, was no longer someone like me.

prom-mom status. I didn’t feel much when these guys made It felt like the part of myself I had been desperate to

it clear that fatherhood was not on their radar, but as hide—weakened and sweaty, bedbound—was coming out

I told Luis my plans, my throat like Michael Myers returning

felt like it was closing up. to haunt Jamie Lee Curtis.

I knew that if this guy pushed He didn’t seem shaken. As

me away, it would feel I sat in place at his birthday

different—like real loss. party, too pained to move,

But instead of cowering, he his red-haired five-year-old

told me that he wanted me to goddaughter asked in an

have everything I dreamed of, almost challenging singsong

that I would make a beautiful whether we were married. “Is

mother, and—when I worried Lena my godmumma now?”

that he would suddenly find “Basically,” he told her

me unpalatable, less footloose happily. “We’re married in our

and fancy-free—he assured minds.” I felt like I had been

me that “mum energy is hot.” chosen to be Miss Universe

“Wow,” I said. “Three weeks without even competing.

in I bring up kids. I am not When the infection didn’t

chill to date.” abate after another month,

“Yeah,” he said “But what’s I was checked into the hospital

interesting about chill?” for three nights. He visited

Within a month we TAKE ME TO CHURCH faithfully, wearing sunglasses
were living together in my one- at night to make me laugh and
bedroom rental in central THE WEDDING TOOK PLACE AT LONDON’S chatting up the nurses like
UNION CLUB. “IT’S LIKE IF SOHO HOUSE WAS DESIGNED

BY MISS HAVISHAM,” SAYS DUNHAM.

London. We ate udon at the he was Sinatra working Vegas.

counter at night and he played guitar in bed in a flannel He was somehow making this place of disappointment

nightgown of mine he had co-opted and wears to this day, and pain feel almost…fun. To him, it wasn’t much, but to

calling it “my pajama” (singular). He told me, not in me it was everything.

words but with actions, exactly who he was as he nursed I came home on a Friday night. England had just

me through physical health challenges and cheered on qualified for the Euro final, and crowds were singing a song

professional duties that seemed insurmountable. I fell in from the ’90s: “It’s coming home, it’s coming home, it’s

love with his art—he’s a musician and composer and we’ve coming, football’s coming home.” He made a video of him

collaborated more in the last nine months than I have with cradling my dog—now, clearly, ours—singing “she’s

most colleagues over 10 years—and with his cooking— coming home, she’s coming home, she’s coming, mumma’s

spaghetti made with ginger and kale, a perfectly seared coming home!” In bed that night, we proposed to each

tuna steak laid over it—and he fell in love with my hairless other, and the next day we began to plan our wedding.

dog. I decided to stay in England for the summer, and we I was prepared for the idea that people back home might

rented a sunny house with a garden. He had never lived in call me crazy, and I didn’t mind. We both felt we had

a house of his own before, and as he gingerly placed a lived enough to know that happiness, when you find it,

few tchotchkes on the mantle, I battled a sense that stories must not just be grabbed but throttled. And we were—

like this didn’t belong to women like me. we are—very happy.

What kind of women? Flawed women. Tortured, Writers talk a lot about how hard it is to write once they

anxious women. Fat women. I knew, intellectually, that become happy, like it’s some dulled state. But that >16

VOGUE.COM JANUARY 2022 15

UpFront Wedding Bells

wasn’t true for me—I was suddenly alert to everything. absolute first person ever to consider me “elegante.”

A couple fighting on a corner and their inability to say His sister is the only person more interested in dogs with

what was going on. How beautiful and slick the stone strange faces than I am, and his brother is one of the

on the bridge was after rain. The slightly satanic way Lu most exacting film critics I’ve ever come across, which

giggles to himself when he’s having a strange dream. means dinner is never boring. And so when my family

I wanted to write it all down and also eat it all up. I felt arrived, we opted for full immersion. My parents slept in

super-sensitized without feeling broken open. I wondered the room beside us, and my sibling Cyrus and his partner

if I was experiencing some very subtle form of mania, crowded into our attic. (Ingrid the dog ran around like she

but if that was the case, I didn’t want to diagnose it. was abusing Adderall, checking on everyone.)

Meanwhile, we were trying to make a wedding. My Despite the aggressive form of introduction, Lu accepted

mother, all the way in New York, suggested a venue the quirks of our family with the same ease with which

and enlisted her friend’s child, a very cool recent college he had accepted mine. I was abuzz with anxiety about

grad named Donna, to do the planning. Donna called committing wedding faux pas both ancient (bad seating

their equally cool friend Jacob (they both say “irrevocably chart) and modern (not enough lateral flow tests), and

chic” with a sigh when they love something), and they I could barely swallow my crumpet much less maintain a

put together what my friend Bill said was a wedding more conversation. Luis maintained it for all of us, walking

flamboyant than a scene from The Birdcage. It was true us across Hampstead Heath at night, shining his way with

I had finally found someone who loved power-clashing the flashlight on his iPhone and jabbering on about the

as much as I do, and we wanted the space to reflect history of London’s public parks.

the intensity of our aesthetic and our emotion. All three But on the day of our wedding (almost exactly eight

of the gowns that I wore over the course of the evening months into our relationship), as my parents walked

were made by my real-life (and not just fashion life) friend in and out of our bedroom with impunity, something in

Christopher Kane, and the him broke. He looked small and

references ran the gamut from the scared and, when I left the room,

Beatles’ first wives, to Priscilla I was crying because it I heard him rush to the toilet
Presley, and Coal Miner’s Daughter. was overwhelming. I was to vomit. He returned to bed, his
face streaked with wetness—
My biggest anxieties about

marriage were not, to my surprise, crying because he looked “I think I just need to sleep for
about upending gender norms so beautiful and he was a few hours.”
or the loss of personal identity or
I headed to the venue with my

yoking myself to another human gazing at me with such awe mother, the big white bow
with the intention of sticking headband I’d had made for the

together for life. It was about the day now seeming a little bit

contrast between the part of me that is totally comfortable optimistic. When we arrived, I peeked at the flowers and

projecting my pain and the part of me that is absolutely burst into tears—they were just as we had wanted them,

terrified to take center stage with my joy. I had to get blooms like fluffy parrots perched on every windowsill.

over a sense, carefully and self-protectively cultivated, But my groom was in a feverish sleep in our bed, clearly

that happiness was uncreative or maudlin or simply experiencing second thoughts. Would this be the moment

vulgar. I was so used to projecting my misfortunes to try that I realized I was right all along? That I wouldn’t get

and create a shared experience with both friends and the love story? Shame on me for still wanting it after all

audiences that being bathed in a regular and nonchemical of these years.

elation was completely foreign. I hoped, like my work, He slept almost two hours longer than he was meant to.

my wedding was a chance to say “Look, this experience But the thing I’d forgotten was that he’s a man of his

is available to you, too.” Because I didn’t do anything word, and when he said he just needed to sleep, he meant

special to get there—besides a little therapy—except just it. He woke up with the vim and vigor of a cheerleader.

continue being myself. Like in my bedtime fantasy, after “Today we pull off our biggest gig yet and then start the gig

a great war—the loss of my health and fertility, the fight of our lives. Let’s get married,” he texted from the Uber.

to find a new normal, sobriety—I was being delivered to We stumbled through a rehearsal with our rabbi an

a distant yet safe shore. hour before the ceremony, during which I barely remember

The week of our wedding, my family descended on exchanging a word with him. What I do remember is

our home. They had never met Lu, which in regular times catching his eye as I came down the aisle, dressed in white

would be a burning red flag but in COVID times was despite my father’s reminder that “there are no virgins

simply the new norm. I had already spent long weekends here,” and tears coming unbidden. I was crying because it

with Lu’s family in the countryside, their brand of was overwhelming. I was crying because he looked so

eccentricity making perfect sense to me. His father can beautiful and he was gazing at me with such awe. (I’m not

discuss any topic ad nauseam from wool socks to the sure I’d ever really been gazed at before.) But really I was

history of air travel. His mother, who emigrated from crying for all the pain I was leaving behind, and because

Peru at 19, tells better stories than Ira Glass and is the of how easy it was to come home. @

16 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 2 V O G U E . C O M



Eco Chambers

From Mexico to Ibiza, a new class of destination spas
is connecting the dots between self-care and

sustainability. By Jessica Diner and Celia Ellenberg.

THE SPA AT ONE&ONLY cumaru wood, and stone extracted Herbal Codex treatment begins with
MANDARINA, RIVIERA from the site itself. Much of its menu
NAYARIT, MEXICO has been designed in homage to energy-balancing singing bowls to
the healing traditions of the area’s
Among the impressive nods to low- indigenous Cora and Huichol cul- open the chakras, and is followed by
impact architecture at One&Only’s tures, including its main attraction:
Pacific Coast location is the layout a traditional temazcal. The Mayan a full-body exfoliation, massage, and
of its 27,000-square-foot spa, which sweat lodge combines medicinal
was designed around a large higuera herbs, heat, steam, and copal incense facial using Harper’s 100 percent nat-
blanca (white fig tree). Like the rest to stimulate detoxification, heal the
of the property’s 105 freestanding body, and purify the mind. But the spa ural and nontoxic serums and salves
villas that have been built into the also enjoys the distinction of being
bluffs or sit above the tree canopy the first destination in the world to that are handcrafted on her 1,200-acre COURTESY OF ONE&ONLY MANDARINA.
on stilts, the spa, which is situated in feature sustainable skin-care pioneer
a volcanic rock garden, follows the Tata Harper’s Multi-Sensory Well- certified-organic farm in Vermont.
natural landscape utilizing local clay, ness Journeys. The standout Mystique
From $1,090 for a standard room, treat-

ments from $235.—c.e. >20

LUSH LIFE

Perched in the jungle canopy, the spa
at One&Only Mandarina was

built using local materials and features
Tata Harper treatment protocols.

18 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 2 V O G U E . C O M



VANA, DEHRADUN, Carole Bamford’s spa network, which geothermal temperature regulation, COURTESY OF SIX SENSES HOTEL & SPA, IBIZA.
UTTARAKHAND, INDIA features Bamford’s organic skin-care Amala’s face and body treatments
assortment in a menu of exclusive incorporate 25,000 medicinal plants
It is nearly impossible not to tap into experiences (think deep-tissue mas- that speak to the spa’s bloom-to-
an eco-friendly sensibility upon arrival sage combined with sound bowls bottle ethos. From $1,200 for a double
at Vana’s lush oasis, which is designed and crystal-energy healing) as well as room, treatments from $220.—c.e.
to slow down the pace of life (phones traditional Maldivian rituals. From
are not permitted in communal spac- $1,500 for a standard ocean pool villa, SIX SENSES, IBIZA,
es). Its name derived from the Sanskrit treatments from $270.—j.d. BALEARIC ISLANDS
word van, meaning forest, the beloved
ashram sits on a 21-acre lychee and THE EDGE SPA AT With a dedicated on-site sustainabili-
mango plantation and is the defini- THE LODGE AT BLUE SKY, ty manager, Six Senses’ new property
tion of a sustainable retreat: Month- PARK CITY, UTAH on the northernmost point in Ibiza is
long transformational programs can designed to ensure your R&R leaves
be enjoyed on the sprawling property When developers Mike and Barb Phil- a minimal footprint: The hotel fea-
(shorter resets are also possible). The lips opened The Lodge at Blue Sky tures almost 300 solar panels and
first resort in India to be awarded a on their private ranch in 2019, sus- geothermal-powered climate control
LEED (Leadership in Energy and tainability was a guiding principle for to offset 40 percent of carbon emis-
Environmental Design) Platinum the epic property that stretches across sions while keeping you exceedingly
certification, Vana uses responsibly the Wasatch Mountain Range. The comfortable at all times. A single-use-
sourced building materials and prior- Earth Suites—22 rooms, built right plastic ban helps support a zero-waste
itizes low-impact energy consumption, into the hillside—are cobbled from policy, which is enforced at the Earth
rainwater recycling, and solar heating. local limestone and cedar and fea- Lab, where guests can learn how
Regardless of the length of your stay, ture energy-saving grass-carpeted to make their own soap or lip balm
the idea is to become fully immersed roofs, while a treatment plant refines from natural local ingredients that are
in the natural surroundings through the hotel’s wastewater so that it can also incorporated in a farm-to-table
morning yoga in the Bodhi Tree sacred be properly channeled back into the food program. The 12,900-square-
space, or outdoor treatments—such as earth. If you get tired of heli-skiing foot spa is pure zen, and in addition
the four-handed abhyanga massage— or horseback riding, indulge in a to holistic treatments with high-tech
which are complemented with Ayurve- sustainable- farming lesson at the therapies, such as cryotherapy and
dic herbal tinctures that nourish the on-site organic farm that provides vitamin drips, it features some of the
body from the inside out. From $2,499 eggs, produce, herbs, and honey for the best ocean views on the island. From
for a seven-night wellness program, hotel’s restaurant, and for a selection $1,250 for a double room, treatments
inclusive of treatments.—j.d. of treatments at its Edge Spa. A new from about $200.—j.d.
partnership with German skin-care
THE RITZ-CARLTON SPA, brand Amala takes its commitment SITTING PRETTY
FARI ISLANDS, MALDIVES to sustainably sourced products one At Six Senses’ new hotel and spa in
step further: Produced in a 100 per-
Guests can literally take the waters at cent carbon-neutral facility with Ibiza, a single-use-plastic ban
this temple of relaxation in the mid- helps support a zero-waste policy.
dle of the ocean. Using a patented
water-purification process, filtered
drinking water is provided in reusable
glass bottles throughout the property
to prevent microplastics from enter-
ing the ecosystem, while gray water
is refiltered and used to irrigate the
island’s abundant ecosystem of plants.
An Ambassadors for the Environ-
ment program is spearheaded by the
oceanographer and environmental-
ist Jean-Michel Cousteau, who has
long campaigned for the protection
of marine wildlife and has designed
immersive workshops for guests
centered around the preservation
of marine life in the Maldives and
beyond. Similarly impressive is the
halo-shaped wellness center, an island
outpost of British eco-pioneer Lady

20 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 2 V O G U E . C O M

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Taking Hold ONE AND DONE

Two new bags have a story to tell: how to take Le Patou,
the past into a more sustainable future. Guillaume Henry’s

P fairy-tale kind of way, with the launch of his first bag first bag for
the French brand,
for the house, Le Patou, the creative director has awakened
entire warehouses full of luscious, if dormant, leather. “Leath- in poppy red
er is like a beautiful chair—it’s precious,” Henry says. “And upcycled leather;
the quality of these leathers is beautiful.” Henry worked
with whatever was at hand, which means Le Patou will only patou.com.
be available in limited numbers: forty-five of the poppy red
bags versus 120 of the black, say. (Regardless, though: They
all retail for $1,250.)

The design of Le Patou itself (the definite article, le, is
deliberate: “It’s the only one,” Henry says. “We are not think-
ing of doing a whole range of bags”) is crescent-shaped, with
a shoulder strap and a sly wink to the house’s JP logo. The

desire first.”—mark holgate F the gift of a Tanner Krolle suitcase. “Forty
28 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 2 V O G U E . C O M years later, we fixed the handle!” Tabitha Simmons says,
laughing. Simmons, who is now Tanner Krolle’s creative director,

explains that this kind of longevity—she calls it “slow luxury”—is

what she loves and admires most about the heritage brand.

“What we want now are things that last, and that you don’t see

everywhere,” Simmons—a designer, editor, and stylist—says. Of

course we still want beautiful things—but we want them to transcend

the whims of fashion, to contribute as little as possible to the fraught

state of the planet, and to remain beautiful for a very long time. BAG: J C V INC E NT. S IMMO NS : PHOTO GRAPH ED BY DAN JACKSON .

Simmons’s latest creation—an irresistible handbag called the

Nightingale, which has the air of a modern vintage valise—is made

from an unglamorous-sounding material called—wait for it—“waste

leather.” As tanneries grade skins, fully 20 percent of this waste leather

is headed for the trash bin—or it was until Tanner Krolle rescued it.

“It’s completely shredded, then bound and made into a roll—you

can stomp on it,” Simmons explains. If the specifics remain slight-

ly opaque, that is intentional. “They’re quite

SMALL WONDER cagey about how they do it!”
They’re not cagey, though, about the out-
Designer and
contributing fashion come. “The leather still has this great luxury

editor Tabitha feel,” Simmons says. And who knows: Maybe
Simmons wields a 40 years from now, you or your daughter will
bring that Nightingale to Tanner Krolle for
Tanner Krolle a touch-up. —lynn yaeger
Nightingale bag;
tannerkrolle.com.

AD M Explore. Discover. Adorn.

A point of
view is meant
to be shared.

JOIN AND
SOUND OFF.

VOGUEINSIDERS.COM

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JEDORA.COM

Smooth Moves

A new suite of noninvasive, FDA-approved treatments
promises an end to cellulite. But where is the line between
self-improvement and self-acceptance? asks Jancee Dunn.

BODIES OF
EVIDENCE

Researchers aren’t
entirely sure what
causes cellulite,
but it has affected
women of all sizes
and fitness levels
for centuries. Peter
Paul Rubens’s 17th-
century masterpiece
The Three Graces.

AT THE LASER & SKIN Surgery Cen- buttocks?” I’ve been to a fair amount shouldn’t be airbrushed from photos, PAINTING: GETTY IMAGES.
ter of New York on an overcast fall day, of photo shoots over the years. This is or from life. These days, it seems as
I am shivering in a tiny paper thong decidedly the least glamorous. though #cellulite on Instagram is used
while a medical team photographs the more often on shame-free bikini shots
cellulite on my thighs. Harsh overhead My cellulite has always bothered me, than sponsored ads for liposuction.
lighting has been installed to better but never enough to do anything about
highlight every dent and divot. Click. it. There’s a certain level of camara- But thanks to a handful of game-
“There’s a lot above her knees,” notes derie in the fact that up to 90 percent changing new skin-smoothing
a nurse. The team nods and murmurs. of women have cellulite, according to treatments—all cleared by the FDA—
I’m told to rotate to the left. Click. a 2018 report in International Journal I find myself teetering between self-
“Great!” the nurse says brightly. “Can of Women’s Dermatology, and I’m acceptance and self-improvement.
you turn around so we can see your cheered by the movement to view cel- This spring, model Paulina Porizkova
lulite as a normal phenomenon that voiced similar misgivings when she

30 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 2 V O G U E . C O M

posted an Instagram shot of herself Slipping into another paper thong, I researchers don’t know precisely how

undergoing Emtone treatments for pose awkwardly as Chapas scrutinizes cellulite develops, there is also a lack of

cellulite on her thighs. “Despite trying my derriere’s moonscape. “Could you well-designed clinical trials that would

to love and embrace myself as much clench your bottom to show the dim- objectively assess whether a particular

as I can the way I am,” the 56-year-old ples better?” she asks, matter-of-factly, technology actually works. “No one

wrote, “I’m not particularly inspired before revealing that QWO could van- would argue that liposuction doesn’t

to wear short skirts.” quish much of them. As I have some work, because it’s very easy to demon-

Researchers aren’t entirely sure what skin laxity, I’m also a candidate for strate. It’s a lot harder to demonstrate

causes cellulite, but it appears to be Morpheus8, a device that pairs deep results of some lasers and the like,”

genetic—and hormonally driven.When radio frequency with microneedling— Pomahac explains, adding that the

the fatty tissue in areas such as the hips, the first to penetrate a full eight mil- placebo effect can be an important

buttocks, and thighs pushes through a limeters. While the $2,500 procedure factor with these types of treatments

fibrous network of connective tissue, requires an injected anesthetic, it too. “Resonic may work,” he says, “or

called septae, which tethers skin to achieves the heretofore-elusive trifecta it may make no difference at all.”

underlying muscle, it causes a bumpy of reducing cellulite and fat while tight- With my expectations managed,

appearance. The resulting cellulite has ening skin. Emtone, which Upper East I return to Bae’s Murray Hill office

affected women of all sizes, races, and Side plastic surgeon Darren Smith, and watch as her nurse brandishes a

fitness levels for centuries, and all the M.D., prefers for “wavy cellulite” like marker to circle a dozen bumpy areas

lunges in the world will not make it the kind he notices on the backs of on my thighs. As one of only two doz-

disappear—nor will topical creams, my thighs, is another option I could en locations in the country that will

weight loss, or dry brushing, as these consider, he tells me. Using a break- have Resonic, Bae’s practice at the

nonsurgical solutions do not break the through combination of collagen- and Laser & Skin Surgery Center of New

latticework of septae. Even surgical elastin-building thermal radio frequen- York already has a lengthy waiting

options are few and far between. cy and band-loosening, circulation- list. “It’s very loud—like a jackham-

“Cellulite has classically mer,” she cautions, handing

been one of the biggest chal- “Nobody needs body contouring,” me Resonic-branded head-
lenges for cosmetic surgeons,” phones as she positions the

says Manhattan dermatolo- he said as I wavered in my resolve to machine on my left inner
gist Anne Chapas, M.D., as do anything at all. “But if this brings thigh and warns of “mini-
we sit in her spotless office mal discomfort.” For me, it

at UnionDerm, a gleaming you personal joy, then go for it” hurts. Badly. Tears slip from
white box overlooking Union my eyes as Bae glances back

Square. For years, she tells at me, concerned. “Hold up

me, the best options were Cellulaze, a improving mechanical shockwave your hand if it’s too much, okay?” she

thin laser fiber that both liquefies fat therapy, Emtone generally requires yells over the machine’s whir. For a few

and cuts fibrous bands, and Cellfina, maintenance every four months, “kind areas, especially when the device circles

a—yikes!—rapidly vibrating micro- of the same as Botox,” explains Smith. my knees, I must signal her to stop so I

blade that physically slices the band But it’s Yoon-Soo Cindy Bae, M.D., can do deep breathing before plunging

causing the dimple. Both need to pene- who sells me on the promise of Resonic. in again. An hour later, to my immense

trate the skin, requiring anesthesia and Using first-of-its-kind Rapid Acous- relief, I’m done—and so is any discom-

sometimes weeks of recovery. tic Pulse technology, Resonic deploys fort. A less-than-ideal way to pass the

So it’s not surprising to see Chapas ultra-high-frequency sound waves time, but the absence of follow-up treat-

get visibly excited when she talks to disrupt stiff, fibrotic tissue with- ments, downtime, bandages, and bother

about QWO, an injectable enzyme out breaking the skin. After a single is well worth it, I reason.

called collagenase that is able to break hour-long session, starting at around There’s also the feel-good factor, a

down the tough collagen buildup in $2,500, cellulite is gone and you’re able strange thing to experience after 60 

septae with minimal recovery and to return to daily activity immediately. minutes of crying in a doctor’s office,

results that last for years. Original- The idea of anything permanent but an undeniable part of Resonic’s

ly formulated to release tight colla- gives me immediate pause, especially appeal. Results can take three months

gen in medical conditions, it’s been after Linda Evangelista’s bombshell to fully emerge, but one month in, half

cleared by the FDA for buttocks, but allegations that a popular fat-freezing my cellulite has vanished. Glancing

Chapas and other doctors have been procedure left her “brutally disfigured” down at my ever-smoother skin, I’m

using it off-label for thighs too. “We by a condition called paradoxical adi- overcome with a very specific kind

mark the spots, no numbing, zap zap pose hyperplasia (PAH). “PAH is truly of happy satisfaction, and I remem-

zap, straight into the dimple, you’re a rare complication of cryolipolysis, ber something Smith told me in a

done,” she says, noting that the main and hasn’t been, to my knowledge, reversal of the typical procedure

downside is, often, painless bruising, described in Resonic—which is a upsell. “Nobody needs plastic sur-

“so you can’t be in a bathing suit the fundamentally different procedure,” gery or body contouring,” he said as I

next week.” Treatments cost $1,000, Bohdan Pomahac, M.D., division chief wavered in my resolve to do anything

and on average it takes three sessions of plastic and reconstructive surgery at at all. “But if this brings you personal

to see results. Yale Medicine, tells me. But because joy, then go for it.” @

VOGUE.COM JANUARY 2022 31

Lives of Girls and Women FIONA AND JANE: COURTESY PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE. I CAME ALL THIS WAY TO MEET YOU: COURTESY ECCO. THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD MOTHERS: COURTESY SIMON & SCHUSTER.
LOST AND FOU ND : COURTESY PE NGUIN RAN DO M HOUSE . WAH ALA: COURTESY CUSTO M HOUS E . BE D: STE PHE N KEN T JOH NSON . F REN C H FLO RA L: COU RTESY OF JO H N D E R I AN CO MPA N Y.
Three debuts and two memoirs make their mark.

JEAN CHEN HO’S debut, Fiona and Jane (Viking), chronicles the lives of
two childhood friends, evoking a distinct Asian American experience in Los
Angeles: R&B mixtapes, Cool Water cologne, red faces drunk on soju. Ho
contrasts the friends’ freewheeling escapades with fraught home lives, and the
story collection comes as close to a primer on modern Asian American rites
of passage as anything in recent memory. Like all truly terrifying nightmares,
Jessamine Chan’s The School for Good Mothers (Simon & Schuster) starts
off in a banal way: An exhausted mother, in a moment of sleep-deprived
despair, temporarily abandons her baby. As punishment, she’s sent to a dys-
topian reeducation facility where she will, ostensibly, learn how to be a good
mother. Chan’s novel picks up the mantle of writers like Margaret Atwood
and Kazuo Ishiguro—but it also stands on its own as a remarkable debut.
In a more cheerful vein, Nikki May’s Wahala (Custom House) trots through
contemporary London with three Anglo-Nigerian friends, lusciously detailing
their exploits and appetites—for romance, for food, and for one another. Two
notable new memoirs also examine the work of being a woman: Kathryn
Schulz’s Lost & Found (Random House), which looks at the death of her
father and the redemptive union with her wife, and Jami Attenberg’s I Came
All This Way to Meet You (Ecco), which charts the author’s circuitous (often
comic) path to a creative life.—lisa wong macabasco and chloe schama

His Prints All Over It WHAT A SPREAD
A sample quilt (above) and detail (left).
John Derian makes his first
foray into bedding. Massachusetts, home. The others are
re-creations of 18th-century French
FIFTEEN YEARS AGO, at a Boston trade show, a woman quilts Derian picked up in Paris long
carrying a pile of quilts caught John Derian’s eye. The pat- ago. Despite the varying source mate-
terns were so captivating that he followed her and insisted on rial, Derian sees a confluence: “A lot
an introduction to the creative mind behind them: Jeanette of the 18th-century French things are
Farrier, a one-time costume designer who transitioned into influenced by India,”he says. “I guess I
handmade beddings and soft goods produced with the help do love the 18th century—the coloring,
of a women’s collective in Mayurhat, India. Farrier hap- the florals, and the style are just so par-
pened to be on a lunch break when Derian arrived, so the ticular and so special.”—lilah ramzi
two didn’t actually meet then and there, but the connection
was formed. “I was so excited that he had visited my stand
and purchased some throws,” Farrier remembers. “It was
love at first sight,” Derian says of the eventual union.

Now, Farrier and Derian—best
known for his impeccably curated
stores selling decoupage, crockery,
and oil paintings—have collaborated
on John Derian for Jeanette Farrier.
The line comprises four quilts (out now
at Derian’s shops) covered in micro
hydrangea prints or a large scroll of
goldenrod-colored vines; rather than
batting, they are filled with layers of
cotton, giving the blankets a lovely,
even heft. Two are replicas of Far-
rier pieces—one-of-a-kind blankets
crafted with upcycled sari textiles—
that reside in Derian’s Provincetown,

36 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 2 V O G U E . C O M

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IN HER SIGHTS

Olivia Wilde wears
a Rodarte dress
and Jimmy Choo
shoes, and is
pictured here with
Matthew Libatique,
the director of
photography for her
upcoming film,
Don’t Worry Darling.

Fashion Editor:
Gabriella
Karefa-Johnson.

Her feverishly
anticipated sophomore
feature isn’t even out,

but Olivia Wilde is
already reinventing the
Hollywood machine—
and finding happiness

along the way. By
Alexandra Schwartz.

Photographed
by Annie Leibovitz.

It’s a shining late September morn- movie. Just before my visit, the production on her third movie, Per-
ing in Los Angeles and Olivia appearance of an 11-second teaser- fect, a biopic of the American gym-
Wilde is sitting, cross-legged, in trailer showing Styles and Pugh nast Kerri Strug, starring Thomasin
front of a bunch of bare butts. making out, Chris Pine screaming McKenzie. Wilde acknowledges that
Male butts, to be exact: smooth in a white tuxedo, Busby Berkeley– homeschooling during the early
and shapely and dripping with style showgirls kaleidoscopically months of the pandemic was a strain

water as the men they belong to high-kicking, and Pugh trying to rip for Otis and Daisy, but is amazed by

emerge from a swimming pool in the a cellophane shroud from her face, their ability to adapt to their shifting

black-and-white photograph that promptly sent the internet into a fit circumstances. “It’s wonderful to

is on the wall of her sunny living of ecstatic delirium. have them become nomadic in the

room. “This is how we want them,” Because of COVID, New Line, same way I’ve always been—to feel

Wilde deadpans from her perch on a which is producing the film, had sug- that whatever country we’re in, they

mustard-colored velvet sofa. gested delaying production until the have a routine and a community,”

Wilde, who has spent her nearly following year, but Wilde fought to she says. “They’re best friends, and

two-decade-long acting career as an get started as soon as possible; when they have each other.”

object of male veneration, knows a filming finally began, after a six- An avowed optimist, Wilde prefers

thing or two about the rewards, and month delay, it had to pause twice, to focus on what she’s gained in this

the risks, of being subjected to a each time for a two-week stretch, period of extreme transition, rather

prurient, if admiring, gaze. She can when someone on set tested posi- than on what she’s lost. Still, so much

count, among her myriad accom- tive for COVID. Wilde has no doubt change can cause confusion. “If you

plishments, winning the “hottest that the extraordinary challenges of were in my home—” Wilde starts to

Olivia” accolade in Spike TV’s say, at one point. Then she catch-

Guys Choice Awards in 2010; es herself: “Where is that? Who

lately, she’s been under the public “I’M HAPPIER THAN I’VE knows anymore?” But Wilde
microscope alongside her beau, EVER BEEN. AND I’M has a talent for making herself
Harry Styles, who, on the day of at home wherever she happens

my visit, is off trotting the globe HEALTHIER THAN I’VE EVER to be. This may not be her beau-
for his Love On Tour concerts. BEEN, AND IT’S JUST tiful house, but this is very much
This house is a respite from all her beautiful life.
that scrutiny. When Wilde rented WONDERFUL TO FEEL THAT”
“The woman hasn’t aged,”

it this past spring, it had already the cinematographer Matthew

been furnished in a precisely Libatique, who shot Don’t Wor-

curated, Instagrammable style; we shooting under such conditions were ry Darling, and first worked with

might be in a Design Within Reach worth it. “Every bone in my body Wilde on the 2011 sci-fi Western

catalog. So Wilde can’t take credit for knew we had to make it when we did,” Cowboys and Aliens, tells me. “She’s

the cheeky art selection or the cheer- she tells me. “I couldn’t be deterred.” eternally youthful.” (For proof, con-

ful, modern decor, or for the sump- Don’t Worry Darling is slated sider a recent unretouched shoot that

tuous backyard pool that beckons to be released in September 2022. Wilde did, partly in the nude, for

from every angle of the first floor. Wilde has been holed up at home True Botanicals, the beauty and skin-

Nor, she laughingly assures me, is she to edit the film, though she finds care brand for which she serves as an

responsible for the two unseasonal time to decompress; her TV show ambassador.) But I might argue that

gingerbread houses displayed on of choice has been the HBO Max Wilde—who looks fresh and relaxed

the kitchen counter, which are the comedy Hacks. As an East Coast in light-wash jeans and a soft peach

handiwork of her kids, Otis, seven, native, she hasn’t totally managed T-shirt, her nails painted fire-truck

and Daisy, five, whom she shares with to shake her instinctive skepticism red, her feline eyes as piercing as

her ex-fiancé, Jason Sudeikis. of Los Angeles. “But then this….” ever—is even more striking now, at

Wilde has been camped out in Los She gestures outdoors, letting the 37, than she was at 20, when I, along

Angeles since the coronavirus arrived pool and the glorious sunshine speak with the rest of millennial Amer-

during the week of her 36th birthday. for themselves. “And for kids, it is so ica, first glimpsed her as bisexual

At the time, she was living nearby much easier. They come home from bar-owner Alex Kelly on The O.C.

with Sudeikis and preparing to start school and just run out and expend That role defined a certain Wilde

shooting her second feature film, all their energy.” type: edgy and enigmatic, tough yet

Don’t Worry Darling, a psycholog- In a couple of weeks, she’ll head feminine, lusted after by men and

ical thriller starring Florence Pugh to New York to oversee sound mix- women alike. (Remy “Thirteen”

and Styles as Alice and Jack, a young ing. “I’m always willing to go back,” Hadley, the doctor whom Wilde

couple who join a utopian commu- she tells me. Soon after, Wilde will portrayed for five seasons on House,

nity in the 1950s California desert. pick up again, this time for Lon- was also bi—not so much an iden-

Clearly, it’s been a productive pan- don, where Sudeikis—with whom tity, in the blunt schema of aughts-

demic. A year and a half later, Wilde she shares custody—will shoot the era mainstream entertainment, but

has emerged with a flourishing new next season of his hit Apple TV+ more as a shorthand for a certain

relationship and a nearly finished show, Ted Lasso, and she’ll begin reckless, sultry élan.)

40

UN-MELLOW YELLOW

The question of her
second film, says Wilde,
“is what are you willing
to sacrifice in order to
do what’s right?” Wilde
wears a Gucci feather
coat, bra top, and skirt.

BLISSED OUT

“When you’re really
happy, it doesn’t
matter what strangers
think about you,”
Wilde says. She wears
a Balenciaga Couture
dress and shoes.



But even as Wilde demonstrated, producing partner, shopped Don’t I loved something or wanted some-
early in her career, that she could Worry Darling around to studios, thing,” Wilde remembers. “She didn’t
carry prime-time TV and big-budget an 18-way bidding war erupted. dismiss it as childish. Like being an
Hollywood projects, she proved “Booksmart hit a cultural artery,” actor. I mean, so many parents would
herself as an actor who excelled at Wilde says. “Even the studios were be like, ‘Okay, that’s nice, but we’re
teasing out the complexities of more able to look beyond the financial suc- going to make sure you get a degree
nuanced roles: as a grieving mother cess. There’s so much content now. in something real.’”
in Reed Morano’s Meadowland, or Hitting a nerve is much harder.”
as a just-one-of-the-guys girl whose Leslie, who ran a spirited, though
breezy swagger hides a bruised heart W ilde has known unsuccessful, campaign for Congress
in mumblecore king Joe Swanberg’s that she want- as a Democratic candidate in Virginia
Drinking Buddies. ed to direct for in the 2018 midterms, remains a role
almost as long model for her daughter. “I grew up sit-
Then, in 2019, Wilde released her as she’s wanted ting on the floor of her editing suite,
first feature, Booksmart, and rein- to act, and she’s and I saw her in a position of power.
vented herself as something else known that she wanted to act for a I saw her treating her colleagues with
entirely: a filmmaker. “I’ll never for- long time. She grew up in Washing- respect. I can remember male edit-
get the moment at South by South- ton, D.C., the second of investigative ing assistants paying attention to her
west when we premiered it, and I journalists Andrew and Leslie Cock- and her voice carrying weight,”Wilde
was shaking backstage thinking, I’ve burn’s three children. (Wilde changed tells me. “I’ve been really lucky to be
never felt more exposed,” Wilde tells her last name as an 18-year-old the- raised by a woman who has always
me. “Then people started coming up ater student in Dublin, in homage been fiercely independent and true
to me saying that they loved it. The to Oscar.) Along with his brothers, to herself, and a father who admires
relief was incredible.” She goes on, Alexander and Patrick, Wilde’s father, her.” She leans forward with a con-
“You know, Tarantino always says, who was born in England and raised in spiratorial grin. “Oh my gosh, the
‘Make the movie only you can make.’ Ireland, is a member of an impressive way my parents gaze at one another!
So I knew that with my first oppor- journalistic dynasty. Wilde’s extended They truly feel the other is the most
tunity, I had to make something that family tree includes: her grandfather interesting person in the room.”
just had my DNA all over it.” Claud Cockburn, a prominent English
communist who founded the radical Wilde went to boarding school at
The film follows two best friends, magazine The Week; the baronet who Phillips Academy in Andover, then
played by Beanie Feldstein and Kait- ordered the 1814 Burning of Wash- decided to defer her matriculation to
lyn Dever, as they try to make amends, ington; and Evelyn Waugh. She was Bard—and ultimately not to attend—
on the last day of high school, for hav- particularly close to her uncle Alex, in order to try her luck in L.A. Her
ing spent the past four years study- who died of cancer in 2012; she named parents gave her their blessing. “At
ing while snobbishly judging the Daisy after his daughter. (“Losing every point in my kind of wild adult
exploits of their more libertine class- him was the hardest thing I’ve gone life, they’ve been so supportive,”
mates. Over the course of a nightlong through as an adult,” she confides. Wilde says. “Even when I was 18. I
quest to reach a house party, they will “And I’ve gone through some shit.”) lived on a school bus in Venice. I think
watch lesbian porn (for educational When she was little, Wilde liked to hide about my daughter now, being like,
purposes, naturally), impersonate out under the dining room table during ‘I’m going to move to Venice Beach
armed muggers, and get so stoned her parents’ raucous dinner parties, and live on a bus!’” She grimaces.
on strawberries spiked with a myste- eavesdropping on the heady adult con-
rious substance that, in a memorable versation. Christopher Hitchens was I point out that Wilde didn’t only
two-minute stop-motion sequence prevailed upon to babysit: “I’m sure it’s live on that bus; she also got married
that took a Portland animation studio in my bloodstream still,” she says, of on it, in a secret ceremony to Tao
four months to produce, they turn Hitch’s omnipresent cigarette smoke. Ruspoli, a filmmaker, photographer,
into Barbie dolls. and member of the Italian aristoc-
But the family business never racy, whom she divorced when the
Booksmart said something real tempted Wilde. “I’m aware of how youthful relationship ran its course
and relatable about how it feels to thankless the job of a journalist is,” after eight years.
be a modern young woman who is she says. Her parents were untrou-
confident, intelligent, motivated, bled by her defection. As a young “I think my parents saw it as eccen-
and yet, as an earlier classic put it, woman, Leslie had elbowed her way tric in a way that they sort of both
clueless. The movie was a critical suc- into the old boys’ club of TV news, expected and respected,” Wilde mus-
cess and earned an ardent fan base, covering the Khmer Rouge, the Rus- es. “And then it was romantic! They’re
though, Wilde confesses, “it didn’t sian mafia, and the Taliban’s take- both romantics. As long as I was in a
make any money.” It failed to clear over of Afghanistan, among other safe situation, they were okay.” Wilde
the hundred-million-dollar mark, high-profile, high-adrenaline sub- is aware of her enormous luck in the
she says, and “it’s much harder for jects, and she respected her daugh- parental department. “It’s a safety
female directors to get a second film ter’s need to forge her own path. “She net, for sure, to know that you can
greenlit if your first one didn’t make just took me so seriously when I said fuck up in a major way, or make a
$100 million.” Nevertheless, when terrible movie, and your parents will
Wilde and Katie Silberman, her still think you’re smart. And probably
love the movie!”

44

As her acting career took off, a challenge after Booksmart, which conservative era, when in fact it was

Wilde began to shadow the directors isn’t to say she wasn’t nervous about incredibly debaucherous. My grand-

and cinematographers she worked shifting gears. “Sophomore slump is parents on my mother’s side loved to

with, hovering behind the monitor to a real thing,”she admits. She confided party,” Wilde says. One of Wilde’s

learn about the differences in lenses her anxiety to Jordan Peele: “ ‘How aesthetic reference points for her film

and frame rates, film versus digital. terrifying was it to make your second was Poolside Gossip, Slim Aarons’s

“My de facto film school was on set,” film?’ And he said, ‘Oh, so terrifying, photo of coiffed women in caftans

she explains. so much scarier than the first.’” chatting over cocktails in a Palm

I suspect that what many women Wilde describes Don’t Worry Dar- Springs backyard whose manicured

see, when they look at Wilde, is bold- ling as “The Feminine Mystique on perfection can’t help but imply some

ness itself. In person, she is an expres- acid”—a dramatic departure from the Lynchian rot lurking beneath; anoth-

sive talker, an enthusiastic gesticulator, goofy teenage world of Booksmart. er was the thrillers of Adrian Lyne,

and an easy laugher. Onscreen, she Even so, she sees both films as part of like Fatal Attraction and Indecent

radiates a self-possession that is an ongoing project to examine female Proposal. Those movies are “really

untainted by self-seriousness, a qual- experience from multiple angles. The sexy, in a grown-up way,” Wilde tells

ity that she has put to good use in life, focus of her first movie, she says, me. “I kept saying, ‘Why isn’t there

too, while campaigning for Barack was “friendship and judgment and any good sex in film anymore?’”

Obama in 2008, or delivering an exploring insecurity.” The new one About those scenes I watched. Let’s

address to several hundred thousand “is asking the question of, What are just say that one, featuring a hard-

protesters at the 2018 Women’s March you willing to sacrifice in order to do working Styles and a most gratified

in L.A. It’s hardly remarkable Pugh, is going to generate some

now for performers to make their serious attention—and, if the

liberal politics known. But when “I’VE BEEN REALLY LUCKY devotion of Styles’s fan base is
Wilde got to Hollywood, Michael TO BE RAISED BY A WOMAN any indication, hysteria—when
Moore had just been booed at Don’t Worry Darling is released.
the 2003 Oscars for speaking out WHO HAS ALWAYS BEEN When I work up the blushing

against the Iraq War; there was, as FIERCELY INDEPENDENT AND courage to ask Wilde about it,
she puts it, a “shut up and dribble” TRUE TO HERSELF, AND A she gets technical, talking about
attitude toward entertainers who overhead angles and wraparound

spoke their minds. She did so any- FATHER WHO ADMIRES HER” shots, though she readily volun-
way. The woman is not shy. teers that she intends for her audi-

So it surprises me when she ence to “realize how rarely they

insists that it took her a long time what’s right? If you really think about see female hunger, and specifically

to work up the confidence to try her it, are you willing to blow up the sys- this type of female pleasure.”

own hand at directing. When she did tem that serves you?” Wilde had shortlisted Styles to play

finally acknowledge her ambition— The idea for the film crystallized Jack after admiring his performance

she got started with music videos—it shortly after Trump’s election, when in Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk. But

was thanks to “a lot of really great Wilde met Gloria Steinem at “this lit- his tour conflicted with the sched-

mentors daring me to do it.”Then the tle gathering in New York City.”Wilde uled shoot, and Shia LaBeouf was

scrappy Wilde returns as she adds: was despondent; she asked Steinem cast in the role. Then came the pan-

“And I never turn down a dare.” what she could do. Stop paying taxes, demic. Live music was canceled;

Steinem told her. Wilde was aghast. “I Styles became available, and Wilde,

Iwish I could tell you about the said, ‘What?’ I own property. I have whose team had reportedly clashed
20-minute selection of scenes from kids. I don’t think I can do that.” with LaBeouf before filming began,
Don’t Worry Darling that Wilde brought Styles in to take over. Even
picked for me to watch one morn- Then it hit her: “This is why noth- before this, the role of Jack had not
ing in an empty office in down- ing will change. That was the begin- been easy to fill. Alice is the film’s
town Manhattan, accompanied ning of Don’t Worry Darling. I was protagonist; Jack is a supporting
like, Who’s that person who’s actually

by a studio employee whose presence willing to destroy the structure that part. “I cannot tell you how many

was required to ensure that I was not is built entirely for their comfort? men read the script and said, ‘Unless

a bootlegger in disguise. But I’d prefer That’s a selflessness on a level that I it’s a two-hander, unless I’m in as

not to get sued. Instead, let me under- admire but admit is far from the way much—or more—of the script than

line what is already evident from the I live my life.” she is, it’s not worth it,’” Wilde says.

teaser-trailer: that the movie is ravish- In Don’t Worry Darling, that per- “And it’s not their fault. They’ve been

ing to look at, opulently saturated with son is Pugh’s Alice, a happy young raised with this kind of innate misog-

impeccable midcentury style and an housewife who begins to suspect yny as a part of their society: ‘If I

atmosphere of moody, erotic menace. that all is not well in the glamorous don’t take up enough space, I won’t

“If you can make a comedy that paradise that she and her husband seem valuable.’ Actresses—highly

works, you tend to stay in that world, inhabit. Still, the seductions of her trained, highly valuable actresses—

because it can be incredibly lucra- world prove difficult to resist. “The have appeared in supporting roles in

tive,” Wilde tells me. But she wanted 1950s get this rap as a very controlled, countless films. We don’t think about

45

ON THE ROAD

Home? “Where is that?
Who knows anymore?”
says Wilde, in a Chanel
sleeveless jacket.

it in terms of, ‘My role is not as big
as his.’ It’s, ‘Oh, it’s a good role. It’s a
role where I have a brain.’”

Since the first indications that
they were a couple arose, Wilde and
Styles’s relationship has been sub-
jected to the glare of widespread
obsession, envy, and tabloid-fueled
cattiness. The celebrity press has been
particularly harsh on Wilde, profess-
ing to be scandalized that a woman
in her 30s should dare to find love
with a man 10 years younger. “It’s
obviously really tempting to correct
a false narrative,” Wilde says, with
rueful composure, when I ask if she’d
like to address the furor. “But I think
what you realize is that when you’re
really happy, it doesn’t matter what
strangers think about you. All that
matters to you is what’s real, and what
you love, and who you love.” Wilde
connects the uncommon attention
focused on her, a very famous per-
son, to the ordinary kind that all of
us face on social media. “In the past
10 years, as a society, we have placed
so much more value on the opinion
of strangers rather than the people
closest to us,” she says. But, she adds:
“I’m happier than I’ve ever been. And
I’m healthier than I’ve ever been,
and it’s just wonderful to feel that.”

And Wilde is happy: radiantly,
rapturously so. She tactfully avoids
naming Styles as the source of her
newfound joy (nor would her repre-
sentative confirm the relationship).
But ample evidence of the couple
canoodling, and of Wilde bopping
along in the audience at Styles’s
shows—a supporting role of her own,
and one that she clearly enjoys—can
speak for itself. There’s a playful
aspect to her discretion, suggesting
not so much a desire to conceal the
relationship as to nurture the priva-
cy that love needs to thrive. In any
case, it’s not hard to grasp whom she’s
referring to when she speaks, glowing-
ly, of the “friend” who accompanied
her on a recent trip to her parents’
home, that happened to coincide with
Styles’s tour date in D.C., or of the
“friend” who gave her the beaded
Éliou necklace she is wearing that
bears her kids’ names and matches
one that Styles is known to sport.

When Wilde and Styles vacationed
together this summer on a yacht in
Italy, headlines made it seem that

47

GAME FACE

“I never turn down
a dare,” says Wilde, in
a Louis Vuitton dress
and Celine sunglasses,
of her decision
to begin directing.

49

Wilde had all but abandoned her chil- “IT’S VERY EASY TO CONTROL WOMEN
dren to satisfy her own selfish needs. BY USING GUILT AND SHAME,
But Wilde sees her own well-being
as connected to that of her kids’. AND I HAVE NO TIME FOR MISPLACED
“Parenting forces you to be honest GUILT AND SHAME”
about how you live your life. It puts
in sharp, clear focus decisions you’re
making,”she tells me. “I think we owe
it to children to be happy. They sense
it. They’re so intuitive. The idea that
you can trick your kids into thinking
you’re happy is ludicrous.”And what,
she wonders, is really going on when
the outside world passes judgment on
how she—on how anyone—chooses
to live? “You can go deep on Cold
War influences on family structure,
why we all think we need, you know,
a two-parent household and a micro-
wave,” Wilde says. “It’s very easy to
control women by using guilt and
shame, and I have no time for mis-
placed guilt and shame. The work
I’ve done personally in the last decade
has been learning to have a voice, and
taking my voice seriously.”

The intimate relationships that
Wilde is eager to discuss are those
with her colleagues. She raves about
her Don’t Worry Darling team, which,
in addition to Silberman and Liba-
tique (who joined her in the California
desert for these images), includes the
costume designer Arianne Phillips
and the production designer Katie
Byron. Her enthusiasm for her col-
leagues’ work inspires a rare devotion.

“A lot of artists want to present a
new system for creating their work,
but Olivia actually embodies this
element of change,” Byron tells me.
“I think it comes from her own lev-
el of self-confidence, and her own
sensitivity and intellect.” Needless
to say, this is not the domineering old
Hollywood standard. “The craziest
thing that I noticed about working
with her is that we wanted to do our
best job out of love, instead of out of
fear,” Byron says.

Unsurprisingly, Wilde has a special
touch when it comes to directing oth-
er actors. “When you’re an actor, and
someone comes up to you and says it’s
not working,” says Beanie Feldstein,
“the first thing you start to do is feel
terrible about yourself and put up
your guard. But she knew exactly how
to talk to us, because she spoke to us
the way she wishes she was spoken to
in the past.” C O N T I N U E D O N PAG E 8 8

50

WILDE CHILD

Audiences “rarely see
female hunger, and
specifically…female

pleasure,” says Wilde.
She wears a Gucci

crystal top, leather top,
skirt, and choker. In

this story: hair, Edward
Lampley; makeup,
Grace Ahn. Details,
see In This Issue.

The Insider

Frances Haugen’s revelations about growth-at-
any-cost policies at Facebook have galvanized
the public. What happens now? Noreen Malone
reports. Photographed by Charlotte Hadden.

It’s early on a Tuesday night for antitrust regulation for years.
in October, and Frances “She wasn’t political. She was so
Haugen and I are at a bright firm in her own footing and purpose
restaurant in a dark corner of for being there. You can have all the
Old San Juan, Puerto Rico—a hearings we’ve had, but what she did
few blocks from the Castillo was really captivate the moms and
de San Cristóbal. No one here rec- dads of this country.”
ognizes her, even though she’s been
on every TV and across the internet Haugen then embarked on a tour,
for weeks. She’s telling me how, as a speaking to the British Parliament
product manager at Facebook, she and the European Parliament in
secretly gathered more than 20,000 Brussels. Facebook had faced tox-
scanned pages of internal corporate ic news cycles before, but Haugen’s
documents over the course of a few testimony seemed to leave the com-
months in 2021. “I was shocked I nev- pany reeling. At the end of October
er got caught,” the 37-year-old says. it announced a name change—to
“But no one was looking.” Meta—like Philip Morris, Monsanto,
and Blackwater before it.
Haugen’s leaks to The Wall Street
Journal detailed alarming problems Puerto Rico feels like a world apart
at Facebook (and Instagram, which from all of this, which is the point.
it owns, along with WhatsApp). The Haugen moved here in March, partly
platforms exacerbated body-image for the weather. She surfs and gets
issues among teenage girls, and helped her morning exercise snorkeling and
enable human trafficking in the Unit- watching the turtles go by. “I saw
ed Arab Emirates; vaccine misinfor- jellyfish for the first time today,” she
mation and hate speech were rampant, tells me, excited. It’s a far cry from the
and false narratives helped inflame airplane-hangar-like atmosphere of
everything from the January 6 Capitol Facebook’s Menlo Park headquar-
riots to ethnic violence in Ethiopia. ters, where she used to cover her legs
Much had come out in bits and pieces, with blankets against the arctic-blast
but the Journal’s reporting showed air-conditioning. The island was also
that Facebook was aware of its prob- appealing for its cryptocurrency
lems and had done little to fix them. community, which grew in the wake
of Hurricane Maria, when a critical
Haugen filed whistleblower com- mass of blockchain investors moved
plaints with the SEC, and testified here to create what they called “Puer-
before the Senate in October, spark- topia,”an alternative to Silicon Valley
ing rare bipartisanship that united with no federal income tax or capital
everyone from Republican Marsha gains taxes. Haugen, an early inves-
Blackburn of Tennessee to Democrat tor in a crypto startup, is expecting
Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. With a payout this year.
poise and clarity, Haugen explained
the algorithmic choices Facebook Facebook (which she left in May)
had made and suggested solutions was the fifth social network Haugen
for reform (forcing changes to that worked for. Prior to joining in 2019,
algorithm, not breaking up the com- she’d headed up search for Google+,
pany). “She was such a uniquely real worked on what would become the
and refreshing witness,” says Senator dating app Hinge while getting her
Klobuchar—who has been calling MBA at Harvard, did a tour of
duty at Yelp, and helped Pinterest

52