The Fascinating Inspiration Behind Vogue's September Issue Cover
In early August, Vogue took to their Instagram to announce who would grace the cover of their September issue, also known as the grandest and most relevant issue of the calendar year. Vogue’s team ultimately chose Blake Lively as their star, but incorporated a unique twist. They invited renowned Oscar-winning director Baz Luhrmann and actor Hugh Jackman to curate and act respectively in a cinematic visual story called “The Heist Of The Heart.”
If you consider yourself to be up-to-date on pop culture, it would come as no surprise that Lively and Jackman made the cover of this year’s September issue. Both actors have starred in major films this past summer, with Lively in Colleen Hoover’s film adaptation of her novel It Ends With Us and Jackman reprising his role as Wolverine in the blockbuster Deadpool and Wolverine, alongside Lively’s husband Ryan Reynolds (who plays Deadpool). Beyond their film releases, Lively and Jackman have a very close friendship, kindled through Reynolds, as Jackman and him have starred in various films together since 2009 and have remained the best of friends ever since. Both actors attended the premieres of the other’s films and have shown continuous support for each other’s work.
In Lively’s cover shoot article, she claimed Luhrmann was her favorite director and she was overjoyed to be able to work with him for the first time in a piece like this. Her co-star, Jackman has previously worked with the esteemed director in his 2008 film Australia, starring as the leading man alongside Nicole Kidman.
Baz Luhrmann’s muse for this shoot was Alfred Hitchcock’s 1955 film To Catch A Thief, starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly, with the idea of creating a “contemporary version” of the hit film. The storyline of “The Heist Of The Heart” is formatted similarly, however instead of the male being the jewel thief, he made the artistic decision to have Lively’s character, “The Cat” (the same name was Grant’s character’s nickname in the 1955 film) be the burglar and have Jackman’s character, “L’ombre” be an officer trying to catch and apprehend the femme fatale for her crimes. To Catch A Thief and “The Heist Of The Heart” both encapsulate a multi-faceted love story between the male and female duo.
There was no shortage of designer clothing worn by both actors in the production including Gucci, Balenciaga, etc, but perhaps the most memorable item was the Burmese ruby necklace worn by Lively in one of the photographs. The necklace was previously owned and frequently worn by Elizabeth Taylor, a close friend of Grace Kelly and dates back to the 1950s. Beyond jewelry, Lively’s golden blonde hair was styled in various ways to pay homage to actresses from the 50s and 60s.
The shoot took place in New York City’s Pier 59 Virtual Production Studio and utilized LED technology to create the impression that the shots took place in Monte Carlo. All the photos were captured in a single day and were curated to emit a “glamorous” and “beautiful” but “tragic” interpretation (Baz Luhrmann). The layout of photos are formatted as a screenplay in Vogue’s magazine, each photo has a typed caption/script along with it.
I personally loved Luhrmann’s creative approach with the story and the decision to cast Blake and Hugh. Not only because of the pair’s relevancy recently, but because they complemented each other quite well in the storyline. I found it fun to flip through the magazine and study the various photographs, largely because I’ve never owned any Vogues that contained a cinematic appeal like this one. Luhrmann himself is a unique director and brought a perfect demonstration of detail and creativity, and passion to the magazine. I highly recommend everyone pick up a copy of the year’s September issue, I know it is a Vogue copy that I will look back on in several years and still thoroughly enjoy.
All quote excerpts: Courtesy of Vogue Magazine - August 2024
All photographs: Courtesy of respected owners - Vogue Magazine, etc
Thank you for reading!
- Lily