Description
Collector's Note – Why This Issue Matters
The December 2006 issue of American Vogue featuring Nicole Kidman on the cover is a document of one of Hollywood's most significant actresses at a genuinely interesting moment of personal and professional transition — and the cover story framing, which according to the listing explores her life as "both Hollywood royalty and a grounded wife in Nashville," reflects a specific and historically situated narrative about Kidman in late 2006. She had married Keith Urban in June of that year, and the transition from her high-profile marriage to Tom Cruise and its equally high-profile dissolution to a more private life in Nashville with Urban was one of the more discussed celebrity personal narratives of the mid-2000s. A Vogue December cover and interior feature engaging with that narrative — examining the coexistence of Hollywood stardom and domestic groundedness — documents how the mainstream fashion press was processing that transition at a specific moment before it had become settled biography. December issues of Vogue are among the most elaborately produced of the year, and a Kidman December cover represented the magazine's judgment that she was the most appropriate subject for its most celebratory annual statement. For collectors tracking her media presence across her career, the Nicole Kidman magazine archive provides the most comprehensive resource for situating this December 2006 appearance within the full arc of her publishing history.
The broader editorial content of this issue is unusually rich and warrants specific attention. William Norwich's coverage of the "AngloMania" gala at the Met Costume Institute documents one of the decade's most discussed fashion events — the Metropolitan Museum's Costume Institute galas had by 2006 become among the most important nights in the American fashion calendar, and the "AngloMania" theme, which celebrated British fashion's influence on American style, produced one of the most visually remarkable events of the mid-2000s fashion world. Diane von Furstenberg's Connecticut barn home feature provides access to a major designer's private domestic environment, while Stella Tennant modeling skinny leggings captures a specific and historically documentable fashion trend at its moment of maximum editorial endorsement. The listing also notes reprinted content from the February 2006 issue — including an Ayaan Hirsi Ali profile and a Hugh Grant feature — and from the May 2004 issue, including a Stephen Sprouse tribute. This combination of current editorial with curated archive content makes this a more layered publication than a standard monthly issue, functioning simultaneously as a current fashion statement and a partial retrospective. The broader publishing context is documented across the 2006 magazine collection, and the full arc of Vogue's editorial evolution under Wintour is traceable through the Vogue magazine collection.
The Kennedy Fraser and Eve MacSweeney contributions noted in the listing's writer credits add further depth to the editorial package. Fraser was one of the most respected fashion critics of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, whose writing for The New Yorker and Vogue consistently treated fashion as a subject worthy of serious literary and cultural analysis. MacSweeney was a long-standing Vogue contributor whose work combined fashion authority with genuine cultural engagement. Their presence in this issue's contributing roster is a marker of the editorial seriousness that the December 2006 Vogue brought to its subject matter alongside the holiday fashion spectacle.
About the Publication
American Vogue, founded in 1892 and acquired by Condé Nast in 1909, is the flagship publication of the global fashion media industry and the standard against which all other fashion magazines have historically measured themselves. Under the editorship of Anna Wintour, who took the helm in 1988, the magazine developed an editorial identity that combined fashion authority with genuine cultural and celebrity engagement — its covers became carefully negotiated statements of cultural currency, its fashion coverage engaged seriously with the economics and sociology of luxury consumption alongside the aesthetics of dress, and its December issues in particular carried the full weight of its annual editorial ambition as the holiday issue, the most elaborately produced and thematically rich entry in the year's publishing calendar. By December 2006, Wintour's tenure was in its eighteenth year and the magazine's authority within both the fashion industry and broader cultural conversation was at a sustained and well-documented peak.
Key Highlights Inside
- "One Fine Day" (Nicole Kidman cover story, p.354) — a feature exploring Kidman's personal and professional life at the specific moment of her transition from high-profile Hollywood marriage to a more grounded domestic life in Nashville with Keith Urban, published months after their June 2006 wedding.
- "An Affair to Remember" (William Norwich on the "AngloMania" Met Costume Institute gala, p.128) — documentation of one of the most visually significant fashion events of the mid-2000s, capturing the Metropolitan Museum's celebration of British fashion's influence on American style at its moment of maximum celebrity and industry attendance.
- "Bohemian Luxe" (Diane von Furstenberg's Connecticut barn home, p.148) — a designer home feature that provides intimate access to one of American fashion's most significant figures in her private domestic environment, combining fashion authority with lifestyle documentation.
- Stella Tennant in "Lean Machine" (p.166) — a supermodel-era icon modeling the season's skinny legging trend, documenting a specific and historically notable fashion direction at the moment of its peak editorial endorsement in late 2006.
- Reprinted content from the February 2006 issue including Ayaan Hirsi Ali profile and Hugh Grant feature, alongside May 2004 reprints including the Stephen Sprouse tribute — making this a layered publication that functions simultaneously as a current holiday fashion statement and a partial archive of the magazine's recent cultural journalism.
Condition & Rarity
Surviving copies of the December 2006 Vogue in good condition with well-maintained interior pages represent a collectible example of one of the more editorially distinctive issues in the magazine's mid-2000s run. The absence of a subscriber address label is a meaningful positive in collector evaluation: the Nicole Kidman December cover image survives fully intact as designed and printed, without the adhesive marks or obscured photography that subscription labels permanently leave behind — a distinction that matters for a holiday cover where the visual presentation is a primary reason for collecting. Good condition with minor age-related wear is the honest and expected condition profile of an original, unrestored periodical from nearly two decades ago. The protective plastic sleeve is the standard archival measure for a magazine of this paper stock and production quality. December issues of Vogue typically ran larger page counts and heavier production than standard monthly editions, which can increase binding stress over time — intact binding alongside well-maintained interior pages is therefore a meaningful positive attribute in evaluating any surviving December issue from this period.
Looking for More Issues Like This?
A no-label copy of the December 2006 Vogue with Nicole Kidman on the cover — and the Met Costume Institute, Diane von Furstenberg, and curated archive content documented here — is one of the more editorially layered entries in the magazine's mid-2000s run, rewarding serious attention from collectors across fashion history, celebrity media, and cultural journalism interests. If this particular issue is no longer available, the Nicole Kidman magazine collection is the best starting point for finding other issues that document her media presence across major publications throughout her career. The full Vogue magazine archive covers the complete run of the title, and the 2006 magazine collection provides broader context for the cultural and fashion conversations of a rich mid-2000s year.