Olivia Williams Britain’s sophisticated answer to Hollywood

Photographed in the glorious Queen Mary’s Gardens at the heart of Regent’s Park in London, here, Olivia wears a navy and white polka dot silk blouse with a black cotton lace skirt, both from the PRADA 2012 resort collection. In the opening image, Olivia wears a black cotton lace dress and black silk slip, both from PRADA 2012 resort collection. 

Olivia
Williams

Britain’s sophisticated answer to Hollywood

Text by Alex Needham
Portraits by Alasdair McLellan
Styling by Jonathan Kaye

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Issue n° 4, Autumn & Winter 2011

Olivia Williams has always been the actress whose screen presence leaves you wanting more – just think of her spellbinding moments in An Education, Rushmore and The Ghost Writer. And now, her career, which began with Shakespeare and today alternates between London’s West End and Hollywood, is ratcheting up an Oscar-winning momentum. 

Beyoncé She runs her world

In the opening image, Beyoncé wears a black cashmere jumper and white cotton and nylon floral print ball skirt, both by DIOR. Here, she is wearing an orange cashmere jumper by CÉLINE.

Beyoncé

She runs her world

Text by Paul Flynn
Portraits by Alasdair McLellan
Styling by Jonathan Kaye

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Issue n° 7, Spring & Summer 2013

Everyone knows Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, the incandescent megastar with the mesmeric voice, dazzling dance moves and stage costumes that resemble miniature suits of sparkly armour. But beyond the rump-shaking entertainer, there’s an elegant, reflective 31-year-old who’s also a recent mother and a no-nonsense businesswoman. 

Diana begins the day by opening the many letters she still receives from admiring readers. For these portraits, she was photographed in her room in Highgate on 2 June 2016.

Diana
Athill I Think being dead es an expensive business

Diana Athill / Creo que estar muerto es un asunto caro

Text by Erica Wagner
Portraits by Alasdair McLellan

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Issue n° 14, Autumn & Winter 2016

Diana Athill, 98, has a beady eye and a way with words. She used both on the likes of Jean Rhys and Philip Roth during her 50 years as London’s most respected literary editor. But for the past 15, she’s turned that gaze on her own storied life with eight volumes of autobiography. Erica Wagner met Diana at the residential home where she lives and works.

Vivienne Westwood in The Gentlewoman / When Vivienne talks, we should listen

 

Vivienne 
Westwood

When Vivienne talks, we should listen

Text by Deborah Orr
Portraits by Alasdair McLellan
Styling by Jonathan Kaye

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Issue n° 9, Spring & Summer 2014

Vivienne Westwood is the fearless 72-year-old with dyed red hair who goes to the Met Ball wearing a Bradley Manning badge, but to file her under “English eccentric” is to rather miss the point. Brazenly contradictory, Dame Vivienne is surely the only couturier ever to have been invited to Downing Street to discuss climate change; yet as the owner of a multi-million-pound fashion business, she’s kitting out Virgin Atlantic’s staff with new uniforms. 

Margaret Atwood in The Gentlewoman

 

Margaret Atwood

The unexpectedly optimistic outlook of Canada’s uncannily accurate foreteller of times ahead.

Text by Sophie Elmhirst
Portraits by Alasdair McLellan
Styling by Alice Goddard

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Issue nº 20, Autumn & Winter 2019

Thirty-four years after her most famous novel was published, Margaret Atwood, 79, has written its sequel, The Testaments. It is fresh on the shelves and has already been longlisted for the Booker Prize. In the interim, the events heralded by The Handmaid’s Tale seem distressingly to have been coming true. 

Simone Biles in The Gentlewoman

 

Simone Biles

back-flipping, gold-winning, ever-smiling

Text by Horacio Silva
Portraits by Alasdair McLellan
Styling by Jonathan Kaye

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Issue nº 16, Autumn & Winter 2017

No one who watched the Rio Olympics will forget the astonishing acrobatics of the sunny four-foot-eight powerhouse gymnast from the USA. Simone Biles captured hearts and minds (not to mention a great many medals) at the 2016 Summer Games, somersaulting into the sporting stratosphere as the star-spangled poster girl for a new era of gymnastics. But for all her game-changing virtuosity, Simone is a down-to-earth 20-year-old from Texas with a natural gift of the gab.