Elle Canada December 2020 - January 2021

she’s all that

HERE IS AN UNWAVERING gravitas to the way Viola Davis speaks that commands your attention right out of the gate. Her eye contact, tone and delivery are convincingly forceful even when she’s reciting the words of an ad for L’Oréal Paris, for which she has been a spokesperson since 2019. When she says “You’re worth it,” it feels like the actress is looking right into your soul, striking down all your self-doubts and affirming your value. It’s disarming how easily she’s able to infuse this decades-old slogan with such weight. Sure, she’s an Oscar winner, but it’s not just her acting skills that make it so resonant; she has spent most of her life working on believing she’s worth it herself. Though she grew up in poverty and often went hungry,…

spirited away

Do you prefer to sip a negroni or spritz one on? “Why not both?” was the emphatic answer at Éditions de Parfums Frédéric Malle’s perfume summit in Paris this past September, when the brand’s dream team of master perfumers assembled for a fireside chat. Jean-Claude Ellena explained that his Bigarade Concentrée is based on a bitter and the smell of “Schweppes when you open it.” This prompted Pierre Bourdon to amiably suggest that Ellena would probably enjoy a garibaldi, the classic Italian aperitivo that combines orange juice and Campari. During the loose conversation, Malle chimed in to point out that Sophia Grojsman’s original reference for the Outrageous fragrance was also a cocktail: the Brazilian caipirinha. It may simply have been that the cinq-à-sept was approaching, but the way the conversation of these powerhouse…

eye candy

For details, see Shopping Guide. Models, Lula (Want Management) and Jordan (Next Models); editorial producer, Estelle Gervais; photographer’s assistant, Joe Bulawan…