The Rake February 2022 - Issue 80

I am old. As our occasional contributor and rake about town Warren De Montague once declared, “But like the semi-desiccated grape Corvina, one of the multitude of varietals found in Amarone, I have only grown more intense”. One of the benefits to my many years is that I can recall when casual nudity was commonplace, accepted and even admired. Topless sunbathing, in particular, was the de rigueur methodology for enjoying oneself while ensconced besides any body of water, from local swimming pool to the Adriatic Sea. I recall with Proustian vividness being taken to a beach in France while a mere boy. There I came face to face with the mass of sun-browned corporeal flesh hewn by the only individual to surpass Bernini in his capacity to render beauty, the Great…

Welcome to the first issue of 2022 and our fourth annual women’s issue. This is the launch of a new and exciting pillar of The Rake’s output, Mrs. Rake, where we see men’s and women’s elegance as entirely harmonius and compatible, and it is about time a magazine represented them together. I want to remind you, dear reader, that this is an issue dedicated to and about women, though not exclusively for women. Should you find yourself unable to be inspired, uplifted and energised by the extraordinary people in these pages, it is safe to say that every other issue of The Rake will not be for you, either. What is enjoyable about compiling the stories for this particular book is discovering who broke the mould, set themselves apart, and…

RACHELL SMITH Rachell is an internationally renowned celebrity portrait and beauty photographer. She was born and raised in Wolverhampton, where her grandfather (who loved taking pictures of the family) introduced her to photography. After graduating from the London College of Communication, she went on to assist some of the world’s leading photographers before setting up her own studio in London. Her modern take on beauty and portraiture has been featured in a number of premier publications around the world, including Glamour, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Allure and Vogue. Rachell, who divides her time between London and New York, delivered this issue’s beautiful main fashion shoot, ‘If These Walls Could Talk’ (page 92). ERIC MICHAEL ROY Eric Michael Roy is known for his celebrity and fashion advertising photography. “I have an obsession with creating captivating…

On the evening of May 24, 1966, his 25th birthday, Bob Dylan was due to play his first concert in Paris. But there was a slight hitch: he was refusing to take to the stage of the Olympia theatre unless Françoise Hardy came to see him immediately. Though he’d never met her, he’d already penned a Beat poem tribute to her on the sleeve of his fourth album, Another Side of Bob Dylan (“for francoise hardy/at the seine’s edge/a giant shadow/of notre-dame/seeks t’ grab my foot/sorbonne students/whirl by on thin bicycles…”) Hardy obliged, and the gig went ahead. Later, she went with Johnny Hallyday to a gathering at Dylan’s suite at the Hotel Georges-Cinq, where Dylan beckoned her into his bedroom, placed an advance copy of Blonde on Blonde on…

Pippa Bennett-Warner has managed matters well. She has always been a stately figure, overflowing with talent, whose creative endeavours are garlanded with artistic merit. I used the word ‘always’ in the previous sentence because I know that, from as long ago as 2001, ’twas ever thus. Pippa and I were at school together (St. Edward’s in Oxford), and her attendance was anticipated before she’d arrived. We heard that there was someone who had already acted in the West End, as the young Nala in The Lion King. Enter Pippa, with acting chops, for sure, but also an extraordinary singer. It was a fait accompli that she was destined for a higher calling than the school stage, and it was not long after leaving drama school that she paired with Derek…

Kathryn Boyd Brolin has that free-spirited seventies vibe nailed down. It is unusual to not see her smiling or dancing to something with children at heel, gazing up in wonder at her uninhibited approach to life. The pea in her pod is her husband, Josh Brolin, who marshals along similar lines — carefree, kind, Californian insouciance deep in his bones. Together, well, you get the picture you see here, taken by the extraordinary Brian Bowen Smith for his book Drivebys. A portrait of abandon and love. Kathryn has twice worked with The Rake, and is the kind of photographer that editors would be wise to hold close and embark on endless adventures with. She finds solutions rather than problems, understands personality, works well within the limitations of budget and time restrictions,…