B-boys Jay and Perry Howell are suspended in motion in Linda Brownlee’s surreal series, Headstands, No Hands, in which the 18-year-old twin performers skillfully turn the cityscape upside-down. Ireland-born and London-based Brownlee has long been fascinated by the physical brilliance of breakdancing and the hip-hop culture that feeds it. “I spent a summer in NYC in 2001, and I remember taking long slow commutes from my job to watch the dancers in the subways,” she says. “I was completely mesmerized.” The versatile photographer, whose fashion credits include shoots for GQ, Dazed & Confused and Vogue Russia, first came across the Howell brothers performing with their dance crew, Rain. Teaming up with stylist Ruth Higginbotham and using east London's concrete lots as her backdrop, Brownlee casts new light on how our bodies relate to the city environment. “I wanted to remove Jay and Perry from their natural dancing locations,” she says. “The quiet lines of this unfamiliar architecture seemed to support rather than distract from the twins' unassuming but powerful moves.”

The demanding rehearsals of dancers at famed Paris nightclub Crazy Horse are glimpsed in this impressionistic short by Mary McCartney. Taken from her new series, Devoted, the film is part of an ongoing exploration of the inner worlds of people who dedicate their bodies to their vocations. London-born McCartney, the sister of fashion designer Stella and daughter of musician Paul, has shot for titles including Harper’s Bazaar and Interview and has had solo exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery and the Natural History Museum in London. For this personal project she has so far looked at the transformation of a Japanese geisha and The Royal Ballet corps, and plans to continue the investigation with athletes such as boxers and jockeys. Of her Parisian dancer subjects, McCartney says: “It’s that dedication and the intensity of their schedule. They are the crème de la crème—the Crazy Horse dancer is the pinnacle.” 

A cast of industry notables including Stella McCartney, Isabel Marant and Rodarte’s Kate and Laura Mulleavy are captured by photographers Paola Kudacki and Mary McCartney in this excerpt from 25 magazine, a new biannual from supermodel Anja Rubik. Known for gracing the pages of Vogue Paris, Self Service and Numéro as well as fronting campaigns for the likes of Gucci and Balmain, Rubik cast her eye towards the publishing world after coming across vintage issues of erotic 70s titleViva. “I wanted to create something feminine but strong-minded,” explains the Polish beauty, who has devoted the latest issue to inimitable women in fashion, art and design. “These women are not only incredibly strong and creative but they really stand behind their goals and dreams.” Also enlisting the likes of Marina Abramoviand Theophilus London, Rubik’s second issue will debut during the upcoming New York Fashion Week. “It’s a project that’s growing very organically. And I hope people respond to it.” We sat down with the runway regular to talk sensuality and the mother of all editors.

What guides the magazine visually? 
Anja Rubik: I was going through all these old magazines and I realized that a sense of sensuality and erotica has completely disappeared. Right now most people’s approach is either prudish or harsh—vulgar, in a way. I created the logo with David Lipman—it’s very sensual and forms the shape of a body, the bottom and the breasts. The whole first issue was shot by female photographers, showing their approach to sensuality and erotica and what that means to them. 

What is it about these women that inspires you? 
AR: There aren’t that many female designers out there so I wanted to know more about them—how they approach fashion, how they approach life, how they feel about sex and how it important it is in their work. 

What’s it like to get behind the scenes after being in front of the camera for so long? 
AR: I feel very much at home actually. I realized how much I learned throughout the years by being on shoots, just observing and speaking to stylist and photographer friends of mine. 

Who are some of the editors that you look up to? 
AR: Carine Roitfeld was incredible. What she did with Vogue Paris was something amazing and very sexual. Of course there’s Anna Wintour. As much as we all fear her she’s incredible at what she does. She understands the business inside out. Then there’s also LOVE magazine’s Katie Grand. But my favorite is Diana Vreeland—there is no one like her. She created something really beautiful and inspiring while at the same time taking a lot of chances. She is the ultimate number one. 

What’s on your agenda for the upcoming fashion weeks?
AR: I’m going to start with New York, where we’re launching the issue on February 10th during New York Fashion Week. We’re going do a very intimate dinner and open the doors to a lot of cool performers. It’ll be really dark and intimate, in keeping with the vision of 25. Then I’ll be off to London to do Tom Ford and Gucci in Milan.

Leather- and latex-clad poodles, rabbits and snakes frolic in Ellen von Unwerth’s provocative fashion shoot for the subculture magazine Sang Bleu. The rainbow-hued story marks the latest in a series of collaborations between the model-turned-photographer and the industry-acclaimed, richly printed tattoo title. “Shooting for magazines like this, you get the chance to do something really creative,” says Von Unwerth, whose playful images are regulars in the pages of Vogue, Vanity Fair andInterview. This time she joined forces with London-based stylist Anna Trevelyan, a veteran of V Magazine and Dazed & Confused and a member of Lady Gaga’s fashion team, to create looks modeled after trends in the role-play underground. Makeup artist Ayami Nishimura was also on the scene with gradient hair and striking pink contact lenses; oversized birdcages, designer collars and bubblegum pink tulle complete the dress-up atmosphere. A collective labor of love led by Creative Director and active tattoo artist Maxime Büchi alongside choreographer-publisher Jeanne-Salomé Rochat, the issue was guest-edited by erotic jeweler Betony Vernon and tattoo historian Nick Schonberger, and showcases work from NOWNESS initiates Scott Campbell and Douglas Gordon. Sang Bleu fans have one more week to special-order its sixth, limited-run tome, a physical objet d’art at over 700 pages strong, before the title retires for good. To accompany our sneak preview, complete with outtakes from the shoot, Von Unwerth shares her alternative inspirations from body art to animal suits, just in time for Halloween.

Sang Bleu is rooted in tattoos—do you have any yourself?
I have a little one, which I got at a party. The next day I woke up with a lightning bolt on my finger! It was an interesting experience—it’s painful, but it’s an enjoyable pain. You feel like the devil is going into you a little bit. Now I know what people go through. 

How did the fetish concept for the shoot come about?
The fun of it is always in the collaboration. This time, we began thinking about different kinds of fetishes, and dressing up as an animal is actually quite fashionable in the moment—not just cute rabbits, either. So we came up with the rabbit and the poodle, and model Eloise was a snake, with a mouse in her mouth and beautiful fingernails by manicurist Mike Pocock.

Will you celebrate Halloween this year?
I love Halloween; it’s my favorite holiday. Maybe I’ll be a poodle!

Descending on a favored cocktail spot, The Fumoir bar in London's Claridges Hotel, L’Wren Scott looks suitably glam adorned in a richly colored mix of satin and brocade. “It’s such a cozy, intimate place,” the designer explains of the venue, where she was launching her new design collaboration with German eyewear brand Menrad. “Great for an after-party chat.” Standing six-foot-three in her bare feet, the raven-haired beauty stuck out in her home state of Utah­, but upon moving to Paris in 1985 she quickly captivated the fashion world with her 42-inch legs. A long-standing collaboration with fabled photographer Herb Ritts followed in the 1990s as she moved towards Hollywood, consulting on movies like Eyes Wide Shut and Diabolique as well as styling the Oscars. Scott met her current love Mick Jagger in 2001 and five years later launched her first collection, aimed at women looking for a classic womanly silhouette. Eyewear represents Scott's newest creative frontier. “Much like doing a dress when you have to think about body proportions,” she says, “with eyewear you have to think about everyone’s face shape.” A great lover of the British capital's sumptuous holiday destinations, Scott talked seasonal traditions as photographer Liz Collins snapped her portrait.

What’s your favorite place to spend the holidays?
At home on the island of Mustique.

Do you have any holiday rituals?
Yes! No cell phone on, read as many books as possible and fatten up.

What’s your favorite seasonal food indulgence?
The island doesn’t have a lot of options but I do love a bit of caviar.

Cook or cater?
Cook.

Candlelight or limelight?
Candles please.

What’s at the top of your wish list this year?
Just having a holiday! I have been so busy working and I’m so excited to have some time off.

Return or re-gift?
Keep.

What’s the best gift you’ve ever been given?
A song written for me and played on the beach.

Without the usual entourage of makeup artists and hair and clothes stylists, longtime friends Dree Hemingway and Jesse John Jenkins traveled from Beachwood Canyon in the Hollywood Hills to Death Valley, California, for this free-spirited portrait of the actress, model and fashion house muse. “I have always wanted to shoot her in an unconstrained environment,” says skateboarder turned photographer and director Jenkins. “No brief to follow—just Dree.” The two met as teenagers in their SoCal high school and have collaborated previously on a video for the acclaimed English indie outfit The Vaccines’ single, “I Always Knew”. The great-granddaughter of author Ernest Hemingway and the child of actress Mariel Hemingway and documentary maker Stephen Crisman, Dree made her debut on the runway in March 2009 and has since featured in campaigns for brands including Valentino, Chanel and Gucci. Having already appeared in a number of films, in 2012 the emerging talent took on the lead role in the critically acclaimed indie release, Starlet. Jenkins, whose next project is a music video for south London-based band Bastille, grew up visiting the desert every summer. “You can do what you want there,” he says. “It’s the ultimate freedom to have no one around for a hundred miles in any direction.”