It’s Never Too Early for These Beauties : A Photo Book Wakes Up With Famous Women

Artfully shot by celebrity photographer Veronique Vial, “Women Before 10 a.m.” (PowerHouse Books, 144 pages, $45) is billed as a book of portraits of famous women early in the morning. But if, like me, you expect to find self-assuring images of Reese Witherspoon with underarm stubble, Daryl Hannah fighting under-eye circles and Winona Ryder sporting a crust of chin drool, you won’t. The bad news is that these women look just as good first thing in the morning as they do after hours of primping. Grrr! All jealousy aside, Vial does capture a few poignant moments: Demi Moore in bed with her dying mother, Virginia, and Elisa Bonora contemplating her pregnant body, for example. That said, we can definitely do without Sean Penn’s foreword. An ode to a woman’s naked silhouette in the morning light, he writes: “Her hair flows between her shoulders to the small of her back--to her buttock”--well, you get the picture. When did he become the world’s expert on women before 10 a.m., anyway?

Photographs from “Women Before 10 a.m.” and Vial’s previous book, “Men Before 10 a.m.” will be on view Thursday through Nov. 28 at the Fahey/Klein Gallery, 148 N. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles; (323) 934-2250.