Welcome to Vanity Fair’s 2026 Style Issue, featuring our unexpected, undeniable cover star: Marc Jacobs.
Marc reinvents himself more often than Madonna does (and sometimes to better effect). This summer he began a new professional chapter following the sale of his company after nearly three decades with LVMH. In his interview with VF style correspondent José Criales-Unzueta, his first since the estimated $850 million deal was announced, Marc answers all of our questions with the kind of candor, humor, and resilience that makes him a personal hero and, to my mind, our greatest American designer.
Fashion designers have appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair before—Ralph Lauren in February 1988 and Tom Ford for the 2006 Hollywood Issue, which he guest-edited—but we hope the cover of Marc (wearing Chanel) nonetheless feels like a surprise. A special thank-you to artist Anna Weyant, who, when asked to paint Marc’s portrait, immediately and enthusiastically said yes. It was a stretch, as Anna exclusively paints women, and had been preparing for a prestigious solo show at the Casa Malaparte; I’m so grateful to her.
Vanity Fair took on the Style Issue much the same way we did our Hollywood Issue and our recent Sports Issue, asking ourselves: How does fashion intersect with all the other worlds that *Vanity Fair* inhabits? The arts and pop culture, business, technology, and, not to be overlooked here, politics.
Three stories we published this week come to mind: Robin Givhan’s examination of how MAGA has hijacked American fashion; a media profile of Puck correspondent and fashion world bête noire Lauren Sherman by Washington correspondent Aidan McLaughlin; and Marisa Meltzer’s survey of Les Lalanne, tracing how work by the great artist couple has evolved from being an IYKYK status symbol to finding mainstream fame.
Perhaps the Style Issue story that best exemplifies *Vanity Fair*’s approach to fashion is “The United States of Style,” a portfolio by photographer Luis Alberto Rodriguez and fashion editor Tonne Goodman, masterminded by José. These pictures examine classic American style archetypes (hippies, suits, a society swan, and a cowboy) alongside contemporary ones (clean girls, baddies, and a looksmaxxer). My favorite group is the Preppies, for which we cast nearly a dozen *Vanity Fair* writers and editors.
And because this issue would feel incomplete without it, next week means the return of the Vanity Fair Best Dressed List. (Marc and his Chanel jackets made the cut.)
