Updated with full editorial 2/6/25: On December 6, 2024, a crew from Bazaar Italia’s new issue N.17 — devoted to the Extreme Self — was in Los Angeles to shoot one of the cover stories.

American model Valerie Scherzinger has been working in fashion since 2020. She takes two issue N. 17 covers: the black and white digital cover above and her glam cover below.

British model Libby Bennett covered Bazaar Italia’s issue N.15 November 2024 issue and returns again with a print cover for the new issue.

Photographer Glen Luchford [IG] led the creative team in capturing ‘Lost Highway’, immersing us in a cinematic atmosphere that evokes the artistic community of Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Sunset Boulevard days before catastrophe happened in LA. Those images are uniquely precious today, capturing a ‘California Dreaming’ moment days before many of those same sights burned beyond recognition in one of the most devastating fires in the history of California.

Other key creatives on the issue N.17 team include executive creative directors Lee Swillingham and Stuart Spalding; creative fashion director Sissy Vian; stylist Paul Sinclaire; set designer Gideon Ponte and, of course, Massimo Russo, EIC of Harper’s Bazaar Italia./ Makeup by Yadim; hair by Ward Stegerhoek

The fashion story itself — previewed in this post — adds models Ella McCutcheon, Billy Luchford and Buster Jaeger to the cast of Libby Bennett and Valerie Scherzinger.

As the initial images are released, a common response is:

“Wow! This is more Vogue Italia than Vogue Italia itself.”

Bazaar Italia tackles a provocative question about self identity in a world of ‘The Extreme Self’. That’s a lofty question whose meaning is absolutely clear to AOC, living here in Trumplandia.

This concept of ‘The Extreme Self’ has commandeered our expectations of our political leaders and our concepts of political governance. It also impacts expectations of our brands and business leaders. As we’re seeing in America today, the world’s richest man Elon Musk touches all these points of influence, as he takes a wrecking ball to the US government.

Translated from Bazaar Italia IG, AOC embraces the word ‘spectacularization’ — such a spectacle of a word that crams our mouths to say it out loud. Anne doesn’t particularly like the word as fundamental to our personal identity. This is one of the reasons I challenge the word ‘authenticity’ so often because I do believe its exact opposite probably wins out more often than not.

Can one be both? It’s an elite skill imo; but ‘yes’, very selectively.

These next words in italics document the perspective that the editorial team is probing with these images and the fashion stories. They are translated from Italian:

“Our present is marked by a continuous spectacularization of reality: between news and fake news spreading rapidly on our screens, personal identity is becoming increasingly complex to define.
Navigating the world and understanding what’s happening around us has never been harder. In this scenario, fashion transforms into an exasperated theatrical expression, a stage where you can exhibit and experiment your identity.”

“In issue 17, the authors of Bazaar Italia are invited to reflect on today’s instability, trying to offer their personal views on the ever-changing world. An era in which images and scenarios change rapidly but in which very little happens: this influences every field, from art to fashion, from music to literature, making it increasingly complex to define who we are and identify our place in an already uncertain reality.”