Emma Stone and Nicolas Ghesquière’s Real-Life Friendship Takes Center Stage in Vogue’s September Issue

We are here today for a very incredible project

and a story of love and friendship and creativity,

and it is for the September issue of Vogue.

[Speaker] Beautiful, wow.

Perfect, perfect, perfect.

It s a small collection

that Nicolas Ghesquière design, whatever he does,

is special and surprising and exquisite,

but this was somewhat on another level

because it was couture,

which is something he hasn t tried before.

And we are photographing Emma Stone.

[Speaker] For you to copy that however.

[light music]

I started to work when I was very young,

at Jean Paul Gaultier.

It was ready to wear

and one day, I remember hearing him in the studio saying

his desire was to do couture

and I didn t get it at the time, I was 18.

For me, ready to wear was a cool platform

to express clothes,

but later, I d understood his expectation for details

and colors and fabrics and shapes was growing

and going somewhere more exceptional.

[light music]

Nicolas Ghesquière, he is a very close friend for a start

and probably he is the designer that I m closest to

and have been for several years,

as I ve followed his career.

I feel he really advances fashion in a way

that other people like, follow.

And to me he pushes

fashion forward very much in whatever he does.

Well, I think it s the incredible workmanship overall,

you know, that is always so beautiful to see

and happens so rarely in these days.

He was working with us at Vogue to create these looks,

but it was entirely from his head, him and a dream, really.

For me, couture represents something more like

a longer vision.

It represent the exception.

It represent the dream, it representative, so a very French

and Parisian way of doing things

that involve incredible talents

and incredible aptitude that are only here.

It s important for me as a French designer

to celebrate that.

[light music]

This whole story is that he wanted

to do six different looks, six different characters

that Emma could get into and portray for us.

Who will this be?

Well, this one is based on ballet.

The idea was to imagine that she was a charismatic leader

of a ballet academy or something like that.

You know, she s a great dancer

and I wanted to express that in the movement overall.

So it is completely based on one

of the most iconic leather in the house,

the AP leather, extremely fluid,

extremely shiny, I would say, really specific

and very special.

This character for me is very powerful in my,

is breaking boundaries

and I think she does with the artistic choices she s making.

And so I always have this image of her, you know,

lady in the driving seat and a car racer

or a pilot was very inspiring to me.

I really wanted to express the side that

I think Emma has this extreme sensibility,

this extreme feminity.

There is a certain innocence somehow when she approached a

character and in, Poor Things, you saw that.

I think that s why she was

so extraordinary playing this character that was

so innocent at the beginning

and then transformed this innocence into a wonderful

strength and power.

This one is also interesting.

I imagine Emma being the host of an imaginary cabaret

that would be, you know, extraordinary.

It s attached to the story of my friendship with Emma.

She performed on Broadway, it was in 2014 in, Cabaret.

[light music]

It s a cape and a dress.

It is a very different silhouette than the rest

of the small collection.

The idea of taking a blanket

and folding it in many different ways

to create clothes has been a great inspiration.

[light music]

This look is the story of the importance of nature.

I love the idea of nature overtaking the city.

If you travel and you see a city like Rio for example,

or Los Angeles that I love so much,

there s a duality in that look.

And I ask to use a beautiful triple organza that is usually

for dresses, but by contradiction,

I ask them to do something that is more built

and architectural

[light music]

and I was absolutely impressed

by the beautiful way they achieve it.

[light music]

[Speaker] One second, one more.

Beautiful, very nice.

It s been such an incredibly fun day.

Obviously the clothes are so beautiful

and every piece is so unique

and not comparable to the next one,

so it feels completely different in each look.

And then we have an amazing photographer and he s so free

and it s been a dream.

[Speaker] Beautiful, very nice.

Seen like the way Jimmy shot her

and the way she moves.

It s beautiful to watch that happening.

I guess we really get into character, it s very fun.

The wonderful thing about working with Emma is

that she s an actress, she s not a model

and she s not afraid to really laugh

or put a lot of expression.

The things that he s designed took me

through my wedding day, took me

through big moments in my life.

It kind of feels like I always get to have a piece

of him with me as well.

I think that s like, the gift of great clothing

and a person who has real empathy behind it

cause it s with you for the most important

moments and he has been.

[light music]

I think it s important to say

that there s a discipline in what we do.

There s an artistic side that is very, of course, important,

but there is a lot of discipline too.

You have to be very serious about what you do,

but very light about how you think about it.

It s kind of also helping me sometimes when you have doubt

and it s normal to have doubt, we all do.

But when you do a creative work,

you have to doubt all the time.

[Speaker] What do you hope people will think

or feel when they see this September cover?

Joy.

[light music]

Thank you.

Another hug, oh no, we said no more hug.

We said no more hugs for years.

[light music]