EDITOR’S LETTER
Our cover star this month is Lily James, who has been delighting audiences with her warmth and charm since she first appeared in Downton Abbey in 2012. In recent years, she has extended her range far beyond that of a sweet ingénue, as is apparent in her performance as a darker, more complex character in the forthcoming stage production of All About Eve. But Lily’s ability to express a great span of emotions – painful grief, as well as joy unbound – has always been evident, perhaps because of her own profound bereavement, following the death of her father in 2008, when she was just 19.
Certainly, the shared experience of loss – which is inevitably woven into the blessing of love, throughout our lives – is an inherent element of being human. If we had never loved, we would never feel loss; and without an understanding of heartbreak, we might be unable to show real compassion towards others. Similarly, could happiness be as great a pleasure if it were a constant state, rather than a spontaneous burst of emotion? Amid darkness, we may find hope that dawn will follow night; and when shadows seem most threatening, we look towards the light.
All of which is at the heart of what makes a great heroine; and heroines have always been at the heart of Harper’s Bazaar. This is not a magazine that condemns or betrays the women who embody its distinctive identity; for our spirit is one of celebration, and our legacy is as closely identified with sisterliness as it is by the imagination and artistic originality. Hence our respect for all those who appear in Bazaar, as well as for our contributors and audience of readers.
So, too, has a legion of great women come together in this issue: from the female team that braved the windswept crags of Holy Island to create a wonderfully atmospheric fashion narrative (page 278), to the portfolio of writers and artists who have chosen the heroines who most inspire them. Where else would you find Jane Austen side by side with Patti Smith, or the Duchess of Devonshire in the company of Yayoi Kusama?
As for me, I have had the privilege of telling the previously unknown tale of an extraordinarily courageous woman: Catherine Dior, the younger sister of Christian, and a brave member of the French Resistance during World War II. Her beloved brother named his first perfume Miss Dior in her honour, yet very few people ever knew the extent of her wartime suffering, or the way in which the flowers that she loved became integral to her own recovery, nor the secret significance of this story to the worldly success of Christian Dior.
Indeed, it is by following in Catherine’s footsteps – from Paris to Provence, and thence to the desolate sites of German concentration camps – that I have been reminded that the human spirit is as integral to fashion’s true legends as it is to the archetypal odysseys of the ancient world and classical myths. We are all on a quest, of one sort or another; and I hope that in the following pages, you may find your own compass and map for the epic journey that lies ahead.