Women of Vanity

Lounging languidly for the cover of a glossy magazine, they are the epitome of film-star beauty - pouts, designer dresses and figures to die for.

In a casting director's fantasy, Vanity Fair brings together Julianne Moore, Gwyneth Paltrow and Salma Hayek, among others, to be photographed by Annie Leibovitz for its latest Hollywood issue.

Gossips might claim that to gather 13 Hollywood leading ladies in one room is a sure-fire recipe for back-biting, sniping and all manner of catty behaviour.

Not according to Vanity Fair. It was apparently sweetness, light and "mwah, mwahs" all round when the stars assembled for the photo-shoot in Los Angeles.

Jennifer Aniston, 34, for example, was barely able to sleep the night before the shoot at the prospect of meeting such powerful stars.

"The famously down-to-earth actress was amazed when her fellow VF cover girl Alison Lohman specifically asked to be introduced to her, out of all the stars in the room," according to the magazine.

Lohman, 24, who stars in Big Fish, was among those caught on camera by Hilary Swank. Oscar winner Swank, 29, took "some of the best behind-thescenes pictures of the day and was first on hand to help a windswept Scarlett Johansson re-arrange her fairytale dress".

Sweet. And what about 19-year-old Johansson herself, the acclaimed star of Lost In Translation and Girl With A Pearl Earring?

"On discovering a goldenhued gown and a brand-new iPod in her dressing room, Johansson reacted with enthusiasm worthy of, well, a teenager," says Vanity Fair.

Meanwhile, Diane Lane, who won a Golden Globe nomination for Under The Tuscan Sun, "reminded everyone she's still a woman who knows her limits" by demanding a cigarette break midway through the shoot.

During pauses, all the talk seemed to be of children and motherhood.

Leibovitz had brought her daughter Sarah on to the set and apparently encouraged the others to do the same.

Jennifer Connelly turned up with her seven-month-old son Stellan and other children brought along were enchanted by Julianne Moore's Oscar de la Renta fairy dress.

The shoot took place only hours before Paltrow, 31, confirmed rumours that she and husband Chris Martin are expecting a baby and she did little to keep the truth from her colleagues.

As she slipped out of her belly-revealing top and jeans into a Narciso Rodriguez dress, which accentuated her new curves, she said: "I'm not normally this voluptuous."

With motherhood so much part of the proceedings, it was only fitting that Hayek - who flew in from the Bahamas from the set of After Sunset for the session - brought her mother Diana along.

Word has it that Hayek senior could easily have posed alongside her daughter. But she was content with playing the stylist, having the final say on what outfit Hayek would wear.

Clearly, these women represent the ultimate in femininity. But do not ever mistake them for simpering little girls. Just ask 21-year-old Spiderman star Kirsten Dunst.

Ten years after appearing opposite Brad Pitt in Interview With The Vampire, she is a Hollywood veteran. To make sure she retains control over her career, she recently set up a film company with her mother.

It's called Wooden Spoon Productions - to remind her that she was not born with a silver one in her mouth, even if she, like the other cover girls, is now Hollywood royalty.

The March Hollywood edition of Vanity Fair goes on sale on Friday.