LC: There's a overriding sense of showmanship, pageantry and religious iconography in the book and in all your work. How conscious of that are you?

RA: I'm inspired by it. It's something that I feel totally attached to. I love to use it because it has so much theater.

LC: Originally, the book was to have a foreword by Joan Juliet Buck. Is that still the plan?

RA: Not anymore. She was very instrumental in the book coming about, but since she's no longer at the magazine [Paris Vogue] the foreword fell through.