HARRY BENSON
When photojournalist Harry Benson traveled to America with the Beatles in 1964, he knew he would stay. Since then he’s photographed everyone from JFK to Obama to Frank Sinatra to Brad Pitt. He was twice named “Photographer of the Year” by the National Press Photographers’ Association, and in 2009 Queen Elizabeth named Harry a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Harry’s had 14 books of his photography published and 40 one-man shows, including one at the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. He also has two new books scheduled for publication this year: Bobby Fischer by Harry Benson and New York, New York. This month Harry took pictures of a lovely redhead in a variety of bikinis in Palm Beach, Florida.
See SUNNIN’ OUT
MEGAN AMRAM
Megan Amram is 23 years old, which means she is definitely a “young woman.” No two ways about that. She grew up in Portland, Oregon, where she and her twin brother made up a secret twin language called “Spanish.” She attended Harvard, which she just finished a few months ago, because as I said, she’s 23. Megan promptly moved to Los Angeles, where she turned into a tiny baby beetle. She likes to write jokes on a website called www.twitter.com/meganamram, where she delivers gems such as “Some people like to think of the glass as half empty. I like to think of a bear punching a tiger.” If you don’t have a computer or “smart phone,” Megan also performs stand-up regularly around LA and sometimes on TV. Guest bio by Rob Delaney!
See STAINS!
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JON SAVAGE
Jon is some kind of punk-rock swami. The man has spent almost his entire existence knowing everything there is to know about it, immersing himself in its culture, and churning out batches of the best music writing we’ve ever read. A Cambridge-educated writer, Jon is best known for his award-winning book on the history of the Sex Pistols and punk music, England’s Dreaming. But he got his career started back in the mid-70s as the editor of the fanzine London’s Outrage, before writing for important music magazines like Sounds and The Face. In 2007, he released Teenage: The Creation of Youth, 1875–1945, a beautiful book that’s the definitive history of kid culture. For this issue, Jon wrote a historical piece about stylish street brats who terrorized the Nazis!
See REMEMBERING THE WANDERVOGEL
CONNIE WANG
Connie attended the University of California at Berkeley, where there exists a long-standing disregard for fashion and a correspondingly strict adherence to dressing all frumpily. How she came to be one of the most smartly dressed writers in New York City and also the global editor for the much-loved fashion site Refinery29.com under those circumstances is beyond us. Two years ago we had Connie interview Rick Owens, but for some reason we didn’t put her on this page. Seems like a pretty smart move right about now, since we get to use this dazzling photo of her to help fill up this area of biographical miscellany. This month Connie spoke to Hussein Chalayan, who is way more than your average upscale technologically inclined clothing mastermind.
See HUSSEIN CHALAYAN
FERNANDA NEGRINI
Before we shackled her to a desk and made her the editor of Vice Brazil, Fernanda was a photographer. Since then, she hasn’t had much time to take pictures or have any kind of personal life—and for that we apologize but are not sorry. Last month she did manage to sneak in time to shoot Brazil’s first supermodel, Vera Valdez, who spent alternating years as Coco Chanel’s most prized model, a political exile, and a tortured inmate in a Brazilian prison. We should also mention that Fernanda is married to Tony, the publisher of Vice Brazil. In yet another indignity aimed in Fernanda’s direction, Tony announced to everyone that 75-year-old Vera gave him a giant kiss when he dropped her off after her Vice shoot. We actually are sorry for that, Fernanda.
See VERA BARRETO LEITE VALDEZ
