People

White Fairies in the Night

Natalia Vodianova’s LOVE Ball Vogue.com

Valentino Garavani’s Château de Wideville was the perfect setting for Natalia Vodianova’s The White Fairy Tale Love Ball. Most guests complied with the request to wear white or silver, with a few predictable, eccentric exceptions. If Daphne Guiness is as shy as she says, why wear a rainbow-painted kimono?

Natalia herself was ravishing in sweeping red taffeta created for her by the Russian designer Ulyana Sergeenko, and a parure of diamond snowflakes and pearls that she designed with Yulia Fosty Jewellery House. (She later changed into a red tulle and feather dress designed by Valentino, with a tiara by Yulia Fosty Jewellery.)

More than 45 international designers created unique pieces for the event, which supports playgrounds for Russian children. Read all the details.

Les Artistes

From the Archives

Cy Twombly: A Painted Word Dodie Kazanjian@Vogue.com

In the bright open Gaeta house, a second version of ‘Inverno’ from Twombly’s Four Seasons series hangs against a wall for inspection. Photograph by Bruce WeberThe death of American artist Cy Twombly prompted Vogue to post their 1994 profile of the painter, as he prepared for a major retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art.

Writer Dodie Kazanjian found the Virginia-born artist 60 miles north of Naples in Gaeta.

In 1957, at the precise moment when the main energy of the art world seemed to have taken up permanent residence in New York, Cy Twombly moved to Rome. Two years later, he married Tatiana Franchetti, a talented portrait painter from a wealthy and aristocratic Italian family, and he has lived in Italy, more or less, ever since. Twombly parted company with Robert Rauchenberg and Jasper Johns, chosing a different direction entirely.

His would lead back through European art and literature to the ancient world of classical mythology, of gods and heroes and the great poetic traditions of the Mediterranean, which in his paintings merges indistinguishably with the modern urban street culture of graffiti, sexual imagery, and raw sensation. His work seems to exist in another time zone.

‘Inside Out’ in Pakistan

JR’s TED Wish Unfolds in Pakistan Metropolis

2011 TED Prize winner JR came out of the shadows in Long Beach, Ca a few months ago to accept his $100,000 prize. His ‘wish’ — his vision of changing the wor’d — is the Inside Out project. ‘Inside Out’ was conceived to empower people from all walks of life to participate in a global art movement by pasting their portraits up in their cities. In other words, he wanted to help others do what he does.

A few weeks ago, we tracked JR’s project in the streets of Brooklyn. Today we are in Pakistan.

One of the first to stand up and volunteer to take a leading role in this project was Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, a Pakistani and TED Senior Fellow. She saw in JR’s work the potential to make a powerful statement against the persecution of minorities in Pakistan. “Using visual mediums to express viewpoints on social and political issues is an effective means of awakening the Pakistani soul,” said Sharmeen. “I hope this project will initiate a much needed conversation about how we see others around us.” Towards that end, many of the photographs in Karachi are located in central locations to allow access to all people who are passing through, no matter where they live, what their economic or social status is, or what religion they subscribe to.

Watch filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s TED speech: Inside a school for suicide bombers

JR’s TED Prize Speech