All the magazines are releasing their September issues this week. The reaction that I\u2019ve seen online, in response to American Vogue\u2019s cover story featuring Kaia Gerber and Homer Gere, has been mostly underwhelmed, to put it generously. They are the stars of The Shards, a series with a Gen Z cast telling a Gen X story, but it\u2019s not just that people don\u2019t seem to be enthused about the stars \u2013 as Maria noted in yesterday\u2019s Celebrity Social Media, the editorial hasn\u2019t landed either. For a September issue, using a studio shot seems kinda unimaginative.<\/p>\n
Someone in our Squawk community posted this in the daily chat yesterday and it\u2019s exactly right.<\/p>\n
Over at British Vogue though, their September issue cover is Gen X for all gens: Nicole Kidman in a photo shoot that is far superior, no f-cking contest. Now here is a much more inspired image choice for a cover.<\/p>\n
A post shared by British Vogue (@britishvogue)<\/p>\n
It\u2019s good not just because it\u2019s Nicole but because it\u2019s unusual. Like in actual measurement the door is a full third of the shot. And somehow she takes up all the space in the frame. In comparison to its American counterpart, this is a bold call \u2013 and the correct one. And OMG the styling.<\/p>\n
She is a wealthy divorc\u00e9e from the 80s. The blowout, the makeup, colour palette, someone in the comments said \u201cJoanna Lumley\u201d and\u2026 yes\u2026 intentional, especially for the season. Rich bitch, just divorced in 1985, at the country club is so autumn coded. Nicole understands the character.<\/p>\n
A post shared by British Vogue (@britishvogue)<\/p>\n
The character is also her in this moment. She is 59 years old and single and doing what the freshly single girlies do when they\u2019re in their 20s, you either don\u2019t shower for a week and bury yourself into the couch, or you hit the club, there is no in-between. As Nicole tells British Vogue:<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m either playing Scrabble or I\u2019m out. It\u2019s that simple,\u201d she says, and laughs again. What does the rave option entail? \u201cDinner at 10.30pm, club at 1am. I\u2019ll put on glasses. Sometimes I\u2019ll wear a wig to hide, a little dark wig, and then I can just dance. As long as I\u2019m surrounded by people \u2013 like, I take people with me \u2013 then I\u2019m fine. I need it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Credit to the person on Twitter who put those words to video, that\u2019s exactly how I pictured it.<\/p>\n
and then she can WHAT? pic.twitter.com\/4ZVw3oaNFd https:\/\/t.co\/fRIxna0FGv<\/p>\n
Nicole says that she\u2019s stealth about her club nights. I mean, yeah, it\u2019s not like there are videos circulating on social media of her doing jello shots in Ibiza and getting rubbed down in foam. So I guess all of Tom Cruise\u2019s ex-wives can be ninjas. In Nicole\u2019s case, though, I love that she\u2019s telling us about it. That she\u2019ll be 60 years old in 10 months and is out here observing the disco schedule: nap until 10pm, nourishment at 1030pm, then glam for an hour and leave the house after midnight. She was married when most of her peers were doing it in early adulthood, but it\u2019s never too late to lean into your grind and groove era.<\/p>\n
Speaking of being married young, she talks about this with British Vogue, about how she and Tom Cruise fell madly in love (her words) when she was 22 and, frankly, she doesn\u2019t look back on that time with regret. As for Keith Urban, they\u2019re less than a year divorced, not surprisingly she doesn\u2019t have a lot to say about the split, except that she didn\u2019t expect it but now that it\u2019s her reality, she\u2019s accepted the unknown. She doesn\u2019t know what her life will look like beyond the club, she doesn\u2019t know what\u2019s out there and that\u2019s OK.<\/p>\n
What we all know though is that she will keep working \u2013 because she never stops working. This bitch and her output, it\u2019s breathtaking. The summer isn\u2019t over yet and already she\u2019s been in three television series, Scarpetta, Margo\u2019s Got Money Troubles, and Lioness season three. Next up is Practical Magic 2, one of the most highly anticipated films on the fall schedule. She has at least one film in post-production (The Young People), several series and films in pre-production and development. And that\u2019s a QUIETER year for her. That\u2019s why she\u2019s been at the club, LOL.<\/p>\n
Celebrity gossip and advanced pop culture, film, and TV analysis<\/p>\n