Charlize Theron for Vogue

Posted on Nov 16, 2011 in Fashion

Annie Leibovitz photographs Charlize ruining some very expensive gowns.

Charlize Theron for Vogue Magazine

Charlize Theron in a Calvin Klein Spring 2012 Collection Gown in the December 2011 issue of Vogue magazine photographed by Annie Leibovitz and styled by Camilla Nickerson.

Darlings, prepare yourselves for the atrocities to come.

Charlize Theron for Vogue Magazine

Alexander McQueen Spring 2012 Collection/Model: Josefien Rodermans (WOMEN)

Charlize Theron for Vogue Magazine

Marchesa Spring 2012 Collection/Model: Magdalena Langrova

Charlize Theron for Vogue Magazine

Christopher Kane Resort 2012 Collection/Model: Ruby Jean

Charlize Theron for Vogue Magazine

Salvatore Ferragamo Spring 2012 Collection/Model: Andreea Diaconu

To paraphrase our patron saint Karen Walker, “Why doesn’t someone just pee directly on her?” Gorgeous pictures, no doubt about it, but we weep for those gowns.

[Photo Credit: Annie Leibovitz for vogue.com, style.com]

Tags:

http://twitter.com/democracydiva Democracy Diva

I don’t think the pictures are even that great. All I can see are gowns that cost as much as a car being demolished. And it makes me cry.
- Anonymous
  
  agree! i was really about to type that ~ the pics are meh at best, which makes the ruination of couture even more of a tragic waste. and i get that she’s desperately trying to “find the light” with her face, but here’s a tip charlize: when shilling for one’s movie, perhaps showing more than the bottom of your jaw is a good idea. ^_^
  - Anonymous
    
    Yeah, and she was a model before she became an actor.
Lauren Maier

I’m just going to quietly pray that that’s all just excellent photoshopping.
- Anonymous
  
  Of course it is! I can’t believe that people actually think Charlize dragged her ass into the middle of some wind-swept craggy beach for snap a few pics. That’s why God invented the green screen.
Sobaika Mirza

The shot of her in the McQueen by the ocean is gorgeous. But everything else has is so done. Numero had a VERY similar editorial this month.
MilaXX

Speaking as someone who thinks Charlize is a bit overrated at times, I think she looks pretty here.
Anonymous

Oh…that McQueen…I gasp in horror!!
Anonymous

Why are these all taken from 400′ away? Charlize gives great face, and the gowns are beautiful, but everything’s so far away that the focus is gone. These look more like they’re a nature calendar than a fashion editorial. Anne’s famous for her portrait work, but it’s like she didn’t even try here.
- Anonymous
  
  What would the point be to do head shots for an editorial about gowns? I completely disagree with you, these photos accomplish everything that they’re supposed to. My only question is: Why did they use Charlize instead of a model that wasn’t going to be fighting for the viewer’s attention? That’s the real problem you have with these photos.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_VW5XHSH45FBZ2ZEZJARYHILIZQ Leah

AHHH!!! What does DRY-CLEAN ONLY *mean* to these people?! :S hahaha
http://joyouslifesf.wordpress.com Kiltdntiltd

salt water? SALT WATER?!!!!!!!
My heart is in my throat over the work and materials that went into those clothes, just so they could get destroyed in a photoshoot.

And that said, yeah the images are amazing.
Anonymous

The reason that I am incapable of writing a fashion blog – To me, every gown looks better wet.
Anonymous

Common you people! they will get cleaned and dried, and sold as a sample, or archived…who cares? they can afford it. Next season they will make new ones. But pictures will live forever. Absolute harmony and great concept, when either dress dissolves into water, or water shapes itself into a dress… Beautiful!
- http://onebluetree.blogspot.com/ Sara L.
  
  I agree. How many gowns get worn once and then never seen again? How many are never worn? These photos are gorgeous, and well worth it, I think.
- Cathy S
  
  I agree. They look beautiful.
Anonymous

Geez. It’s a bit too Victorian melodramatic. She looks like she’s about to hurl herself into the waves after Lord So and So betrayed her with the parlor maid. (And we’ve even got the requisite dead body in the briny deep.)

You are wearing gorgeous, expensive clothes. Cheer up.
- Anonymous
  
  I don’t need my models to smile-I’ll save that for the Sears catalog models…
Anonymous

That picture of her underwater is bizarre. It not only doesn’t look like her, it doesn’t look human. It’s like a still from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
- Sobaika Mirza
  
  That can’t be her. They used some model and thought no one would notice. Their faces are entirely different!
  - Anonymous
    
    Disagree after looking much more closely.
    The feet look the same. The jawline has similarities. That is an angle that almost never is used. And she is holding her breath-I know that affects the throat.
- Anonymous
  
  The underwater picture reminded immediately of ANTM. I don’t watch it religiously, but it so seems like a challenge Tyra would have them do. When your legit magazine photo shoots start reminding readers of ANTM, that’s when you know you’ve jumped the shark.
  - Anonymous
    
    That’s immediately what I was thinking of! And yes, Tyra did have the models pose underwater in the ocean.. And I have to say they looked better than this!
    - Anonymous
      
      it must be our collective Gluten Freeness that allows us to have these parallel thoughts I have celiac, too
      - Anonymous
        
        Nice! Yeah, I finally wanted to comment on something on here, try to think of a username, and am stuck with a mis-spelling of gluten…
- Anonymous
  
  I’ve done underwater shoots before and I can guarantee you that the model will never look the same in the photos, it’s kinda freaky when you see the results. It’s also fairly hard to pose the model since their clothes are basically forcing them to drown, they have to keep their eyes open, make sure it doesn’t look like they’re holding their breath, etc. It’s very exhausting work.
http://twitter.com/E__Hunter Elizabeth Hunter

I’m cringing, too. But I do have to say, the pictures (particularly the McQueen and the Marchesa) are stunning. The way she used the water as a frame was really beautiful. Still, I can’t blame anyone for the instinctual cringe.
Anonymous

I don’t care about the dresses! These are gorgeous pictures! Especially the McQueen, the echo of the colors, tones! And the Christopher Kane “Mermaid” shot! Looks better than runway-runway looks cheeeep! And the Marchesa-is it a different color on Charlize? Because it shows so much better “in the wild”.
http://twitter.com/E__Hunter Elizabeth Hunter

And I have to admire that she *didn’t* do close-ups of Charlize, who does look beautiful. It was a fashion shoot, not a portrait. The focus remained on the dresses, as it should. And the dresses look stunning.
- Anonymous
  
  Can’t agree with you. When you get Charlize, you use that face, which can sell anything. These “fashion” shots could have been modeled by anyone. As one poster said, recycled ANTM, and not all that.
Anonymous

Absolutely love the underwater photo in the Christopher Kane.
Anonymous

In every single photo, she is showing only the left side of her face, except for the cover. It’s weird.
http://twitter.com/RzYoung RzYoung

That picture of her under water…if i were Charleze I would sue! It’s dreadful. All very dull.
- Anonymous
  
  I was just thinking how gorgeous it was…
- Anonymous
  
  Kingfish. I’d sue too.
- Anonymous
  
  Eh, she is holding her shoulders a bit awkwardly, but, I confess that my only thought was that “underwater” seems to be the most flattering angle for a lame mullet hem.
Anonymous

Oh, good grief, it’s just fabric. The photos are gorgeous, and the dresses can be recreated.
- Anonymous
  
  And most people will wear the dress one time and then never again.
http://www.hilonwheels.blogspot.com hilonwheels

Wow, beautiful pictures! If I were a photographer and they’d let me, I’d totally do photo shoots like this all the time. It’d also be a short-lived career because designers would stop lending me their prized baby-fawn million-dollar gowns. Still. Fun to imagine that that’s your life…ah, nice.
- Anonymous
  
  You could try to make a career as a “trash the dress” photographer…
  
  http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/popup?id=3283476
Kate Pearce

Beautiful pictures.
Anonymous

+100 points for any Karen Walker reference.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jessica-TallGirl-Freeman/1043623567 Jessica TallGirl Freeman

Just not doing it for me, and I love Annie and Charlize equally. Such a shame to ruin those pieces of art.
R. L.

Dreary photos of Ophelia-like drowned women. Not my cup of tea.
Anonymous

It’s amazing! These shots are exactly like challenges that have been used on America’s Next Top Model–ALL of them!

The cover shot is gorgeous, but like so many others, I’m pained at the destruction.
- Anonymous
  
  I know!
  
  They checked off:
  - underwater in the ocean
  - waves standing on a rock by the beach
  - standing next to a waterfall (done twice) on antm.
  
  Yup, it’s all there!
  - Anonymous
    
    What does it say about Annie L. that she’s recycling old ANTM challenges??? Or maybe we’re not giving Tyra enough credit.
    - Anonymous
      
      How about: she’s overrrated, always has been.
    - Anonymous
      
      I vote that we’re not giving Tyra enough credit. She may have become almost a parody of herself, but the bitch knows modeling. Nobody smizes like Tyra! (ok, except Karlie Kloss).
    - Anonymous
      
      We’re not giving Tyra’s people enough credit….
http://www.facebook.com/ediekemp Edith Beumer Kemp

I would have given those gowns a wonderful home and only worn them to the grocery store.
Anonymous

I like it. Very Aphrodite.
http://nobeatenpath.com Forrestblogging

I know the lady has a lovely neck, but why does every shot have to be ‘see me stretch my lovely swan-like neck. Is it not long?’
Anonymous

I love that you mentioned Karen Walker. My roommate and I were just talking about her the other day (seriously). I will never look at canned yams and chocolate without seeing her covered in them (and squeezed between her thighs). Oh wait a minute- that’s Karen Finley. Oops.
Anonymous

seems like annie is phoning it in. All look like typical perfumes. Nice dresses tho.
http://twitter.com/taijuuuh Taija HU!

The first two photos are lovely if not a little repetitive. But the underwater one? That picture doesn’t justify ruining such an expensive and pretty dress.
Sara__B

I, too, weep for the gowns. Perhaps all of them are made of washable fabrics? One can only hope…
Anonymous

… What is on the top left of every photo that only Charlize can see?!?
http://www.facebook.com/people/Catherine-Rhodes/602850414 Catherine Rhodes

The cringe, of course, is what is attention-getting. I weep for the gowns, too, but truthfully, they would probably only be worn once to some closed-door event. Why not once in the waterfall instead for the whole Vogue readership to see? I think the shots are amazing.
Joyce VG

They couldn’t have possibly used REAL McQueen’s right? Tell me no please.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_5X4B3NBE3NUGS3OY5IRI645NMI Mrs. Joe

I’m not gonna lie – I’m kind of hoping that the underwater Christopher Kane dress IS in fact the only version of that dress, and it’s destroyed…
Anonymous

Let’s hope the dresses were mock-ups. I like her a lot … Her perfume ads for Dior are some of my favorites — I mean the tv one that gets trotted out every holiday season. Her strip tease down the corridor. Love it. Even though she seems to have some trouble saying either Dior or J’Adore properly. The mullet dress in purple foil is the fug though. Yuck.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_AYQCICXEN2CCDBFV5HED4Z2RUA Dee B

AL has to be THE most overrated photographer currently working.
Anonymous

She’s a gorgeous woman and I love the cover shot, but I’m just not crazy about the whole mermaid vibe.
Anonymous

The pictures bore me to tears.
Anonymous

It’s a glorified Jean Naté commercial IMO.
Anonymous

Lucien Clergue does it better.

His nudes on beaches are stunning.
https://profiles.google.com/104791269167429064986 Judy S

Hmm… am I in an odd mood? I am enjoying all of these. I find some of the dresses boring or ugly but entirely appropriate as mermaid wear. And the others, like the McQueen, stand up nicely to the dampness.
As for destroying all that couture…. well, heck. A lot of couture isn’t really meant to be worn anyway, is it? It’s for looking at. It’s not like crashing a Lamborghini or an Aston Martin for a movie….
Anonymous

Is the mullet silhouette really here to stay? Am I just going to have to accept that?
Anonymous

Now THAT is the woman who should be in the Chanel thing that Blake Lively attempted to pull off. Charlie brings it to soaking wet things and looks amazing.
http://twitter.com/susanpcollier Susan Collier

How do we even know those photos were of Charlize? If they’re not using her “face”, they could have hired any model to do this.
- Anonymous
  
  You are so right. I don’t like these photos at all. (The first, with crashing waves, is a little better than the rest.)
  “¿She?” has in the same body and head position in every shot. Is that a giant bluefish in #3?These are the antithesis of the greatness of the Dior ads, which are really all about Charlize, whose astounding beauty can sell a product.What a waste.
Anonymous

I miss Karen Walker….
Anonymous

Does she have a stiff neck? Every picture has her head up.
Anonymous

I know, I’ve done enough anthropomorphizing in my life to feel sorry for the gowns, but it’s working for me.
glennethph

The McQueen was the best one. It evoked stone and moss and it fit right with the scenery.
Anonymous

Oh, she’s by the water because she’s a “Siren.” Hahahahaha. That’s original.
Anonymous

I don’t care how pretty the photos are; what they did to those gowns is criminal.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Mary-Stone/100001328135240 Mary Stone

as you’ve said before, what is the point of this sh*ttery?
Anonymous

Don’t care, at least they did something interesting before they died. Gorgeous pictures, Charlize never lets me down.
Stefanos Mantyla

So you know she is photographed in these settings, and she is not photoshopped into them?

I do love the dress on the cover, though, at least as it is photographed.
Anonymous

FAB. U. LOUS. I can get over the ruining of the gowns, I imagine the same thing often happens when they get loaned to certain starlets with substance abuse problems… Annie still takes a lovely, lovely picture.
Terence Ng

So many editorials exist where a model is out rolling on the beach, walking through mud, or some other sort of gritty, dirty place that I thought the clothes getting messed up was something that the industry just didn’t really care about (dresses aplenty?). Am I wrong? Don’t they make several of these outfits?
Anonymous

So I’m guessing it is in her contract that she only be photographed from the left side? Well, except for the cover where you can tell she totally wants to pull her head that way.

Gorgeous shots of a gorgeous woman in gorgeous gowns. But the gowns look so much better dry and not tortured.

I can’t believe I’m about to type this, but i really love that Marchesa gown. The bodice has a Birth of Venus clamshell thing kind of going on for me.
Anonymous

The entire concept for this editorial seemed to be, “Hey… these gowns are… flowing! So… water!” Some variety would have been nice, honestly. They’re all sort of the same concept; they don’t feel like meaningful variations.
http://twitter.com/VicksieDo Vickie Lord

I think the end result was worth it
Anonymous

Oh! So THAT’S what resort lines are for. I always wondered.
http://orangtunes.blogspot.com BIG MAC

Besides the cover photo, her body looks very uncomfortable and weird in these photos. I think ANTM has had better water pictures than these and that’s sad.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=807116037 Kajsa Andreasson

I like the underwater pic because it’s a bit awkward! She looks strong, and I love her shoulders!
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=543702613 Caroline Lindsay Whitham

These look totally ‘shopped to me – aside from the swimming one, I reckon she was standing/lying in front of a green screen having been gently sponged down with mineral water.
Anonymous

Oh, I don’t know, I think that shiny mullet-hem one looks way better underwater than it does on dry land.
Anonymous

Well, the model in the first gown (non-cover) does look as if she’d being consumed by seaweed, so I kinda get their inspiration.
Anonymous

It’s like Annie woke up in a Fight Club kind of mood…”I wanted to destroy something beautiful.”
Anonymous

WHY WHY WHY? Only one shot is good (not great) but really, we’ve seen shoots like this for years. Totally not worth the sacrifices made. My heart weeps.
http://www.facebook.com/chloe.stabler Chloe Stabler

I felt a tear coming when I saw her swimming in that gown. The pictures are really pretty, but those gowns…
Anonymous

poor dresses, and poor seamstresses seeing their work be ruined.
Anonymous

Gee, she’s real good at tilting her head back and showing us her strong jawline.
Oh. Dresses? There were dresses?
oohsparkley!

I think the pics are great, very sensual. I will try to rescue those gowns, dry them out, steam them. I don’t think they are a total loss. Let me try. Please? I didn’t notice the first time through that she’s showing the neck in all the shots, until it was commented upon and then – yup! too much neck-age.
Anonymous

I think the gowns may not have fared well, but the look good so maybe their sacrifice was worth it. The last gown to me is the exception. The laying on the wet rock shot does not do it justice.
Anonymous

Heh. It’s just clothes. Love the mermaid one.
Anonymous

I don’t like this shoot AT ALL.

Regardless of the unimaginative framing, the contrived and repetitve posing and the sombre feeling of it all, why on Earth would you shoot someone as beautiful and photogenic as Charlize Theron and leave her FACE “out” of every photo??
http://twitter.com/zombuki Brigitte Coovert

Too much jaw line, cannot say I’m excited about this. A tiny bit of variety would have be nice!
Anonymous

Aw, that shot would have to be the MOST appropriate time to actually use McQueen’s King-Neptune-Beardy-Headpiece that was on the runway…
http://tinyglimpses.blogspot.com Meg P. W.

Something about the line of her legs in the underwater shot just gives me good chills. It’s always sad to see such expensive clothing being destroyed, though.
yuju ti

I feel cold when I see these pictures. And yes I weep for those gowns too. It’s like watching a beautiful tragedy.
http://twitter.com/Snickleboom Snickleboom

That McQueen looks like it came straight from the ocean. Gorgeous.
Anonymous

I am somewhat distracted by Charlene’s jaw line, which she seems determined to make me notice in every picture.
Anonymous

The Ferragamo is to die for…
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_EDI2DLE7DE3YPW2ONIHBWOVHMA ecallaw

I don’t even think they’re gorgeous pictures–so not worth it.
Anonymous

I am officially calling for all to refer to her as “The Beige One” henceforth. Why is her face and hair always so monochromatic?

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Charlize Theron for Vogue

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