–and voila: a side of the scream queen you’ve never seen.
BUFFY HAS OFFICIALLY left the building. "We wanted to walk away from the typical blonde cover girl that everyone has associated with Sarah Michelle Gellar," explains Marie Claire Creative Director Paul Martinez of this month’s photos. Armed with racks of black-and-white, deconstructed clothing and minimalist accessories, he and Fashion Director Tracy Taylor set to work fitting their petite subject with a sexy, mature look–but skipped the Buffy-style wife-beaters that had become something of a uniform for her on the show. "I can’t wear tank tops anymore. I’ve broken my ribs so many times that they look funny under thin clothing," Gellar says.

Also under her clothing: four tattoos (on both ankles, her hip, and her lower back). It seems titling that this stripped-down, down-to-earth star, who contemplated riding her bike to the photo shoot when the car service failed to show, keeps the real decoration to herself.