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VANITIES • VANITAS VANITATUM
Looking FORWARD • A new cross-disciplinary collection explores Black identity through art, texts, and bridged connections
Admiration Society • Three beloved 2020 authors recommend their own favorites from this year’s new releases
ACCESS IS EVERYTHING • Magazine subscribers have unlimited access to vanityfair.com
Strong HOLD
Full STRIDE • MANOLO BLAHNIK, the designer behind one of the world’s most beloved luxury shoe brands, has dreamed up his hit styles at much the same place since 1970: a desk in his London office
Fresh POWDER • Items that pair perfectly with rosy cheeks and hot mugs, keeping you warm whether on the slopes or snowy sidewalks
Hero’s JOURNEY • Actor JACOB ELORDI is a romantic, onscreen and off
Gone Country • During a year marked by calls for racial justice, progressive voices have found success in a genre once inhospitable to dissent.
Cool OPERATOR • Emmy winner and Lancôme face ZENDAYA shares her creature comforts amid a roller-coaster year
We’re on the Road TO NOWHERE • If getting there is half the fun, why not make the journey the destination?
The Next Media GOLD RUSH • Journalists are flocking to Substack, but is the budding newsletter empire built to last?
Alone, TOGETHER • Small faces on a smudgy screen helped conjure a future, one that holds pleasure and hope
BECOMING AOC • Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ON HOW SHE GOT HERE AND WHERE SHE’S HEADED
Elon Musk’s Totally Awful, BATSHIT CRAZY, Completely Bonkers MOST EXCELLENT Year • In 2020, the COVID-doubting, media-hating Twitterholic CEO became the third-richest man alive, SpaceX launched two astronauts into orbit, and Tesla became the most valuable car company on the planet. NICK BILTON gets inside the mind of Silicon Valley’s most vainglorious villain
THE LONG WAY HOME • IN 2018, Chloé Zhao’s THE RIDER WAS ONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE MOVIES. NOW THE FILMMAKER IS AN OSCAR FAVORITE FOR THE TRANSCENDENT NOMADLAND, ABOUT THE SEARCH FOR WORK, PEACE, AND SELF
THE ART OF Livin’ • MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY was 23 years old and filming his first movie, Dazed and Confused, when he was blindsided by the death of his father. In an excerpt from the new oral history Alright, Alright, Alright, the actor, his friends, and the cast and crew remember the devastating days that birthed a star
Billie’s Blues • The feds hounded her because they feared her voice. Introducing The United States vs. Billie Holiday
CHARLOTTE’S WEB • Charlotte Kirk hoped some of Hollywood’s most powerful men could help her become a movie star. But behind the scenes were texts, sex, and secret financial deals, which led to the downfall of a studio chief and the industry’s most popular mogul
The Princess and the Shaman • WHEN GWYNETH PALTROW’S GURU MET PRINCESS MÄRTHA LOUISE OF NORWAY, REALITY SEEMED LIKE A FAIRY TALE. CAN THESE TWO STAR-CROSSED LOVERS HAVE THEIR HAPPY ENDING?
JIMMY KIMMEL • The late-night host on tube tops, trout, and David Letterman’s ties
The Tale of THE TAPE • The vile Access Hollywood video didn’t stop Trump. Did it at least change our culture?
Even in the Year From Hell, SOME MOVIES WERE HEAVEN SENT • V.F.’s chief critic, Richard Lawson, looks on the bright side of 2020—and ponders Hollywood’s precarious future