Mischa Barton: US Vogue: Magnificent Obsession

Calling Betty Draper...

US Vogue July 2010 Issue
Editorial: "Magnificent Obsession"
Starring Ewan McGregor and Natalia Vodianova
Photographer: Peter Lindbergh
Fashion Editor: Grace Coddington
Hair: Didier Malige for Frédéric Fekkai
Makeup: Stéphane Marais

The complete story appears in the July 2010 issue of Vogue.

Darlings, we're feeling a little lazy today. It's hot, it's Friday, it's Tom's birthday and he is petulantly insisting on a virtual royal court of bowing and scraping (like any good queen) so Lorenzo is running around grabbing cards, flowers and cake to shut the little bitch up. So with all this gay drama going on behind the scenes, we both figured a simple shot of pretty would tide over our bitter kittens.

Moreso than even Jon Hamm (and that's saying something), the delicious Ewan McGregor looks born to wear mid-century clothing. If you ever get a chance (assuming you haven't already) rent Down with Love, the spoof of Rock Hudson/Doris Day movies he did with Renee Zellweger. It's a silly little confection of a movie, but the clothes and the sets are to die for.

Anyway, here's our mancrush getting his mid-century on in a big, big way with Natalia Vodianova. We love editorials like this that take clothes right off the current runways and with a little bit of styling and staging, totally make them work as vintage or retro looks.

The American dream, c. 1957: two cherubic children; Dad's a gray-suited young executive on the rise; Mom runs their fashionable new house in a bedroom community not far from Manhattan.

Louis Vuitton Fall 2010 Collection
[On Ewan McGregor: Dior Homme suit. On twins: Isabel Garreton coats and bonnets]

She's dressed—like Jane Wyman in a bittersweet Douglas Sirk romance—in one of the chic full skirts that came in with the New Look in 1947 and reigned until the early 1960s as the emblem of the 1950s woman: traditionally feminine, nurturing, decorous.
Ralph Lauren Collection taffeta jacket and skirt.

The Universal Studios/Sirk look focused on a lush, overripe Technicolor palette—like the hypervivid kaleidoscope print of her dress and the cherries-in-the-snow shine of her bag and slingbacks.

Prada Fall 2010 Collection/Model: Lara Stone
[On twins: Ralph Lauren Childrenswear cardigans. Fleurisse dresses]

Like Julianne Moore in Todd Haynes's homage to the genre, Natalia Vodianova is a swan frantically paddling underneath a placid surface of bourgeois satisfaction.

Nina Ricci Fall 2010 Collection/Model: Tao Okamoto (WOMEN)
[House of Lavande earrings]

The catalyst of our renegade heroine's break from society's constraints is, of course, the other man. Working-class and sporting a James Dean pompadour, he's all wrong. Will she choose love or convention?
Vera Wang silk-taffeta dress. Balenciaga by Nicolas Ghesquière brooch and bracelet. On waiter: Raf Simmons pants.

Impeccably turned out in a swaying hourglass frock, pumps, and brooch, she's the very image of feminine complicity in the status quo. (But, out of husband's earshot: transgression.)

Dries Van Noten Fall 2010 Collection/Model: Sophie Srej
[Balenciaga by Nicolas Ghesquière brooch]

McGregor (who appears next in Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang) takes the news in manly Rock Hudson style, with a belt of scotch and a tie-shorn tuxedo.

Marc Jacobs Fall 2010 Collection/Model: Jamie Bochert
[Balenciaga by Nicolas Ghesquière earrings. On McGregor: Dior Homme tuxedo]

"And the autumn weather turns the leaves to flame, and I haven't got time for the waiting game...." With the poignant 1950 hit tune playing in her head, she tumbles from grace in tumbling-leaf orange (one of the decade's favorite colors).

Oscar de la Renta Fall 2010 Collection/Model: Jac
[Prada handbag and suitcase. On twins: Papo d'Anjo cardigans and dresses]

A respectable suit even Pat Nixon could love opens to reveal sinful satin lingerie. (Like a good housewife, c. 1963, blossoming to reveal her hidden sexuality and ambition after reading The Feminine Mystique.)

Dolce & Gabbana Fall 2010 Collection/Model: Julija Steponaviciute
[Balenciaga by Nicolas Ghesquière necklace. Hermès bag]

Cinematographers' hues in these maternal melodramas were often symbolic. What else could this fallen woman wear? (The suit's cut suggests the waistless "sack" look pioneered by daring women in 1957 and 1958.)