A CALL for RED-CARPET REFORM

Mani-cam fatigue; prostitutes and patisseries; Gehry in Paris; ethics with a side of fries; and more

LETTERS

Thanks for another lush cover and great issue, particularly the feature on "Wearing Out the Carpet" [by James Wolcott, September], Awards season used to be my favorite holidayall the pretty dresses! But of late, I too have been left feeling empty by the parade of desiccated fembots wheeled out in aspirational haute couture. I'm certainly not buying it, or a strapless sequined mermaid dress either. So imagine my surprise when in the very same breath Vanity Fair took a potshot at one of the only female stars out there who seem to have any blood left in their veins ["The Impossible Interview"]. Imagine the feeding frenzy at the Oscars if someone dared to throw a steak down in front of those women. Jennifer Lawrence would be the only one not in the scrum to savage it, because she'd already have had a cheeseburger in the limo. You'll be able to tell because there's ketchup on her Dior. Bless.

One can only assume your office Mean Girls were bored on their lunch hour. What were you thinking, V.F., in bemoaning a lack of imagination and authenticity on one hand and then shaming it where it flourishes on the other? "Impossible interview," indeed.

LISA WESTCOTT WILKINSLondon, England

After punishing myself by watching the Emmys on August 25, 2014,1 was so happy to read James Wolcott's article.

I watched because I hoped some favorites would win. Just one did. I suffered because this has become an inside club where you must be pretty to be displayed.

I used to think that these awards were for the actors and programs. Now, sadly, I see that they are for the fashion designers, jewelers, and makeup artists. Give me a break! And I will take one next year.

ELLEN WACHERHollywood, Florida

James Wolcott, you have nailed it as I usual. As someone who has covered redcaipet fashion for WWD, W, Harper's Bazaar, and now The Hollywood Reporter, I agree with most of this. However, the way the red caipet ties in with the business of selling and promoting clothes nowadays means it will only get bigger. It's not elitist anymore—or even elite. It's all about mass selling.

But I was glad to see this article. It certainly mates one think—not an exercise often carried out in Hollywood. Or in fashion, for that matter.

MERLE GINSBERGLos Angeles, California

IF were a celebrity, I'd just wear a sack with "Armani," or "Dior," or some such designer printed on it. Then they wouldn't even have to ask me, "Who are you wealing?"

CYNTHIA KENNEDYVirginia City, Nevada

MADAM/MADAME

I thoroughly enjoyed the September issue I but wonder if anyone else felt saddened to discover that Gianni Agnelli appealed in two stories: "Becoming an Agnelli" [by Marella Agnelli] and "Behind Claude's Doors" [by William Stadiem], I will never understand why those who have so much arc never satisfied. As far as Madame Claude, I don't feel for her as I do for all of the nameless young women who had so much but still needed to sell themselves for more.

MARY D. CHILDERS Chicago, Illinois

It was with great dismay that I startI ed to read—but was compelled to _l_then put down—the article "Behind Claude's Doors."

The glorification of a business built upon young women who have been traumatized and exploited by those they should be trusting—and then reading the madam's explanation that she was really more of an elite matchmaking service—was not just off-putting but, well, disgusting. Even if this madam thought that she was getting the last laugh, by pairing off a powerful man with a prostitute, that cleanses her of nothing.

I'd like to think that the next time Vanity Fair wants to include the topic of prostitution in its editorial content it would instead look to cover the individuals who work ferociously to save children and young women (and men) from this hell-on-earth existence.

11/ HOSKINSON Bronxville, New York

EDITOR'S NOTE: Regarding human trafficking, we direct readers to Vanity Fair special correspondent Amy Fine Collins's Web exclusive, "Sex Trafficking of Americans: The Girls Next Door" (May 24, 2011), for an indepth investigation of the modern sex trade in the United States.

One day, my girlfriend came home One and told me that she had just met the most interesting and classy woman in the world at La Scala Boutique restaurant, in Beverly Hills, and that she invited her for dinner.

At that time, Madame Claude was staying at the Beverly Wdshire (now a Four Seasons hotel). A very close relationship was born at the end of that dinner.

As a matter of fact, when we got married, in May 1977, we chose her as our witness. After the reception and dinner in my restaurant, we booked a suite at the same hotel, but we talked in her suite until four or five in the morning.

Presidents, kings, sultans, and C.E.O.'s of Forbes Four Hundred companies were her customers. She usually charged sheikhs and sultans of the Middle East double and sometimes triple the regular price, and for Baron Elie de Rothschild, a surcharge because of his behavior.

She persuaded me to open a restaurant with her in Sherman Oaks to be called Le Canard. We closed after a few months. She didn't learn her lesson from the failure of her "patisserie." It was the end of our relationship. She blamed me for the failure. It's a long story. I agree with the actress Frangoise Fabian that Claude was "line femme terrible."

PAUL GUILLEMIN Los Angeles, California

#VFLETTERS

Whether you believe in wearing white after Labor Day or socks with sandals, our International Best-Dressed List brings out the style arbiters of the era... and also of the opinionated Twitterverse.

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@ST_VI N CENT

I made the VF best dressed list. Which would make you laugh if you saw the DVN snuggie I am wearing now.

@GERARDMULLIGANl

As I do every year, I approach the Vanity Fair Best-Dressed Issue with a mixture of anticipation and dread.

@TH ECUT

Pharrell and his hat saved the @VanityFair Best-Dressed List

@JESSICAGOLDS

who has better occupations: contestants on The Bachelor or people on the Vanity Fair International Best Dressed list?

@BHOFFMAN_NYPOST

"Happy" to see at least one pop artist on Vanity Fair's Best-Dressed list— a hockey player, too!

@KIMBHASIN

Comcast CEO Brian L. Roberts was named I of the 10 best-dressed billionaires by @vanityfair, much to the chagrin of everyone with internet.

@LUBL0DG

There is nothing more perfect than Harold from "Harold and Maude" being Donna Tartt's Style Icon

Share your thoughts by tweeting to us ©VanityFair with #VFletters.

MODEL CITIZEN

I was surprised to learn that the Russian fashion model Natalia Vodianova ["What Natalia Knows," by Ingrid Sischy, September], whose photo you placed on the cover of your respectable magazine, openly voiced her support for Russian president Vladimir Putin, a Hitler-style dictator whose troops annexed the Crimean peninsula, killed thousands of people in Ukraine, and shot down a Malaysian airliner with nearly 300 people on board, 80 of them children. This does not bring much honor to your respectable publication.

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting (Proverbs 31:30).

SERGIY KAZNADIY Toronto, Ontario

Thank you so much for putting Natalia Vodianova on the cover of the September issue. For so long models have been pushed away from their rightful spot up front, and have been replaced with celebrities lacking in the style that only greats such as Jerry, Naomi, and Kate are capable of. Long live style!

CHLOE GRAHAM Chicago, Illinois

A MASTER LOSES HIS MUSE

It's rare to encounter a Vanity Fair story that is too brief, especially one outside the scope of my interests. However, as soon as I finished Maureen Callahan's "Designed for Destruction" [September], I was unsatisfied and took a moment to mull over the story before starting it again.

I think I was hoping to find a sliver of redemption, to locate the slightest inkling of happiness or closure that would later thwart the fives of both Alexander McQueen and Isabella Blow. Here were two hyper-creative individuals who never learned to coexist with others but were so fundamentally dependent on what others thought. McQueen, an egomaniac drawn to the spectacle of his own creativity, toned his conflicted identity into a mirage of indiscernible collections—what others saw as genius was clearly his madness manifested. His muse, Isabella Blow, a besotted mentor who could never seem to do enough, drove herself into dystopia because she sought to win back the favor of her creation years after he had turned a blind eye.

Scanning the pictures, the vacant eyes and half-concealed grimaces, one can't help but feel bad for these two. They were clearly trying to latch onto a part of themselves that no longer existed: McQueen's reflective box for his audience to see their own faces; Blow's custom hats so she didn't have to be "kissed by all and sundry." Sounds like a great plan for two people trying very hard to not look inward.

PATRICK ARENSONMiami Springs, Florida

A fter reading Maureen Callahan's "Designed for Destruction," I have a better understanding of how hard it must have been for Alexander McQueen and Isabella Blow to maintain their success in the competitive jungle of the fashion industry. The pressure had to be enormous. Blow had to keep finding that next hot designer, but she also wanted to be a part of McQueen's success; I think that's only fan-. Should McQueen have given Blow a position with Givenchy when he was working for the company in Paris? I think he should have given her something, but when you discover someone, that doesn't mean they're obligated to give you a job.

Perhaps McQueen felt he never needed a muse; he did produce many great collections without one. And before both of their suicides, neither McQueen nor Blow could help the other—perhaps when they needed it the most. The fashion industry is fueled by "the next big thing," and throughout their careers, each knew the cost of producing that thing. McQueen left an enormous void of showmanship on the runway that no young designer today has really been able to fill. Blow saw that showmanship early on and knew how to promote it. Having an eye for knowing what "the next big thing" is can be as much of a talent as being "the next big thing" itself.

DAVID C. CUTLERRogers, Arizona

ILLUSTRATED BEAUTY

What a wonderful choice to feature the lovely Carmen Dell'Orehce ["A Beauty for the Ages," by David Downton, September], It's amazing, even at her age, how fabulousness never goes out of style. Considering she lost her financial savings twice in her lifetime, it's good to know she's still working and in high demand.

W. GWIN TATE HIMiami, Florida

GEHRY'S BEST ANGLES

While I give credit to Frank Gehry for not fearing to do the impossible in architecture, he never manages to do the good ["Gehry's Paris Coup," by Paul Goldberger, September]. His structures are jumbles of angles, curves, and stainless steel that don't convey a building as much as a drunkard operating a CAD [computer-aided design program] without a budget limit. The building he designed for the business school at Case Western, my alma mater, is a titanium icecream cone that has nothing to do with the surrounding buildings, let alone the Cleveland skyline.

JAMES J. GERBERBrooklyn, New York

#BESTDRESSEDLIST

Of those who make the annual Best-Dressed List, only a few are humble enough to share the good news in the subtlest way possible: online, to their legions of followers.

@S0PHIA_AM0RUS0

Vanity Furrr Best Dressed!

@EMMYROSSUM

Chew on THIS! I made @vanityfair's September issue best dressed list??

@1JESSICAHART

#behindthescenes .. The day we shot for @vanityfair in Central Park. @mariotestino @teamvic

Share your thoughts by tweeting to us ©VanityFair with #VFIetters.

PAUL GOLDBERGER RESPONDS: Em tempted to say no more in response than de gustibus non est disputandum, since if Mr. Gerber believes that Frank Gehry "never manages to do the good, " I do not know what I can say that will persuade him otherwise. Calling his structures "jumbles of angles, curves, and stainless steel" is like calling Jackson Pollock's paintings a bunch of dribbling paint, or Franz Kline's a set of swaths across the canvas: it misses the fact that there is a powerful compositional idea here, which in Gehry's case also includes a response to a functional program and, more oflen than not, a careful response to context. There are many ways for an architect to acknowledge surroundings beyond choosing to mimic them,

Paul Goldberger's fine piece on the Fondation Louis Vuitton building, in Paris, highlighted Frank Gehry's undoubted brilliance with forms, but oddly there was not a word on the seemingly obvious reference/relationship to Jorn Utzon's Sydney Opera House, arguably one of the most iconic buildings on the planet—and an unavoidable influence on anyone thinking about sails and structures and ait. Gehry has spent some time in Sydney supervising his first building in the Southern Hemisphere, the Dr. Chau Chak Wing Building, at the University of Technology, Sydney—itself a striking interpretation of perhaps medieval architecture, a 14-story edifice in randomly curved brickwork described by one critic as resembling "a karate-chopped paper bag."

TONY MANIATYSydney, Australia

FIRTH AND FOREMOST

It's great to see Vanity Fair touching on eco-fashion and acknowledging the tragedy of Rana Plaza ["Out to Lunch with Livia Firth," by John Heilpern, September], Kering was deservedly praised— Maiyet and Edun are leaders in the held. It is about time some of the brilliant, young, independent eco-labels were given some coverage: Feral Childe, Osei-Duro, Kowtow, A Peace Treaty, and Cus are all great examples of companies delivering genuine style that happens to be sustainable—not a pair of hemp knickers in sight!

ALICIA TAYLORLondon, England

A ccording to the article "Out to Lunch with Livia Firth," a restaurant on the Upper East Side of New York City called Gobo serves one of her favorites, an "unbeatable avocado tartarc with wasabi lime sauce." I cracked up when I read this, knowing it's what the rest of us mere mortals call guacamole! Just add chopped onion and tomato and, shazam!, you have what the Latinos introduced to us years ago. But who would dare serve lowly guacamole on the Upper East Side?

MARLEEN ROGERSTrinity, Florida

A n excellent interview with Livia Firth in your September issue. I highly commend her commitment to raising the profile of sustainable fashion. She is frank and erudite in her impressions of the conditions in Third World factories. I take a very personal interest in the Rana Plaza tragedy.

My husband, Brad Loewen, is the chief inspector of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh [an agreement that ensures safe labor conditions in garment factories]. He is working very hard with likeminded individuals to improve the working conditions of the garment workers.

With Livia Firth's "deceptively un-serious way" of continuing to bring attention to this issue, we arc in excellent hands.

Thank you, Vanity Fair, for a great conversation.

SHELAGH CARTERWinnipeg, Manitoba

HAMBURGER HELPER

I have a concern with question No. 1 in the "Ethical Dilemmas" 60 Minutes/ Vanity Fair Poll, in the September issue. As a small-business owner with fewer than 50 employees, I price my product based on my costs. Employee pay is paid of those costs. I pay my employees based on the skills required to do the job. Pressing a button on a cash register with a picture of a hamburger on it when a customer says he/she wants a hamburger doesn't take a lot of skills and certainly doesn't warrant $15-an-hour pay.

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If a fast-food restaurant worker wants to earn $15 an hour, then he/she should attend a technical school and get training in welding (which pays $20 to $23 per hour in North Florida) or a similar trade.

JAN MILLER

Pensacola, Florida

IT know, I get it: the editorial persuasion at Vanity Fair is liberal. But do you _I_ have to let political affiliations sway the representation of data?

In the "Ethical Dilemmas" poll, you consistently misrepresent conservative viewpoints—there is a solid disconnect between the narrative at the top of the page and the nuances of the poll data.

For example, you make it seem as if conservatives answering your poll questions have (1) no concern whatsoever for undeipaid fast-food-restaurant workers, and (2) a rabid urge to report any illegal-denizen neighbors. Yet your own poll results show that (1) 56 percent of Democrats believe "underpaying their workers" is worse than "serving unhealthy food," while 58 percent of conservatives believe that the reverse is true, and that (2) the majority of both parties would NOT report illegal immigrants living next door. The kicker is in how you relay the poll results regarding Edward Snowden: you refer to the 54 percent of people who thought that he "did not act ethically" as "barely" a majority. Yet the 58 percent of conservatives who believe serving unhealthy fast food is in some unknown

degree worse than underpaying fast-food workers speaks for most of the Republican Party. According to you, the line between a majority and "barely" a majority lies between 58 and 54 percent.

BRIDGET MATIKAINEN-ANKNEYNew York, New York

THIS BARON'S LIFE

It was with such delight that I read Amy Fine Collins's excellent piece about my cousin Niki de Gunzburg ["A Taste for Living," September, VF.com and U.K. edition]. My grandmother Baroness Sofia Sara "Sonia" dc Gunzburg knew him well. Collins went way beyond what I had hoped for when we discussed my grandmother's journal entries about Niki. Thank you for publishing this insight into one of the most glamorous of my cousins.

I love Vanity Fair and read it assiduously. Now I have even greater reason to continue.

MONIQUE RAPHEL HIGHBeverly Hills, California

A my Fine Collins's story on the Baron Nicolas "Niki" de Gunzburg is fabulous. You have done a truly superb job detailing his life story and, more important, demonstrating the role he played in 20th-century fashion. As someone who has published research on the baron, I always lacked the knowledge and background to explain this aspect of the story; Collins has done so expertly.

The baron deserved this, and his memory needs it. I always feared his life was in danger of becoming a mere footnote; Vanity Fair has restored him.

RONALD DUPONTHighland Lakes, New Jersey

CORRECTIONS:

On page 258 of the September issue ("The Ironman Nightlife Decathlon"), we state that Johan Lindeberg is still involved in his namesake brand, J. Lindeberg. He is not.

On page 301 of the September issue ("Becoming an Agnelli "), the location of the cathedral Marella Agnelli is photographed in front of is misidentified. It is in Spoleto, Italy.

Letters to the editor should be sent electronicalfy with the writer's name, address, and daytime phone number to letterMvf.com. All requests for back issues ⅛ should be sent to subscriptionMvf.com. Allother queries should be sent to vfmail@vf.com. o The magazine reserves the right to edit submissions, which mew be published or otherwise used in " any medium. All submissions become the property B of Vanity Fair. A number of the letters included here % originally' appeared as comments submitted to VF.com.