Vogue: September Issue

Vogue is the most powerful and best-respected fashion magazine in the world, and each year the journal devotes a fall issue to the designs and designers that the editors feel will be influential in the coming year.

Anna Wintour as she visits the annual Fashion Week shows, accepts or dismisses the latest creations of the biggest names in fashion, works with the models, photographers, and writers who help bring her vision to the page, and labors with her staff to determine what the world's fashionistas will be wearing for the next 12 months. Creative Director Grace Coddington is also a revelation and her ability to tell stories through still images is inspiring.

The September Issue documentary reflects the process how one of the most anticipated issues of the year reveals in details.

Vogue Italia: Photography by Orhan Gonen

Vogue is an iconic publication known as the trendsetter in fashion and lifestyle. My first encounter with this legendary magazine dates back to my college years. I remember how excited I was every time going to the magazine store to get the latest issue. I've been finding some kind of salvation and inspiration through the pages, dreaming about a future career certainly in graphic design and trend-watching.

I've never thought of having one of my pieces to be published on Vogue one day. And that dream came true. I am working on various photography projects since 2009, starting with the Casa de la passe exhibition in London. I never call myself a photographer, but rather position myself as a visual artist. Photography is certainly an integral part of graphic design, and my perception of various things lead me to concentrate more on reflecting how I see the world around me. I first started by photographing close-up objects, then found more interest in portraits. Then came the concepting of lifestyle perspective. I used some of my pieces in various advertising campaigns I generated for my clients. Branding is principally related to visual aspects in design phase, so actually what I do has always attendantly involved photography.

Istanbul Series reflect my view of Istanbul. From Beyoglu to the Historical Peninsula, this authentic city must have been photographed by many artists from different perspectives. In this collection, I mainly focused on the illusion related to one's own perception, and used my lens in order to reflect manipulation of how I perceive Istanbul. The whole journey was like Alice in Wonderland, playing around to catch each monument, place or symbolic figure related with this city. One of the pieces from the series, "Harem" is published on Vogue Italia.

The Last Sitting

In 1962, photographer Bert Stern shot a series of photos of Marilyn Monroe for Vogue magazine that have collectively come to be known as The Last Sitting. Taken during several boozy sessions in Suite 261 at the Hotel Bel-Air in June, photographs are arguably the most famous images ever captured of Monroe, sleepy-eyed and naked, sips from a Champagne glass, enacts a fan dance of sorts with various diaphanous scarves, romps with erotic playfulness on a bed of white linens.

The three-day session yielded nearly 2,600 pictures - fashion, portrait, and nude studies - of indescribable sensual and human vibrancy, of which no more than 20 were published. And yet these few photographs ineradicably shaped our image of Marilyn Monroe. The complete collection of photographs is displayed within the book Marilyn Monroe: The Complete Last Sitting. Showing many of the photographs that were never released and an insight of Bert Stern’s memories of the sitting where he saw a vulnerable, confused woman who although at the apex of her career, had relinquished control of her life.

Six weeks after she had posed for Stern, Monroe was found dead of an apparent barbiturate overdose. The Last Sitting produced extraordinarily beautiful and unique images of Marilyn.