Contents

The October Issue / No. 762

18 Editor's Letter

20 Contributors

110 Proust Questionnaire

Vanities

22

22 / Opening Act

Maisy Stella on the role 10,000 girls wanted.

26 / The Gallery

Prada's petite play on porcelain.

30 / Trending

Maincharacter energy a la Nora Ephron.

32 / Books

A photo chronicle of the jet set, plus the best new nonfiction.

34 / My Stuff

Gossip maven Lainey Lui's favorites, from Beyonce to matcha perfume.

36 / Books & Totes

Brilliant new reads paired with beautiful bags.

38 / Architecture

In a debut monograph, a design star and a fiction writer team up.

Columns

40 Boys and Their Toys

Meet the young, Godfearing, America-loving defense tech entrepreneurs ofEl Segundo.

By Zoe Bernard

44 Party Planning

Inside Vladimir Putin's fever dream of a second Trump presidency.

By Mikhail Zygar Illustration by Mark Harris

Contents

The October Issue / No. 762

Columns

46 Stranger Things

From brat memes to coconut TikToks, how Kamala Harris and Tim Walz learned to stop worrying and love the weird.

By Kase Wickman

Features

48 Both Sides Now

A storybook romance, an acclaimed film, and Only Murders back in the building—it's a sublime time to be Selena Gomez.

By YohanaDesta Photographs by Emma Summerton

62 Give and Let Give

Melinda French Gates opens up about politics, fighting for women's rights, and embracing her role as mentor to a new generation of philanthropists.

By Keziah Weir

74 The Billionaire's Secret

Klaus-Michael Kuehne's family business grew on profits from the Nazi regime —just don't ask him about it. By David de Jong Illustration by Mike McQuade

Features

80 The General

How Elizabeth Prelogar, one of the most powerful US solicitor generals in a generation, is taking the fight to the Supreme Court. By Cristian Farias Photographs by Andre D. Wagner

86 Bad Faith

JD Vance, Candace Owens, Shia LaBeouf, and more: The far right has developed a robust Catholic celebrity conversion operation.

By Kathryn Joyce Illustration by Marc Burckhardt

92 Funny Business

In Saturday Night, Jason Reitman re-creates the making of the hilarious first episode of SNL, complete with John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, and a fresh-faced Lorne Michaels.

By Anthony Breznican

98 A House Divided

The notoriously private Mellon family break their silence about Tim Mellon becoming a Donald Trump mega-donor.

By James Reginato

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