Introducing The September Issue

CHLOE MALLE

HEAD OF EDITORIAL CONTENT, VOGUE U.S.

Patrimoine. That was the French word I heard over and over in Paris while attending couture shows and jewelry appointments in July. The tension was all about protecting heritage while bringing history forward—equally true when it came to Cartier’s panthers and Matthieu Blazy’s techno tweeds.

Our September cover stars are models of forging your own path with grace. Shot by Steven Meisel, Kaia Gerber and Homer Gere wear a variety of looks from new creative directors at storied fashion houses, all of whom are taking the classic codes of those maisons and reinterpreting them by adding their own distinctive stamp.

The occasion for this is The Shards, a slick, spooky series adaptation from Ryan Murphy of Bret Easton Ellis’s 2023 best-selling novel about a serial killer trolling Los Angeles in the early 1980s. The casting seems designed to attract attention, conjuring memories of Homer’s father and Kaia’s mother’s legendary 1990s romance (and their Herb Ritts Vogue cover from 1992). Both stars are thoughtful but unbothered on the subject of having famous parents. “I’ve only ever been a nepo baby, and I’ve only ever benefited in my career from it,” Kaia says. “But what that’s done for me is make me want to work harder.”

Elsewhere in the issue, Nathan Heller reports on Demna’s first collections for Gucci—a collision of past and present—and Gaby Wood meets Marta Ortega Pérez, the head of Zara, who inherited its stewardship but who has pushed it in personal and modern directions. And there’s the New York Philharmonic’s new maestro, Gustavo Dudamel, who brings a rush of energy to every room he enters. Bring on Dudamania!

Now as ever, we are so proud and excited to share this issue with you. I hope that if you aren’t already a subscriber, you’ll consider becoming one; we don’t want you to miss a single story.