At the other end of the world the half moon rises on its back over a series of bays crusted with beaches and harbors that make up the city. The pink people speak English, the skyscrapers could be anywhere, but August comes at the end of winter, strange flowers rise from the road dividers, abalone is a staple, kangaroos are vermin, sheep are prized, and up north, as Cate Blanchett will tell you, people lick the backs of cane toads to get high. The money is called dollars, and the bills are made with plastic (local joke: "Clean and wipe and use again"). It's a no-nonsense place, where the haughty are shot down for "big-noting themselves," but the suburbs have camp names—La Perouse, Beverly Hills, Balmain, Sans Souci.
This is Australia, where the actors come from. The great ones who can make you believe anything. The ones who don't take any sh*t. The men are carousers, from Errol Flynn through Peter Finch to Mel Gibson to Russell Crowe, and the women have astonishing range, from Dame Judith Anderson through Zoe Caldwell to Judy Davis, Rachel Griffiths, Nicole Kidman, and most recently and most stunningly, Cate Blanchett, the human chameleon, so adept at modifying her face, her body, and her energy that even people who have worked with her can fail to recognize her on-screen. She's described as a character actress in a leading woman's body, butthe kind of beauty that she can project is beyond the usual norms. Her characters all share a kind of radiant transparency, which along with her white skin and penchant for minimal makeup has earned her the adjective "luminous," repeated so often that Anthony Minghella (who directed her in The Talented Mr. Ripley) declared a moratorium on it. He has also, brilliantly, described her quality in Elizabeth as a "chalky phosphorescence."
"Pale Perfection!" by Joan Juliet Buck has been edited for Style.com; the complete story appears in the December 2004 issue of Vogue.
rest of it is at
http://www.style.com/vogue/feature/112204/page2.html
Flying Ace
"I was very impressed by her intellect, her curiosity, her perspicacity, her physical fluency," says director Linda Davies. Burberry London leather trench. Anne Klein New York sweater. Hermès aviator hat and gloves.
Perfect Balance
Blanchett did calisthenics while growing up, which left her uncannily supple. Hermès suit. TSE sweater. Ellen Tracy blouse. Converse Chuck Taylor All Star sneakers.
Languid Beauty
As a child, Cate was dressed up by her sister and stayed in character for several days. Behnaz Sarafpour gown. Neil Lane and Stephen Russell diamond bracelets. Ralph Lauren shoes.
High Contrast
"There's a thousand different mes," Cate says. Bill Blass black dress. Fred Leighton, Camilla Deitz Bergeron, and Smithwick Dillon jewelry, left. Proenza Schouler gold bustier bodysuit, right.
In this story: fashion editor, Tonne Goodman; sittings editor, Hamish Bowles; hair, Julien d'Ys; makeup, Gucci Westman for Lancôme; set design, Piers Hanmer. Cate Blanchett air travel courtesy of Qantas.