1. Is honesty the new Photoshop?
Two months ago, Leibovitz gave the Pirelli calendar a reality check, swapping its usual taut, dewy-skinned aesthetic for an earthier vision of womanhood with wrinkles and soft rolls of fat on show. Now, the photographer brings realness to the Hollywood issue. The cover argues that age is no barrier to sequin-clad glamour, while the portfolio inside is “raw, intimate, and honest”, according to Vanity Fair, and “dismissive of the shackles of airbrushing and Picasso’d Photoshop manipulations”. In practice, this means artfully messed-up hair, visible crow’s feet and irregularities in skintone against a backdrop of frayed-edged, sludge-coloured fabric that looks like an American-civil-war-era carte de visite. Importantly, though, everyone still looks hot.
2. Are shoulders fashion’s most democratic body part?
Usually, when the fashion industry presents a new way to flash flesh – be that side butt or thigh gap or, recently, upper abs – it is met with a groan by all but the most confident and lithe. The industry’s recent fondness for bare shoulders, however, is truly democratic. According to Donna Karan, who has made a living from the cold-shoulder dress beloved of Hillary Clinton, shoulders are the last place most of us put on weight or get crinkly. This cover would confirm that – it’s clavicles for miles.
3. Do older stars have more control over the way that they dress?
As far as Diane Keaton, 70, is concerned, the answer is yes. The actor’s signature Annie Hall style has morphed into something more Chim Chim Cher-ee in recent years; the outfit she wears here – military hat, cravat and overcoat, paired with cropped leggings and biker boots – is her own. That decision came about after a 45-minute conversation before the shoot, according to the stylist Jessica Diehl. “Sometimes, when you get somebody like that, who has taken so much time to hone her personal style, you’re almost an idiot to try and improve upon that in five and a half minutes,” she said. Going mufti may well have landed Keaton the less-than-coveted over-the-gatefold slot, but it says a lot about her confidence in her look. Elsewhere, Jane Fonda rebels a little in a sequinned jumpsuit, while Charlotte Rampling has been allowed to wear tights.
4. Will it ever be fashionable to smile?
Compare this cover with Vanity Fair’s 1995 issue, which featured a raft of twenty- and thirtysomethings in boudoir silk (Sarah Jessica Parker in a bra; Uma Thurman in a lace negligee; Julianne Moore in a mink-coloured slip), and it seems that fashion has moved on somewhat from its obsession with nudity and youth. One thing that has not changed, however, is the demeanour: they all look haughty and aloof, aside from Keaton, whose cheerful bearing only adds to the impression that she has been Photoshopped in from one of Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes movies. Her angst-free expression confirms that the actor’s sartorial humblebrag has won this cover. Keaton (who recently started selling her own wine, designed to be served over ice, of which she said: “It’s not fancy – but then neither am I”) knows the value of sticking to her ballgown-free brand.
