Guess How Much Riccardo Tisci’s Issue Of Visionaire Will Cost You

by Julia Rubin | 9:30 am, May 2nd, 2011

Did you know Riccardo Tisci guest-edited the upcoming issue of Visionaire? It sounds pretty amazing — he got a little help from his fashionable friends, naturally — and will set you back a whopping $425.

[For the uninitiated, Visionaire is the fancy big sister of the spunkier seasonal V Magazine. Or, as they explain: "If Visionaire is a couture book, V is ready-to-wear." It is published three times a year, and the cost of each issue varies, from a couple hundred to several thousand dollars. So really, $425 is a comparative steal!]

The theme of Tisci’s issue — Visionaire 60 — is religion. Fashion as religion, perhaps? Yeah, we’re familiar with the concept. Here’s what you can expect from the tome:

The Madonna and Child are revisited by Mario Sorrenti, and while she’s not exactly Rubenesque, there’s a certain minimalist serenity about her that beguiles. Paolo Canevari and Francesco Carrozzini canonize Franca Sozzani, complete with a Giotto-like halo, while Tisci’s house model, Lea T, is reimagined by Giovanna Battaglia and Pierpaolo Ferrari as a beautiful veiled martyr in Renaissance-style couture. The Son then comes into his own as Danko and Ana Steiner and Jared Buckheister rework the crucifixion, mounting Jesus on — or is it at — a lectern. Some of the pictures are slightly less tranquil. The shoot by Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott of Lara Stone bound in ropes beside a burning cross conjures both Saint Joan and Mississippi Burning. But perhaps the most indelible image is that of Tisci suckling at the breast of Marina Abramovic, a woman who knows a thing or two about suffering for belief.

How awesome?! SO AWESOME. Oh, there’s also a series of portraits of Carine Roitfeld shot by Karl Lagerfeld…! The teaser image is below, and we sure hope we get to see a few more before the issue drops next month.