With an innately sophisticated style and classic beauty, actress KATE BOSWORTH is our perfect new-season muse. She talks exclusively to CHRISTINE LENNON about life, love and the wedding the world has been waiting for.
At a busy café in Los Feliz, a bohemian enclave in Los Angeles, young, fashionable types are sipping green tea. But only one is perfectly backlit by the late-morning sun, the light reflecting off her long, honey-blond hair, so it is easy for me to recognise the sunlit woman as actress Kate Bosworth when I arrive. She is seated in a corner with her fiancé, movie director Michael Polish. They are holding hands, deep in conversation. Polish, a critically acclaimed filmmaker (in his 1999 feature debut, Twin Falls Idaho, he and his twin brother, Mark, played a set of conjoined twins), recently directed the actress in Big Sur, a bold, romantically shot adaptation of Jack Kerouac's cult novel.
“It's my favorite film I've been a part of, so far,” says Bosworth of the project, in which she plays Billie, the love interest of Kerouac's troubled fictional alter ego. Actress and director fell in love almost instantly when they met on set in 2011, something that is blatant in Polish's use of the camera lens, caressing his leading lady's face. It wouldn't surprise me if he had scouted this restaurant to place his bride-to-be in the spot where he knew she would be set aglow.
After greeting me politely, Polish leaves. They are in some ways an unlikely couple, this polished actress and the independent director. “There are so many things that just clicked for us,” Bosworth says, resting her chin on one delicate hand, flashing the 1920s square, emerald-cut diamond that Polish found at vintage jewelry specialist Fred Leighton. “It's like, what didn't draw us together? It feels as if we have known each other our whole lives, even though he is 12 years older than me. But it feels like he's been there every step of the way. And he is a great mentor to me, artistically.”
By the time you read this, Bosworth and Polish will be well on their way to getting married, beginning a lifetime of flattering lighting and happiness. And Bosworth will be stepmother to 15-year-old Jasper. “She's amazing,” says Bosworth, beaming. “It's such a special relationship for me. She is so much like I was at that age.”
At little more than Jasper's age, Bosworth starred in Blue Crush, the Brian Grazer-produced surf/girl-power movie that put her on the map at 18 years old. To distance herself from that role, she then tried out a range of characters, from a junkie (Wonderland) and Vegas card*counter (21) to comic-book heroine Lois Lane (Superman Returns). But now, at 30, she's ready to embrace the memory again. “I've hit the moment when you can reflect comfortably and feel grounded,” she says. “Blue Crush was a unique experience. It was a lead female role, such a rare opportunity.”
The wedding details have been top secret, but Bosworth tells me it is just a few weeks away from our meeting, and will take place in the countryside (“A place where Michael spent a lot of time as a child”). The dress, reportedly designed by “master in American elegance” Oscar de la Renta, was a long-deliberated decision. “There was no doubt about the designer, [but] there was a feeling of, ‘Do I dance around the bridal thing and wear a dress I could wear for the red carpet?’ But lately I'm all about coming out of my comfort zone and challenging myself, so I decided to embrace the moment. It has been a real discovery of that part of myself. I had never thought about it – the dress, the ring, any of it.”
Bosworth had her pick of designers to create her dream dress. Over the past six years, she has been a regular on global best- dressed lists. She has always had an eye for fashion, however, appearing on her first red carpet as a 14-year-old in borrowed Armani, following her screen debut in The Horse Whisperer – a role won, in part, because she happened to be a champion equestrian. But it wasn't until 2006, when she started working with stylist Cher Coulter (who has worked with Sienna Miller and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley), and wore a daring, sheer red Calvin Klein dress at the Vanity Fair Oscars party, that Bosworth edged towards icon status. Her February '08 American Vogue cover, shot by Mario Testino, confirmed her as a bonafide fashion star.
Bosworth has become known for her risky but consistently stylish choices: a sequined fuchsia Balmain mini at this year's Met Ball, for example. "I don't like too many tricks or gimmicks," she says. “It's important for me to feel comfortable. It's as simple as that.”
Indeed, the California-born, Connecticut-bred star's natural, apple-cheeked look balances the experimentation of her style. When we meet, she is in a mix of vintage and Topshop, but the accessories reveal her knowhow: a metallic Loewe bag, Miu Miu shoes and, offsetting her engagement ring, a Jennifer Meyer ring stack.
Her confidence may have grown with Coulter, but Bosworth's instincts are strong. Her father was a retail executive who taught his only child about textiles and quality tailoring. “On take-your-daughter-to-work day, when I was 11 or 12, I was in Manhattan with him on the floor at Ermenegildo Zegna,” she says. “I was always interested.”
Bosworth had a comfortable upbringing and was scheduled to go to Princeton. Then she met fellow rising star Orlando Bloom as a teenager, Blue Crush came out, and her trajectory changed course from university to a life of film sets and red carpets.
Nowadays, she is an involved fashion industry player, counting designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez of Proenza Schouler, Joseph Altuzarra and Vanessa Bruno as close friends. Bosworth has even added a few fashion lines to her résumé. In 2010, she launched a jewelry site, JewelMint.com, and this year she collaborated with Topshop on a festival collection, appearing in the campaign shot by Polish. A fall/winter '13 line is also imminent. For fall, she is keen to experiment with minimal leather pieces in black and white. “It's important to balance out the ‘lady’ – to push it.”
That balance is what has made Bosworth so interesting to watch over the years. She smiles easily, yet her voice is low and deliberate. She calls herself “fierce”, “focused” and “determined”. Her personal journey, once fame came calling, has been equally bumpy. There was tabloid frenzy over her breakup with Bloom, and infinite photos of her at the Coachella music festival with ex-boyfriends including actor Alexander Skarsgård and model James Rousseau. “We've all experienced things that have brought us to where we need to be,” she says. “I don't have any doubts that the person I'm with is my life partner. Everything else I've experienced, it's a part of my past. And that's where it's going to stay. Everybody's moved on. I want to respect their privacy, and mine.”
Newlywed, designer, director's muse: Bosworth has entered a more grown-up chapter of her life and career, and she's never seemed more confident or beautiful. “I love being 30, because I've hit that moment when I can reflect on my life comfortably,” she says. “What I've learned from Michael is that when we feel vulnerable, at least in an artistic situation, it can be a good thing.”
Big Sur is out in September.
i feel the same way, this might be the one!
