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That of which we do not speak ...

Fashion model Kim Noorda braved a year of emotional, mental and physical ups and downs and journaled her experiences for Vogue magazine.  This is a story that can't help but tear at the heartstrings.

When the beautiful dutch model began this process, she was, at five-feet-ten-inches tall, 110 pounds.

In January 2009, 22-year-old Kim Noorda visited the office of Vogue's Sally Singer to discuss her relationship with food. Kim had been identified by her agent at DNA as a worthy candidate for an intervention underwritten by the CFDA Health Initiative.

The CFDA Health Initiative was founded in 2007 to combat anorexia and bulimia in the fashion industry, to provide information and resources to models in the throes of these diseases, and, more generally, to change the aesthetic on the New York runways from extreme skinniness to a more realistic, fit ideal.

What appears below are excerpts from the article appearing now in the April 2010 issue of Vogue and also available online at Vogue.com.

~Sally Singer (Vogue)

She has a soulful grace to her, a certain introspective elegance that has endeared her to such houses as Balenciaga, Prada, and Chanel. But what was apparent by fall of 2008 was that Kim was now very thin—very thin for a statuesque Amsterdam beauty who should have been coming into her own as a woman instead of shrinking to the proportions of a naturally scrawny fourteen-year-old. Our goal, I told her, was to help her see how she could diminish the centrality of food in her thinking to ultimately have a richer and more fulfilling adult life, in and out of fashion—to, in a sense, learn to be “a little more.”  Kim agreed ... off she went to a four-week outpatient program at the Renfrew Center, a facility in New York (among other locales) that has for 25 years been treating patients with eating disorders through a multipronged therapeutic approach. This was the start of Kim Noorda’s journey of self-discovery and wellness.

January 2009
Yesterday I went to see my doctor for medical clearance. I told him that I did not have an eating disorder, but that I also believe that I do not take care of myself well enough and that I will learn something through the treatment. I am actually afraid of telling people that I am about to do this. I do not want people to see me as someone with an eating disorder. I want them to see the underlying reasons why I do not take good enough care of myself ... my BMI is too low.

I told her (the Renfrew nutritionist) I would try to agree to (gain one pound per week) because my agents have also told me that they would like me to gain an extra five pounds. She told me that five pounds is not that much, and probably no one would even see it. I told her that people in the fashion industry see every gram of fat. . . .


I have an appointment with the nutritionist and learn that I had lost weight. I was convinced that I had gained. That was the reason I had consciously started to eat less. Surreptitiously I felt somewhat relieved. According to the rules, she had to do a weight-gain contract with me with sanctions if I had not gained at least one pound per week. I was slightly upset.


February 2009
Every season I gained a little weight, and every time it felt like I was doing fewer shows. During the shows the pressure caused me to lose weight, and people complimented me on that.... Not a single person has told me that I have gained weight since the start of the shows. Not during the castings, and not even my European agent has said anything. Everything fit. This confused me, because I thought people could see every gram. Then again, no one has said that I look good, either, or commented on my appearance otherwise. When I started looking at pictures from the first show, there were still some things I disliked. My legs and cheeks have become fatter. I really need to do something about that. Exercises. On the Internet there are no positive reactions to how I looked.


Spring 2009
I avoid scales and mirrors. Only my jeans make me aware of my weight gain. My skin is getting worse; I don’t have my period (except that one time during the shows); I don’t fit into nice clothes, don’t sleep well. So what is good about it?

At the end of April I take a job in London and stay on an extra day for castings. I call up my friend Iekeliene, who lives there, and she invites me to come along on a trip to Devon in the camper van she and her boyfriend have just bought. We listen to music, go for walks in the countryside, and talk a lot about all sorts of things, including modeling (it is good to speak with someone who knows that world). Being with them on holiday shows me how relaxed and fun it can be having lunch or dinner all together.

Now I feel quite well in myself, but it has taken a while. There were things that made me start doubting myself again. For example, the Chanel cruise show. It was my first show since prêt-à-porter. I asked my agent several times if she was sure I could do the show given the way I now looked.... I was not 90 hips anymore. My agent called me back and said the 90 hips are a bit stupid. They were going to change it on all the girls’ cards to what it really was. At the show everyone was really nice, though. They specifically said I looked good like this. From then on I got more confident.




Summer 2009
I travel in and out of Amsterdam for jobs and quite like it this way. I go to Pilates weekly and go swimming.

I do work for three look books. At Alberta Ferretti I can’t help noticing or imagining that they think I’m too big. Not what they wanted. I just try to do my best. At Lanvin I get canceled on the second day; they want a blonder girl. Next is Givenchy, with two models who are a lot skinnier. I try, but the shoot does not seem to work..... Halfway through the day I wanted to leave and felt I really shouldn’t be there, being this size. So I apologized and left.


I did a lingerie shoot for Stella McCartney, which was something new to me. I had never dared to do something like that before. It was strange at first but fine after all. I was happy I was not so scared anymore.


Haute couture in Paris: I expected not to be booked at all. I rent a room with Iekeliene.... I admire how independent Iekeliene is, making her own decisions, looking after what she thinks is important.

Then, before the summer holiday starts, I fly to Milan for one more job. This worries me a little, since it is with a stylist who has always complimented me when I have been really skinny. Indeed, I feel she is not too happy with how I look now. The other model has some difficulty with weight as well. She seems not really happy and at one point asks me if I am happier “like this.” When I try to speak with her more directly about it, she stops the conversation. I got kind of sad about that.



Fall 2009
In New York I want to be enthusiastic about the shows, but I can’t seem to: I keep being unsure about my weight. By the end of it I want to go home. Skip London. But my agents advise me to go there. Then I let go again and just do my best.... Milan, The shows do not go great, and people definitely made me feel I was too big .... at Bottega I am offered the choice at seven in the morning to bleach my eyebrows or leave, I just want to go. I am crying.... I decide to watch my weight again a little.



~ Sally Singer

Just before Christmas, Kim does a flurry of work in London and Los Angeles. She studies for exams and then flies off to Thailand for a vacation with friends: “two vegetarians, one omnivore, one vegan.” When she returns, she feels “energetic and good”; she has not lost any weight.

January 2010
I was in doubt whether to write this article, thinking it should be a success story. The success is not that food and weight are never on my mind anymore, but that the influence of these thoughts has become a lot less. I watch my weight, but I do not want to compromise my health, or my happiness. ...  I see a lot more of my friends. It really feels like my life is getting some more shape.

 
The full feature article may be read in the current issue of Vogue.  You may also check out more on this feature online at Vogue.com.  It's a compelling, heartfelt and thought-provoking story for all women. 


source: vogue; images: fashionspot, style.com, rades

The September Issue offers unprecedented access to the inside world of Vogue. It documents extraordinary talent working under demanding circumstances to publish an editorial product that consistently delivers the uncompromising vision and creative rigor you have come to count on month after month.

Vogue has teamed up with Barnes & Noble to give away 50 DVD sets of an exclusive edition of The September Issue -- complete with 90 minutes of new footage, including never-before-seen scenes from the annual Met Ball -- the fashion party of the year.

Anne in a Marchesa organza-and-lace dress


Anne Hathaway is Vogue's January 2009 cover girl and feature editorial. Newly single, a vision of loveliness celebrating life and shopping until her heels can take no more, Sally Singer catches up with Hathaway in Oxford Circus, London; photographed by famed photographer Mario Testino.

"Look, she's buying cheap knickers!" somebody says. And, indeed, Hathaway is in the lingerie department, surveying the three-for-£7 panties in polka dots and funny florals—girly things. She's also interested in camisoles, jumpsuits (she tries on a strapless black corseted romper), and things that in her mind fall into the "lounge around" category. "No one lounges around cuter than Kate Hudson," she says. Hudson is her costar and a producer of Bride Wars, which opens this month. (Hudson says, "Annie would show up to work in the indie-mod thing that is her go-to. My go-to is jeans, Rick Owens, a blazer, and lots of bracelets. Hers is red sunglasses, tight black skinny jeans, shirt off the shoulder, cute beanie.")

Meanwhile, her ex is in the process of having his forthcoming look decided for him. The very next day, in fact, he will be sentenced to four and a half years in prison for conspiracy, wire fraud, and money laundering. He can expect a lot of lounging around in orange jumpsuits or gray scrubs. Hathaway is not interested in rehashing this chapter of her romantic life; she made light of it on Saturday Night Live, and that was all the public catharsis she needed. "I was a 21-year-old kid when I met him," she says. "It wasn't a huge, dramatic breakup. We were in the process of winding it down when he was arrested. I don't talk about this, except when I'm asked. It's not a part of my life anymore." She adds, "It's a complicated situation that has the ability to define me in ways I am not comfortable with."


Like pretty much anyone who emerges from a long relationship, Hathaway is in the process of redefining who she is. In the past few months (the split occurred last June), the actress has quite self-consciously sought to reimagine almost every aspect of her 26-year-old self. There's her new, stringier physique, achieved through strength training ("I'm proud of myself when I'm deep in a squat, pulling from my core"), dietary supplements, and kickboxing with David Kirsch, the maestro of celebrity slimness. There's her rediscovered commitment to vegetarianism—"I don't eat anything with a face" is her way of putting it—a pre-Raffaelloite choice she ditched because it was "easier for the lifestyle at that time." There's her new love of live music and festival-centric bands such as Death Cab for Cutie and TV on the Radio ("After my breakup happened, I thought, Concerts until the end of the year"). And there's her new quest for a better understanding of what is valuable: "I realized that the past five years of my life had been spent accumulating things I like but never asked if I love." Although she's referring specifically to her wardrobe, Hathaway exemplifies the notion that the material and the spiritual are far from distinct. What we buy and what we wear express otherwise intangible states of mind. "I'm looking for a pared-down truth," the actress says apropos of her wardrobe, and she's fully aware that her words have a wider resonance.


When Hathaway talks, her face talks as well. She has startlingly expressive eyes and an XXL mouth that flitters between the comic and the tragic in a single utterance. Jonathan Demme, who directed Hathaway in Rachel Getting Married, her most compelling dramatic performance, says, "She's like a human lava lamp. She makes you stay in touch with what's in her mind by what's on her face." Meryl Streep, her costar in The Devil Wears Prada, is "surprised that anyone was surprised by Annie [in Rachel]. To me, the immediacy and the freshness and the special quality of being reactive to all stimuli, blushes to bruises, was apparent in Prada, also in the Princess movies. She is also maybe the most beautiful creature on film right now. That's not her fault or her doing, but she does seem uncannily unaware of the fact, and you never catch her working it. That's just perfectly disarming and rare."


Hathaway herself is increasingly confident in her abilities on-screen. "Somewhere between Brokeback [Mountain] and Bride Wars, my learning curve became quite sharp." In Rachel Getting Married, she plays Kym, a charming, drug-addicted narcissist who almost derails her sister's wedding.


For Bride Wars, Hudson picked Hathaway as her matrimonial rival and BFF. "Annie walks this fine line between being unbelievably intelligent and well read in her manner and being this wild little girl," she says. "She's a mix between a thoroughbred—totally focused, on it, and in it—and a platypus, this quirky, funny, simple animal."



Will she find the right man? You live and you learn. Last spring, Hathaway bought branches of cherry blossom at the Union Square Greenmarket. "They lasted a month and were beautiful even as they died." She came back from a weekend to find that Follieri, who always liked things "fancier and perfect," had instructed the maid to throw the branches out. This was the moment when she knew that "we saw things differently."


After Topshop, it's off to Dover Street Market. Hathaway loves London, where she once spent a summer and "discovered the wonderful country of Mango." But Dover Street Market is new to her. It's the Comme des Garçons-owned, hypercurated acme of high fashion and high miscellanea. Hathaway is blown away: "I am really going to embarrass myself today! I'm treating myself to something I should have treated myself to a year ago." The salespeople want her to try on a high-collared, full-skirted leather Alaïa coat: "Meryl would love this," Hathaway says, grinning hugely.


Then we come to a vintage Diane von Furstenberg sleeveless wrap dress in aqua jersey with shoulder ties and fluttery edges; it and she look adorable and flirty. "I can go on a date in this," says Hathaway, giving a little twirl. "Oh, my God. That's such a weird thought."

On a sunny, mid-November day in downtown Los Angeles, photographer Mario Testino, Vogue fashion director Tonne Goodman, makeup artist Gucci Westman and hairstylist Bob Recine set out to capture actress Anne Hathaway for their January cover. They scrapped their original styling plan and opted for a cream Prada halter dress, sheer toffee toned lips - a sfoter side of Hathaway to contrast with the graphic urban backdrop.

• Lancôme Le Crayon Kohl in Black Lapis - $23.50
• Lancôme Photogenic Lumessence Light-Mastering and Line Smoothing Makeup - $40
• Lancôme L'Absolu Rouge Lipstick in Voile de Rose - $29

For a light swipe of chocolate gloss to finish the look, consider Lancôme's Color Fever Plumping Gloss is Souffle' or Juicy Tubes Chic Delights in Crème de Cassis

Vogue also recommends these products for a similar look:

• MAC Eye Kohl in Smolder - $14.50 and Mark Eyemarker in Jet - $5.50
• MAC Studio Fix Liquid - $26 and Mark Face Xpert Flawless Touch Makeup - $8
• MAC Satin Lipstick in Brave - $14 and Mark Dew Drenched Moisturlicious Lip Color in Pink Posy - $6
  

For more of the story on Anne Hathaway, the Vogue photo shoot, her video diary and more, visit Style.com. Pick up the January issue of Vogue magazine for even more.


source: style.com

For Jennifer Aniston's December Vogue magazine cover, makeup artist extraordinaire Gucci Westman and hairstylist Chris McMillan created a beachy look for the California-girl on a private beach in Malibu. Fashion director Tonne Goodman chose a ruby red Narciso Rodriguez dress for the cover. Westman helped Aniston relax before the shoot by applying a calming, soothing facial mask to her skin.

For Aniston's fresh, glowing look, Westman blended a cream bonzer with bright pink blush to warm up her face. Using as little makeup as possible, Westman swiped the same bronzer she used on Aniston's skin and cheeks onto her lids and undereye area; a touch of black mascara applied to the roots of her lashes accentuated Aniston's baby blues against the warm earth toned palette. A dab of concealer to lighten and define her mouth, then a sheer berry balm atop her lips completed the look.

• L'Oréal Brow Stylist 3-in-1 tool in medium dark brown, $12.99
• L'Oréal Glam Bronze bronzing powder in Seductive Sunset, $12.99
• L'Oréal HiP Jelly Balm in Luscious, $9
  

• Dior Powder Eyebrow Pencil in brown, $25, and Physicians Formula Organic Wear Origin Eyeshadow Duo in Brown Eyes, $7.95
• Dior Bronze Matte Sunshine SPF 20 in Healthy Matte, $40, and Physicians Formula Organic Care Bronzer in Healthy Glow, $13.95
• Dior Addict High Shine in Raspberry Rush, $25, and Physicians Formula Organic Wear Natural Origin Lip Veil in Organic Spice, $7.95

source: style.com

Reese Witherspoon is Vogue magazine's November 2008 feature story. Elegant, lively, and with new romance happiness, shown here in the City of Light, Reese lives out a fashion fantasy. Photographed by Mario Testino and story by Robert Sullivan, here's more than a glimpse into this fresh-faced actress.

Cut to Paris—not just any Paris but the very center, the Place de la Concorde, where Reese Witherspoon is the American of note, or at least the best-dressed American in the vast statue- and fountain-filled square. It's the day after Bastille Day, and the city is winding down from its national celebration under a blue summer sky. A small flock of tourists and the lunchtime rush of mopeds and miniature Mercedes-Benzes pass beneath the lingering lazy red, white, and blue flags. Now slowly zoom in on the Hôtel de Crillon's Marie Antoinette suite—where the queen took piano lessons until she lost her head out in the square—ornamented with beautiful tapestries and Corinthian columns. Then pan left to take in the view: the Tuileries garden, the Eiffel Tower, and, beyond the River Seine, the Palais Bourbon—an iconic vista that Reese Witherspoon slips into perfectly, first in a Nina Ricci dress that seems designed for her because it was, and then in a bustier-based Alexander McQueen concoction that makes her look like a queen. Not a let-them-eat-cake kind of queen. Quite the opposite. Reese is obsessed with the women (and men) on the Paris street, observing them as if they were the film stars. "People are so chic here!" she had said the previous day, sitting at a café before taking a stroll. "Everyone has so much personal style, I want to take pictures!"

These days, Reese's own star is in alignment, in part because of her range as an actress. After last year's thriller Rendition, she's returned to romantic comedy in Four Christmases, costarring with Vince Vaughn in a role that reminds us that Reese Witherspoon is the kind of star we like to think of as being just like us: hardworking, from a small town, with a young family, a star who considers herself lucky to be a star, as we'd like to think we would—even though, believe it or not, it's a lot of work being a star. But will she maintain her trademark humble grace even here, in Paris, striking a pose of extreme elegance, as if the idea of fashion had been dreamed up with her in mind?

The answer: yes. When she pauses for a moment to look behind her, she mentally gulps. "I'd never been to the Crillon," she says shortly afterward, "and the view is just so striking. Every once in a while you're hit with moments when you think, Really? This is my life? How lucky am I?"

Vaughn says he discovered early on how easy his costar was to work with, despite what you may have read in the tabloids about their incompatibility. "She was great," he says. "She's just a great actor and can do a variety of things and do them well, whether it was physical comedy or more character-driven comedy or more dramatic stuff—she's just a very talented actress." He adds, "She's extremely in touch with herself. I don't really think there's anything she can't do."

Her work for the Children's Defense Fund and, more recently, for Avon—she is the first-ever Avon Global Ambassador—concerns women's rights, as she sees it. In the case of Avon, she's supporting an entrepreneurial version of micro-loans for women building financial networks around the globe—"whether it's a woman in Texas getting a college education because she got the money to cover a baby-sitter while she goes to school," she says, "or a woman in a village in Africa who has surpassed all expectations by creating a little network of salespeople within her community. The more work I've done with children around the world, the more I realize the way to help them is by empowering women, creating financial opportunities, and that's something Avon is very dedicated to."

In the meantime, a romantic comedy about the children of divorce appeals to her for other reasons, related to her own life: She recently finalized her divorce from Ryan Phillippe, whom she met during the filming of Cruel Intentions in 1999. "There are so many dynamics that people deal with all the time, and you don't really see it in movies very much," Reese says. "You don't see the blended-family Christmas very much. And it really is a complication in a lot of people's lives now. How do you see your mother and your father and not hurt anyone's feelings? You know, I didn't grow up like that. I mean, my parents are still married, and my grandparents stayed married, but it's a situation my own children will have to deal with, so it was of interest to me."

Romantic comedy suits her fine at the moment, generally speaking, from the vantage point of a single working mom—or a single-at-the-moment mom. And when she talks about why, you start to hear the part of Reese Witherspoon that her fans identify with, the Reese who understands that life isn't just about standing in the Hôtel de Crillon. "I have to be honest with you," she says. "Comedy is what I want to see at the movies these days. Life is frickin' hard, man. I want to go to the movies and see people happy and enjoying themselves and having some fun. I've made other kinds of movies, for sure. But it's pretty apparent to me that's what people want. That's what I want. I enjoy those kinds of movies."


Reese with Olivier Theyskens in Paris

On a more recent trip to Paris, she stopped in at Rochas and met Olivier Theyskens, then its artistic director, who was about to be named head of Nina Ricci. Every Oscar winner knows that if you need perfect clothes before you win an Oscar, you need them even more so afterward—and she couldn't go through another vintage ordeal. Every newly named artistic director of a fashion house in Paris knows he needs a huge Hollywood actress. Thus a fashion match was made in Heaven—or in Paris, at least."When I met her at Rochas, it was not the right fit," Olivier says. "But when I started at Ricci, I had a strong feeling about her being a real Ricci girl, and I showed her some drawings and she was really willing. She has been very willing. She has been cool."

Along the Avenue Montaigne again, this time at Theyskens's atelier, where Reese is dressed in a bustier-like Nina Ricci dress that, aside from being sexy, is a work of art. The mirrors of Theyskens's office have become a spiraling prism of Reese Witherspoon in black, complemented by Olivier's long, raven-black hair. She is talking about dinner the night before, when her boyfriend, Jake Gyllenhaal (who dropped by during makeup), wrote cute remarks in the restaurant's guest book (something about French melons), which his girlfriend found charming, her smile now bubbling like champagne in a black crepe flute. "He wrote, 'Vive la France!' " she says, laughing. Ah, Paris and love!

Reese likes to talk about her kids, but she doesn't have to. People can tell how she feels. "The thing I really respect a lot about Reese is that she's a great mom," says Vince Vaughn. "She was just great with her kids when they came to the set. She'd make time for them, and you could tell by the way they acted that they were very comfortable and loving with her."

As far as the boyfriend goes, she doesn't like to talk about him so much, and it can make you feel a little tabloid about asking. She will tell you that she was with the guy she'd rather not blab about some weeks earlier—in Rome, speaking of beautiful cities—and that one night they went out to see the Trevi Fountain. It was late, it was beautiful, and she threw a coin in and made a wish. What did she wish for? Come on. Do you really think she's going to tell you that? "If I tell you," she says, "it won't come true."



Makeup Artist Linda Cantello wanted Reese's skin to give off a soft, peachy blush, so she opted for a cream blend with pink undertones mixed with a dab of sheer foundation to accomplish the barely-there healthy glow. She chose a sheer, champage cream shadow for eyes to render a subtle, shimmery finish and black mascara to define the eyes. Cantello used a clear, true red without too much blue or orange to give high-impact color while complementing Witherspoon's skin tone.

• Avon Glazewear Diamonds Eye Color in Bronze Shimmer—$8
• Avon Be Blushed cheek color in Powder Pink—$8
• Avon Pro-to-Go lipstick in Party Rouge—$7.99
  

• Kevyn Aucoin Essential Eyeshadow single in Oro - $28, and Sonia Kashuk Eye Shadow Duo in Razzle Dazzle - $7.99
• Kevyn Aucoin Bliss Creamy Moist Glow - $24, and Sonia Kashuk Crème Blush in Rosey - $8.99
• Kevyn Aucoin Expert Lip Tint in Principessa - $23, and Sonia Kashuk Dual Ended Sheer Lip Color and Plumping Glossy Tint in Paradise - $11.99

For more of the story on Reese, the Vogue photo shoot, her video diary and more, visit Style.com. Pick up the November issue of Vogue magazine for even more.

source: style.com

Rachel Weisz is Vogue magazine's October 2008 feature story. Gorgeous, gifted, and charming, she's the most interesting girl-next-door you'll ever meet. Photographed by Craig McDean and story by Eva MacSweeney, here's more than a glimpse into this exotic starlett.

For an idiosyncratic soul, what better place for British-born Weisz to put down roots with her fiancé, director Darren Aronofsky, and Henry, their two-year-old son? Gazing up from the table and out through the window of the restaurant, she points to a building across the street. "Just looking over there, it says, 'Polish and Slavic Center,' " she observes, reading its low-tech sign. "Everyone talks about how New York used to be. The East Village is how I imagine New York used to be. What's happening behind that door? There are just very authentic little pockets of life going on."

An actress's job, of course, involves the pursuit of authenticity in no small measure, and Weisz seems to be constantly looking for stories with which to feed her inner world. She recently returned from five months on the island of Malta, a stand-in for fourth-century Alexandria in the historical drama Agora, directed by the young Chilean director Alejandro Amenábar, who made The Others, with Nicole Kidman (his only previous English-language movie), and the highly acclaimed The Sea Inside, with Javier Bardem. She plays Hypatia, a scholar determined to prove that the Earth is not the center of the solar system; lest it sound too much like an astronomy lesson, the film is also, says Weisz, "a thriller and a love story and a tale of obsession."

Before that, she made Peter Jackson's film adaptation of Alice Sebold's best-selling novel The Lovely Bones. (Both movies will be released next year.) As Abigail Salmon, the mother of the murdered teenager who narrates the story, Weisz took on a harrowing role, but one whose complexity beguiled her. "What I love about it is that here's this woman who has tragedy befall her, and she does not deal with it heroically at all. She just completely and utterly falls apart at the seams. She does everything horrible that is possible: She leaves her family, has an affair with the detective. But I feel like she's human, and that's what fascinates me the most about her." It would be hard for anyone, particularly a mother, to imagine her child the victim of a homicide, but, says Jackson, "Rachel is able to project that rare combination of strength and vulnerability. She carries the audience with her, even if it requires her to journey to some dark places emotionally, and she is fearless in her ability to go to the heart of any moment."



The films Weisz makes are all the more precious to her now that she has had to cut down her workload in order to accommodate Aronofsky's career and take care of her son. "Things get more complicated when you have a child," she says. "We can't both be working at the same time."

Thirty-seven-year-old Weisz is slender and pale-skinned, with strongly defined dark eyebrows that lend an exotic flourish to her beauty. (Her parents are of Central European origin.) She is wearing a pretty vintage Ossie Clark dress. "I used to buy my Ossie Clark at the market at Cambridge in the early nineties for ten quid," she recalls wistfully of her student days. "This one came from a specialist site on the Internet."

Low-key or not, Weisz suddenly stops, and a moment of drama ensues. "Oh!" she says. "Oh! I'm in shock! This is Decibel, the sake bar. I had no idea it was here!" Decibel, it turns out, was a milestone in her romance with Aronofsky, whom she met seven years ago backstage at a theater. She went there once, long before she lived in the neighborhood, and, as if it were Shangri-la, didn't know how to find it again. "Darren and I had one of our best early dates there. I can't believe it's here!" These are the kinds of surprises and connections that pop up on every corner of the East Village. As we turn into a cross street where every second building appears to be embellished with the trappings of one religious denomination or another, she stops in her tracks once again. "The Church of Saint Cyril…," she reads from an inscription. "Oh, my God!!! Saint Cyril—that is so interesting!" Quite what is so extraordinary about this obscure saint isn't clear until Weisz explains that Saint Cyril is a character in Agora. "He was declared a saint by the Catholic Church, but in the film, he was a bad guy. Whoo, that gave me the shivers."

Weisz, it turns out, had her own early fashion moment when she won a "young models" competition at age thirteen for the London-based Harpers & Queen, which happened to be judged by Vogue's European Editor at Large, Hamish Bowles, in a previous incarnation as a fashion editor at the British magazine. "She was an absolute tearing beauty," Bowles recalls. "A dash of Brooke Shields in Pretty Baby, with strong brows and a perfect Edwardian face." The contest led to a contract for Weisz with the elite agency Models One and summer vacations spent earning pocket money in unusually glamorous ways.

For the Octboer 2008 cover, Vogue used products by Maybelline:

• Maybelline Define-a-Line in Slate Gray, $5.50
• Maybelline Mineral Powder Naturally Luminous Blush in Gentle Pink, $9
• Maybelline Moisture Extreme Lipstick in Berry Sorbet, $7

Vogue recommends these products for a similar look:

• Urban Decay Powder Blush in Quickie, $17, and The Body Shop Cheek Bloom 01, $24
• Urban Decay Liquid Liner in Oil Slick, $18, and The Body Shop Eye Definer in Slate, $16
• Urban Decay Lipstick in Hot Pants, $22, and The Body Shop Lip Gloss in Dot 03, $10
  

For the full story on Rachel, the Vogue photo shoot, her video diary and more, visit Style.com. Pick up the October issue of Vogue magazine for even more.

source: Style.com, photos: JustJared and Style

Keira Knightley with a cross-section of the artists who currently make the German capital the epicenter of the art world. From left to right: Thomas Zipp, Thomas Helbig, Andreas Golder, Markus Selg, and Andro Wekua. Louis Vuitton chiffon layered dress. photo: Mario Testino


In the September 2008 edition of Vogue magazine, the much-anticipated fall fashion issue, we're treated to a spread featuring the fair Miss K. Actress Keira Knightley explores Berlin's vibrant art scene in looks that reflect the capital city itself: cosmopolitan, forward-thinking, and übermodern. Makeup Artist Gucci Westman considers Knightley to be one of the few leading ladies In Hollywood who is truly down-to-earth and always present and involved with the shoot." Gucci used Chanel to enhance Keira's already beautiful facial canvas.

Symphony Space
Creative minds are ever pushing boundaries; both Keira Knightley's avant-garde heels and the steel forms in sculptural installation artist Katja Strunz's studio are like nothing we've seen before. Knightley stars in The Duchess, out this month. Prada bronze guipure-lace dress, black collar, Plexiglas necklace, bag, and shoes.

Spot Treatment
Sleek as a Fassbinder heroine, Knightley still exudes the trait the infamous cineaste sought in his leading ladies: highly stylized glamour. Michael Kors cheetah-print bolero and pencil skirt. Prada ginger lace blouse and silk-stretch collar. Valextra crocodile bag. Louis Vuitton platform wedges.

Heels!
Knightley learns just who's walking whom outside Neue Nationalgalerie, designed by Mies van der Rohe. Ralph Lauren Collection charcoal coat. Prada clementine guipure-lace skirt. Patricia Underwood for Ralph Lauren leopard-print beret. Louis Vuitton peep-toe pumps.

Portrait of a Lady
Knightley clutches a likeness of her by Munich-born artist Andreas Hofer in the artist's studio. Thakoon lime-and-black plaid chiffon dress. Andreas Hofer/Gabi Dziuba brooch. Marni belt. Carolina Amato gloves.

Exhibit A
Conceptual artist Anselm Reyle created both Knightley's antic headpiece and the bronze sculpture Untitled (foreground) in his studio. Balenciaga by Nicolas Ghesquière black wool-crepe molded dress, strass necklace, bracelets, and d'Orsay stilettos.

• Chanel Ombre Essentielle Soft Touch Eyeshadow in Mahogany, $28.50
• Chanel Mat Lumière Long Lasting Soft Matte Makeup SPF 15, $52
• Chanel Rouge Allure lipstick in Enthusiast, $30
  

• Smashbox Eye Shadow in Rapture, $16, and Revlon ColorStay Mineral Eye Shadow, $8.50
• Smashbox Sheer Focus Tinted Moisturizer in Luminous, $30, and Revlon ColorStay Mineral Foundation, $13.99
• Smashbox Photo Finish Lipstick in Legendary, $30, and Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick Crème in Love That Red, $7.99

source: Style