A She-Wolf in Paris

BRUCE BANDY

From Indian influences to a klezmer-inflected clarinet solo, Shakira’s new album, She Wolf, is as meltingly multi-culti as the Lebanese-Colombian singer herself. But MICHAEL ROBERTS went 100 percent Parisian, photographing Shakira in this season’s Dior, Chanel, and Gnultier, with a touch of Cartier bling. BRUCE BANDY, meanwhile. finds himself oddly charmed by the way she howls

“ There's a she-wolf in the closet," Shakir a sings Metaphor or cautionary tale?

At this point, half a year into the Obama presidency, it's probably boorish, or just plain boring, to make note of Shakira's Lebanese-Colombian muttness. Still, a large part of her appeal—aside from her rangy voice and singularly athletic way with a belly dance—is the melting pot she brews her records in. She has spent the last year writing and producing a new one. She Wolf, which will be out in October. Here’s her description of it (over the phone, alas, from her home in the Bahamas): “I have music from India, the Middle East, dancehall. a little bit of Colombian influences. I always loved disco, so the new record has disco elements, but also house—it's electropop." All that, and yet she somehow forgot to mention the klezmer-inflected clarinet solo on one track.

You will note from these pictures that Shakira has discarded the Pre-Raphaelite blond ringlets of her last several years for a more Bardot-like cascade, which is also in evidence in the video for the new album's first single, the title song. It's probably her sexiest video to date and also, though I'm not sure this was the intent, her most charmingly corny. She shakes and undulates, writhes around in a cage, lets loose with some endearing, halfhearted “awooooo's, while singing. “There's a she-wolf in the closet / Let it out so it can breathe." Is that a metaphor for repressed sexuality or a cautionary tale about outre fashion choices? Here we did her the favor of stocking her closet w ith fall 2009 couture from Gaultier, Chanel, and Dior. After a year in the studio wearing flipflops. she says she enjoyed the upgrade.

@vf.com MORE SIZZLING PHOTOS OF SHAKIRA.