Vanity Fair June 2023 : Abel Tesfaye by Mark Seliger

[vogue28]

 

[DK92]

I love his songs, but he's incredibly boring as a person!

 

[Deleted member 141523]

THE Mark Seliger! He's the best doing photographs of male celebs. Looks like an US Esquire cover for that. I share the thoughts he can be so blah.

 

[KoV]

Kind of insufferable. Pretty much everyone else mentioned on the cover would’ve been a more compelling subject. Plus he’s already on Interview and W.

 

[heyjaded]

All I can think about is how horrible his and Lily Rose’s acting was when I watched the trailer of their show.

 

[tigerrouge]

He's the only one sitting on the edge of his seat for this, because that has to be the most boring cover of Vanity Fair I've ever seen.

The more I look, the more the watch seems the focal point of the shot, it's a very stilted way to present it.

This week I bought the May issue of French Vanity Fair with Monica Bellucci, at least that cover had some glamour to it.

 

[WAVES]

I kinda like it, photography wise, there’s something very well produced about which wants me to see Seliger shooting more covers.
Abel looks fine, I’m not crazy about it and once looking at the ‘featuring’ bit and realising that Aubrey Plaza is inside this issue all I can think of is this huge missed opportunity of having her photographed by Seliger.

 

[SLFC]

Men deserve better

 

[tigerrouge]

Seliger's Oscars portfolios inside the magazine are something I enjoy. No matter who the person is, he can usually find some way of presenting them in a light that... makes them seem a little bit more than what they are, like Testino's golden haze of success. It's very vintage Vanity Fair, and I love it.

And that's without mentioning all his other magazine work over the decades, all those portraits of musicians and so many more.

But somehow we wind up with this bland offering, and I can only say it's a good job it's not a holiday issue, hanging around for two months until the next one takes its place.

 

[Urban Stylin]

I like the mood but they made him look so short

 

[KoV]

I like the mood but they made him look so short

He’s 5’7” on a good day, methinks. There’s only so much a photographer can do to disguise a stout subject.

 

[WAVES]

He’s 5’7” on a good day, methinks. There’s only so much a photographer can do to disguise a stout subject.

 

[Urban Stylin]

They should have shot him standing or partialy sitting on the arm or stretched out to appear taller.

 

[Benn98]

Now it looks like Esquire. Vanity Fair covers have a certain charm to them. They're not really supposed to be fashiony. Granted Seliger is a long-time contributor and understands the magazine's codes, but I think the stylists did too much.

But the real question is, who would want to read about him?

 

[tigerrouge]

Received my subscription copy today, 136 pgs for the UK print version, no supplement this month.

The cover isn't any more exciting in real life. It's like Alicia Vikander - these are people who have found great success in their actual careers, but they don't inspire much when they're photographed in a fashion context, because modelling is not their primary function in life, it's just a secondary opportunity (or part of promoting your work).

There's a gatefold Chanel Metiers d'art advert inside the cover, and further inside the issue, a gatefold ad with Elle Fanning for Cartier. Bella Ramsey is the Vanities person. There's a short piece by Molly Jong-Fast (Erica's daughter).

The longer articles look at oligarchs exploiting Portugal's immigration policy, "can Biden handle four more years?", William F Buckley Jr's campaign to make universities prmote right-wing thought, then there's the Awards Insider section, with opens with the image of Aubrey Plaza that we've seen in the separate Insider thread. She's interviewed as part of this section.

There's also an article about how the series Lost went to sh*t, excerpted from a new book by Maureen Ryan, followed by an Emmy portfolio, shot by Dan Jackson, featuring Elizabeth Olsen, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Claire Danes, Riley Keough, J Smith Cameron, Niecy Nash-Betts, Lizzy Caplan, Sharon Horgan, Dominique Fishback and Ali Wong. There's a piece on the current state of the TV industry, followed by an article hiding at the back of the issue about the 1980s sci-fi series V, which I loved watching at the time, so I can't wait to read this bit. Dominique Dunn, the daughter of long-time VF contributor Dominick Dunne, had just started working on the show when she was murdered, which spurred her father's career writing about justice. The back page Proust Questionnaire is Sir Elton John.

 

[justaguy]

An Idol Mind
Photo Mark Seliger
Stylist Matthew Henson
By Dan Adler
Subject Abel Tesfaye/The Weekend
Hair Daronn
Grooming Christine Nelli


vanity fair

 

[justaguy]

Plaza Suite
Photo Dan Jackson
Stylist Katelyn Gray
By Julianne Escobedo Shepherd
Subject Aubrey Plaza
Hair Evanie Frausto
Makeup Fulvia Farolfi


vanity fair

 

[justaguy]

Star Light
Photo Dan Jackson
Stylist Katelyn Gray
Subjects Elizabeth Olsen, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Claire Danes, Riley Keough, J. Smith-Cameron, Neicy Nash-Betts, Lizzy Caplan, Sharon Horgan, Dominique Fishback, Ali Wong
Hair Evanie Frausto
Makeup Holly Silius


vanity fair