Vanity Fair Hollywood Issue, 2008
Magazine puts out annual edition just in time for Oscar month
For the past 14 years, famed magazine Vanity Fair has honored Oscar month with a special hollywood issue of its publication. The covers, including this year's three page fold out, have all been shot by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz. The March 2008 cover features ten young actresses including Emily Blunt, Amy Adams, Jessica Biel, Anne Hathaway, Alice Braga, Ellen Page, Zoe Saldana, Elizabeth Banks, Ginnifer Goodwin, and America Ferrara. The women are all dressed in pastel gowns against a dove white backdrop, calling back to the glamour of 1950's hollywood complete with wavy hair and ruby lips reminiscent of the era the image successfully recreates.
Young talent is a common theme in these special issues dating all the way back to 1995 featured ten similarly young actresses known as Jennifer Jason Leigh, Uma Thurman, Nicole Kidman, Patricia Arquette, Linda Fiorentino, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sarah Jessica Parker, Juilanne Moore, Angela Bassett, and Sandra Bullock labeled as "The Class of 2000."
The photos themselves have gotten more formal over the years as well, as earlier years depict equally well dressed stars in front of relatively plain backdrops. The 2001 cover was the first to merge well respected and established actresses such as Meryl Streep and Cate Blanchett with newer talent such as Penelope Cruz and and pre-Oscar winning Nicole Kidman in front of a bold red wall with antique furniture and oversized paintings hanging in the background. The first all male cover came in the issue's second year with a wide range of then young faces including Tim Roth, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matthew McConaughey, Benicio Del Toro, and Will Smith. Some have graced these special covers more than once such as Kate Winslet, Cate Blanchett, Scarlett Johansson, and Gwyneth Paltrow.
The hollywood issue is not defined solely by its cover. This year, aside from Oscar news, including how stars prepare for the occasion and a look back at the awards during the Vietnam War, there are features on films in general, including reviews of current and past films. This year's writer's strike is included as well, apprpriately because it is arguably considered the number one major recent piece of hollywood news.
Looking back at the 14 covers that have been shot over the years, Vanity Fair has become considerably accurate in choosing the rising stars of tomorrow as well as honoring the mega stars of the day. Those who didn't make it past the photo shoot are still immortalized as a star of that year, serving as a kind of hollywood yearbook to chronical recent years in the world of film.
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