CONTRIBUTORS

Mario Testino

Though contributing photographer Mario Testino has worked with model Natalia Vodianova (at the Paris shoot, top, and with Testino, above, left) on numerous occasions, for both high-fashion editorials and commercial campaigns, he still comes away impressed with the Russian-born beauty he photographed for this month's cover and related article, "What Natalia Knows" (page 262). "This woman is a force of nature,' Testino says. "She has children, runs a charity, has a high-profile partner, works as a model. She carries on and the years don't seem to go by." In his portfolio for the International Best-Dressed List (page 272), Testino picks up where he left off in the last Style Issue. If 2013's Best-Dressed portfolio was a night out, this year's is the morning after. Set on the streets of New York and London, the 16-page photo feature includes 16 Best-Dressed List nominees (Testino with chef Marcus Samuelsson and actor Neil Patrick Harris, above, right). "Last time, I did a party, which showed people getting ready and making an effort," he says. "This year, I wanted to show that these people are well dressed in everyday life, not just at parties."

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1 Annie Leibovitz

Contributing photographer Annie Leibovitz shot this month's V.F. Portrait (page 306), of fashion blogger and actress Tavi Gevinson, at her childhood home, in Oak Park, Illinois. "Tavi is on the cusp of adult life," says Leibovitz. "I was going to photograph her in her bedroom when she told me how much she loved the tree outside her window. She climbed up into it and I took the picture there. The dress makes her look older, but she is also a child in a tree."

2 Ingrid Sischy

"Although we've all come to know her through her work as a model, it was her life—and her larger goals for it—that became front and center," says contributing editor Ingrid Sischy of Natalia Vodianova, this month's cover subject. For "What Natalia Knows," on page 262, Sischy spoke with Vodianova about her humanitarian efforts in her native Russia. "Her contributions to social good are as memorable as her exterior beauty [see cover]."

3 Jessica Diehl

For fashion and style director Jessica Diehl, the magazine's annual Style Issue means dressing people who themselves have a great sense of fashion (see Natalia Vodianova, on page 262, the Best-Dressed portfolio, on page 272, and nine designers with their muses, on page 294). "The Style Issue is always a highlight," says Diehl. "Photographer, subjects, hair and makeup, the entire team involved, excited to play a game of capture the chic."

4 Marella Agnelli

Co-writing Marella Agnelli: The Last Swan (adapted in "Becoming an Agnelli," on page 296) was an exercise in omission for Marella Agnelli. Born an Italian princess and married to the late Fiat chairman Gianni Agnelli, she had no shortage of experiences to draw from. "For me and my niece [co-author] Marella Caracciolo, the most difficult part was having to leave things out," says Agnelli. "But that's the interesting aspect of creating a book: making choices."

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1 James Wolcott

Fashion may not be his passion, but contributing editor James Wolcott found it impossible to ignore the cultural epidemic of red-carpet processions and the requisite postmortems. "They are unavoidable," says Wolcott of the subject of his column, "Wearing Out the Carpet" (page 212). "On Twitter, the stars and luminaries are treated like ducks in a shooting gallery while scads of Web sites analyze and grade the getups as if picking a new prom queen and king."

2 Patrick Demarchelier

Contributing photographer Patrick Demarchelier's easy rapport with his subjects has allowed him to land some of the most coveted assignments, including, most famously, the late Princess Diana. When working with a group, as in this month's issue, Demarchelier says he "wants to make sure that everyone connects." For "Cut to the Future" (page 294), he shot nine young designers and their muses. "It was fantastic," he says. "All very easy."

3 Amy Fine Collins

In addition to her work on the International Best-Dressed List, contributing editor Amy Fine Collins wrote the essay that accompanies this year's portfolio (page 272) and reported on the shoot for "Behind the Scenes" (page 152). With Reinaldo Herrera and deputy editor Aimee Bell, Collins considers for the List those who have been especially visible in the past year. "Being best-dressed involves more than wearing the latest looks," she says.

4 Reinaldo Herrera

Among contributing editor Reinaldo Herrera's qualifications for helping decide who belongs on Vanity Fair's International Best-Dressed List (page 222) is having been a member of its Hall of Fame since 1983. When assembling the List, Herrera says, he is looking for "good taste, simplicity, and not to scare the horses." Though it sounds simple, it isn't easily achieved. "People used to dress up to look better," he says. "Now they dress up to look worse."

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1 Dana Kravis

Last month, after seven years at Vanity Fair, senior associate photo editor Dana Kravis joined Marie Claire edited by former V.F. senior editor Anne Fulenwider. Kravis's time at V.F. often involved the impossible, as when she and photographer Stephen Wilkes were asked to photograph Bernie Madoff's wife, Ruth. Camped out in a nearby building, Wilkes got Ruth through her window. "That sums up what we hope to accomplish at V.F," says Kravis, who produced the cover and Best-Dressed portfolio, "getting that extra something that no one else has."

2 Jonas Fredwall Karlsson

Contributing photographer Jonas Fredwall Karlsson shot renowned architect Frank Gehry in front of his latest building, the Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation, for "Gehry's Paris Coup" (page 290). "Growing up, I was always fascinated by architecture and considered it as a career path," says Fredwall Karlsson. "I hold him as the most inspiring architect, and it was a great honor to take his portrait."

3 David Downton

For his Spotlight on page 288, illustrator David Downton renders ageless beauty Carmen Dell'Orehce with his trademark watercolor-and-ink drawings. "She understands the job isn't being beautiful," says Downton. "She sees what you see. She makes the drawing." For Downton, who also illustrated "The French Connection" (page 270), his aim is to capture what's below the surface: "It's about how the clothes react to the body and the person wearing them."

4 Maureen Callahan

In an adaptation from her new book, Champagne Supernovas (page 314), New York Post contributor Maureen Callahan explores the tragic depths of fashion renegades Alexander McQueen and Isabella Blow, whose mental illnesses contributed to their suicides. "Their friends and loved ones were determined that both should be remembered as the flawed and complicated people they were," says Callahan. "Not the one-dimensional martyrs they became."