FASHION Magazine

We’re back into the thrills and bloodspills of True Blood, and last week we saw season four’s cliffhangers resolved with Tara becoming a vampire thanks to Sookie and Lafayette (and a begrudging Pam), Bill and Eric (and his sister Nora) getting captured by the Vampire Authority trying to escape punishment for their Nan Flanagan execution, Sam almost getting killed by Marcus’s pack until Alcide stepped in and confessed, and the return of a now-vamp Steve Newlin and Russell Edgington (we think). Let’s get our fangs on…

Tara Attack
– Vamp Tara is about to drain Sookie until a joyful Pam puts an end to it—she wants to redeem her future favour.
– Tara whirling dervishes around Sookie’s house, won’t drink any True Blood, until finally Lafayette and Sookie have to force her into the cubby using silver.
– At Stake House (we love stores with punny names), Sookie goes shopping for anti-vamp supplies as the clerk watches Steve Newlin come out on TV: no, he doesn’t announce he’s a gay vampire-American, just a vamp.
– Sookie stops Lafayette from staking a sleeping Tara, explaining to him that all baby vamps have growing pains. (Uh, Tara is seething, not teething, Sookie.)
– A pissed Tara wakes up, stares daggers at Lafayette (he has don’t-be-mad puppy eyes) and Sookie (I-love-my-best-friend eyes) and says she’ll never forgive them before shooting off into the night.

Read the rest of our recap »

Are you guys ready for a super summer of supes and Sookie? If you had a hard time following last night, you could read last season’s finale recap to clear up some of the “huh?” moments. Or, here’s a summation in one long-winded breath: Sookie came back from the fae world and fell for an amnesic Eric, but ultimately chose to be with neither him nor King Bill Compton after saving them both from being burned alive by the lonely witch Marnie who, after sharing her body with the ancient witch spirit Antonia, took over Lafayette’s body and stole the brujo powers of his boyfriend Jesus, leaving his dead body to be discovered by Tara who continued on her path of resident victim by getting shot in the head when she got in the way of the bullet Alcide Hervaux’s V-addicted were-ex Debbie Pelt meant for Sookie. And, breathe. There was also some stuff with Jason, Hoyt, Jessica, Sam, Sheriff Bellefleur, Arlene and Terry, but we’ll catch you up as we go.

Let’s turn! (get it?) »

By Elio Iannacci. Photographed by James White. Styled by Penny Lovell.

Read our interview with Anna Paquin »
See Anna Paquin’s shopping picks »

You can learn a lot about an actress by the way she steps on set for a photo shoot. Some stars require the armour of an entourage; others need a personality-devoid space and monastic silence. Anna Paquin is unquestionably neither of the above. Upon arriving at L.A.’s Smashbox Studios on a scalding Saturday afternoon, the Winnipeg-born, New Zealand-raised actress introduces herself to the FASHION crew without hesitation. Serving up a warm, Kiwi-accented “Nice to meet you” to photographer James White—and his troop of all-guy assistants crushing on her—the 29-year-old talent does the rounds as if she were hosting a cocktail party. Of course, there is a reason for Paquin’s accelerated social skills. Having won an Oscar at the age of 11 for her performance in Jane Campion’s The Piano, Paquin has grown up with cameras and handshakes at every corner, starring in a mix of family pictures (Fly Away Home), blockbusters (X-Men), indie flicks (The Squid and the Whale) and, most recently, a ratings monster of a TV series called True Blood.

After changing into her favoured cover look—a Jackie Onassis-like Marc Jacobs dress trimmed with silver studs—Paquin dashes in front of the lens, occasionally cracking jokes and posing without any forced fabulousness. Her good humour remains intact long after the array of designer heels and baubles are put away and we are left alone to talk.

ALWAYS IN FASHION
24 Fashionmagazine.com 
28 Letter from the editor
30 Contributors
32 Behind the scenes
34 Letters from our readers

FASHION FILE
40 NEWS Picnic-ready bags take the spotlight, Hermès dives (back) into swimwear, Tag Heuer’s new leading lady and Diesel shows off its new attitude.
42 FLASHPOINT Stylish women across Canada let the sun shine in with shades of yellow and flirty floral pants.
44 SWIM ESSAY Does shopping for a swimsuit trigger a tidal wave of self-doubt? Leah McLaren keeps your head above water with seven tried-and-true tips.
48 TREND From the runway to the red carpet, strategic cut-outs are exposing a whole new side of womenswear.

There’s only one thing that might be worse than swimsuit shopping: Swimsuit shopping while pregnant. It’s something we imagine Anna Paquin will be facing—she announced her first pregnancy with husband Stephen Moyer just days after our cover shoot. Meanwhile, Leah McLaren, who is due to become a mom this summer, braved the swimwear waters for “Hope Floats” on page 44. Her amusing tussle with triangle bikinis gives new meaning to the phrase “grin and bare it.”

I didn’t find much to smile about on my own recent hunt for the perfect maillot. I set aside a good chunk of a Saturday to spend at a swimwear boutique. Previous excursions have taught me that an experienced swim and lingerie specialist can eyeball a body and return with a handful of options that not only fit, but play up one’s best features and camouflage the rest. On this occasion, however, I wasn’t so lucky and after trying on 30 or so suits, I settled for something annoyingly less than ideal.

Great service, whether in a store or a salon, is a major factor in why some businesses thrive and others don’t, especially when it comes to stripping down for summer. Olivia Stren peels back the layers on her deep devotion to her waxer (“Bare it All,” page 98) and how it feels when the woman who knows parts of you better than your gynecologist moves out of town.

In the penultimate episode we saw the Fangtastic Four and part-fae Sookie kill Marnie, though they were as yet unawares she’s now inhabiting Lafayette. Marcus got his neck snapped by Alcide, who then abjured Debbie (a.k.a were-speak for “never going to see you again”), Andy had sex with a faery, and Jason seemed to make peace with wanting Jessica.

Breakfast With Old Friends
-Sookie is in her PJs pouring coffee for her and Tara and having a flashback to Gran’s dead body on the kitchen floor from season one (in the name of subtle foreshadowing).
-Sookie tells Tara about Marnie channelling Gran at the Moon Goddess Emporium and says that she feels like Gran’s spirit is here hanging around.
-They have an International Delights–worthy chat about growing old together as friends.
-Lafayette and Jesus are having breakfast, but that’s not Lafayette! It’s Marnie in there under those orange track pants and a white satin chinoiserie robe.
-When Jesus realizes it isn’t Lafayette he’s kissing, Marnie stabs him in the hand with a fork.
-Next thing she’s got Jesus taped to what looks to be the ugliest blue plastic chair; we have doubts Lafayette would ever own such a thing.
-Marnie is talking about sacrifice to Jesus and cuts Lafayette with a knife to show she’s serious. She wants Jesus’s magic for herself.
-To stop her from hurting Lafayette, Jesus turns into the brujo with the crazy face, and Marnie stabs him and licks the blood and turns into a brujo herself (but still in LaLa’s body).
-Tara shows up at Lafayette and Jesus’s. She’s wearing disturbingly light denim jeans, a chambray shirt, and a peach tank top. She looks like she should be hanging out in Santa Cruz in the early ’80s.
-Uh oh, the door is ajar. She sees a stabbed Jesus in the chair. Dead. Screams.

The final slow-motion shot last week showed Eric, Pam, Jessica, and King Bill unloading automatic weapons outside of Moon Goddess Emporium, but lots of regular-motion stuff happened too: Eric got his memory back, Sookie told restored Eric she was in love with him and Bill, Terry gave Andy an intervention, and Sam is bent on avenging Tommy’s death with Alcide in tow.

Witch Blade
-The Fangtastic Four show up for a blowup: Pam wants to get this blowing up Witch HQ over with; she’s got a mani-pedi at 4 (a.m. we’re guessing).
-Antonia taunts her prisoners, and stabs the one with the arm warmers—we’re not fans of that look either.
-Sookie gives Antonia a look of “you monster” (so judgey, Sookie), but it looks like Antonia has no remorse.
-But! Marnie pukes Antonia out, which Lafayette relays to Tara, Jesus, and Sookie; Antonia accuses Marnie of becoming evil; she wants to leave but Marnie bonds Antonia to her and swallows her up again. Sounds like Marnie’s in charge now.
-Jesus: We’re fucked.
-As the Fangtastic Four lift their grenade launchers outside, Jason intervenes: Stop! Sookie’s in there.
-The vamps curse Sookie for intervening, which gets Jason riled up. How could Bill and Eric act so ungrateful after all she’s done for them?
-Bill and Eric concede to abort, which pisses Pam off and she delivers a typical Pam analogy to Sookie that we’re too shy to repeat.
-Jason shows them the force field, and as they regroup Jessica and Jason have some back and forth about their one-night stand—he’s still feeling guilty.
-Antonia sends her vamp slaves out to sic the team.

Last week, Jessica and Hoyt called it quits and Jason and Jessica got it on, Tommy took a beating for Sam, and the Festival of Tolerance was being ruined by a royal assassination attempt by an Antonia-controlled Eric.

Where’s my giftbag?
-The festival fray is still in full havoc as Antonia orders her vamp slaves to kill the King and Sookie makes her way to the stage to prevent Eric from killing Bill.
-There’s some back and forth as both Bill and Eric trade off on who gets the upper hand, while Nan Flan does damage control/kills stray bewitched vamps.
-Before Eric can kill Bill, Sookie uses her fairy powers and zaps him, causing his memories to come flooding back: His living days as a Viking, his first time meeting Sookie, his beef with Russell, and his amnesia days with Sooks.
-Sookie and Eric stare at each other with a mix of uncertainty and emotion, soap opera–style.
-Antonia realizes her spell over Eric is broken and looks sadly at all the hurt festival-goers crying amongst the 1-800-Got-Dentist and Blackberry booths, then splits.
-Bill spares Eric when he realizes he’s his old self and goes to help Nan Flan with damage control.
-Eric and Sookie look meaningfully at each other, again, soap opera–style.

It’s the time of the season for fighting and all hell to break loose: the witches and vamps got into it in the cemetery, with Sookie getting shot and Eric getting captured by Antonia; Hoyt and Jessica broke up; and a Possessed Lafayette kidnapped Mikey.

Hostage Crisis
-Hoyt’s alarm is cock-a-doodling, and the house is a mess of empty Budweiser tall boys and half-empty whisky bottles.
-After discovering a Taylor Swift CD he packs up Jessica’s stuff (including a copy of Twilight, natch) and puts it in a box marked “For you, Monster.” We love that Hoyt calls names like a kindergartner.
-Possessed Lafayette enters with Mikey and forces Hoyt out at gunpoint, saying it’s his house.
-Arlene (whose camo track pants thankfully survived the fire) is crying to Officer Jason about Mikey’s abduction. Terry is going off the deep end and Andy needs him some V when Hoyt calls Jason with news.
-Andy and Jason show up at Hoyt’s, and when they confront Possessed Lafayette he shoots at Andy.
-Jesus arrives on the scene and explains to the spirit she’s dead and that’s not her baby; she doesn’t believe him until she discovers she has a penis. Awkward.
-They burn some sage (and Jesus drinks a shot of Hoyt’s leftover booze) and flashback to the spirit Mavis’s demise at the hands of her lover.
-Possessed Lafayette gives back the baby and asks for forgiveness; Terry says it’s no problem, and these crazy things happen. Terry might wear yellow aviators, but he’s still capable of seeing nut-job antics through rose-coloured glasses.
– Hoyt digs up the remains of Mavis and her baby in his backyard for Possessed Lafayette to cuddle.
-Jesus chants and Lafayette turns golden and light shoots from him like the video for The Jacksons‘ “Can You Feel It”—we can’t believe it doesn’t start playing as everyone watches agape as Mavis exits Lafayette’s body.
-She says goodbye and thanks, and Lala’s like, “You got it, bitch.” Oh, Lafayette.

Last week, the sight of Eric and Sookie christening every room of the house may have scarred our memory, but other stuff happened too: Lafayette is a medium, Tommy is a skin walker who can shift into people, and Bill and his vamps took a self-imposed silvering to try to beat Antonia at her game of unhide-and-go-seek-the-sun.

Stackhouse Tackle
– Jessica, under Antonia’s spell, opens the door to meet the sun only to get tackled by tight end (not sure if that was his football position; we’re mostly alluding to his butt) Jason who rushes in Superman-style, hair blowing in slow motion. He wraps her in a carpet and shuts the door faster than you can say “touchdown.”
-She’s no football, and so she’s quickly on top of him and about to bite when Antonia and her rag-tag witches stop chanting.
-Jess is slightly singed but grateful Jason saved her and a thank you make-out ensues as Bill shouts her name from below.
-Jason carries her to bed like a groom with a bride (we doubt she’s too weak to walk, but we wouldn’t turn that down either) and re-chains her—they don’t know when Antonia will start chanting again.
-Oh, and that gunshot from last week? That was Jason shooting a guard in the shoulder, but all is forgiven.

Well, last week the sexual tension finally got some relief with a spared-from-staking Eric reunited in a patch of moonlight to get it on with Sookie. That’s about the only good thing that happened, with Jesus almost dying from a Grandpa-inflicted snake bite, Tommy having sex with Sam’s girl Luna while shifted into a Sam clone, and Antonia getting full control of Marnie’s body. Looks like there’s trouble ahead, so let’s just hope they give us a bit more Sookie and Eric before the inevitable chaos.

Kill Bill
-Bill’s guard, sometime-lover, and witch-undercover Katerina gets killed by an under-Antonia’s-control Sheriff Luis.
-Marnie/Antonia (let’s just call her Antonia here on in; bad tabloid names like Martonia or Antarnienia, are so ’00s) escapes from King Bill’s while Luis goes and shoots him full of silver before self-staking.
-Not to worry, this isn’t a Who Shot J.R.? Situation. Bill fully survives, and now he knows what Antonia is up to.
-Bill has Jessica over to tell her about Antonia and her powers—do we really need Jessica asking dumb questions to explain to us what’s going on? Is this a mid-season catch-up for those who haven’t been watching? Boring.
-Bill instructs his remaining sheriffs to silver themselves and tell all others to flee the state. (Hmmm, why just this state? Does she only hate Louisiana vamps?) They question his orders. (Ugg, are they really that dumb?) Also, why isn’t he calling Nan Flanagan? Doesn’t he tell her like, everything? Maybe they speed-texted.

We’re at the halfway mark and the machinations of our friends in Bon Temps are coming to a head. Last week we got our first kiss between Eric and Sookie, we learned about the necromancer’s Spanish roots, and we saw Jesus and Lafayette check in at Creepy Grandpa’s B&B in Mexico.

Stopped at Second Base
-Sookie and Eric move things from the porch to the couch. She’s down to her skivvies; a little white cotton-and-lace thong and a matching bra (with a little padding, uh huh)—very virginal, and considering Eric’s amnesia it is kind of his first time at this.
-Bill barges in like a dad in a bad teen comedy, and Eric is about to stake him with the fire poker when Sookie tells him he’s his king.
-Bill locks up a now-subservient Eric, but there’s no way Sookie’s leaving without her new love interest. She and Bill fight—Sookie pokes holes in all of his excuses as to why he arrested Eric—until Bill has her escorted off the property while he makes a sad face.
-Down in the modern dungeon, Eric smells death—no, no, it’s just Pam hiding under a blanket, crying and rotting. She tries to get him to snap out of his passivity by explaining that Bill’s a dork and Eric is a Viking vampire god, but he’s done with being evil Eric, even if that means death.
-Bill Skypes with Nan—who looks very mother-of-the-bride in a silvery satin jacket and single-strand pearls. He informs her that he has the necromancer witch and Eric in his custody.
-Bill’s recommendation: The true death for an infected Eric.