first looks

Exclusive Video: What Really Goes on at Elle’s Offices

All you really need to make a decently popular music video these days is a makeover scene (girl in glasses and jeans makes a miraculous transformation into a vixen in a tight gold dress) and some solid backup dancers. Bonus points if it’s set in a gym, office, or anyplace where you wouldn’t ordinarily writhe around on tabletops in expensive shoes. (Speaking of, good shoes are also important. Open flames and live lions are optional.) So Elle decided to try out the formula for themselves, pegged to their forthcoming music-themed issue. Styled by Joe Zee, associate editor Julie Vadnal (the very same woman who volunteered to try a new hairstyle every day for three weeks back in December, bless her) stomps around the Hearst building while singing a song called “My Heels” that she co-wrote with Kara DioGuardi. Meanwhile, shirtless backup dancers hump conference tables and grind against file cabinets behind her. See how their experiment turned out.

Exclusive Video: What Really Goes on at Elle