Rap and fashion mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs heats up the pages of American Vogue's February issue in a 14-page spread with Russian model Natalia Vodnianova. Shot by acclaimed photographer Annie Liebovitz in several locations in New Jersey, including the New Jersey Transit Hoboken Station, the editorial titled "Brief Encounter," centers around two strangers falling in love after a brief meeting on a speeding train.
Coincidentally, Diddy's upcoming studion album, Last Train to Paris, which is scheduled to release in April, shares the same classic Hollywood love story theme as the Vogue editorial. The editorial combines elements of men's and women's fashion, romantic setting and a well illustrated story board that shows Grace Coddington at her finest. She uses spring collections from Christian Dio, Nina Ricci, Tom Ford, Ermenegildo Zegna, Giambatista Valli, Louis Vuitton and others for a well executed shoot perfect for Valentine's Day.
Diddy equates the rhythmic and constant thrumming sound of a moving train to love. In the interview for Vogue, he remenisces about chasing after his college girlfriend, whose parents did not want her involved with him, during his Howard University years by catching the Amtrak at Penn Station to Washington to be with her.
"They didn't want her to be with the bad boy," Diddy says. "That train ride, the anxiety—I was sick," he remembers. "But it was a good ending when I knocked on the door." Ooh la la! A love affair to remember. This experience and others throughout his adult life are the inspiration for Last Train to Paris.
"Trains are very intense, very sensual," he was saying recently while taking a car to a plane after a long day on tour. "Trains are related to the rhythm of your heart. It's the intensity—trains keep you in thought, you know?"[Vogue.com]
Page after page of the Sean Combs editorial oozes longing, romanticism, passion and steadfast hope as the two strangers transform from strangers to a steamy love affair and through a heartbreaking and bittersweet separation. Kudos to the style team ofCurtis Smith (Xotics Grooming), AJ Crimson and Windman (make-up), and Sean Spellman (hair) and Julian D.(hair) for a brilliant spread.
Read the full article and see all the pictures in the February issue with Jessica Biel on the cover, on newstands now.
