104 Pages • 19,680 Words • PDF • 28.1 MB
+ Allure
Uploaded at 2021-06-30 16:23
Report DMCA
PREVIEW PDF
THE NEW NAKED 76
IN LIVING COLOR
A playful pink stripe is just the beginning. For fashion credits, see Shopping Guide.
38 Naked Person. It’s more than just a state of (un)dress— it’s a state of being. 40 Truth Serum. In the Next 10 Minutes You Will Tell 3 Lies. Three experts weigh in on truth, secrets, and alternative facts. 46 Body Hair: A Retrospective. The history of the hair below our heads. 50 Background Beauty. Two women work magic with needles. 4 ALLURE THE NEW NAKED 2018
TANYA AND ZHENYA POSTERNAK
NEWS & TRENDS 22 Oral History. Then We Got Naked. The story of the world’s most famous eye palette.
94
HEAD GIRL
{ THE NEW NAKED }
Model Manami Kinoshita finds strength in her buzz cut.
62 Perspective. Reading Lines. Why are we so obsessed with getting rid of stretch marks? BEAUT Y REP ORTER 25 A Microcurrent Device to Tone Your Skin 26 Sexy, Musky New Fragrances 28 A Razor That Swings Both Ways • Oil-Free Makeup Remover for Oil-Based Eye Makeup • Rose-Quartz Hair Color 30 Fearless Lip Colors From Fenty Beauty • Lipstick Tubes as Pretty as What’s Inside 32 Seriously Hydrating Creams for Winter 34 The Latest From the Field of Body Contouring 36 Cate Blanchett on the Sex Appeal of a Good Scent and More 6 ALLURE THE NEW NAKED 2018
F E AT U R E S 68 Waiting for Dakota. Dakota Johnson has a lot to say about movies, nudity, and bravery. Just don’t let her drive you anywhere. By Brennan Kilbane 76 Louder and Clearer. You can go naked, or you can go naked in full Technicolor. 84 Losing Clothes, Finding Zen. Brennan Kilbane strips down at the enigmatic Esalen Institute. 90 Screen Saver. Molly Young puts down her iPhone and checks in to Internet rehab. 94 Now You See It... Seven women talk about their decision to shave it all off. REGULARS 12 Cover Look 16 Editor’s Letter 18 Beauty by Numbers 102 Shopping Guide 104 My Dream Kit. Figure skater Ashley Wagner’s bag of tricks.
ON THE COVER Dakota Johnson’s look can be re-created with the following: Lustrous Glow Foundation in 30, Magnetic Color Shadow Quad in Rose Quartz, Sleek Contouring Lip Pencil in Rose Dragée, and Sensuous Deep-Matte Lipstick in Blossom by Gucci. Dries Van Noten dress. Carine Gilson bra and underwear. Jennifer Behr earrings. Details, see Shopping Guide. Photographed by Petra Collins. Fashion stylist: Stella Greenspan. Hair: Tamara McNaughton. Makeup: Emi Kaneko. Manicure: Ashlie Johnson. Prop stylist: Natalie Ziering. Production: Holly Gore for Rosco Production.
SØLVE SUNDSBØ
59 Phenomenon. Truth Be Told. The new frontier of beauty is understanding what you’re putting on your face.
CREATIVE DIRECTOR MARIE SUTER
EXECUTIVE EDITOR DANIELLE PERGAMENT
B E AU T Y EXECUTIVE BEAUT Y DIRECTOR JENNY BAILLY
“
My signature scent— I’d rather call in sick and not have human contact until I smell like I always do.”
DEPUT Y BEAUT Y DIRECTOR ELIZABETH SIEGEL SENIOR BEAUT Y EDITOR JESSICA CHIA SENIOR WRITER BRENNAN KILBANE BEAUT Y ASSISTANT KATHLEEN SUICO
V I S UA LS VISUALS DIRECTOR RHIANNA RULE BOOKINGS DIRECTOR RO PENULIAR SENIOR VISUALS EDITOR JACQUELINE LADNER VISUALS EDITORS JAMES CLARIZIO, NOELLE LACOMBE ASSOCIATE VISUALS EDITORS HANNAH CHOI, DANA DAVENPORT ASSISTANT VISUALS EDITOR PAIGE VITI
R E S E A RC H RESEARCH DIRECTOR LORI SEGAL RESEARCH MANAGERS AMBER ANGELLE, CRISTINA RIVERA
MANAGING EDITOR AMANDA MEIGHER
DIGITAL EDITORIAL DIRECTOR PHILLIP PICARDI
FAS H I O N FASHION DIRECTOR NICOLE CHAPOTEAU SENIOR ACCESSORIES EDITOR MARIKO SUZUKI ASSOCIATE FASHION EDITOR MARION B. KELLY II
A RT I C L E S ASSOCIATE EDITOR LOREN SAVINI EDITORIAL ASSISTANT JESA MARIE CALAOR
A RT SENIOR ART DIRECTORS NICOLE ARGENTO, ERIN HOVER ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR KATELYN BAKER DIGITAL DESIGNER MARIA ASARE-BOADI JUNIOR DESIGNER CORINNA BOURKE
“
A good body oil. I feel like a saltine without it.”
P RO D U CT I O N DEPUT Y MANAGING EDITOR NICOLE STUART DEPUT Y PRODUCTION DIRECTOR MATT CARSON PRODUCTION MANAGER BRENT BURKET
C O PY COPY DIRECTOR CATHERINE GAMBRELL COPY MANAGERS AURA DAVIES, LESLIE LIPTON
A L LU R E .C O M DEPUT Y DIGITAL EDITOR SAM ESCOBAR DIGITAL DEPUT Y BEAUT Y DIRECTOR SOPHIA PANYCH DIGITAL BEAUT Y EDITOR SABLE YONG DIGITAL WELLNESS EDITOR HAYLEY MACMILLEN DIGITAL EDITORS JIHAN FORBES, SARAH KINONEN DIGITAL PRODUCTION MANAGER MONICA PERRY
“
I just don’t look right without blush.”
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, VIDEO MAYA MARGOLINA BEAUT Y REPORTER DEVON ABELMAN SENIOR VIDEO PRODUCER CAROLINE PRAGER CONRAD COMMERCE VIDEO PRODUCER ZACHARY CLAUSE ASSOCIATE DIGITAL EDITOR KALEIGH FASANELLA DIGITAL EDITORIAL ASSISTANT SHAMMARA LAWRENCE PRODUCT MANAGER CHELSEA FARNAM ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT LINDSAY SANSONE
SOCIAL SENIOR SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER RAWAN EEWSHAH COMMERCE COMMUNIT Y MANAGER LAUREN SWANSON ASSOCIATE SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER LARA ADEKOLA
CONTRIBUTING EDITORIAL PROJECTS DIRECTOR PATRICIA ALFONSO TORTOLANI CONTRIBUTING EDITORS JILLIAN DEMPSEY, DAVID DENICOLO, MEIRAV DEVASH, JOLENE EDGAR, FRANCIS KURKDJIAN, BROOKE LE POER TRENCH, JAIME MARSANICO, CHRIS McMILLAN, JANET MOCK, LIANA SCHAFFNER
ENTERTAINMENT AND SPECIAL PROJECTS DIRECTOR ALISON WARD FRANK ENTERTAINMENT ASSOCIATE MAXWELL LOSGAR SPECIAL PROJECTS EDITOR MEGAN SALERNO ASSISTANT BUSINESS MANAGER TAYLOR SHEA
FO U N D I N G E D I TO R LINDA WELLS
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR ANNA WINTOUR
“
Definitely concealer— even on my best skin days, I get some redness.”
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: IMAGE STOCK/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO; JOSEPHINE SCHIELE; CLAIRE BENOIST; TOM GORMAN
WHAT PRODUCT DO YOU FEEL NAKED WITHOUT?
EDITOR IN CHIEF MICHELLE LEE
CHIEF INDUSTRY OFFICER, BEAUTY/HEAD OF REVENUE LUCY KRIZ VPS–REVENUE TANYA AMINI, LAUREN KAMEN, HEDDY SAMS PIERSON VP–FINANCE & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CHRISTINE DIPRESSO MORRA
A DV E RT I S I N G SALES DIRECTOR FOR COLLECTION ABIGAIL BREENE EXECUTIVE ACCOUNT DIRECTORS DORENE BAIR, DEBORAH B. BARON, CHAD CARR, KIM CONWAY HALEY, KELSEY KIRSCH, LAUREN DECKER LERMAN, ELIZABETH MARVIN SENIOR ACCOUNT DIRECTORS CARLY GRESH, BRIDGET QUIRK ACCOUNT DIRECTOR ALEXANDRIA HAUGHEY ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE CASEY TROTTA EXECUTIVE ASSISTANTS RACHEL HERRING, JAY R. MALSKY SALES ASSOCIATES TYLER BARBIAUX, SARAH BARRECA, MANUELA BONGIORNO, GIULIA GIACOBELLI, SYDNE KILBERG, SUE WARDA
MARKETING VPS, MARKETING JENNY RYAN BOWMAN, JILL STEINBACH FRIEDSON EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, BRAND MARKETING CAMILLE SIGNORELLI SENIOR DIRECTORS, BRAND MARKETING STEFENI BELLOCK, TONI NICOLINO DIRECTOR, BRAND MARKETING KATIE MACK
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: JOSEPHINE SCHIELE; JEFFREY WESTBROOK; GRAHAM POLLACK (PROP STYLIST: JENNY WICHMAN)
ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS, BRAND MARKETING KERRI-ANN OGRUDEK, BETHANY VERDONE MANAGERS, BRAND MARKETING ABBY ADESANYA, SAMANTHA FOX, HALEY HOOVER ASSOCIATE, BRAND MARKETING KATE SIENKO DIRECTOR, MARKETPLACE STRATEGY JENNIFER FRIEDMAN PEREZ ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, MARKETPLACE STRATEGY CARA WOLF ERWIN ASSOCIATE, MARKETPLACE STRATEGY MARGARET HALL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MARKETPLACE STRATEGY (BEAUTY BOX) LEAH ASHLEY
“
My eyelashes are invisible without mascara.”
MANAGER, MARKETPLACE STRATEGY (BEAUTY BOX) NICOLE SAFIR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, EXPERIENCES ERIN BRENNAN SENIOR DIRECTOR, EXPERIENCES JENNIFER MA DIRECTOR, EXPERIENCES CHRIS MANCIVALANO
BRANCH OFFICES EXECUTIVE ACCOUNT DIRECTOR, SAN FRANCISCO JOSIAH BUNTING EXECUTIVE ACCOUNT DIRECTORS, MIDWEST CHRISTINA KROLOPP, ANGIE PACKARD PRENDERGAST EXECUTIVE ACCOUNT DIRECTORS, LOS ANGELES EZRA SEAN ALVAREZ, DAWN SHAPIRO SENIOR ACCOUNT DIRECTOR, LOS ANGELES KAYTE BENEDICT EXECUTIVE ACCOUNT DIRECTOR, BOSTON & CARIBBEAN KRISTIN HAVENS ACCOUNT DIRECTORS, ITALY LAURA BOTTA, ENRICA MANELLI SOUTHEAST PETER ZUCKERMAN, Z MEDIA, 305-532-5566 TEXAS CAROL CONTESTABILE, LEWIS STAFFORD COMPANY, 972-960-2889 PARIS SELIM MATARACI, 331 4478 0062
B U S I N E SS SENIOR DIRECTOR, FINANCE TOM MORRIS FINANCE DIRECTOR JESSICA GIVNER LEVINE
“
ASSOCIATE FINANCE DIRECTOR NILSA SERRATA SENIOR BUSINESS DIRECTORS SHERRI GINSBERG, KAREN MANVILLE SENIOR DIRECTOR, BUSINESS JENNIFER JACKSON ASSOCIATE BUSINESS MANAGER CHARLOTTE KWON BUSINESS ASSOCIATE CAROLINE GRANGER
D I G I TA L P L A N N I N G & ST R AT EGY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, BRAND MARKETING ED SUMNER DIRECTOR, DIGITAL SALES OPERATIONS ASHLEY TABROFF DIGITAL ACCOUNT MANAGERS KIM FEENEY, GINNY LASKOWSKI DIGITAL SALES PLANNER JENNIFER BRENNAN DIGITAL CAMPAIGN MANAGERS KATE LINDE, CHRISTINA NO, CHRISTINA TUOHY
A RT DESIGN DIRECTOR MARIS BODELL
ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS, EXPERIENCES SAMANTHA DANA, NATALIE GREENFIELD MANAGER, EXPERIENCES JULIA MERENDA BRANDED CONTENT VIDEO PRODUCER JOANNE PARK MARKETING ASSOCIATE, EXPERIENCES MORIAH RAPAPORT
P U B L I S H E D BY C O N D É N AST
C O N D É N AST E N T E RTA I N M E N T
CHAIRMAN EMERITUS S.I. NEWHOUSE, JR. PRESIDENT & CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER ROBERT A. SAUERBERG, JR. CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER DAVID E. GEITHNER CHIEF REVENUE & MARKETING OFFICER PAMELA DRUCKER MANN EVP/CHIEF DIGITAL OFFICER FRED SANTARPIA
PRESIDENT DAWN OSTROFF EVP/GENERAL MANAGER–DIGITAL VIDEO JOY MARCUS EVP/CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER SAHAR ELHABASHI EVP–MOTION PICTURES JEREMY STECKLER EVP–ALTERNATIVE TV JOE LABRACIO
CHIEF HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICER JOANN MURRAY CHIEF COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER CAMERON R. BLANCHARD CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER EDWARD CUDAHY EVP–CONSUMER MARKETING MONICA RAY CHIEF EXPERIENCE OFFICER JOSH STINCHCOMB CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER, INDUSTRY SALES, CONDÉ NAST LISA VALENTINO SVP–FINANCIAL PLANNING & ANALYSIS SUZANNE REINHARDT SVP–LICENSING CATHY HOFFMAN GLOSSER SVP–RESEARCH & ANALYTICS STEPHANIE FRIED SVP–DIGITAL OPERATIONS LARRY BAACH SVP–HUMAN RESOURCES REBECCA SACHS GENERAL MANAGER–DIGITAL MATTHEW STARKER HEAD CREATIVE DIRECTOR RAÚL MARTINEZ
I’ve been wearing tinted moisturizer since college. We’ve been through a lot of acne together.”
EVP–CNÉ STUDIOS AL EDGINGTON SVP–MARKETING & PARTNER MANAGEMENT TEAL NEWLAND
C O N D É N AST I N T E R N AT I O N A L CHAIRMAN & CHIEF EXECUTIVE JONATHAN NEWHOUSE PRESIDENT WOLFGANG BLAU
Condé Nast is a global media company producing premium content for more than 263 million consumers in 30 markets. CONDENAST.COM CONDENASTINTERNATIONAL .COM
“
Lip balm. It’s the first thing I put on in the morning.”
WHAT PRODUCT DO YOU FEEL NAKED WITHOUT?
CHIEF BUSINESS OFFICER ALISON MOORE
Left: Johnson (left) and Collins (far right) appear together in a Gucci Bloom ad. Below: a snapshot of the set.
Brock Collection dress. Van Cleef & Arpels earrings. Details, see Shopping Guide.
Left: Gucci Magnetic Color Shadow Quad in Rose Quartz.
DAKOTAJOHNSON
BEHIND THE SCENES AT ALLURE’S COVER SHOOT. For Johnson’s ethereal photo shoot, the makeup was inspired by the Beverly Hills mansion that served as the backdrop. “After seeing the floral-wallpapered rooms, the word ‘painting’ kept coming up,” said makeup artist Emi Kaneko. “There was also a floral arrangement with the most beautiful colors. I decided to mimic those pink and peach tones with the makeup, especially for her lips.” Kaneko painted on Gucci Sleek Contouring Lip Pencil in soft and peachy Rose Dragée and then topped it with Gucci Sensuous Deep-Matte Lipstick in Blossom (a rose-petal pink). “I wanted her lips to look super matte and romantic,” said Kaneko, who offset them with dewy, fresh skin. “I used my 12 ALLURE THE NEW NAKED 2018
favorite eye mask from Skyn Iceland, and Dakota asked her assistant to buy a bunch right after.” Hairstylist Tamara McNaughton took her cues from the set created by artist and photographer Petra Collins. “She made this otherworldly, over-the-top environment with Mad Hatter flowers and ferns,” said McNaughton. So she went for an equally romantic updo. First she layered Klorane Dry Shampoo over Wella Professionals Ocean Spritz to give Johnson’s hair grip and texture. “I twisted the hair up and then pulled it apart,” said McNaughton. The end result was meticulously disheveled—the perfect marriage of done and undone, sweet and elegant. Simply: a work of art. —BRENNAN KILBANE
CLOCKWISE FROM BOTTOM LEFT: JOSEPHINE SCHIELE; PETRA COLLINS; JOSEPHINE SCHIELE; COURTESY OF GUCCI; IMAGE LOCATIONS, INC.
{ COVER LOOK }
For matte lips that were dreamy, not dry, Kaneko prepped Johnson’s with balm, letting it sink in while she applied her foundation, using Gucci’s Lustrous Glow (shown).
BEYOND
My freshman year in college, I worked part-time in a mall bookstore. One night, when the store was empty and quiet, an older man with a mustache and a bulky jacket stumbled in, rested his whiskey bottle on a shelf, stared at me (10 feet away behind the register), unzipped his pants, and started jerking off. My fight-or-flight response went crazy. I grabbed a pair of scissors, Psycho shower scene style, prepared to drive those rusty shears into some part of him if he stepped closer. My mind raced: Aim for the chest? The neck? The face? Would my muscles work when I needed them? Years later, I had filed this deep, deep away. But it was dredged back up into my psyche with the #MeToo movement. I recall being scared, all-nerves-firing scared. But what troubled me most was what happened afterward. I called security, who sent a guard to detain the man. Two police officers arrived shortly thereafter, and I watched from afar as the guard explained what had happened. And almost as if I were watching a movie, I looked on while they laughed. Like a bunch of locker-room bros. They laughed. I felt like my life had been in danger. It wasn’t that huge of a leap to think that this totally wasted, disheveled man who could do that in public would attack me the next minute. To them, he was just a ridiculous drunk. Through the years, I’ve witnessed similar responses when this has happened to women on, say, the New York City subway—or when high-powered Hollywood men jerk off into potted plants...allegedly. Let’s get this straight: It’s terrifying because you have no idea what this clearly unhinged person is going to do next. I didn’t share any anecdotes when #MeToo flooded everyone’s social media feeds. I think it goes without saying for any woman: me too. We’re all trying to figure out the post-Weinstein world. One of the more complex arguments that keeps bubbling up revolves around appearance and the frustrating “She was asking for it” angle. Olympic gymnast Gabby Douglas and actress Mayim Bialik were widely lambasted for suggesting that part of the blame rests with women for their choice 16 ALLURE THE NEW NAKED 2018
of clothing. “I dress modestly. I don’t act flirtatiously with men as a policy,” Bialik wrote in an October 2017 op-ed. (She later apologized.) Repeat after me: A decent man isn’t programmed to see skin, lose control, and attack. A woman wearing shorts or showing a little cleavage is not the problem. In light of our cultural firestorm, it feels like a particularly poignant time to explore nakedness—and what it means today. We’re calling this issue The New Naked. These days, the concept goes far beyond physical nudity, from the nudemakeup movement to being emotionally naked. But in its most literal meaning, nakedness is still taboo. Social media allows people to bare all in some ways, but we still can’t free the nipple. So with this issue, we are hereby taking nakedness back. There’s a new generation of incredible, provocative female artists, like our cover photographer, Petra Collins, who use the female body in various stages of undress to challenge social norms. Our nakedness isn’t for the male gaze or the female gaze or, really, for anyone’s gaze. It’s for us—how we use it, how we enjoy it, and, by all means, how it empowers us.
Michelle Lee, Editor in Chief @heymichellelee
HANNAH CHOI
{ LETTER FROM THE EDITOR }
#ME TOO
Year Lucille Ball’s character in I Love Lucy got pregnant; the p-word couldn’t be said on the air.
8
1896
2015
ip pl e.
Year London mayor Sadiq Khan—a father of two teenage girls—lobbied to censor ads on the Tube that promote unrealistic body expectations.
count
ram ing): Posts on Instag
e t us tha
ag ht as h the
e Th ee r #F
N
{ BEAUTY BY NUMBERS }
Year Fatima’s Coochee-Coochee Dance became the first film to be censored for sexuality. The Syrian dancer’s gyrating pelvis and shimmying chest were covered by what appeared to be a white picket fence.
(and
1.01
85
8,
42
5
Seconds for which Justin Timberlake exposed Janet Jackson’s nipple on air during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, broadcast by CBS.
3,
540,000
Number of complaints filed with the Federal Communications Commission regarding the Super Bowl XXXVIII scandal.
BANNED BOOKS, BLEEPED SONGS, PIXELATED NUDITY: WHAT WE HIDE IS PLENTY REVEALING. —AMANDA BOHNSON
ULLSTEIN BILD VIA GETTY IMAGES
Number of times the terms “having a baby” and “have a baby” were said in the episode instead of “pregnant.”
CENSORSHIP
1952
THEN WE GOT NAKED
THE PROVOCATIVE NAME, THE SEDUCTIVE COLORS—URBAN DECAY COFOUNDER WENDE ZOMNIR SHARES THE STORY BEHIND THE WORLD’S MOST FAMOUS SHADOW PALETTE.
One day I was packing for a trip, and all I wanted was a quad of my favorite nude eye shadows. I got my product-development team together—there were three of us at the time—and said, “Bring me your four desert-island nude shadows.” That was the brief—the desert-island palette. But when we came together, the colors all looked so good. Why should we limit it to four? I know that might seem obvious now, but this was in 2010, when there weren’t any neutral palettes that large. There weren’t really any neutral palettes at all. We ended up with 12 shades. It’s meant to look like a flow of skin tones, and it
was overdue recognition that there’s no one shade of nude. The name was supposed to be a little naughty—“nude” is a name for panty hose, but “naked” means much more. One palette takes 20 weeks to make— from conception to store. And it looks so indulgent— the spectrum of nudes lined up in little bars makes you want to dig in. I remember our president wanted it to be a limited edition, but I had a feeling it should be in the permanent collection. And then we sold one Naked palette every second for the next seven years. I had no idea that was coming. —AS TOLD TO BRENNAN KILBANE
The shimmering pink and sparkling brown powders from the Urban Decay Naked palette prove neutrals can be the ultimate in sexy.
PROP STYLIST: JENNIFER TRAN
{ ORAL HISTORY }
photographed by graham pollack
BEAUTY REPORTER Electric Feels
PROP STYLIST: JOJO LI
Meet NuBody, the handheld microcurrent device designed to zap you into shape—at least temporarily.
It’s an age-old question: How can I make my human body look more like a Greek statue of a human body? At the age of seven, Spartan boys left their homes to take on a rigorous series of physical challenges and sometimes-violent games to harden the body and mind, but this seems like an inefficient (and uncomfortable) use of my precious time. It’s 2018, and I want a taut body with much less work than it took 3,000 years ago. Conveniently, there is now a handheld device that uses electrical current (prickly, not painful) to zap muscles into a more toned-looking state. It’s NuBody,
photographed by junichi ito
from the makers of NuFace, the handheld facial device that took professionally administered microcurrent skin-firming treatments DIY. It uses metal spheres to channel electric waves through the skin, which makes it look tighter and more lifted. NuBody appropriates the technology for the whole body with four large spheres (the facial device has two smaller ones) and a conductive gel to help it glide over your limbs (and stomach and butt). Sure enough, after weeks of diligent daily shock therapy, my butt looks a little more like carved marble, as Zeus intended. —BRENNAN KILBANE
THE NEW NAKED 2018 ALLURE 25
THE NUDE REVIEW Have you met musk? The animalic fragrance note adapts to bare skin for a sexy, earthy undercurrent. You’re guaranteed to have great chemistry.
Miu Miu L’Eau Rosée. A rose by any other name would smell too sweet, but this is Miu Miu, so it’s a complex, heady bouquet.
—BRENNAN KILBANE
KKW Fragrance Crystal Gardenia Citrus. A floral musk encased in rose quartz, to open your heart and stuff.
{ BEAUT Y REPORTER }
Stella McCartney Stella Peony. No mysterious composition here— this is just what beautiful people smell like naked.
Yves Saint Laurent 37 Rue de Bellechasse. The moodiest, sexiest, opposite-of-sweetest scent this side of the magazine binding.
Coach Floral. An effervescent rose grounded by musk’s grit.
Ouai Fragrance Set rollerballs. The Rue Saint-Honoré version fancifies musk with gardenia and ylangylang; Mercer St. gives it a lemony edge.
Glossier You. It’s you, if you always smelled vaguely of iris.
PROP STYLIST: JOJO LI
Gucci Guilty Absolute Pour Femme. For spice lovers and thrill seekers.
photographed by junichi ito
CLEANING SOLUTION Beauty Garde’s Oil-Free Lash & Brow Shampoo isn’t just another makeup remover. It’s designed to remove oil-based makeup without a drop of oil (trust us, this is special) so you can take off longwearing liner or waterproof brow pomade and not compromise lash or brow extensions. And it coddles sensitive eyes, too—its sodium lauroyl methyl isethionate and lauryl lactyl lactate are gentler than commonly used sulfate surfactants, says cosmetic chemist Kelly Dobos. —KATHLEEN SUICO
E XC LU S I V E
COUNTER CULTURE It’s a razor that swings both ways. What could possibly go wrong?
It’s shaving 101: Push the blades forward and there will be blood. That forward motion, however, is precisely what Schick Intuition’s new F.A.B. (Forward and Back) razor was engineered for. And it’s going to freak you out a bit. The first time I held it—with its two sets of blades, each facing an opposite side —I had one thought: This is a really bad idea. I gingerly touched it to my shin, pulling toward myself, then slowly pushing it away. And...it worked! Without a drop of blood! Then I started pushing and pulling with abandon, as I would a vacuum. Not having to pick up the razor between strokes made shaving my legs speedier, though I still got the closest shave when pulling up, against the direction of hair growth. But when I tried it under my arms, where the hair grows in whichever direction it sees fit, I understood why this razor is really, really not a bad idea. In just a few zigzags, I was hairless—a feat that usually requires wrist acrobatics and multiple passes. Forward thinking, you might say. —JESSICA CHIA 28 ALLURE THE NEW NAKED 2018
FIRST
BLUSH
Everybody wants pink hair, but nobody wants to commit to pink hair long-term, which makes rose gold—part blonde and part blush—the happiest medium there is. It’s stunning, but more importantly, it’s easy: Spritz on Kristin Ess Rose Gold Temporary Tint in the shower after you shampoo and rinse, let it sit for a few minutes, rinse again, and condition as you normally would. You’ll have the rose-quartz hair of your dreams, at least for a couple of washes. For now, the sheer shade shows only on blonde hair, but democratically so—born, bought, or bleached. —BRENNAN KILBANE
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: JOSEPHINE SCHIELE (2); KARINA TWISS/TRUNK ARCHIVE
{ BEAUT Y REPORTER }
Your new rosegold hair will pair beautifully with flushed cheeks, lips, and nails.
TIME TO RIH-UP Among the more recent gifts Rihanna has given us: fauxfur sandals and the confidence to wear them, permission to leave restaurants holding wineglasses, and now, 14 decadent, high-octane lipsticks so velvety, you’d swear they were oil pastels. Color away.
Each slim, mirrorsleeved stick is creamy in texture, matte in finish, and bold in execution. Clockwise from top left: Fenty Beauty Mattemoiselle Plush Matte Lipstick in Ma’Damn, Ya Dig?!, One of the Boyz, Candy Venom, and Saw-C.
Special Effects We like lip colors best when they’re more than just lip colors. Wrapped in a spray of flowers, topped with a kitty, or sculpted with love, these new tubes go above and beyond. —JESSICA CHIA
Givenchy Le Rouge Couture Collection Lipstick in Framboise Velours. Its bloom-covered leather case conceals a sexy deep fuchsia.
30 ALLURE THE NEW NAKED 2018
CoverGirl Katy Kat Gloss in Wine Feline and Indigo Cat. The cap couldn’t be cuter, but the berry or purple gloss inside is dark and edgy.
Guerlain KissKiss LoveLove Lipstick in Pink. The heart’s dips and curves perfectly hug your Cupid’s bow.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: JUNICHI ITO (PROP STYLIST: JOJO LI); WILL ANDERSON (PROP STYLIST: GÖZDE EKER) (3)
{ BEAUT Y REPORTER }
—BRENNAN KILBANE
9 BEST
MOISTURE SURGE They coddle; they soothe; they save our skin on blustery days. These are the creams we’re cozying up to this winter. —ELIZABETH SIEGEL 1
2
{ BEAUT Y REPORTER }
3
4
7
6
1. Huxley Secret of Sahara Cream. Balm-level rich yet silkily light. More than one Allure editor tried to snag it. 2. Simple Skin Quench Sleeping Cream. If heavy night creams are your nemesis, good news: This one’s as thin as a gel but still leaves skin much smoother.
5
3. Beneath Your Mask Heal Whipped Skin Soufflé. Use it for just-got-a-facial gleamy-ness or to calm irritated spots. 4. Dior Capture Youth Age-Delay Advanced Creme. All our moisturizer hopes and dreams in a jar: It’s creamy and rich and makes skin so, so soft.
9
5. H2O+ Rapids Probiotic Sorbet Moisturizer. Really does feel like sorbet (slushy, cool) but melts into skin quickly. 6. Murad Nutrient-Charged Water Gel. Crams 10 peptides and vitamins into each skin-brightening-and-firming pot. 7. Olay Luminous Whip Active Moisturizer. Hard-core antioxidants (niacinamide, panthenol) in an airy fluff. 8. Shiseido Essential Energy Moisturizing Gel-Cream. We’d ask how something so weightless can make us so dewy, but why question it?
photographed by junichi ito
9. RoC Retinol Correxion Max Daily Hydration Crème. The tried-and-true line-smoothing retinol, winterized—it’s fancier in a rich cream, dontcha think?
PROP STYLIST: JOJO LI
8
Want a flatter stomach? Done. A more gravity-resistant butt? Absolutely. Whatever contour of your body you’d like redrawn, there is a treatment or surgery to do it—and the options are constantly evolving. We uncovered a few of the most exciting right now. The stomach: You can get rid of small, stubborn pockets of fat in this area by freezing, heating, or destroying fat cells with ultrasound energy. (Current options include CoolSculpting, SculpSure, and UltraShape, respectively.) But anything more than a slight reduction in abdominal fat still calls for a tummy tuck. Conveniently, the procedure has gotten, well, less inconvenient. A new adhesive called TissuGlu eliminates the need to drain the fluid that fills the large space created between the muscles and overlying tissue after the surgery. Prior to its existence, tummy-tuck recovery involved having a drain, at home, for one to two weeks. Which is gross and weird but was part of the deal. “TissuGlu seals the tissues together after a tummy tuck so that there is no space that can fill with fluid,” says Los Angeles plastic surgeon Steven Teitelbaum. It also might result in less-noticeable scars. More good news: A new numbing injection called Exparel can make the initial tummy-tuck recovery less painful, says Joubin Gabbay, a plastic surgeon in Los Angeles. The breasts: Some 56 years after the first boob job, breast augmentation is, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons’ most recent count, still the number-one cosmetic surgery procedure performed in the U.S. In the last several months, pharmaceutical giant Allergan released two new round silicone implants that are firmer than previous versions. “They’re a better option for a patient with very tight breast tissue that won’t expand particularly well with a standard, very soft silicone implant,” Gabbay says. These firmer implants also prevent what’s known as rippling, where the implant is visibly wrinkled around the edges. Women with little body fat or 34 ALLURE THE NEW NAKED 2018
those with small natural breasts are particularly at risk of this unfortunate side effect. “These new implants are a significant evolution in my ability to deliver the best possible result for each patient,” Gabbay says. The arms: “That little area that’s right next to the breast in front of the armpit...everybody hates that,” says Haideh Hirmand, a plastic surgeon in New York City. “Most people think it’s fat, but most of the time it’s just loose skin.” To tighten stubborn arm skin, Hirmand recommends a new radiofrequency treatment called Forma Plus. It works by heating the underlying tissue, which stimulates collagen production. Thermal treatments have been around for years—you’ve probably heard of Thermage—but Forma Plus’s edge is that it constantly measures the temperature of the skin. This means doctors can control the treatment down to the last degree to make sure it’s at its most effective and safest. The butt: For a brand-spanking-new one, you’ll need a Brazilian butt lift—a surgery that involves taking fat from one part of your body (usually the inner thighs or flanks) and transferring it to your butt. Not only does this involve multiple body parts, but there’s significant downtime, and yeah—it costs a pretty penny (about $6,500 on average). To deliver a bit more volume and lift, minus the two- to three-week recovery period, dermatologists are starting to rely on ultrasound. “Typically, it’s used on the area under the chin to lift the neck and jawline, including a double chin, but I’ve found that devices like Ulthera can give patients a 10 to 20 percent butt lift, with no downtime or scarring, in 20 minutes,” says Miami dermatologist Manjula Jegasothy. —LOREN SAVINI
FRÉDÉRIC FOREST
{ BEAUT Y REPORTER }
TH E BO DY, SHOPPED
TA K I N G N OT E S
LAID BARE
{ BEAUT Y REPORTER }
CATE BLANCHETT TALKS ABOUT PERFUME AND PASSION—AND WHAT MAKES HER FEEL TRULY EXPOSED.
These are words you don’t want to hear from your editor just as you walk into a Milan hotel suite to interview Cate Blanchett, the face of Giorgio Armani’s new fragrance, Sì Passione: “Don’t forget this is the New Naked issue—go heavy on nudity questions.” No surprise here, though: The twotime Oscar winner (and arguably the glowiest woman in all Hollywood) kept our naked talk clean and classy—without holding back in the least. On being naked at work: “People talk about acting like it’s putting on a mask, which to some degree it is, but you have to be prepared to be emotionally and psychologically naked—in front of the camera, in front of the audience— because that’s what invites people in.” On the ultimate exposure: “As your children mature, they develop their own universes. The fingertip touches 36 ALLURE THE NEW NAKED 2018
become increasingly slender, and you feel so exposed as you realize how much of yourself and your heart and your energy has gone into them...and you have to let them go.” On the relentlessness of social media: “Sharing—is it sharing? When people are ‘sharing,’ they’re basically saying, ‘Do you like me?’ And it’s like, oh, please, what self-respecting adult would say, ‘Do you like me?’ I mean, get over yourself. That’s not sharing. Sometimes sharing is being quiet. Or listening. I think for a lot of people, myself included, being quiet is very exposing.” On the walking cure: “When you go on walks in nature, you learn how to look at things. Our phones turn around our senses; nature forces you to look out. It’s so powerful and intense but also incredibly fragile.”
On the positivity of unrestrained passion: “We’re always thinking about passions as being negative things you have to control, and then you get sensible and get a real job. But I think it’s important to find out what your passions are —whether you earn a living from doing them is irrelevant. You don’t want to put your passions in a box and never explore them.” On finding new callings: “I love acting, but there’s not a lot of consistency—you’re going from one role to the next—and I just thought, I’ve got to develop some hobbies. So I started throwing porcelain, and it’s really relaxing. The other day my teacher said, ‘Close your eyes. You’re looking with your eyes, but you have to feel it.’ It’s like the scene from Ghost—it’s so sexual.” —SOPHIA PANYCH
FROM LEFT: JOSEPHINE SCHIELE; STEVEN CHEE/TRUNK ARCHIVE
Bottling Lightning “It develops so beautifully because of the cedar and vanilla and pink peppers, notes that I really gravitate toward. And it’s so aptly named—Sì Passione—because I think it’s quite a sexual, sensual, subconscious fragrance.”
na•ked per•son \ nā-k d p r-s n \ e
e
e
noun
What does it mean—what does it really, truly mean—to be a naked person? A distaste for pants is just the beginning. By Elizabeth Siegel
38 ALLURE THE NEW NAKED 2018
AN INDIVIDUAL WHO IS SENSITIVE. A deep and sensitive soul—at least, that’s how other people see them, according to a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. When 527 participants looked at pictures of the same people naked and clothed, they rated the naked people as more capable of experiencing all kinds of feelings, including pain, desire, and pleasure. When they saw the exact same person in clothing, things changed—the individual was viewed as more intelligent but less in tune with their emotions.
2
1
AN INDIVIDUAL WHO DOESN’T LIKE WEARING CLOTHES.
Someone who reads the Sund a y p a p e r i n t h e b u f f, c o o k s i n t h e nude, occasionally shocks the mailman, and might as well donate all of their pajamas to Goodwill. The first to share a dressing room, they take a clothing-optional approach to life whenever they can. [Prob. of Biblical orig.—see Adam and Eve.] Synonyms: free spirit, Miley Cyrus, Benjamin Franklin, French person. Antonyms: P u r i t a n , p r u d e , To b i a s F ü n k e .
3
AN ERUDITE, HIGHBROW INDIVID-
UAL. Imagine an art collector who sails through crosswords and is asking Alexa to play Don Giovanni—again—and you’re on the right track. According to research, people who love lounging around naked tend to have more cerebral personalities. “These are people who are cultured—they go to gallery openings, the opera, and read poetry,” says Benjamin Chapman, an AN INDIVIDUAL WHO BUYS ORGANIC FOOD. more enlightened, or maybe it’s because “there’s a associate procrunchy, bohemian thing going on,” says Chapman. You 4 According to Chapman’s study, if you kick it in fessor of psyyour birthday suit, you also may be more likely to could also be more likely to put Tabasco on your eggs and chiatry at the buy organic. That could be because naked people are to daydream while you eat them. Go figure! University of Rochester. We won’t go so far as to say they’re smarter, per se, but these people “may be more interested in intellectual pursuits.” Chapman surveyed 765 participants to research the ways in which A HAPPY INDIVIDUAL. The more often personality traits predict behaviors and published his findings in the jour5 you’re naked in public places, like topless beaches, the “happier you are nal Personality and Individual Differwith your body, yourself, and your life overences. “The point of the study was not all,” says Keon West, a senior lecturer in to research nudity, so we were sursocial psychology at Goldsmiths, University prised that this link—between being of London. This, according to a survey of 850 naked at home and scoring higher on men and women (of all different ages, etha trait psychologists call openness— nicities, and religions). In other words, these was one of the strongest we found,” are the people who never miss an opportuhe says. “We think it’s because these nity to skinny-dip, love the feel of the breeze, personalities are also the most open are the first to suggest strip poker, and have to new experiences, nonconformist, a master’s degree in joie de vivre. and unconventional.”
“ T h e r e ’s a p u r e e l e m e n t o f e r o s — t h a t s e n s e o f p h y s i c a l v i t a l i t y — i n n u d i t y,” s a y s J e r e m y A d a m S m i t h , t h e e d i t o r o f t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f C a l i f o r n i a , B e r k e l e y ’s Greater Good Science Center magazine. “It shocks the syst e m a n d m a k e s y o u a w a r e o f y o u r s e l f i n y o u r b o d y.” A n d w e w i l l l e a v e y o u w i t h t h i s : “ T h a t c a n b e s o e m p o w e r i n g .” 6
AN INDIVIDUAL WHO SEEKS THRILLS.
artwork by rachel duffy
IN THE NEXT 10 MINUTES YOU WILL TELL 3 LIES In an era of alternative facts, the science behind deception is more relevant than ever. Robert Feldman, a professor of psychology and brain sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Michael Slepian, a social psychologist and professor at Columbia Business School, and Yudhijit Bhattacharjee, a journalist who has written about lying, talk about truth, lies, and the gray matter in between. By Elizabeth Siegel Why are some people so much better at lying than others? Yudhijit Bhattacharjee: There was a study where brain scans of habitual liars showed they had extra white matter in their brains. That may make them better at connecting disparate ideas—in other words, at lying. Maybe lying changes their brains over time, or maybe the extra white matter predisposes them to lying more easily. So they see the benefits of lying in various situations, and they keep doing it.
Does that mean liars are smarter? YB: Certainly being able to connect different ideas is a fundamental aspect of creativity, and that’s one form of smarts. Robert Feldman: Studies show criminals get caught when they’re questioned by the police because they’re terrible liars—and it’s associated with IQ. If they’re not the smartest people, they can’t keep their story straight.
Where does that leave the rest of us? RF: Lying is so much a part of everyday discourse that we do it without thinking about it. What’s really interesting is you can ask somebody to look back on a conversation, and invariably they’ll say, “I was totally truthful.” Show them a video, and they’ll find that’s just not the case. In 10 minutes you probably tell three lies to someone you’re just getting to know. We lie less to the people we know the best, but those tend to be very big lies—usually lies about fidelity. YB: It speaks to our innate, reflexive ability to lie, but we’re also hardwired to trust other people. We wouldn’t have evolved as a social species if we always had to stop, think, verify the things people are telling us. Trust is fundamental to our existence, even though we abuse others’ trust by telling small lies every day. RF: But you don’t have to go to an evolutionary explanation. We accept lies when they’re beneficial to us, like hearing you look good or did a good job. Michael Slepian: There’s some really interesting research that shows if you witness someone lying but you know it’s to make another person feel better, you trust them more even though you just saw them lying.
{ TRUTH SERUM }
“ T H E AV E R A G E P E R S O N H A S 1 3 S E C R E T S R I G H T N O W.” There’s a theory called radical honesty that posits that utter openness—what you think, feel, do, even plan to do—is the key to fostering intimacy in any relationship. Should we be totally honest all the time? YB: I have to think it’s a great principle in a lot of respects. If you’re attracted to a work colleague and tell your partner, you could build trust. If you’ve had extramarital affairs and you come clean, it takes the weight off your shoulders and could earn some confidence. RF: But isn’t there a nontrivial possibility that confessing will damage the relationship so profoundly that you shouldn’t be truthful? You can’t go through life being 100 percent honest. We just don’t like people who are so blunt. You’d have a terrible social life. MS: Keeping a secret might not always be easy but may be the right thing to do. We keep secrets for two reasons: to protect ourselves and to protect the people we care about. Secrecy isn’t all bad. The average person has 13 secrets right now, 5 of which they’ve never told anyone. The most common of those 5 is called “extra-relational thoughts”— you’re attracted to someone who’s not your partner—and 42 ALLURE THE NEW NAKED 2018
most secrets involve sex, infidelity, and lying. We used to think the act of hiding a secret hurt our well-being, but my research shows that’s not so. It’s having to live with the secret—how often you think about it—that’s hurtful. It consumes your resources, and any other task seems more challenging, whether that’s how much effort it takes to climb a hill, walk a distance, or do a project at work. YB: So it’s indeed true what they say—the truth will set you free. MS: Disclosing your secrets is what creates intimacy; people realize you’re opening up to them, which signals you trust them. It’s key to forming relationships—as long as you’re not too personal, too soon. That’s weird. RF: To use a scientific term. MS: Ha! And confiding a secret improves your well-being— you don’t even have to tell the person you’re keeping the secret from. If you talk to anyone about it, you’re in better shape. You know, well-being comes in two forms: feeling good and having meaning. As soon as we decide to keep a secret, it feels unresolved. We tend to think about unresolved things a lot. So the secret keeps coming to mind,
RF: Truthfulness is a fundamental virtue—it’s motherhood and apple pie. Every time we lie in a relationship it has an effect, even if the lie goes unnoticed by the recipient. We know we’re being deceptive, and somehow that dishonesty just weighs on the relationship. While I don’t think it’s realistic or necessarily valuable to be truthful all the time, it is essential to be as truthful as we possibly can. Truthfulness is a core value.
But we hear lies and we tell lies every day. What does that do to us?
{ TRUTH SERUM }
RF: I go back to Bill Clinton, a very powerful and conspicuous individual who lied, everybody knew it, and the consequences? He kept his job and was the most popular politician for a long time. It told people, “It’s perfectly fine to lie. You can get away with it.” We’re seeing it to the nth degree with this current president. Trump is so blatant about lying and so uncaring about it, it creates an environment where it makes it easier to lie, and it teaches a horrible lesson to children. MS: It boggles the mind that people have seen him as dishonest and simultaneously as authentic—being himself involves lying, but at least he’s being himself. It’s going to change the way a lot of people approach their own image. But there’s another side to this coin. People are speaking up about things we haven’t talked
enough about. Sexual harassment is all over the news, and that’s a good thing—when people speak up, we realize there’s a serious problem and it needs to change. YB: Something profound is happening in our society. The worse the state of truth gets, in a bizarre way, the more we realize facts matter. There’s been a rallying cry in the last year. On the one hand you have people just demolishing the edifice of truth on which civilized society stands. But on the other hand, in response to that, you have people who are building a new bedrock where you can’t push away facts—about climate change or sexual harassment—simply because they’re inconvenient. That movement is less visible than the lies, but it’s there. RF: I’m a little more pessimistic. Just look at the reaction to Roy Moore: There seems to be very clear evidence that he was a dirty old man, and yet there were people who just stood by him. To me, that signifies that there’s a segment of the population that’s willing to avoid and to ignore the truth. For me, the jury is out in terms of how this [battle between truth and lies] plays out eventually—talk to me again in 2020. YB: Yeah, but to my point, I was at a conference at Stanford called Decepticon—a yearly conference on deception. I met a science journalist at Santa Clara University there who is working on a model for separating fake news from real news by giving content trust scores on Twitter. The population is being called upon to do the same thing reporters have always done: decide what version of a story that’s given to you is closest to reality. Truth matters.
“A S E G M E N T O F T H E P O P U L A T I O N I S W I L L I N G T O AV O I D T H E T R U T H .”
and we start interpreting what it means to not be honest with loved ones. We think, I’m not being authentic with the people around me. I’m not living life the way I’m supposed to be. It hurts well-being in the sense of life having meaning.
BODY HAIR A RETROSPECTIVE 1450 2 B.C.
IT’S PERSONAL, IT’S POLITICAL, AND IT CAN GET PRICKLY. A LOOK AT OUR COMPLICATED HISTORY WITH THE HAIR BELOW OUR HEADS.
30,000 B.C.
Roman poet Ovid urges women to groom so “that no rude goat find his way beneath your arms and that your legs be not rough with bristling hair.”
Early hair removal involves sharp shells and shark teeth, giving Homo sapiens everywhere a reason to invent the safety razor.
1400
Women remove pubic hair for hygiene’s sake (lice, see). The merkin— aka the vagina toupee—is born.
Hairlessness is a sign of class during the Renaissance— women and goddesses in art are depicted without pubic hair.
1915 Sleeveless dresses are in style, and society decides that women need hairless armpits to go with them. Gillette’s Milady Décolleté becomes the first razor marketed to women; 1 million are sold by 1917.
1938 A depilatory cream called Kormelu is found to cause paralysis. Turns out it is made with rat poison.
1972 Body hair becomes a badge of feminism for women fighting for gender equality. The Equal Rights Amendment is passed in Congress.
Seven sisters (the J. Sisters) from Brazil open a salon in New York City and offer a waxing service that gives “Brazilian” a whole new meaning. Their walls are soon decorated with personal thank-you notes from Gwyneth Paltrow and Naomi Campbell.
1994
1997
That was fast: The FDA approves the first laser for permanent hair reduction.
46 ALLURE THE NEW NAKED 2018
1996
The Black Crowes’ third album, Amorica (right), is released. The album is banned at Walmart.
MIT graduate Richard Rox Anderson discovers that at certain wavelengths, laser pulses can damage hair follicles and prevent hair from growing back.
1999 Julia Roberts pairs her sequins with unshaven armpits at the Notting Hill premiere; all of America gasps.
FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS’ CREDITS, SEE CREDITS PAGE.
1987
1999
Laser hair removal is already the third most popular cosmetic procedure in the U.S., performed almost half a million times.
2000 Carrie Bradshaw unwittingly gets a Brazilian on Sex and the City: “I got mugged! She took everything I got.”
2008
2008
The Tria Hair Removal Laser—a $995 at-home device—wins an Allure Breakthrough Award.
After years of bikini waxes, Kate Winslet has to wear a merkin for her role in The Reader, set during WWII. “It doesn’t come back quite the way it used to,” she tells Allure.
2010
2013
A whopping 95 percent of women ages 16 to 24 remove underarm hair, and 92 percent shave their legs, according to Mintel.
2013 Gwyneth Paltrow wears a sheerpaneled dress on the red carpet and reveals she’s no longer a J. Sisters regular: “I work a ’70s vibe.”
2015
2015 Miley Cyrus bares her unshaven armpits on Instagram, and women start getting creative with hair dye and glitter. The hashtag #armpithairdontcare trends.
Chrissy Teigen reveals to Allure that she shaves her entire body every day: “It’s exhausting.”
2015
2016
What a difference three years makes: Mintel now finds that 77 percent of women ages 16 to 24 remove their underarm hair; only 85 percent shave their legs.
Gillette debuts the Venus Swirl, a razor with a swiveling head that follows the curves of a woman’s body.
2017 2017 Model Arvida Byström appears with unshaven legs in an Adidas Superstar campaign. She receives rape threats on social media. Still a long way to go.
Paris Jackson reveals armpit hair on the VMAs red carpet; only some of America gasps.
FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS’ CREDITS, SEE CREDITS PAGE.
{ A RETROSPECTIVE }
Kim Kardashian confesses to Allure: “I am Armenian, so of course I am obsessed with laser hair removal! Arms, bikini, legs, underarms.... My entire body is hairless.”
photographed by nikki krecicki
AC KG R O U N D BEAUT
FINER POINTS YOU CAN DO A LOT WITH NEEDLES. AND A CALMER MIND AND FULLER BROWS ARE JUST THE BEGINNING.
Rachel Smith (below left, with model Katy Albright on her table) treats her patients with a needle here, a homemade salve there, and a sprinkling of Eastern philosophy. Below: acupuncture points on an anatomical map.
Rachel Smith has the most soothing voice I have ever heard. It’s like listening to a babbling brook of manuka honey. Even over the phone, she instills a sense of tranquility—which explains why acupuncture, a practice that revolves around balance and calm, is something that flowed naturally into her life. “I used to be a photographer and photo editor, until one day I realized corporate America wasn’t for me,” she tells me in a voice as soft as shearling. “I had met with an energy healer when I was trying to figure out where to go next in life. She just handed me an address and said, ‘Go here.’ It was the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in Manhattan. I walked out of the elevator not knowing exactly where I was going, and within 20 minutes I had signed up for a master’s program in acupuncture. It was instantaneous.” She now practices just outside Buffalo in a little town so quaint they may or may not require a hand-stitched quilt upon entry. RVs pepper the road, and you get the vague sense that there’s a city, somewhere, that is not here. Behind a wall lined with Chinese herbs and tinctures, magic is happening. Acupuncture, Smith says, is a creative practice. Unlike some Western approaches to remedy, typical Chinese acupuncture is a more individualized process. It usually begins with a candid conversation between Rachel and her patient, in which symptoms are dissected in the context of one’s emotional life. She checks your pulses and looks at your tongue. (According to Chinese medicine, the tongue can reveal a lot about what’s going on in your body.) Then the needles. “You have energy channels in the body, and each channel corresponds with an organ. When the energy doesn’t flow properly, it manifests as disease. Acupuncture is about balancing the energy.” She’s the first to cite a lack of studies proving the efficacy of acupuncture and grounds her practice in a mix of Taoist philosophy and physics. “Atoms are made up of energy, which makes up the universe. The body is a mini universe. This is about balancing it.” —BRENNAN KILBANE
“I take a lot of time to talk to my patients when they first come in,” Smith says. “We talk about everything. To me, healing is about connecting the dots.”
{ BACKGROUND BEAUT Y }
Founded on the philosophy that the body is an interconnected network of energy channels, acupuncture is an ancient Eastern practice that seeks to regulate these channels using the placement of tiny, painless needles.
THE BROW ARTIST
{ BACKGROUND BEAUT Y }
BETHANY WOLOSKY OF THREE KINGS TATTOO TURNED COSMETIC TATTOOING INTO AN ART (NEARLY OVERNIGHT). Before arches of hair dominated your Instagram Explore tab, before “fleek” was recognized as an adjective by the Oxford Dictionaries, an intrepid tattooshop assistant dared to take her needle and pigment where few had gone before: the little stretch of skin between your eyelid and your hairline. Your forehead is Bethany Wolosky’s canvas, and if you give her a shot, she’ll change your life with a pair of spectacular, incredibly precise brows, any way you want them. (Plus, she’s always available for yearly touch-ups.) Wolosky has been “obsessed”—her word—with brows since forever, having grown up filling in her older sister’s and her sister’s friends’ when they’d come over. As an assistant to the artists at Three Kings Tattoo in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, she noticed eyebrow tattooing happening in two places: the back rooms of cheap salons or the gilt stratospheres above Park Avenue. Nowhere in between, and certainly not in any tattoo parlors. So she started doing it herself. Now ER nurses and beauty editors and college students and septuagenarians come from far and wide for a pair. When I tell her that nearly every person I’ve said the word “microblade” to mentions her name in their next breath, she blushes. “Oh, my God— really?” Really. And by the way, she started two and a half years ago. It’s not an overnight success, but damn if it isn’t impressive.
54 ALLURE THE NEW NAKED 2018
What does an artisanal eyebrow procedure look like? A great question—thank you for asking. Wolosky starts with a sketch that’s part your brows and part your brows but so much better. She drafts them (right on your face) until they’re fit to print. Next she proceeds to etch them into your forehead. “The whole process takes about two and a half hours,” she says, but the relationship lasts a lifetime, and not just because of the whole tattoo thing. Wolosky advocates getting your new brows touched up once a year—a condition that automatically locks you into a lifelong friendship. In fact, she has forged plenty of bonds on the job: One of her closest friends, she says, arrived to her appointment a client and left a best friend. “A lot of people are really nervous, and the second you ask people about themselves, they calm down. I’m like, ‘Let’s talk about you.’ Before long, their eyebrows are done.” —B. K.
We couldn’t help but ask: What does the brow artist use on her own arches? The irony is hers are mostly makeup. “I got them tattooed by a close friend two years ago,” says Wolosky, “but you have to maintain them, and she lives so far away.” In the meantime, Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz and Nyx Brow Mascara do the job.
There are two ways to get perfect brows: microblading, the tattooing of small, individual hairs; and shading, the tattooing of a swath of color, or “filling in.” Ask your Bethany which one is right for you.
photographed by kathy lo
T R U T H B E T O L D
PROP STYLIST: GÖZDE EKER
WHEN STORE AISLES AND SOCIAL FEEDS ARE DRENCHED IN DREAM CREAMS AND MAGICAL MAKEUP, THE ULTIMATE COMMODITY IS NO LONGER FANTASY: IT’S THE REALITY OF TOTAL TRANSPARENCY. BY ELIZABETH SIEGEL
In decades past, women would lather up shampoo or swipe on face cream because...well, just because. Then we arrived at 2018: A new report from market research agency the NPD Group reveals that close to half of women now investigate the ingredient list on the back of their products to avoid parabens and phthalates and toxic chemicals. We’re questioning and Googling—so much Googling—what goes into our serums and shadows. And it’s spurring a grassroots shift: There are now websites devoted to researching beauty-product safety, and major
companies are sharing information that’s never been shared before. “The cosmetics laws are lacking—certain ingredients don’t have to be disclosed,” says Paul Pestano, who researches personal-care products and ingredient safety for Skin Deep, the Environmental Working Group’s cosmetics database. It’s been that way ever since lipsticks and creams started smelling like roses or vanilla or anything at all. “For the longest time, we haven’t known the composition of fragrances,” says Pestano. That’s in large part because fragrance is a tool so powerful and so proprietary,
photographed by will anderson
{ PHENOMENON }
“WE’VE HAD AN EROSION OF T R U S T. T H A T ’ S NOT GOOD F O R A N YO N E .”
it may be “the biggest challenge to transparency in the beauty industry,” says Martin Lindstrom, a branding expert and the author of Small Data: The Tiny Clues That Uncover Huge Trends (Picador). Hints of apple and orange, for example, can “make you think a shampoo is as healthy and as good for you as fruit, even though logically you know you’d never eat it—smell can override logic,” Lindstrom says. And familiar scents signal trusted results. “Herbal Essences’ fragrance recipes are in a lockbox that only a few perfumers, formulators, and our safety team have access to—I’ve never even seen them—because we don’t want other brands re-creating our scents,” says Rachel Zipperian, a chemist at P&G who works with Herbal Essences. But those lockboxes are poised to open. Target has announced that its goal is for all beauty and personal-care brands sold in its stores to have full ingredient transparency by 2020. That means removing ingredients with questionable safety (like propylparaben, formaldehyde, and phthalates). And brands at P&G (including Herbal Essences and Olay) and Unilever (like Dove and Clear) have vowed to disclose their fragrance ingredients by the end of 2019 and 2018, respectively. They’re also expected to make these lists available online. Clearly, something big is going on. Companies don’t just give up their trade secrets lightly. But they’re doing it, and they’re doing it because consumers are demanding it. “Seven years ago, you couldn’t research the ingredients in your beauty products the way you can today,” says Kit Yarrow, a consumer psychologist and the author of Decoding the New Consumer Mind: How and Why We Shop and Buy (Wiley). “The more you research ingredients, the more companies realize you’re holding them accountable, so you get a better product.” The heavy lifting remains on the shoulders of shoppers, though. You need to know your disodium EDTA from your methylisothiazolinone (the former being harmless, the latter being a common allergen). Sites like Skin Deep and SmartLabel aim to do the work for you, but they don’t contain every product
Mystery products are becoming a thing of the past. New ones, such as Garnier’s SkinActive line, are spelling out what their ingredients are and where they come from.
60 ALLURE THE NEW NAKED 2018
ever made. And who has time to run a complete background check on every damn thing in their basket? More and more brands are responding by putting ingredient information front and center. Hairc are brands M aui M oisture and Noughty, for example, print on the front of their bottles that they don’t use parabens, sulfates, or silicones. Garnier’s SkinActive line lists the origin of every single ingredient on the label (disodium cocoyl glutamate is derived from sugar cane; capryl glucoside is sourced from wheat). Makeup’s diminutive proportions present a challenge to label-based solutions —there are only so many words you can fit on a mascara box— so brands like Kat Von D Beauty and Too Faced turn to social media to tell their ingredient stories and make clear that they offer vegan products. But there’s also something much more profound at work here: “We’ve suffered so many traumas—news of sexual assaults, hurricanes, wildfires— and when things go wrong, consumer trust levels dip. We become wary and guarded in all aspects of our lives,” Yarrow says. The way you’re now scrutinizing your lipstick could be indicative of a fundamental change in society. “We’ve had an erosion of trust. That’s not good for anyone,” says Dan Ariely, a professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University and the author of The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty (HarperCollins). “It started with the 2007 recession. It was seen as pure evil on the part of companies, so after that, we didn’t think brands had our best interests in mind. And everything that hints at trickiness since —like fake news and ingredient safety questions— keeps eating away at trust levels.” Ingredient transparency might just be a Band-Aid. “That’s not real trust. It’s like putting a camera on your spouse if you think they’re cheating,” says Ariely. “Brands need to prove they have our long-term interests in mind again. That’s difficult to do.” But not impossible —and by all means, we’re ready to let them try.
RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU HATE EVERY LAST THING ABOUT YOUR STRETCH MARKS. YEAH, SAME HERE. BUT THAT CHANGES. NOW. BY LOREN SAVINI photographed by jody rogac
MAKEUP: LINDA GRADIN
R E A D I N G L I N E S
STRETCHING THE RULES
{ PERSPECTIVE }
I was in gym class when I saw my first stretch mark. I was sitting against the padded wall with the other girls who really didn’t want to play basketball. My legs were crossed, and I was laughing with my friends about something—a crush, maybe—when my eyes drifted downward to my inner thigh. There it was. A faint purple crevice crawling along the seam of my gym shorts. I remember when I bought my first real padded bra. I was maybe 13. My friend’s father had dropped us off at the mall for a few hours, and we ambled into Victoria’s Secret. Standing naked in the dressing room, I noticed them. Somewhere between that day in gym class and this moment here, I
building muscle too quickly, weight gain. Which is to say: Almost all of us get them. Models, moms, men, teens. Stretch marks are, for better or worse but mainly worse, a part of life. Studies have even shown that they could be hereditary. Thanks, Mom and Dad! The fact that they’re basically inevitable doesn’t mean we don’t do our damnedest to get rid of them, of course. A staggering 78 percent of pregnant women surveyed by Mintel in 2016 had used creams marketed as “stretch mark solutions.” But do any of them work? Some research has suggested that you can maybe, sometimes, reduce the probability of getting stretch marks a tiny bit with
A N E ST I M AT E D 8 0 % O F W O M E N H AV E STRETCH MARKS. had sprouted B-cup breasts. Shallow white lines branched out like riverways from my sternum along the inside of my cleavage—skin desperately trying to keep up with my new womanly figure, which would eventually stretch to reveal curvy hips and D cups. These lines have traveled and twisted and turned and deepened through every phase of my life. “Think of the skin like a basket weave,” says Ellen Marmur, a dermatologist in New York City. “Collagen is that nice, tight, woven surface. A stretch mark happens because there’s been a disruption in that pattern.” As we literally stretch out, the skin pulls apart that weave, and we’re left with what feels and looks like a divot in our skin. It’s like our body is outgrowing our skin. And if you’ve ever worn a bikini to the beach (hi), you know that bright sunlight is very effective at showing you exactly where your stretch marks are and how many you have. An estimated 80 percent of women have stretch marks, and they can be the result of any number of things—the stomach stretching during pregnancy, a growth spurt (upward or outward) during puberty, 64 ALLURE THE NEW NAKED 2018
preventive creams packed with everything from vitamin E to enzymes and peptides. But most studies come out pretty unimpressed with the options. One published in the British Journal of Dermatology in 2015 found that there was virtually no difference b e t we e n p re g n a n t wo m e n w h o applied lotion containing cocoa butter and vitamin E to the abdomen, breasts, and thighs and those who used a placebo. “I am not aware of any well-designed clinical trials showing that any type of topical prevention cream works,” says Anne Chapas, a dermatologist in New York City. In other words, doctors don’t believe the evidence is strong enough to tell patients that these creams actually help stave off anything. And after the fact? Once the damage has been done? Well, first off, not all stretch marks are equal. “The red ones are fresh and a little more treatable,” explains Marmur. “I once treated a model who had a bathing-suit shoot three weeks after giving birth. We were able to make a pretty great improvement with just one Fraxel laser treatment.” But once stretch marks have turned white—usually within one
NO NEED TO MINCE WORDS HERE: STRETCH M A R K S A R E P E R M A N E N T. SO THE BEST APPROACH IS TO NOT WORRY ABOUT THEM. B A R R I N G T H A T, T H E R E A R E WAY S TO K I N DA , S O R TA M I N I M I Z E T H E M .
A prescription retinoid. This topical vitamin A derivative stimulates new collagen production. A 2014 study published in the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery showed that daily use over 16 weeks can help reduce the appearance of those newer, red marks. Caveat: This one isn’t recommended if you’re pregnant.
A rich lotion. “A petroleumbased moisturizer forms a protective seal over the skin and allows your skin to heal optimally, which could minimize the formation of stretch marks,” says Joshua Zeichner, the director of cosmetic and clinical research in dermatology at Mount Sinai Hospital. We’re fans of the new Dove DermaSeries Dry Skin Relief Expert Repairing Balm. Fractional lasers. Many dermatologists use a fractional laser, like the Fraxel Dual, to treat stretch marks. Three to five treatments over the course of three months can make red stretch marks almost invisible and reduce the appearance of older ones by up to 50 percent.
Microneedling with radio frequency. “These treatments poke tiny holes in the skin to promote healing, which will help you shed the abnormal scars,” says Marmur. “At the same time, a radio-frequency laser heats underneath the skin to build up regular collagen and tighten the stretch marks.” Jeanine Downie, a dermatologist in Montclair, New Jersey, often uses this technology to treat stretch marks in dark-skinned patients because there’s no risk of triggering hyperpigmentation. Intracel and Intensif are two common brand names; you’ll need two to five treatments and can expect an improvement of up to 60 percent.
Self-tanner. If your skin is fair to medium, self-tanner can obscure those white lines. Our top pick right now: St. Tropez’s new One Minute Pre-Shower Tan. Coat your body, wait for a minute, shower off. No smell, no wait time.
{ PERSPECTIVE }
Stretch marks often appear along the breasts and thighs, areas where the skin expands quickly during puberty.
to two years—“they get finer and tighter, and it’s harder to erase them,” says Marmur. “Young, healthy people can build up collagen really quickly, so they have a better chance. After 40, it’s not as easy, so it takes more sessions with a fractional laser.” Some might even say that making a real difference in stretch marks, at any age, is virtually impossible. “We can put a man on the moon, but we can’t fix a stretch mark,” says Joubin Gabbay, a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills. We can attempt to make it somewhat less noticeable, though. In additional to fractional laser treatments, Marmur uses microneedling combined with radio frequency to create micro-injuries to the skin in order to stimulate collagen production at the site of the stretch mark—and she manages expectations every step of the way. “I try to underpromise and overdeliver,” Marmur says. “I tell patients I can make their stretch marks between 10 and 30 percent better, but what I’m hoping for is 60 to 80 percent.” And yet the fight continues. One of the latest solutions: a tattoo needle. Beverly Hills cosmetic tattoo
artist Dominique Bossavy offers a procedure called Nano Color Infusion in which she tattoos your stretch marks so they match the skin on the rest of your body. This option runs at least $3,500. The results are impressive (if not a little scary to those of us who have no tattoos at all) (hi again), but is it worth it? “Someone who is obsessing about stretch marks may not be appreciating the rest of themselves,” says New York City psychiatrist Katharine Phillips, who specializes in body image and body dysmorphic disorder. “That’s not what other people are appreciating; they’re appreciating all of you. You have other attributes and more important strengths.” We should probably stop focusing our energy on something that 1) likely no one but you notices or cares about and 2) doesn’t have much of a solution. “Someone who thinks their partner sees their stretch marks and thinks they’re disgusting...that just isn’t real or logical,” says Phillips. “You have to be more compassionate toward yourself. It’s good advice for all of us.” Look. Do I love having these deep
creases on my inner thighs? No. No one likes to be confronted with the reality that they aren’t perfect or that they’re getting older. But amazingly and counterintuitively, I find comfort in places like Instagram (if you stick to very specific corners). That’s where I found Cinta Tort Cartró. She paints vivid, rainbow-colored lines onto her stretch marks. That’s also where I discovered artist Sara Shakeel, who turns regular stretch marks into veins of glitter. ASOS recently ran swimsuit ads featuring unretouched models with cute (yes, cute!) little white stripes on their butts. Fitness superstar Kayla Itsines has posted pictures of her stretch marks, too. Stretch marks tell the story of a life. Growing breasts, becoming a woman. (In my case, getting dumped before prom, gaining 10 pounds.) Our bodies stretch and grow and tighten and change. And our stretch marks are the map that shows us where we’ve been. They tell the story of a life lived—a joyful, painful, hopefully long life. Stretch marks are part of being human. And there’s something incredibly beautiful about that.
waiting for dakota BRENNAN KILBANE DISCOVERS THAT THE MOST PROMISING ACTRESS IN HOLLYWOOD IS ALSO ONE OF THE MOST DANGEROUS BEHIND THE WHEEL. photographed by petra collins
Caroline Hu dress. Makeup colors: Teint Idole Ultra Cushion Foundation in Ivoire, Monsieur Big Brow in Brown, and Matte Shaker Liquid Lipstick in Or-Angel by Lancôme. Details, see Shopping Guide. These pages: Fashion stylist, Stella Greenspan. Hair: Tamara McNaughton. Makeup: Emi Kaneko. Manicure: Ashlie Johnson. Prop stylist: Natalie Ziering. Production: Holly Gore for Rosco Production.
the typical celebrity profile opens with a writerly description of what the subject is wearing—her denim shirt that fits her like a warm hug, or how her shoes have been kicked off and her feet are “tucked beneath her legs.” But I am at a loss for a writerly description of what the subject is wearing because I haven’t met Dakota Johnson. And in fact, I never will. Due to the demands of being a celebrity and an ill-timed migraine, the 28-year-old and I are not meant to be. Thus, in lieu of an introduction to Johnson’s appearance, I offer you a description of what I am wearing: a navy merino wool sweater (that fits me like a warm hug), camouflage cargo pants that I wear despite a stain south of the left knee, clunky sneakers my mom makes fun of (and I resent her for this). There’s a lot to unpack with that relationship, and I may have plenty of time to do it because my deadline is looming and Dakota Johnson is not sitting across from me. In the meantime, I start researching her with the intensity of a serial killer—only more thoroughly. She drives a Ford F-150 and also a Porsche Carrera. She wears a size 7 shoe. Her favorite color is orange (according to the Internet). She is social media shy, which makes it extremely difficult to unearth trivia about her. She is naked on camera with frequency. Back in the ’80s, her mother was a secretary in Manhattan, and her dad was an undercover detective in Miami. Also, she wears a size 7 shoe. But deadlines are deadlines, and ultimately I get a “Would you do a phone interview and write it up by Monday?” (It’s Thursday.) The next day at 1:30 P.M., the caller ID lights up—and it’s not UNKNOWN or PRIVATE or MARMONT, CHATEAU. It’s JOHNSON, DAKOTA. I marvel at her humility before scrambling to answer. “I got an iced coffee. The largest, and it tastes like water, and I’m fucking pissed,” she says, laughing. Her laugh is like the sonic version of one of those seasonal affective disorder lamps—and the weeks I have spent waiting for her melt
away in seconds. I have no idea what she’s wearing yet have a journalistic duty to describe it, so I ask her to do that for me in as much detail as she can muster. “I’m naked!” She laughs again and sends all of the serotonin in my body rushing to my brain. “No, I’m wearing a hazmat suit, and underneath I have a flapper dress because that’s what I wear when I work out. And cashmere socks, and a fedora, because who doesn’t love a fedora? I also have a lot of makeup on.” She erupts into chortles at that last bit. She’s in the car. Johnson is driving around Los Angeles, navigating its tangled roads with the confidence of somebody who has essentially grown up in Hollywood and the driving skill of somebody who has never been there and also cannot drive. During the course of our conversation, she misses her exit on the freeway (by five exits!) and winds up in Crenshaw, a neighborhood she describes to me as... not somewhere she lives. Later, she almost maims a blind pedestrian. “What do I do?” she yells at me, a person almost 3,000 miles away. I don’t know what to say other than “Don’t hit him!” She does not confirm his status, but it’s safe to say from her casual demeanor during the rest of our call that she spared his life. This is an observable fact: Johnson is very cool. She’s cool by all the metrics: the Gucci campaign and the famous friends and the prestige films with the celebrated directors. She’s also cool in the intangible, authentic way. This is perhaps most evident in her role as casual muse to so many. Gucci’s creative wunderkind Alessandro Michele took Johnson to the Met Gala last year after selecting her to front the fragrance campaign for Gucci Bloom alongside Hari Nef and Petra Collins. Luca Guadagnino, who emerged as one of the most acclaimed directors of 2017 for Call Me by Your Name, cast Johnson in his dreamy 2015 moving painting, A Bigger Splash, and the two have developed a close working relationship, with more projects down the
This page and opposite page: Gucci dress and jumpsuit. Chopard necklace. Makeup colors: Eyebrow Styling Compact in Medium Brown, Full Lash MultiDimension Mascara, and Rouge Rouge Lipstick in Coral Shore by Shiseido. Details, see Shopping Guide.
Dries Van Noten dress. Carine Gilson bra and underwear. Lou Dallas socks. Jennifer Behr earrings. Makeup colors: Diorskin Forever Perfect Cushion in Cream, Diorshow Brow Styler in Light Brown, and Rouge Dior Liquid lipstick in Rock’n’metal by Dior. Details, see Shopping Guide.
road. “We talk almost every day,” she says. “It’s constantly creating and thinking of what we’re going to do next, how we’re going to evolve...what’s the next thing we’re going to try to accomplish?” Guadagnino’s films are packed with spectrum upon spectrum of human emotional experience, relying on raw, intimate, hollowed-gut performances from his actors to tell the story. “It’s terrifying,” Johnson explains. “But it’s cathartic. And that makes my heart beat.” In her terms,
“s o m e t i m e s t h a t ’s the most important thing— just to know that s o m e o n e i s t h e r e .” that’s the role of the actor: to be vulnerable. To feel everything. To process it and empathize and transmit it back to an audience in the hope that somebody will go to a movie theater and feel that relationship. “Everyone has become so isolated because of social media...but sometimes that’s the most important thing—just to know that someone is there that can talk to you and is a real person,” she says. “I believe in human connection.” In addition to her film work, Johnson is developing a nonprofit called the Kindness Institute, a digital health network that links medical students and doctors (and physical and mental health volunteers from both Eastern and Western medicine) to people who are seeking answers for everything from sinus troubles to emotional ones. “An online hub,” she tells me, “to help people understand their bodies and be kind to themselves and, in turn, be kind to other people. There’s a support system, a conversation, a connection.” Like a lot of other (nonfamous) people I know, Johnson experienced this past year as one of deep personal crisis, but she sees reason for optimism. “It’s been a year since the [2016 presidential] election, and a lot of artists that I admire have taken that year to hone their perspectives.” She references Sarah Silverman, whose late-night talk show, I Love You, America, premiered late last year—a press release from Hulu describes the show as “[relating] with people who may not agree with her personal opinions through honesty, humor, genuine interest in others.” It seems like Johnson finds solace in her work. “I don’t know how to explain it in a way that doesn’t sound hokey, but when I’m on a project, I’m on it for a certain reason, and I’m involved with the people for a reason, and it’s always some sort of weird marriage to something that’s happening in my life, or the character has some connection to something that’s going on [in my life].”
This is true of her work with Guadagnino, but also of her “big naked franchise,” the success of which buoyed her into movie-star-ness three years ago. Fifty Shades Freed, the third and final installment of the book-to-film bondage epic Johnson has been the face and body of since 2015, premieres this month. She is decidedly not sad about the end of the trifecta. But she is extremely grateful for the experience, which she says helped mold her as an actress and as a human. “Fundamentally, I’m open and warm. At my core, I’m a bleeding heart. But when your life is exposed and when the movie that exposes your life is exposing your emotions and your body, it can be very scary. Throughout this entire experience, I’ve learned that I can expose my heart and my emotions and I can still protect myself. I can still be vulnerable and strong. It’s a constant ebb and flow and a battle and trying to figure out how to have those things coexist within me. That’s what I’m grateful for.” There is a humility and an authenticity about her that makes her seem like a civilian helplessly trapped inside the body of a famous person. Even when she reveals to me that her primary mode of transportation is a Porsche (I already knew this; it was a courtesy question), she does so with embarrassment: “I wish it was a joke.” She gives the real description of what she’s wearing, which I will include
because I am a journalist: “My hair is really dirty, kind of greasy, and I’m wearing black old Wrangler jeans and a blue denim jacket. I didn’t have time to wash my hair, so I’m kind of gross. But gross chic, you know?” Right. Any makeup? “All of my lip balms have a little color in them,” she says, adding with irony, “because I’m a girl.” She lets forth a titter that would make a baby rabbit implode. Her lip choice today is a By Terry plum-tinted lip balm that I imagine glints in the light when she grins, or catches her hair, or something. I can only speculate. For all of her positive qualities, Johnson has one major character flaw: She is not a gossip, which is the most infuriating thing about speaking with her. At the end of the interview, I abandon any shred of professional dignity and just outright ask her for something juicy. “Come on!” I beg. “One thing.” She racks her brain dutifully, but the full-time starlet and part-time muse and sometime Coldplay fan (who days earlier had flown to Argentina to see them perform and definitely not to see Chris Martin, whom she is rumored to be dating) could not come up with a single titillating thing. “I’m trying to think of something good and funny,” she says, deadly serious. “I feel like when you listen back [to this conversation] there’ll be some really ridiculous sound bites.” Ridiculous, no. More like candid, irreverent, a little unexpected—and that’s just her laugh.
Maryam Nassir Zadeh necklace. Makeup colors: Brightening Makeup Base in Rosée, Crayon Sourcils Eyebrow Pencil in Brun Naturel, and Lip Crayon in Rose Violine by Chanel. Opposite page: Eckhaus Latta dress. Lou Dallas socks. Chopard earrings and ring. Details, see Shopping Guide.
photographed by tanya and zhenya posternak
louder and clearer WHAT MAKES BARE, RADIANT SKIN EVEN MORE STUNNING? A SINGLE POP OF ULTRASATURATED, TOTALLY OUT-OF-BOUNDS COLOR.
abstract art If Picasso’s dream woman came to life, she’d make Cubist color look practically neutral. Makeup colors on Sophia Ahrens: True Match Lumi Glotion Natural Glow Enhancer in Fair, Brow Stylist Boost & Set Brow Mascara in Blonde, and Colour Riche Shine Lipstick in Luminous Coral by L’Oréal Paris. These pages: Fashion stylist, Alexandra Carl. Makeup: Susie Sobol. Hair: Tamas Tuzes. Manicure: Gina Edwards. Production: Molly Carroll at the Production Factory NY.
a l a d y ’s pearls The most delicate and graceful use of eyelash glue yet. Gucci hat. Makeup colors: Perfecting Concealer in Light Ivory, Brow Gel, and Satin Lips Shea Butter Balm by Mary Kay. Details, see Shopping Guide.
on the dot Spots all over? Maybe not. But one punchy dot on your lids? Absolutely. On Estella Boersma: Miu Miu sweater. Makeup colors: Goodness Glows Full Coverage Liquid Makeup in Ivory, Nourishing Eyeliner Pencil in Warm Brown, and Glossy Lipstick in Blush Ripple by Burt’s Bees. Details, see Shopping Guide.
sunset eyes No one messes with the girl in orange shadow. Makeup colors: Brow Beater Microfine Brow Pencil and Brush in Taupe and Eyeshadow in Freelove by Urban Decay.
smooth talker The beauty version of eating a dozen blue rock candies. Ply-Knits top. Makeup colors: Brow Precise Fiber Volumizer Eyebrow Gel in Deep Brown and Color Sensational Vivid Hot Lacquer Lip Gloss in Sassy by Maybelline New York. Details, see Shopping Guide.
seeing green The point is to make a statement. And while you’re at it, make it bold, and make it fearless. Elliss bra. Marques’Almeida earring. Turban, stylist’s own. Opposite page: Eleven Six top. Elliss briefs. Missoni hat. Sophie Monet earrings. Makeup colors: Mister Light Concealer in Mister Meringue, Mister Brow Filler in Brunette, and Gloss Bomb in Pink by Givenchy. Details, see Shopping Guide.
MODEL: ABRIELLE STEDMAN
losing clothes, finding zen
WELCOME TO CALIFORNIA’S ESALEN INSTITUTE, THE SUSAN SONTAG–APPROVED RETREAT THAT’LL TRANSFORM YOUR ENTIRE WORLDVIEW. ONCE YOU GET INTO YOUR BIRTHDAY SUIT. BY BRENNAN KILBANE photographed by vicki king
Each and every pore on my body is flexed shut. My anatomy—I’ll spare you the details—is visibly cold. I had thought November would be a mild month for Big Sur, California, and I was only half right: It was a beautiful and warm day to be naked outdoors among strangers, but by nightfall, freezing winds are blowing over the Pacific and into my bloodstream. Then I plunge my body into a hot mineral bath, and every cell in my body sighs. This is hour seven at the Esalen Institute, where I’ve elected to spend the weekend in the hopes of shedding inhibitions, self-consciousness, and clothing for a few days of totally nude R&R. (Vacations are a lot less stressful when you’re not responsible for a beach bag.) I’m also devoting a total of nine and a half hours to unguarded self work with 30 strangers and two professionals who are also strangers. Annoyingly, I’m calling this “emotional nudity.” Do you get it? There is basically one place on earth that asks you politely to share your innermost thoughts and feelings and fears and insecurities with a group of people you have never met before, and, yeah, if you use the pool or baths, would you mind also not wearing clothes? Thank you so much. Welcome to Esalen. Protected by a menacing stretch of cliff and a BY RESERVATION ONLY sign, the Esalen Institute has been welcoming guests at or after their designated arrival time since 1962. (If you arrive early, you will be asked to check in later. If you ask where in the area you can stop and maybe get lunch, the parking attendant will laugh.) It was founded by Michael Murphy and Dick Price, Stanford grads who were inspired by studies of higher health and peak experiences, and on Murphy’s family land, which boasted healing hot springs and arresting views of the Pacific. In the last half century, Esalen has developed a luminous alumni list—
Henry Miller, Joan Baez, Aldous Huxley, and Joni Mitchell, among others. To this day, it may be the only thing that Susan Sontag and Deepak Chopra have in common. Esalen cultivates a kind of cultish mystique. Mentioning the institute prompts one of two responses from people: effusive acclaim or furrowed skepticism. Esalen featured prominently in the Human Potential Movement of the 1960s, a belief system focused on inner development (one middle-aged men still employ today as an argument for swinging). The finale of Mad Men famously referenced the institute: Don Draper attends a workshop during a personal crisis and finds wholeness—along with an idea for a CocaCola ad. While the 1960s Esalen was extremely bohemian, the Esalen of today has modernized a bit. It has a cash bar and a Wi-Fi hookup (except during mealtimes). And last November, briefly, it had me. My fear was that it was going to be, um, enlightened. When I arrived on Friday afternoon, my fear began, borrowing an Esalen term, to manifest: The first person I encountered, who checked in my car, was wearing a Sublime T-shirt. The second person I encountered, who checked in me, was an extremely kind white woman with a bouquet of blonde locs. What do you call those midcalf-length pants that are jersey and usually paisley, and you can only buy them at head shops? I saw 40 pairs that afternoon. My jeans and sweater felt like a tuxedo. For a miserable four hours, I was convinced I had made a terrible mistake. Then everybody else showed up. Businessmen barking their last business commands into FaceTime Audio calls (the campus has very spotty cell service), yogis wearing beanies, thoroughly bleached women wearing expensive premium sportswear, a haggard couple who, I’m not joking, arrived in a yellow Volkswagen minibus. One by one they spilled out over the grounds, which are, I cannot say it enough: stunning. Esalen is verdant—everything within campus limits is remarkably green, thanks in part to a sustainable irrigation plan that involves processing laundry water. The lodging is rustic with comfortable flourishes, like soft duvets and hotel furniture. Everything smells vaguely of lavender oil. My assigned roommate, James the nurse, is instantly my best friend. We are inseparable for two hours, until he goes to his workshop (“Esalen Massage: The Basics”) and leaves me. When he comes back to our room, an hour after I have already been here waiting for him, I furiously interrogate him about his whereabouts. “I got out late!” James, revealing himself to be a pathological liar, is no longer my best friend. Bonds are forged and destroyed at breakneck speed here. My workshop, “A Different Perspective: Reframe Your Life Using Play, Embodiment, and Humor,” begins at 8 P.M., but I arrive early. Most of the conversation I overhear is from people who have already been here, who would love to give you, verbally and specifically, an itemized list of the last times they were here, plus other details that are riveting. Before one of my workshops, two Esalen regulars animatedly argue about which side of the room the instructors will instruct from. “A month ago, they started there,” one says, pointing to the southernmost corner of the room. The opposing counsel shakes her head. “It’s over there,” she insists, gesturing to the door. “I know. I’ve been coming here for years.” This goes on for
esalen cultivates a kind of
cultish
mystique.
being naked outside is terrific.
15 minutes, which only seems like a short period of time. Then it begins. “What we discuss in the seminar must stay in the seminar.” By 10 P.M., after hours of [redacted], the workshop lets out. Some seminarians head to bed. Since the mineral baths are open 24 hours, I break off, hoping to bathe under the stars. This is where the nakedness starts. It is not where it ends. During the day, you can see clear over the sweeping grounds to where the mineral baths are, and if you squint, you can make out a spectrum of flesh-colored sunbathers on the edge of California. At night, you cannot see a sumo wrestler painted neon: The grounds are entirely dark, peppered with lamps that are a mean joke. It takes 15 minutes to walk across campus, but I spent nearly 40 ambling through the pitch. I consider returning to bed, but I remember my editor’s advice—“Man up and drop trou.” Plus, I want James to think I am cool. After journeying for all of night, I reach the baths. Reader, I dropped trou. Being naked outside is terrific. And not because it hearkens back to our primordial form, although I’m sure there are some people at Esalen who find that theory particularly appealing. The wind on your bare thighs feels sensational already, but under the painted cliffs of Big Sur, beneath a night sky drawn in sprawls of entire galaxies, it feels sublime. You are laying yourself bare—literally— if you choose to sunbathe. I spend every free daylight hour not reserved for rigorous self work at the baths, hot yellow sunlight drenching my face and butt and et cetera. My towel, a security blankie at first, is quickly discarded in favor of full-frontal. The mineral baths date back thousands of years, to when Native Americans of the Esselen tribe would gather and—I assume—get naked in a ceremonious way. The appeal of these baths is not revealed to me—the water smells terrible, and a link on the Esalen website promising “more information on the hot springs water and its healing properties” leads to a series of reports that include specific mineral content. I don’t know what 18 micrograms per liter of aluminum is doing to my skin, but it feels amazing, even if it smells like hot onion water. The three or four other people in the bath do not seem to notice me. They are chatting among themselves about San Francisco’s astronomical rents. And in no time, I’m chatting, too. That, I think, is why people flock to this place. Not for the mineral baths or the workshops or the cafeteria-style meals or the post-bohemian rustic accommodations, although all of the above is pretty great, but for the people. Every single person on campus grounds is a walking magnet for your best self, pulling out your most emotionally generous impulses with every interaction. Fraternity is the oxygen of Esalen. Fires are discouraged on the grounds—this is California, remember—but a campfire sensibility burns through the atmosphere. Except instead of an annoying guy in a flannel playing “Wonderwall” unprompted, it’s a guy with a ponytail playing the bongos. Unprompted. Also in a flannel. Most of this camaraderie is forged within Esalen’s classes, which span from technical workshops to tearsoaked share sessions. And I swear to Goddess I am a
different person from who I was on day one. Over the course of a weekend, I crawled like a baby into the arms of a near stranger, who held me for five minutes while we rocked. I shared things with people that I would hesitate to tell my therapist. I filled to bursting with joy and clapped my hands numb when a new friend gave a rave improv performance. I cried at a poem. A poem! In two days, I transformed from the kind of person who is put off by a Sublime T-shirt to the kind of person who cries at the poetry of strangers. That is a kind of nudity, I realized, although it hadn’t clicked until one of the workshop’s instructors summed up the kind of work we had been doing through movement and sharing: “We’re standing naked at the contact boundary,” he said, as my fellow seminarians wiped away tears and quietly side- embraced so as to honor the circle we were sitting in. I wondered about the context of nudity at a place like this, a place where you’re invited to take off your clothes and then bare yourself. I felt more naked in this room, wearing a metric ton of fabric (I was cold), than I did wearing nothing at the baths. Victoria became my new best friend—we gushed over photos of her granddaughter and my baby niece. Our only common ground seemed to be that we both personally knew a young baby, and even so, we exchanged numbers and discussed meeting up when she was in New York next. Jacqueline and Penelope and I embraced and wiped tears from our eyes, thanking one another for being there, for lending ourselves. We all talked about coming back, but with the acute awareness that this weekend would never happen again, and that we were bound by this unique experience. We had seen each other at our most naked. It was altering, unforgettable, and a little chilly in November. Pack a sweater.
T P. OS U L M CES D A FA AN NG E— U AV YO S H LLY F U MO L O E. AL KL ST TAC MO TO AL D N RIE TIO E T DIC HAV AD S N FU SA O IT’ NE NO
N E R E E R V C A S S
photographed by horacio salinas
T
his is the strange reality of being human: We’re David Greenfield, a psychiatry professor at the obsessed with pursuing happiness, but we’re University of Connecticut School of Medicine, developed often terrible at distinguishing between things a smartphone compulsion test (look it up online and take that make us joyful and things that make us miserable. In it) to help anxious people assess their phone usage. I took my case, things I do constantly that make me feel miserthe test and was advised to proceed directly to a profesable include eating five pieces of buttered toast for dinsional who specializes in behavioral addictions. Most of ner, fiddling prematurely with zits, flaking on plans, and my friends qualified, too. On a whim, I Googled “Internet spending hours a day on my iPhone. Especially the addiction rehab” and found a single legitimate-looking iPhone. Yesterday I was on it for four result located within the United States. It hours and 37 minutes, and I picked it up was 30 minutes outside Seattle. A few 64 times. I know this because I downweeks later, I was on a plane. EMERGENCY loaded an app that told me so. This is how I ended up at reStart, a PHONE Never mind the glutenphilia and facility founded in 2009 that accepts cliTHERAPY zit-fiddling for now. When it comes to ents for 6- to 10-week inpatient treatment FOUR STEPS compulsive habits, the iPhone is what I’m sessions, followed by a transition proTO WA R D C O M B AT I N G most concerned about. And I’m not gram, in which they definitively disconBAD DEVICE HABITS. alone in worrying. The world is full of artinect. The point of my visit was to learn, cles about “digital detoxes” and “11 Signs not to enroll—I was stopping in as a visiDownload a free tracker app. You Might Be on Your Phone Too Much.” tor but hoped to walk away with permaSelf-awareness is the first step. Get an app that tracks your Aziz Ansari announced in an interview nently changed habits. I arrived at rehab phone usage. Catherine Price last year that he’d deleted the Internet at 9 A.M. The center is a spacious home recommends Moment for surrounded by five acres of vine maples from his phone. A startup named Yondr iPhone and Offtime for Android. and evergreens. Wild mushrooms grow in makes pouches that lock people out of Both are free. fairy-tale clumps along the road. It struck their phones to prevent the devices from Turn off notifications. me as a place of such natural splendor becoming “a distraction and a crutch,” Your time is more valuable that no one would want to be locked into assuming—rightly—that we can’t be than someone else’s Instagram a screen anyway, but within a few mintrusted to simply turn them off ourselves. activity. Banish notifications for instant peace of mind. utes of parking I had to suppress the urge Catherine Price, a science journalist, has to check my DMs. So there you go. written How to Break Up With Your Phone, Suggest phoneless socializing. Research shows that the mere A tall young man in socked feet a book, out this month, that gives us a presence of a phone diminishes greeted me at the door when I knocked. new metaphor with which to think of our feelings of connectedness. “Hello. Who are you?” Behind him was devices. Consider, Price suggests, the When you get together with an open kitchen where a cluster of idea that your phone is the other party in friends, suggest that everyone young people prepared breakfast. It a bad relationship: It demands all of your not only turn off their phone— really, truly off—but keep it out looked and smelled like Sunday attention and manipulates you; it has of sight. It’s an experiment! morning at a fancy college inappropriate boundaries, and it monopGet an alarm clock. dormitory. After shedding olizes your time; sometimes it makes you Voilà! Now you don’t need to my s h o e s , h a n d i n g feel good, but mostly it makes you feel sleep next to your phone. over my phone, bad. This comparison rings true. and signing As with any bad relationship, it can a confitake a while before you even realize you’re dentiality agreement, stuck in one. It turns out there are neurological reasons we I was swept into can’t stop scrolling and refreshing. Tristan Harris, a former t h e d a y ’s design ethicist and product philosopher at Google, draws a connection between smartphones and slot machines: They both occasionally dole out a reward (like a Twitter mention or a text from your romantic interest) in order to cultivate compulsive checking. But there’s one key difference: With slot machines, you eventually run out of coins and have to go home. With phones, there’s no stopping cue. If there were, I wouldn’t be spending 28 percent of my waking hours on it. Something else my tracking app told me.
L A C ’T I G AN LO C O E . R W G U S N EO N L I N E S OL R A EA CR E R S R E P H O T ST
4
hours and 37 minutes: T h a t ’s how long I was on my phone today.
AN
IM
64
AL “W TOS— E’R -F WE E S AC N O E EE CI IN D AL T E FA RA C CT EIO
agenda. First up: morning meeting. The morning meeting took place in a den lined with bookshelves. (James Joyce and Cervantes were represented alongside Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff and Codependent No More.) A sign on the wall read, “THOU SHALT NOT WHINE.” The rehab accepts only six clients at a time. The meeting started with everyone going around the room and saying, “Today I’m feeling _____, and I’m thankful for ______.” The moods and acknowledgments varied widely. One person was grateful for waffles. One person was feeling, “Ugh…I don’t know.” A word of the day (“vigor”) was selected and written on a chalkboard over yesterday’s word (“tenacity”). Then it was time to go around in a circle and name a goal, a piece of personal progress, and a compliment for someone else in the group. After the sharing, a counselor related the day’s news: Another mass shooting had occurred, Trump was in Asia, and the Astros had crushed the Dodgers. This daily announcement is one of a few remaining tethers to the outside world; otherwise clients remain immune to news alerts. An old-fashioned phone booth enables them to call their parents on the weekends. If they have a medical appointment or another pressing reason to leave the house, they have to call and ask their parents or ask the staff to arrange for a car service. Nobody gets near a screen. Life is less convenient and more deliberate. By noon I could tell that Internet rehab was a lot like any other kind of rehab: a mixture of therapy, exercise, and unstructured activities. The clients went shopping for groceries, worked out, wrote (on a typewriter, not a computer), drew, napped, ate snacks, chatted about music, made to-do lists, performed household chores, and checked in with their counselors. In the office area of the house, I sat down with Hilarie Cash, who is one of the center’s cofounders and the chief clinical officer. She wore a cranberry-hued jacket and a pair of earrings shaped like chili peppers, which the clients all complimented her on. Her tone was kind but no-nonsense—the ideal bedside manner—as she explained the complications of treating Internet addiction. “The advantage of something like alcohol addiction is that you can stay away from bars; you can stay away from other drinkers; you can refrain from touching a drop of alcohol again,” she said. “This is not that.” It’s closer to an eating disorder, Cash explained, in that the client will forever be forced to interact with the delivery system of their addiction. “Just as someone with an eating disorder has to learn how to avoid unhealthy foods that trigger their cycle, so, too, these clients have to learn to use the Internet in healthy ways and avoid things that will trigger
Number of times I picked up my phone in one day
their cycles.” What about someone like me? I asked. Someone whose habits are unhealthy but hardly debilitating? “Take a break once a week,” Cash advised. “Start with one hour a day. Work up to one day a month. Try one week a year. Feel how healthy and liberating it feels.” And don’t forget, she added, that the more time you spend on a screen, the more you’re isolating yourself from in-the-flesh human interactions. “We’re social animals—we need faceto-face interaction. And we’re getting less and less of it.” As I wandered around the house talking to clients and observing the daily routine, it occurred to me that our social interactions had an unusual tint. The clients all made direct eye contact with me and listened carefully. They joked and made sharp observations. In other words, they were good conversationalists—a quality that is more uncommon than I’d realized. Surely the lack of phones had something to do with it. One of them told me that his mind was clearer without screen time and that he could think more easily. Another told me that he was newly able to maintain emotional equilibrium. “Before, if I was in a bad mood, I could get stuck in it for weeks. Now I can solve it. I can deal with it. I can talk about it. I can get through it.” I left the center encouraged. Nobody inside seemed to miss their devices. Nobody seemed depressed without them. Even spending a few hours without mine had clarified my senses. This air is the perfect temperature for walking, I thought happily as I returned to the car. My arm automatically darted into my bag to check the weather and find out exactly what temperature constituted perfect walking weather. But no! I stopped. I’m not a rat in a maze designed by Apple. I’m a human with freedom of choice. On the plane ride home, I opted not to pay for Wi-Fi. Instead, I deleted Instagram from my phone, shut it down, and buried it at the bottom of my backpack. A spike of anxiety was followed swiftly by full-body relaxation. I was fully offline: unreachable and unbotherable. In minutes, I was asleep.
N.
”
NOW YOU SEE IT... There’s power in hair. And in lots of hair? Well, lots of power. But imagine walking into the world without it. No sideswept bangs to hide your gaze. No long layers to pull over a shoulder. No ponytail to adjust when you need something to do with your hands. Just you. Is there anything more powerful than a woman with a naked head? A woman with nothing to hide? Maybe. But we’ve never seen it. photographed by sølve sundsbø
On Manami Kinoshita: Dries Van Noten shirt and stylist’s own top. Kim Mee Hye earrings. Makeup colors: Lasting Finish Breathable Concealer in Light and Lasting Finish by Kate Lipstick in 42 by Rimmel London. Opposite page, on Iris D.: Rodarte coat. Details, see Shopping Guide. These pages: Fashion stylist, Beat Bolliger. Hair: Martin Cullen. Makeup: Hiromi Ueda. Manicure: Marian Newman.
Paco Rabanne top, pants, and waistband. Details, see Shopping Guide.
Louis Vuitton jacket and shirt. Hermès and model’s own earrings. Makeup colors: Vitalist Go Glow Luminizing Lotion and Vitalist Elixir Lip Oil by CoverGirl. Details, see Shopping Guide.
IRIS D. Model “I first shaved my head about a year and a half ago. I had been toying with the idea for some time, but the actual act of doing it was rather spur of the moment. It felt right, and emotionally it was very liberating. At school the reaction hasn’t been the most positive, but in the real world I’ve only been told wonderful things. Luckily, I don’t measure my self-esteem through my physical attributes. My confidence doesn’t come from my hair—it comes from within. My opinions and thoughts are what matter, and now those are on full display because I have nothing to hide behind. The sense of freedom is unbelievable.” A.W.A.K.E. cream dress. Details, see Shopping Guide.
Bottega Veneta top, pants, and belt. Jimmy Choo boots. Paco Rabanne bandanna. Details, see Shopping Guide.
WHAT INSPIRES SOMEONE TO HOLD A PAIR OF CLIPPERS TO THEIR HEAD AND NEVER LOOK BACK? FIVE MORE PERSPECTIVES ON TAKING IT ALL OFF. METTE TOWLEY
ROSE MCGOWAN Actress and author “I shaved my head over two and a half years ago. It was time. I broke up with the world and its expectations of what I was meant to look like according to rules I didn’t write. This is my journey, and for that to be true, I’ve largely had to banish other people’s ideas of who I should be. Now my outsides match my insides. My disempowerment was my hair. I hid behind it. I slept. It turned me into a caricature. My power comes from refusing to hide. It’s great being free.”
ROSE NAMAJUNAS UFC strawweight champion “My power is not in my hair. My power is in me. When you’re a fighter, it’s all about having a strong mind and a strong body. There’s a lot of pressure in living up to the responsibilities of being a UFC champion. I have to be visible, make appearances. But I also have to train even harder now because there’s a target on my back—everyone wants this belt. When you’re in the gym all the time, long hair just gets in the way. The more distractions I can eliminate from my life, the better. I’m happy with my decision, and everyone loves it—even my grandmother!”
JENNY SHIMIZU Actress and model “In 1988, I started shaving my head on a regular basis. It represented honoring my true self. People who knew me loved it; people who didn’t thought I was either a Buddhist monk or an Asian skinhead. I honestly didn’t care either way. My decision was instinctual and political, and it changed everything for me. Some women harness their femininity through long locks, while others hide behind it. For myself, having short hair is powerful, beautiful, and without fuss.”
Dancer “Rihanna shaved my head on the set of her and N.E.R.D.’s music-video shoot for ‘Lemon.’ After I auditioned for the role, the creative team approached me with the concept, and I immediately said, ‘Yes! Let’s go!’ For me, power and femininity have always existed in tandem with performance. Women and their allies are constantly reimagining femininity, smashing hegemonic ideals, and bending the concept of gender. Whether I’m onstage or off, my womanhood is fluid, not fixed or confined to a certain part of my body. It can live and breathe as I do. I’m now better connected to what makes me feel happy and beautiful. I feel a bold sense of self without my curls. My body unapologetically postures itself in a new way—more fierce and feminine than ever before.”
SASHA VELOUR Drag queen (winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race, season 9) and illustrator “When I first shaved my head, my mom was also bald. She was undergoing cancer treatment again after several years in remission. The second time, she cared even less what people thought of her hair loss and would walk around our Illinois hometown completely bald with beautiful earrings. I was captivated by the beauty of an elegant, confident bald woman. Today, I harness a lot of my strength and femininity through my baldness. It reminds me of my mom in those moments when she was both the strongest and most vulnerable I’d ever seen her. It’s also gorgeous. To me, a bald head with a gorgeous gown is the essence of fashion. I have learned that in drag, as in real life, the only person you should be styling yourself for is you.” —REPORTING BY MAXWELL LOSGAR
MANAMI KINOSHITA Model “I grew up in Fukui, Japan. Japanese culture is quite conservative, but my classmates thought it was cool when I first shaved my head. I did it myself when I was 16 because I wanted to feel my strongest and best, and I thought that making a change was exactly the right thing to do. I think people view me as more strong and fearless, but that’s not always the case. I also love how easy it is to get ready in the morning—no drying time!” Joseph jacket, shirt, and pants. Christian Louboutin shoes. Repossi earrings. Details, see Shopping Guide.
SHOPPING GUIDE
Cover: Dries Van Noten dress, $3,560. Barneys New York stores. Carine Gilson bra, $424, and underwear, $358. Barneys New York, NYC. 212-826-8900. Jennifer Behr earrings, $925. Jenniferbehr.com. Table of Contents, page 4: Elliss bra, $121. Elliss.co.uk. Baserange underwear, $55. Baserange.net. Ply-Knits top, $395. Ply-knits .com. Elliss underwear, $54. Elliss.co.uk. Cover Look, page 12: Brock Collection dress, $1,990. Neiman Marcus stores. Van Cleef & Arpels earrings, $71,000. Van cleefarpels.com. Waiting for Dakota, page 69: Caroline Hu dress, $3,000. [emailprotected]. Page 71: Gucci dress and jumpsuit, $26,000. Gucci .com. Chopard necklace, price available upon request. Chopard.com. Page 72: Dries Van Noten dress, $3,560. Barneys New York stores. Carine Gilson bra, $424, and underwear, $358. Barneys New York, NYC. 212-826-8900. Lou Dallas socks, price available upon request. Loudallas .com. Jennifer Behr earrings, $925. Jennifer behr.com. Page 75: Maryam Nassir Zadeh necklace, $860. Maryamnassirzadeh.com. Eckhaus Latta dress, $775. Eckhauslatta .com. Lou Dallas socks, price available upon request. Loudallas.com. Chopard earrings and ring, prices available upon request. Chopard.com. Louder and Clearer, page 78: Gucci hat, $540. Gucci.com. Page 79: Miu Miu sweater, $1,200. Miumiu.com. Page 81: Ply-Knits top, $395. Ply-knits .com. Page 83: Elliss bra, $121. Elliss.co.uk. Marques’Almeida earring (sold as a pair), $295. Marquesalmeida.com. Eleven Six top, $245. Eleven-six.co. Elliss briefs, $54. Elliss.co.uk. Missoni hat, $690. Missoni .com. Sophie Monet earrings, $130.
Sophiemonetjewelry.com. Now You See It..., page 95: Dries Van Noten shirt, $595. Barneys New York stores. Kim Mee Hye earrings, $5,595 each. Kimmeehye.com. Rodarte coat, price available upon request for similar styles. Net-a-porter.com. Page 96: Paco Rabanne top, $250; pants, $830; and waistband, $230. Pia, San Francisco. 628-444-3227. Page 97: Louis Vuitton jacket and shirt, prices available upon request. 866-VUITTON. Hermès earrings, $2,475 to $3,400. Hermes.com. Page 98: A.W.A.K.E. dress, $1,277. The Celect, Newport Beach, California. 949-500-5073. Page 99: Bottega Veneta top, $1,980; pants, $1,750; and belt, $1,850. 800-845-6790. Jimmy Choo boots, $895. Jimmychoo.com. Paco Rabanne bandanna, $510. Barneys New York, NYC. 212-826-8900. Page 101: Joseph jacket, $945; shirt, $615; and pants, $445. Joseph-fashion.com. Christian Louboutin shoes, $845. Christianlouboutin.com. Repossi earring, $10,100. Net-a-porter.com. Repossi earring, $9,250. Bergdorfgoodman.com. PHOTOGRAPHERS’ CREDITS: Body Hair: A Retrospective, page 46, clockwise from top left: Nathan Benn/Corbis Historical; Art Media/Print Collector/Getty Images; courtesy of Gillette; courtesy of J. Sisters; Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images; Universal Music Group; Bettmann; courtesy of Koremlu. Page 48, clockwise from top left: Lucas Visser; Getty Images; Kevin Mazur/MTV1415/WireImage; Axelle/ Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic; courtesy of Adidas; Josephine Schiele; Kevin Mazur/WireImage; Allen Berezovsky/WireImage.
ALLURE IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF ADVANCE MAGAZINE PUBLISHERS INC. COPYRIGHT © 2018 CONDÉ NAST. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. VOLUME 28, NO. 2. February 2018 ISSUE. ALLURE (ISSN 1054-7771) is published monthly by Condé Nast, which is a division of Advance Magazine Publishers Inc. PRINCIPAL OFFICE: Condé Nast, One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. S. I. Newhouse, Jr., Chairman Emeritus; Robert A. Sauerberg, Jr., President & Chief Executive Officer; David E. Geithner, Chief Financial Officer; Pamela Drucker Mann, Chief Revenue & Marketing Officer. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and at additional mailing offices. Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 40644503. Canadian Goods and Services Tax Registration No. 123242885-RT0001. POSTMASTER: Send all UAA to CFS (SEE DMM 507.1.5.2); NON-POSTAL AND MILITARY FACILITIES: Send address corrections to ALLURE, P.O. Box 37617, Boone, IA 50037-0617. FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS, ADDRESS CHANGES, ADJUSTMENTS, OR BACK ISSUE INQUIRIES: Please write to ALLURE, P.O. Box 37617, Boone, IA 50037-0617, call 800-678-1825, or email [emailprotected]. Please give both new and old addresses as printed on most recent label. Subscribers: If the Post Office alerts us that your magazine is undeliverable, we have no further obligation unless we receive a corrected address within one year. If during your subscription term or up to one year after the magazine becomes undeliverable, you are ever dissatisfied with your subscription, let us know. You will receive a full refund on all unmailed issues. First copy of new subscription will be mailed within four weeks after receipt of order. Address all editorial, business, and production correspondence to ALLURE Magazine, One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. For reprints, please email [emailprotected] or call 717-505-9701, ext 101. For reuse permissions, please email [emailprotected] or call 800-897-8666. Visit us online at www.allure.com. To subscribe to other Condé Nast magazines on the World Wide Web, visit www.condenastdigital.com. Occasionally, we make our subscriber list available to carefully screened companies that offer products and services that we believe would interest our readers. If you do not want to receive these offers and/or information, please advise us at P.O. Box 37617, Boone, IA 50037-0617 or call 800-678-1825. ALLURE IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RETURN OR LOSS OF, OR FOR DAMAGE OR ANY OTHER INJURY TO, UNSOLICITED MANUSCRIPTS, UNSOLICITED ARTWORK (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DRAWINGS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND TRANSPARENCIES), OR ANY OTHER UNSOLICITED MATERIALS. THOSE SUBMITTING MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, ARTWORK, OR OTHER MATERIALS FOR CONSIDERATION SHOULD NOT SEND ORIGINALS, UNLESS SPECIFICALLY REQUESTED TO DO SO BY ALLURE IN WRITING. MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND OTHER MATERIALS SUBMITTED MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY A SELF-ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE. 102 ALLURE THE NEW NAKED 2018
Top row, from left: Nars Blush in Orgasm; Wet n Wild Pro Brush Line Large Powder Brush. Second row, from left: Davines Oi Oil Absolute Beautifying Potion; Beats by Dr. Dre Beats Solo3 Wireless Headphones in Rose Gold; La Mer The Moisturizing Soft Cream; Caudalie Beauty Elixir; Crest 3D White Whitestrips With Light. Third row, from left: Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask; Tom Ford Lip Color Matte in Ruby Rush; Kenra Perfect Medium Spray 13; Dior Hydra Life Micellar Water No Rinse Cleanser; Scünci Everyday & Active No-Slip Grip Bobby Pins; Maybelline New York Great Lash Mascara in Very Black. Fourth row, from left: Secret Invisible Solid deodorant in Powder Fresh; Living Proof Full Dry Volume Blast; Scünci Elevated Basics Thick Hair Bobby Pins in Blonde and Long Hair Bobby Pins in Black.
photographed by will anderson
PROP STYLIST: GÖZDE EKER
{ MY DREAM KIT }
Olympic figure skater Ashley Wagner’s favorite things start with bold color and smart skin care.