December issues hold a special place in my heart. I began my editorship of British Vogue with one, way back in the mists of time in 2017, nine transformational fashion seasons ago – before a pandemic, before the global rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, just as the Me Too moment was crystallising in fashion, Hollywood and beyond, when the world looked so fundamentally different.
The magazine has evolved a great deal in the few, if epic-seeming, years since, just as it should. But as British Vogue has raised its consciousness, to meet the moment and to become an active participant in the important conversations of our time, I also find comfort and power in the fact we will always be devoted to the fundamental wonder of fashion, in all its joy-giving, imagination-sparking, personality-shaping glory.
To that end, whatever the year, December Vogues will always bring winter sparkle. To round off another 52 weeks of fractious world events, this month we give you – as the cover declares – nothing short of fabulous fashion.
The star of the show? Why, that would be Lady Gaga. The pop queen turned award-winning actor, makes her British Vogue debut, styled by yours truly in the season’s most heavenly couture. While shooting the editorial with Steven Meisel – who she had long dreamt of being photographed by – Gaga brought an artist’s sensibility and much extravagant glamour to proceedings. The results certainly meet the brief, while the images also subtly take the viewer through the style decades of the latter half of the 20th century.
Naturally, with Gaga one needs no excuse to go all-out – though this is a special moment for her. This month, she will appear in her second lead movie role, in the feverishly anticipated House of Gucci. As Patrizia Reggiani, ex-wife of Maurizio Gucci, who engaged a hitman to murder him in 1995 and later served 18 years for the crime, she is transformed – though it came at a price. She speaks to Vogue in-depth for the first time about the film, the Gucci family and how she lived in character for months to capture the reality of a murderer, nearly losing her mind in the process. It promises to be a fascinating performance by one of the most committed creatives working today.
There are plenty more treats to be found. For one: we take you to John Galliano’s exquisite home, and divine gardens, in northern France. A dreamer and master of transformation, I’ve known John since the late 1980s and have seen so many of his history-making shows over the years. Always the model’s designer, to see him in his own environment, at home with his dogs and partner Alexis, is to see the magic he has always created shimmer at its most intimate. Everything in his house tells a story.
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Elsewhere, Vogue has an exclusive audience with Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon ahead of this month’s crucial UN Climate Change Conference, Cop26, which she is hosting in Glasgow. One of Britain’s most powerful women is in a reflective mood on the state of the planet, her desire to foster children one day and her plans for a life after politics. Though not yet, she insists. There is the small matter of her wish for a second referendum on Scottish independence to contend with first.
And yes, of course, there is fashion galore – from our Trends section to the season-defining editorials. Goddess dressing, the merits of bodycon, extravagant jewels and the best party denim – it’s all to be found. Along, I hope, with your winter sparkle. Enjoy.
The December 2021 issue of British Vogue is on newsstands on Friday 5 November.