Angelina Jolie, whom WWD scorned a few months ago for not being fashionable enough for her fame, is one of the most famous women in the world, so she has to be on Vogue. In turn, Vogue has to make her Vogue without stripping her of her style signatures. But how to do that with a woman with slightly edgy taste, who loves black — one of Anna Wintour's least favorite hues — leather, and plain sheetlike dresses? For the December issue's cover, this translated to a strikingly plain blue background (so often Vogue's cover girls are shot in a sunny area with blurry trees and flowers behind them), with Jolie turned around, revealing a hint of black corseting, and — even more shocking and less Vogue-like — her tattoos, though the ink on her left shoulder is neatly concealed behind the cover headlines.

Of course, Vogue made Jolie's portraits look effortless in the magazine, where she flaunts her enviable legs in tiny shorts and stilettos; wears her own custom Colleen Atwood corset with a Club Monaco sweater she doesn't own tied around her waist, like any busy super-hot mom would; and even prances around in a fuchsia Carolina Herrera dress with a bow. Jolie explains to Vogue that her style consists of black, black, and more black, and nightgowns that can go not just from day to night, but from bed to day to the boardroom to night.

She is wearing a little cropped jacket by Neil Barrett, who dresses haute Hollywood, classic pants by Helmut Lang, and Ferragamo flats. Black, black, and black. “As Brad’ll tell you — and my kids — apparently Mommy only wears black,” she says. Because she was a Goth, right? No, she says, it’s utilitarian, it’s practical: “I like to get up so every pair of pants goes with every top, every dress goes with every shoe. I’ve a very tiny closet. Brad’s always laughing at me. Some days, yes, I have the nightgown that looks like a dress that I can sleep in and pick the kids up at school. And maybe take a meeting if I switch into heels.”

So they don't flinch at the nightgown as daywear, perhaps because pajamas came into fashion a few seasons ago, but the all-black must be "because she was a Goth." For a New York–based publication that seems surprisingly narrow-minded.

The Other Angelina [Vogue]