Jessica Alba is featured in a new spread for Vogue Italia

Jessica Alba is featured in a new edgy spread for Vogue Italia’s April, 2011 issue, photographed by Michelangelo di Battista. Click on the previews above to view more photos.

Jessica Alba loves to play dress-up. So the actress tells Vogue.it as she approaches the final stretch of a daylong fashion shoot, which has seen racks of clothing, rows of shoes and a cluster of diamonds service her needs. As the sun sets over downtown Los Angeles, her fresh-faced beauty and upright posture betray what at this point must be sheer exhaustion; particularly because her black, lacy couture gown of choice is successfully concealing her growing second child.

In the 17 years since Jessica made her screen debut (in the 1994 feature Camp Nowhere) we’ve had front row seats to her seemingly smooth transition from young teen to sophisticated lady. She’s made us laugh (Little Fockers, The Love Guru), fought crime and evil forces (Fantastic Four, Dark Angel) and danced her way into our hearts (Honey).

But with all of the roles she’s taken on, it’s clear when she speaks of them that the one she relishes most is being a mother to two-year-old daughter Honor and wife of three years (and counting) to Cash Warren.

Of course, the California native – who celebrates her 30th birthday on April 28 – also has other loves, with fashion being one of them. The lady who loves to play dress up tells us all about it.

Our interview is fixed for seven in the morning, Los Angeles time, but my telephone rings at ten to. Jessica Alba is on her way to the airport with her husband Cash Warren and three-year-old daughter Honor Marie.

She has a shrill voice and professional manner, despite the little girl’s whims and the noise of Los Angeles traffic that are background to the conversation. “Being a mother has taught me how to adapt to any situation”, says the twenty-nine-year-old actress, protagonist of blockbusters such as Sin City and The Fantastic 4, and considered one of the sexiest women in the United States.

Unlike most of her colleagues, she has never accepted to bare all in front of the camera. “I am basically conservative, and this is due to the education I received from my parents. I know how this market works and I am prepared to play along”, says the unforgettable hot nightclub dancer in Sin City. “But to go naked does not interest me at all”.

“I have always been very aware of my looks – she continues – and I have worked hard to work on them and keep them”. Strict diets and athletic training have always been part of her agenda. But since she has had a daughter, her attitude has changed. “After the pregnancy, I felt liberated. I learnt how to accept my body and I give less importance to my appearance”, says the actress, now expecting her second child due to be born in the summer.

Nicola Scevola, Vogue Italia, April 2011 (n. 728), p. 198-211