The September 2023 issue of Harpers Bazaar Spain delivers two cover women — Monica Bellucci and Kendall Jenner — who personify what it is to be an icon in the 21st century.

While AOC is in full rebellion mode over the crowning of “we are all icons” or “anybody is an icon”— one lingerie brand and one magazine come to mind — we have NO issues with Bellucci and Jenner being called icons in Harpers Bazaar Spain.

In these images, film star legend Monica Bellucci is lensed by Xavi Gordo [IG] with styling by EIC Imma Jimenez Mateos, who is also creative director of HEARST Spain, and Claudia Laukamp. Bellucci wears Nina Ricci by Harris Reed on the cover./ Hair by John Nollet Paris

In her Harper’s interview, the 58-year-old Italian actor spoke in detail about her romance with 64-year-old film director Tim Burton.

Monica gushed over the blossoming romance, telling Harper’s Spain: “I found in Tim [Burton] a wonderful spirit. I met a spectacular soul.”

Bellucci praised her love’s directing skills, having been “ordered around” by him in ‘Beetlejuice 2’. In a different interview with ELLE France, the mother of two daughters, Deva and Léonie, said:

“I have great respect for Tim Burton. I love this dream world where the monsters are kind, like we can turn our darker aspects into something bright, forgiving. Tim Burton's films talk about that a lot.”