Contributors

The mood on the set of this month’s cover shoot proved relaxed, comedic and brimming with chemistry. Here’s how the team worked together to capture couple Rita Ora and Taika Waititi.

ROBBIE FIMMANO

Photographer Robbie Fimmano worked closely with editor-in-chief Christine Centenera and senior fashion editor and market director Kaila Matthews to capture couple Rita Ora and Taika Waititi from an observational viewpoint for the cover of this issue. “We gave them an environment to be in and let them be themselves,” he says, adding that the team was careful to avoid a staged aesthetic. “They both have loving and warm personalities, which I hope transcend in the images.” Fimmano shot the pair in and around Justin Hemmes’s historic Hermitage house. “The emotion on set was natural and fun,” he shares, adding, “The weather was all over the place to make things interesting.”

KAILA MATTHEWS

“Christine and I co-styled this story, which was a first for me,” says Vogue’s senior fashion editor and market director Kaila Matthews. “I’m really grateful for this kind of opportunity.” Working alongside the wider fashion team to secure looks for both Ora and Waititi, Matthews sourced designs she felt best communicated the pair’s connection. “The focus was on modern silhouettes with a sense of ease and polish,” she says. “Rita and Taika have such a special bond with an infectious sense of humour that radiated with the team, so it was so easy to capture this chemistry on the day.”

LOCHIE STONEHOUSE

For the cover shoot, New Zealand-born make-up artist Lochie Stonehouse aimed to create a sense of balance between Ora and Waititi. “When working with two people, it’s my job to help connect them,” he explains. “Everything needs to tell the same story and feel cohesive.” After a walk-through with Vogue’s editor-in-chief, Stonehouse says, “it became my understanding that we would be documenting a love story”. With this in mind, he set out to create beauty looks that felt “real, natural and achievable” via the use of little make-up and a selection of cream products. “Of course, I had to give Rita a little eye moment too,” he adds. “She is a pop superstar.”

CHARLOTTE ROSE

Vogue’s senior producer Charlotte Rose fondly recalls meeting Waititi’s two children at Justin Hemmes’s property during the cover shoot. “It was amazing to see them interact as a family unit. There is clearly a lot of love there,” she observed when the filmmaker’s daughters Te Hinekāhu and Matewa Kiritapu arrived on set. Of her own time at the waterfront residence, Rose also notes how much she enjoyed watching Waititi work alongside Ora. “They are so at ease with one another and work so in tandem that it made the whole day seem almost effortless,” she shares. “Even when we were running laps around Justin Hemmes’s incredible Hermitage.”