The Curious Case of Courtney Love

This weekend, New York Times writer (and Outcontributor) Eric Wilsonprofiled the unmistakably fascinating Courtney Love. It's an incredibly thoughtful -- and thought-provoking --piece which steered clear from fluffy celebrity adoration and focused in on Love's desire to rehab her image as a messy, unpredictable party girl all the while exploring the complex layers of disfunction in and around her whirlwind lifestyle. Wilson didn't pull any punches and opened the article with this paragraph, describing a scene which sounds both exciting and horrifying:

Shortly after 8 p.m., Ms. Love burst into the room with the Marchesa dress slung on one arm and the noted German Neo-Expressionist artist Anselm Kiefer on the other. She was entirely naked and leaning on Mr. Kiefer for support. She made one lap around the room, walking in front of a photographer, an assistant, a hairstylist and me. She pulled over her head a transparent lace dress that covered up nothing, and demanded my assistance -- "Not you," she said to Mr. Kiefer, who was bent over trying to help her -- to stuff her feet into a pair of black Givenchy heels that were zipped up the back and tied with delicate laces in the front. Then she applied a slash of red lipstick in the vicinity of her mouth.

"I really must get out of here," Mr. Kiefer said.

"Just a minute," Ms. Love said, as she pushed her feet, shoes and all, through a pair of pink knickers that she said cost $4,000. She grabbed a trench coat, walked through the hotel lobby with her breasts exposed to an assortment of prominent fashion figures, including Stefano Pilati, the Yves Saint Laurent designer, and then exited the hotel.

This is not at all how this story was meant to begin.

Talk about telling it like it is! The rest of the article, though, was not so histrionic, but still filled with lots of gossip. Wilson closely chronicles Love's desire to make a comeback and remake her image as a glamor girl. He explores her extensive knowledge of vintage fashion and her crafty move to use the fashion industry, and its eccentric inhabitants, as a means of reinvention. She comes across at times petulant, industrious, sophisticated and tragic -- making for a deliciously juicy, but also empathy-inducing profile. We've been Love fans for quite some time now, and this did nothing more than cement our affection for the singer/actress who so deftly walks the line between party monster and princess.

Previously >Morning Cheat Sheet: Cutrone's Star Turn, Madonna and J.Lo Want Lanvin x H&M, Lindsay Lohan's Shopping Addiction