Joan Juliet Buck

My Articles

My Bio

Joan Juliet Buck has been writing for Vogue since the cradle. Born in the U.S. but raised in Paris and London, she was features editor of British Vogue at 23, and has been a contributing editor to American Vogue since 1980. Her profiles, essays, and criticism have also appeared in Vanity Fair, the New Yorker, the Los Angeles Times Book Review, and her travel stories in Conde Nast Traveler and Travel and Leisure. Currently the TV Critic for Vogue, she has published two novels. After taking seven years off from writing to be the editor in chief of French Vogue, she moved to New Mexico (which led to a column in House and Garden) and has just returned to New York City. As a cultural commentator she has been seen in many documentaries, explaining one thing or another (the symbolic meaning of towers, the dance of Karole Armitage, French whorehouses, the death of Gianni Versace). Her voice was heard in James Crump’s film “Black White and Grey,” about Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe.

My Favorites

What Never Fails to Get My Attention:

Louis Armstrong singing “What a wonderful world”
Cat Stevens singing “Wild World”
BBC World News, on the net.

Things I Can Do Without:

New clothes—I know. I know. But one can!

Most Important to Me:

Focus

My Favorite Health Tip:

Hot water applied internally, externally, and metaphorically.

Why I Hate My Computer:

There are too many worlds in there

Why I Love My Computer:

There are so many worlds in there

I Miss:

• My parents
• London

I Like the Feeling Of:

•    Something soft on the back of my hand
•    Something soft along the top of my foot
•    A man
•    Too much swimming in the sea

What Makes Me Sweat:

•    The gym
•    Epsom salts in the bath
•    Full elevators
•    Stuck elevators

Hate to Eat:

Did I mention Goat cheese?

I am Happiest:

•    upon waking
•    dancing
•    in the country
•    and…

Tacky Things I Can’t Do Without:

• Chewing gum
• Toothpicks

Things I Hate the Most:

•    Lies
•    Injustice
•    $100 million bonuses for anyone, ever.
•    Incompetence
•    Coach class
•    Goat cheese

Things I Am Miserly About:

•    Paper
•    Printer toner
•    Toleriane eye makeup remover from France
•    My last jar of La Prairie eye cream

My Website(s):

Vogue.com : Barbara Walters, Mia Farrow, Christy Turlington, Aman-Giri.

Dead to Me:

Not a concept I adhere to.

I Don’t Care What They Say:

•    Thermasilk underwear works
•    New York Magazine is fun
•    Instant Coffee is just as good
•    Fur keeps you warm
•    Cabs are faster
•    A Sectional is friendly
•    You do need a humidifier
•    You don’t need a moisturizer

My Shoes:

La Duca
Manolo Blahnik evening sandals
Prada when it doesn’t hurt
Louboutin when it’s not too high

My Foods:

•    A really, really good Bordeaux
•    Ayala’s water
•    Pomegranates
•    Endive
•    Fennel
•    Green and Black’s chocolate

My Remedies:

•    For headache: Disprin
•    For aches: Emergen-C with MSM
•    For fear of flying: stay home
•    For anything else: Tiger Balm
•    And the rest: acupuncture

I Love(d) Reading:

•    A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick
•    Ravens by George Dawes Green
•    Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler
•    Love Child by Allegra Huston
•    Apples and Oranges by Marie Brenner
•    James Merrill, The Changing Light at Sandover
•    CG Jung, The Red Book (also, the show at the Rubin Museum)

I Love(d) Listening To:

Turkish Pop
Carla Bruni—“Salut Marin”, “La Noyee”, and “Je suis une Enfant”
Charlie Haden- the new “Rambling Boy” CD
Leonard Cohen -“Dance me to the end of love”
“The Dream Before“, Laurie Anderson (“Hansel and Gretel and alive and well and they’re living in Berlin…”)
“Melody” by Kate Earl
Lady Gaga “Just Dance”

I Love(d) Watching:

“The House of the Dead” at the Metropolitan Opera directed by Patrice Chereau
Avatar
Up in the Air
Mad Men, last episode last season
Lola Montes
Crooner

I Wish I Lived In:

•    Prettier street
•    Prettier town
•    Better World

I Hoard:

•    Glass containers for leftovers
•    Printer paper
•    Hanro underwear
•    French Playtex bras with satin straps
•    Incandescent light bulbs

I Want to Own:

•    A garden
•    A Terrace
•    A View
•    A car
•    Another room
•    And then another room
•    A library
•    A beach

I Use:

•    MTA buses. When they come
•    My feet
•    Pentel “Sign” Pen, black
•    Kneipp bath oil
•    Taster’s Choice instant coffee. Weird, right?

My Dream Experience Would Be:

A random moment of spontaneous improvisation

I’m Addicted To:

• My computer
• The iPhone

The First Thing I Do in the Morning Is:

Bathe
Mat Pilates on the floor on a good foam mat
A mug of unsweetened black coffee
Pomegranate seeds with grilled Haloumi
The ten months when pomegranate seeds are out of season, just oatmeal

I Admire:

•    Marguerite Duras
•    Virginia Woolf
•    Marie Louise Von Franz
•    Kathryn Bigelow ( The Hurt Locker)
•    Jason Reitman( Up In The Air)
•    Nora Ephron, who writes and directs and never stops
•    Meryl Streep

I Respect:

•    Countries with health insurance for all
•    Skill
•    Generosity
•    Doctors Without Borders

What Wows Me:

•    Grace, energy, and humor
•    Intelligence
•    People with good memories

My Professional Links:

Julie & Julia
The Moth podcasts: the Ghost Of The Rue Jacob
Conde Nast Traveler: Rome, Istanbul
Travel and Leisure: Tucson, Santa Fe
The Only Place to Be
Daughter of the Swan
IMDB

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