Astrology Inspires Fashion, Gorgeousness Ensues

British Vogue has just published one of the most beautiful — and original — fashion editorials in ages. It’s all about the signs of the zodiac, and it is downright dreamy.

Siri Tollerød models in the 14-page spread, which was shot by Tim Gutt. But it’s set designer Shona Heath who really deserves credit here. Her past work includes more work in Vogue, and the Lanvin for H&M collection campaign.

It’s like “Las Meninas” with knitting needles.

Even though Cristóbal Balenciaga hated bullfighting, he consistently referenced toreador style in his collections (his little cropped evening jackets, stiff with embellishments, owe a debt to the blood sport, as do his dresses printed with red carnations like those thrown into the ring in tribute). Evidently, fashion’s still gnawing that bone.

Gemini! Because two Siris is twice as nice. Also, how badly do you want that mossy green nail polish?

What I like about this editorial — in addition to the fact that, to borrow a phrase from Grace Coddington in The September Issue, the photos are not pin-sharp in focus — is the allegorical kind of way it approaches the pictures approach their subject. It would be so easy for Kate Phelan to style Tollerod in a big cat print here, or something else that would scream “Lion!” — but in context, this suggestion of a mane is enough for the viewer to make the connection.

This reminds me ever so slightly of a William Morris print. Gorgeous.

Libra. Balance. Too often fashion doesn’t trust its consumers to get the joke.

Did you know that certain female scorpions are capable of reproducing without sperm, via parthenogenesis?

The level of forward planning and thought that must have gone into this story is pretty mind-boggling. And yet the results aren’t over-produced or cheesy, like an Annie Leibovitz fashion spread in Vogue. It retains a kind of lightness. (Or maybe I just say that because I’m a Sagittarius.)

Okay, maybe parts verge on overly sweet. And the aesthetic of this spread definitely owes a debt to Tim Walker. But still.

If British Vogue were smart, it would print this as a calendar. Even competing against Vogue Paris’s and Pirelli’s nekkid-lady-riddled calendars, I bet it’d still sell.

This is the best editorial use of shoes that look like fish, ever! And the tuna cans. Someone painted the tuna cans. I’m in love.