In the summer of 2011, Mila Kunis — then celebrating her 28th birthday and riding the wave of critical acclaim for Black Swan — appeared on the cover of Glamour UK’s September issue. The editorial, titled “Dial M for Mila,” was photographed by Robert Erdmann and delivered exactly the kind of confident, stylized portraiture that had come to define Glamour‘s fashion aesthetic in that era.
A Moment in Fashion Photography
Erdmann’s approach to celebrity editorial photography has always leaned toward glamour in the classical sense — polished lighting, deliberate styling, a certain emotional remove that invites the viewer to project rather than simply observe. The Kunis shoot is no exception. Shot against controlled backgrounds with careful attention to wardrobe and hair, the images present a version of Kunis that is simultaneously accessible and aspirational — the hallmark of a successful magazine cover star.
Kunis at a Career Inflection Point
The timing of the shoot is worth noting. By mid-2011 Kunis had shifted firmly from her long-running television role into a film career that was drawing genuine critical attention. Black Swan had earned her a Golden Globe nomination; Friends with Benefits was in wide release that very summer. The Glamour UK cover reflected that ascent, positioning her not as a television personality but as a bankable, style-conscious leading actress.
The Editorial as Cultural Document
Looking at the images now, over a decade later, the shoot reads as a clear artifact of its moment. The styling — the color palette, the silhouettes, the hair — is unmistakably early 2010s, which is precisely what makes it interesting as a historical object. Fashion editorials are among the most time-stamped documents in photography; they crystallize a very specific set of aesthetic decisions made under commercial pressure and cultural influence at a particular instant.
Robert Erdmann’s photographs for this shoot hold up as clean, professional examples of celebrity fashion photography from the period. The “Dial M for Mila” editorial remains a notable document of both Kunis’s transition into A-list status and Glamour UK’s editorial direction in the early part of the decade.