When American Vogue Came to Kenmare: Annie Leibovitz, Adam Driver and a corner of Kerry that captivated the world’s most famous fashion magazine

September is a rather important month in the world of fashion.

For decades, the September issue of American Vogue has been the magazine’s landmark edition, traditionally unveiling the new autumn collections and setting the tone for the season ahead.

And in September 2013, a little corner of Kerry found itself within its pages.

American Vogue came to Ireland for an extraordinary fashion editorial entitled Wild Irish Rose, photographed by one of the most celebrated photographers in the world, Annie Leibovitz.

Her subjects were supermodel Daria Werbowy and a young actor named Adam Driver. Yes, that Adam Driver, years before his appearances as Kylo Ren in Star Wars would make him one of Hollywood’s most recognisable actors.

The concept was wonderfully romantic. Inspired by the story of Irish poet W.B. Yeats and Maud Gonne, Driver and Werbowy were photographed travelling through a wild and timeless Irish landscape, dressed in the great fashion houses of the season. Vogue described the story as following “in the footsteps of Yeats and Maud Gonne.”

And some of that landscape was right here on our doorstep.

Vogue discovers Gleninchaquin

Among the locations selected for the shoot was Gleninchaquin, in Tuosist near Kenmare, along with other Kerry locations including Ladies View and the Lakes of Killarney.

The images are unmistakably Annie Leibovitz. Moody skies, mountains, waterfalls, stone, cottages and great sweeps of Kerry landscape become almost characters in the story themselves.

At the time, Tourism Ireland described American Vogue's decision to photograph the September issue in Kerry as “invaluable publicity” for the region. The Irish Examiner reported that fashion editor Grace Coddington had chosen locations including Gleninchaquin Falls after falling in love with Ireland.

The scale of that exposure was extraordinary. Contemporary reports estimated American Vogue's readership at around 11 million people, describing the September edition as the magazine's most important issue of the year.

For Kenmare and Kerry, this was far more than a fashion shoot. It placed our landscape before millions of people around the world.

And then there are the stones...

We were reminded of this wonderful chapter in Kenmare's story recently when we shared this beautiful photograph by local landscape photographer Norman McCloskey on our Kenmare social media pages.

It prompted one question again and again:

Where are those stones?

The answer is Uragh Stone Circle, close to Gleninchaquin on the Beara Peninsula, not far from Kenmare. And this is where the fashion story suddenly becomes a much older story.

Long before Vogue, Annie Leibovitz or Adam Driver arrived in Kerry, people were gathering in this landscape.

Uragh is a small Bronze Age stone circle, dramatically positioned between Lough Inchiquin and Lough Cloonee Upper. Five stones form the circle, accompanied by an imposing standing stone approximately three metres, or ten feet, high. Its original purpose has been lost to time, although monuments such as these are generally associated with the ceremonial and ritual lives of prehistoric communities.

Standing there today, surrounded by mountains, water and an enormous Kerry sky, it is not difficult to understand why this landscape has fascinated people for thousands of years. And perhaps why it fascinated Annie Leibovitz too.

Wild Irish Rose

Looking back at the photographs thirteen years later is fascinating. There is Adam Driver, before Star Wars, standing in the Kerry landscape alongside one of the world's leading models.

Behind the camera is Annie Leibovitz.

Fashion direction came from the legendary Grace Coddington.

The clothes included names such as Prada, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren and Céline.

And behind all of it were the mountains, lakes, stone walls and wild landscape of Kerry. The resulting editorial, Wild Irish Rose, remains available in Vogue's own archive today.

Fashion changes. Actors become Hollywood stars. Magazines move from print to digital. Thirteen years pass remarkably quickly.

But Gleninchaquin is still Gleninchaquin. And the stones at Uragh have been standing there for thousands of years.

A little piece of Kenmare you may not know

For visitors to Kenmare, particularly those travelling from the United States, it is a lovely piece of local history to discover.

The landscapes surrounding our town have appeared in one of the most famous fashion magazines in the world, photographed by one of the most famous photographers in the world.

Yet you can leave Kenmare today and find that same wild landscape waiting for you.

Perhaps that is what makes this story so special.

American Vogue came looking for somewhere extraordinary.

They found it here https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-20239892.html