Editor’s Letter
Not for nothing does Rachel Syme begin her essay with F. Scott Fitzgerald,
undisputed bard of the Jazz Age and its devil-may-care parties. But as Syme
writes, the silver lining of opulence these days comes with its touch of
gray—the consciousness borne of our age’s retreats and our collective fears
for our future. In retrospect, musing on the pages of Fitzgerald, I can’t
imagine his carefree flappers and gamblers had any idea what was coming
to end their party, the magnitude of that curtain drop. We have, I hope,
a more clear-eyed view, the better both to try to divert our path and to revel
in the richness of talent, beauty, and art that inspires us to do it.Britain, the Senate took leave of its common
sense. (I myself got a year older, which probably
would have happened anyway, but I still
blame Mitch McConnell.) I don’t know about you,
but it added insult to injury every time news
of world-historical order dropped nonchalantly
onto my phone via push notification, as if the
death of the dream of a unified Europe was just
another OS update.
We can’t turn back the clock, but what if we
try starting fresh with spring and its leitmotifs
of youth and renewal? Our March issue looks
forward, starting with our cover star, Ana
de Armas. You know her as the admirably cool
unlikely heroine of Rian Johnson’s Knives Out
(weird that a film called Knives Out was my
family’s pick for a unifying, feel-good movie of
the holiday season, but that’s modern life for
you), who charmed audiences and Daniel Craig’s
detective Benoit Blanc alike. De Armas is on
the cusp of a big year, taking on roles that define
iconic: Her upcoming projects include the new
Bond movie and a biopic of Marilyn Monroe,
based on the novel Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates.
She grew up in Havana and still considers it
home, but as Sloane Crosley writes, she’s winning
over Hollywood at warp speed.
We also feature a portfolio of rising stars such
as Mia Goth and Jameela Jamil, clothed in some
of the more opulent selections from the spring
runways. Why opulence? Well, these are the ’20s,
after all, a decade that historically calls for excess.
The year begins in January,
obviously, but the rap
on this January was that it
felt a year long. Britain
left the European Union,
Meghan and Harry left
Clockwise from top
left: Elisa Key,
Keegan-Michael Key,
Alfre Woodard, and
Roderick Spencer;
Jennifer Salke, Phoebe
Waller-Bridge, and
Radhika Jones; Jones
and Awkwafina; all
at the Vanity Fair and
Amazon Studios
party celebrating the
Golden Globes, in L.A.radhika jones, Editor in Chief