This issue, some of the ELLE
team travelled to Los Angeles
to shoot the cover with Jessica Alba.
It’s a place we’ve been lucky enough to
travel to together for work many times
before – kind of like a vacay with your
girlfriends but with hundreds of thousands
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into your suitcases, a celebrity to coordinate
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pressure. But I do love it there.
I used to hold LA up to New
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I’ve learned you just can’t compare
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planets, each with its own
qualities that make it like nowhere
else on earth. And the joy of LA is
that, even when you’re there for
work, and despite all the hustle
going on around you, it always
feels like you’re on a holiday (or
amovie set) and you never know
what random adventure is going
to be around any corner.
Our shoots there have been no
exception. There was the time we
were stuck at a location in the
middle of nowhere that turned
out to be not far from Disneyland,
so we spent the afternoon before
acover shoot on Splash Mountain
and crying real, actual grown-up
lady tears when snow came falling
out of the California sky to
thetune of “Let It Go” during the
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had been a very stressful shoot to
pull together). There was the time we were
hunted on set all day by the paparazzi and
discovered the next day that we could be
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background of the shots that appeared onTALK TO ME...
@justine_cullen justinecullen [email protected]Enjoy the issue,
Ĵ¢ȱȱ¢ȱȱȱon the entire
internet. Then there was the time we
travelled with a luxury fashion brand and
somehow ended up in Jumbo’s Clown
Room, the legendary Hollywood
burlesque-meets-strip bar, where
it’s rumoured Courtney Love
worked in the early ’90s. That’s
one kind of team bonding. But our
preferred LA tradition is to
celebrate a job well done at my
favourite bar in the world, Good
Times At Davey Wayne’s, where
I pull rank and force the team and
any associated photographers,
hair and makeup artists and talent
to drink snow cones and dance to
’70s rock classics around a room
that looks like your parents’
lounge room before you were
born. I do a great Gypsy.
One of the things that gives me
great joy in this job is the travel.
And not just to the new places,
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somewhere new feels a lot like
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a privilege to go back to the same
places time and time again – LA,
yes, but also New York, Paris,
London, Milan – so much so that
they become like second homes,
where you feel the same easy
familiarity, recognise all the usual faces and
know almost as many tastes, shortcuts
and insider tricks as a genuine local. For me,
the fun isn’t in going to the newest, coolest
places (although I’m always up for that, too)
but the old faithfuls. Arriving at each of them
feels as easy as slipping on your favourite
leather jacket, and I’m always happy to return.THE MEALS
I ALWAYS GO
BACK TO
Lobster roll at
Pearl Oyster Bar,
NEW YORK
Any Maine lobster roll is
going to make your eyes
roll back in your head,
but this one’s the best.
Bacon naan roll at
Dishoom, LONDON
The breakfast of
dreams, and not found
anywhere else.
Dover sole at
Diep, PARIS
When you just can’t face
another fashion week
party, the only thing to
do is order the best-ever
Chinese food to your
hotel and eat it in bed.
Tomato and
mozzarella panzerotti
at Luini, MILAN
Like a pizza doughnut
and worth every second
of the (long) queue.
Truffle-honey fried
chicken at Craig’s, LA
If I need to explain this,
you’re not my people.24 ELLE AUSTRALIA
Photography: David McKelvey. Hair and makeup: Jasmine Lo