Lily Collins Collaborates with Sam Taylor-Johnson and Alber Elbaz for L'OFFICIEL
Photography by Sam Taylor-Johnson
Styled by Jay Massacret
For L'OFFICIEL's Global Winter 2020 issue—a celebration of the different disciplines of fashion, art, and entertainment—we found ourselves musing on the escape from the cities and the returned interest in nature; a subject pervasive in every conversation right now, be it focused on politics, health, or sustainability. Historically, the countryside has always played the wholesome foil to the seductive cityscape, but as Rem Koolhaas’ recent Solomon R. Guggenheim show Countryside, The Future illustrated, this relationship is rapdily shifting. Thus, we asked ourselves: What happens when the dialectic of city and country or urban and rural becomes flipped? Where will ideas be located? What does it mean for the accessibility of art, and how will urban centers—once the loci of creatvity—fare in this shift?
In essays that question the history of follies and look at the influence of artist residencies to fashion stories that contrast life between the city and countryside we explored this. And for our cover shoot, Fifty Shades of Grey filmmaker and artist Sam Taylor-Johnson placed actor Lily Collins by the Pacific Ocean, creating haunting images suspended between past and future. Collins herself performs a balancing act in her successful career, on screens simultaneously as the romantic eponymous lead in Emily in Paris, and as Rita, Herman J. Mankiewicz’s assistant in David Fincher's new movie, Mank, and speaks to cult-favorite fashion designer Alber Elbaz about both's next big steps.
Ultimately, we learn that the once-opposite concepts of city and country are in fact fluid and interrelated. As we see from the many artists and creatives who are transforming their work within nature, the countryside can be much more than just a pretty background or an escape: It is a place for optimism, invention, and oppertunity.
HAIR Kylee Heath
MAKEUP Fiona Styles using LANCÔME
PROP STYLIST Christopher Katus
PRODUCTION Viewfinders
CASTING Lauren Tabach-Bank
L'OFFICIEL USA Winter 2020 will hit newsstands starting December 15, 2020.
