FV's New Models II

2006-08-04T18:27:00.000Z

Back in March and April of 1999, Italian Marie Claire run a couple of editorials featuring Angie Lindvall, Bridget Hall and their sisters - Audrey Lindvall and Sunny Hall.
Some of the pics were shot in the Lindvall residence in Lee's Summit, Missouri - near Kansas City.
In the pic, Angie and Bridget on the left, Sunny and Audrey (in the back) on the right - the shoot was done by Thierney Gearon, outside Austin, Texas.

According to press reports, Audrey Lindvall died in a bike accident in Lee's Summit last Wednesday - one week before her 24th birthday...

2006-07-25T22:56:00.000Z

Trashmeister Karl news - always predictable, he tells the Sunday Times that he loves Kate Moss but disapproves of Naomi C.

Karl L says 99% of women would love to have Katie's legs/knees

The reasons given are typical Karl bullshit talk - Katie deserves the adulation she receives from the fashion world and beyond: "Because the image is controlled..." - yeah, as if we didn't know...
Also, "...What she projects, everyone would love to do if they had the courage. Girls want to look like her and they want to behave like her. Kate has the courage to be 150 per cent herself; she has something very special, very touching. There is no second Kate Moss. People want to look and be like her, to have something that is very daring, but it must remain a fantasy for 99 per cent of the world: they don't have the looks, the circumstances, the thing..."

I bet most women are glad they don't look like Katie - with crooked teeth/legs, knobbly knees and a chav face - as for the "thing", I am not sure what it is...
But the news is the reason he doesn't like Naomi - "...The way she behaves is not very chic...I hate people who let themselves go, I hate drunk women. To keep a certain discipline in life is a good thing...."

Hello !!!!!! Katie is the one who has "discipline"?
The same Katie who admitted she was never sober on the set for over 10 years?

Tells you what sort of crap artists high fashion types are, and how seriously you should take them...not that Karl L was ever taken seriously by anyone

2006-07-24T11:40:00.000Z

Yeah, I know, Carine Roitfeld is no longer popular with AW's cronies - the same people who used to adore her style now question her aesthetic and Paris Vogue cover choices.. What changed?
It can't be just that AW is pissed with the fact that "...Bee Shaffer, Anna Wintour's debutante daughter, at the Crillon Ball, appeared in the middle of an 'erotic-chic' edition of the magazine..."

...'Unfortunately,' Roitfeld winces, 'just after the most erotic picture in the entire magazine.' There were diary stories claiming Wintour was horrified. 'And of course some nice people left this story on my desk. But really I wanted to do something beautiful for Bee. I was very shocked… I sent Anna Wintour a note and she sent me a note back: "Don't worry, we love the pictures."
(If looks could kill, UK Telegraph, 13/11/2005)

So AW loved the pics - but not Carine any more, since her minions at the NYT and elsewhere no longer pay any attention to her...

Carine also made a serious blunder in that interview last year - she said "...I prefer to have my hands in my pocket than to have a nice little bag. So I am not good for all these fashions. They have to sell bags, bags, bags, bags, bags, bags. I hate handbags...."

Oh well - this kind of talk will get you in trouble with major Conde Nast advertisers, like LVMH...after all, Vuitton fashion exists just to help sell their bags...

From the days when AW's fans loved everything about her:

Gorgeous v cool
Gorgeous is so 80s. To be today's hot item you need to be cool

Shane Watson
Friday March 30, 2001
The Guardian

Last week I found myself queuing for the chairlift alongside Carine Roitfeld. The name will mean nothing but it's enough to induce serious collywobbles in the fashion world for Carine is the most stingingly hip of stylists and editor of French Vogue.
Naturally I was mesmerised. You could have waved Benicio del Torro in front of me and I wouldn't have been distracted from the very important business of soaking in the constituents of Roitfeld's "look". "That", I hissed to my companions, "is the coolest woman in the world". They looked puzzled, gazing straight past her at the pretty blonde in the pastel all-in-one.

Honestly. I had to stand next to her and jab my thumb in her direction before they got it and even then they refused to believe that someone with a face like Iggy Pop's, legs like Rumplestiltskin and the expression of a childcatcher could be the icon of fashion girls world over. "That", said one of them, "is the scariest looking woman I've ever seen". But isn't that the thing about cool? It is prized beyond rubies by a few obsessive individuals and is absolutely incomprehensible to everyone else.
...
Gorgeous, as Anna Wintour might put it, is so 80s. And gorgeous is too easy.
...
In Cool World you can have a face like a goat and a brain the size of a raisin but if you're achingly thin, suitably detached and you were the first to cut your jeans down to your pubic bone then you'll command respect. Cool is the reason why sane, grown up women worship Kate Moss (achievements to date, modelling and looking good in own clothes) and not Claudia Schiffer, never mind Cherie Blair. Cool is the reason why most of the population flick through the pages of fashion magazines thinking, "Christ! Who would wear that?"

It's why Armani has linked up with I-d magazine to sponsor a street-style exhibition next week and Chanel hopped into bed with the bi-annual Pop - two of the biggest, richest designers in the world grovelling at the doorstep of two Brit low-budget publications simply in order to bask in their reflected cool.
...

Yep - gorgeous is so 80s...dunno if comparing Carine to Rumplestiltskin was a bit too harsh, but adopting Iggy's hairstyle didn't help with that comparison...btw you can bet you won't see these sort of articles from any American "fashion journalist"

2006-07-21T20:54:00.000Z

Boring news Dept...the cover of the August issue of US Vogue reportedly features Linda Evangelista. The last time Linda E was on the mag's cover page was the September 2001 issue, shortly before 9/11...maybe AW knows something we don't?

The mag claims that the supermodels are back and getting their revenge - from whom? Not AW, who was instrumental in their demise by promoting "heroin chic" and the various superwaifs, perhaps? Meisel and Co hated them - in the Bailey TV series on models, you can see Demarchelier and other top photographers waiting for up to 3-4 days before Linda, Naomi etc decide to show up for their shoots...that was in late 94 and 1995.
When high fashion types mention the word "supermodel" they have three names in mind -Linda E, Naomi C and Christy Turlington, known the "trinity". Naomi had to endure the typical NYC/London biz racism and was never really popular in those fashion capitals - but she is still huge everywhere else. At the age of 35, you have to try very hard to spot any cosmetic surgery she may have done. AW afficionados are often disturbed by Naomi's harsh treatment of her assistants - strangely, they have absolutely no problem with Kate Moss and her equally bizarre behaviour. Apparently "never being sober during work for the last ten years", as Katie herself admitted, is their idea of what modeling is all about.
Christy T is virtually unknown outside the USA - which leads us to Linda E.

After the biz grew tired of the "trinity", Linda, who was no longer with Gerald Marie, had an affair with MacLachlan and continued to be popular and on mag covers everywhere until 1997/98. Her catwalk times were over though - while in Porto for Fashion Week Portugal, she couldn't walk in a straight line. Barthez and "three years of seclusion" in the French Riviera followed.
Why did AW suddenly remember Linda again in 1991? In addition to the fact that she had lost 75 pounds (AW loves everyone who goes anorexic - she reportedly once promised Eva Herzigova the mag cover during dinner, if she managed to lose enough weight) there were real business reasons. The Wall St bubble had exploded and a whole army of "It" girls had been wiped out with the market crash. The biz had to appeal to older women again, in order to recover from the dive in advertising revenues. Linda was the perfect 36 yo for AW - at the time she actually looked like a woman in the mid-30s. After all, the average US Vogue reader was a "NYC racy divorcee, over 33 and with 2.5 kids"...
Today, after she admitted to have been heavily botoxed, Linda looks "ten years younger" - which means she is somewhere in 1996...anyone who compares the two US Vogue covers may find the whole thing grotesque - or perhaps a triumph for modern medical science.
Why is a 41 yo model -who looks like a 31 yo model- relevant?
Who knows - AW always has dollar signs flashing in her eyes, so there should be a twist. Or maybe not...perhaps something went wrong with their original cover choice? AW's minions in the NY Times and elsewhere will soon enlighten us - so, no need to worry.

2006-07-19T08:38:00.000Z

Interesting articles from past years Dept

Is there any such thing as an alpha female?
There has always been talk of the alpha male, but what of its female equivalent?
Who is she, asks Clare Longrigg

Monday September 22, 2003
The Guardian

(edited)...If we base alpha female on the male model, we will find her in the boardroom, impersonating his bullying and overriding ambition... Anna Wintour, editor of US Vogue, is a classic example of alpha female, driven by insecurity and ruling by fear. She is aloof, inscrutable behind those dark glasses.
There are very few alpha females of this order, since most women have had the alpha-male qualities conditioned out of them and have been steered towards nurturing roles rather than world domination.

Beyond Hollywood, Sarah Dunant, writer and author of The Birth of Venus, sees alpha female as inhuman rather than superhuman. Her life is ordered by employees while she focuses on achievements and looking good. "Alpha female, like alpha male, depends on such a sense of innate superiority that she's probably not aware of her status. While she would be effortlessly talented and capable, she would need a reduced capacity for empathy, because otherwise it would derail her. If she has children, they only come out between 7-8pm, washed, dressed and brought up by someone else. I envisage the mind of Mary Warnock, the body of Kate Moss and the humanity of Leni Riefenstahl."

Achievement is the focus of alpha female's life; anything else is secondary. She does not obsess about relationships. She is dominant: if she married alpha male, there would be a bloodbath. Novelist Fay Weldon sees alpha female running corporations, paying little or no attention to the domestic sphere - which is where she differs from Superwoman: "Superwoman was everything man and woman wanted her to be: she did everything and was a good wife, earned a good salary and kept the carpets shampooed. Alpha woman wouldn't concern herself with housework: she would find someone else to whom she would delegate.
...

2006-07-18T21:01:00.000Z

Got the July 06 issue of French PHOTO today - more of those Adriana and Ana Beatriz pics, by Ellen v Unwerth...plus pics from a photo book by M Glaviano with nudes shot in Sardinia

2006-07-16T20:39:00.000Z

Diana Kovalchuk polaroid by her UK agency, Premiere...anyone knows if this is recent?

2006-07-16T19:23:00.000Z

Sao Paulo FW, Verao 07... Whoa! Cintia baby!

I think this is an older pic - "Yes, we are in fact fashion models, and we have proof!"
Daniela Sarahyba (was in the last SI Swimsuit issue), Michele Alves and the gorgeous Fernanda Motta

2006-07-14T23:00:00.000Z

SPFW - the Cia Maritima show was very 70s, and with the right mellow music...check out the video -and lots more- here

Blasts from the past - Juliana Massiviero, Vanessa de Assis...

2006-07-14T22:17:00.000Z

Sao Paulo FW - the good ole days of 2000-2002 are gone, Ana Beatriz lost 8-10 kilos in the meantime and Jeisa over 10% of her already low body weight, but the classic swimsuit shows are still interesting to watch - from Agua de Coco and Cia Maritima:
Valya Zelyaeva, ? , Valya, Julia Pereira, Gianne Albertoni, Eliza Joenck, Yasmin Brunet, Gianne

2006-07-13T17:39:00.000Z

The NYT fashion section has a story on the recent popularity of miniskirts - and news that Sienna Miller will play a Warhol heroine in an upcoming movie...you can bet the cabal is excited.

Note the dancing girls in miniskirts in this Amboy Dukes video from 1966 - that is forty years ago - Ted Nugent on guitar, in his early days...most dancers do look like the typical NYC modely blonde (or Julia Stegner) - I guess IMG would have signed them right away if they were anorexic...

2006-07-12T11:36:00.000Z

Michele Alves (in the pic) is still with Guy Oseary, Madonna's manager and director of Maverick Records - and she is four months pregnant (it's a boy)
Despite the pregnancy, she will be doing several shows in SP - the last info mentions a total of eleven, among them Água de Coco, Cia Marítima, Lino Villaventura, Osklen and Movimento.
Her agent in Brazil is now Gisele's old booker, so her PR should improve significantly...

The new Cia Maritima campaign features Eliza Joenck (yeay) and cute youngster Yasmin Brunet - whose PR is at least as good as Gisele's in Brazil...the show will feature Michele, Ellen Jabour (another of many Gisele lookalikes) Marcele Bittar and Carol Ribeiro...plus Gianne Albertoni, said to have the "best body" currently
SPFW guest models list updated - Elise Crombez and Kim Noorda...
Fernanda Tavares returns to Brazil - she will be in the new campaign for Sais...she is now in Italy to shoot an ed for Vogue Italia, and will come back to SP to do a show after SPFW is over...

Michele of course doesn't appeal to the hipster cabal in NYC - she has a classic feminine elegant look, which is totally alien to them (Tom Ford's fave female beauties are said to be Stevie Nicks and Farah Fawcett (!!) - and he is supposedly on the "elegant" side...)
Her look is very similar to Rhea Durham, who is almost forgotten today - but in the late 90s, Rhea replaced Cindy C as the Revlon girl, and was one of very few NYC models who could sell products internationally and didn't look like the typical midwest / deep south trailer trash mod material that the cabal so adores...

2006-07-09T09:23:00.000Z

Meisel and Co have finally reached Argentina in their quest for fresh crappy model material...their alleged discoveries are a Romina and some other forgettable face...Argentina modelwise is where Brazil was in 1999 -ie Gisele types are still a dime a dozen, as evident from the Giordano shows on FTV...there are plenty of good local mods, one of the prime examples being Daniela Urzi - check out her site - click on Work/TV commercials to see her Nivea Beaute TV ads

2006-07-09T06:28:00.000Z

Classic Ana Beatriz from the cover of Greek H Bazaar...May 2005, pic shot in NYC, perhaps a cover try for the US issue

Art, Postmodernism, Warholites and the High Fashion cabal - III

2006-07-08T15:06:00.000Z

What about Betak? He is French - but so is Carine Roitfeld...the same shitty mods show up in his shows, so he is a good collaborator when it comes to model selection...

Betak is credited with the "sexy" mod selection in the Victoria's Secret shows - but people may remember the 2003 show, when the "Belgian" influence in NYC was near its peak, and the VS runway was full of quirky superwaifs, including Betak's wife...The VS people were reportedly so insecure, that they hired three different NYC fashion PR firms, to make sure they kept everyone happy - I guess they thought the end of the "sexy model" was near...

You've probably missed the bizarre fashion commentaries in the NYT Style section lately - we haven't seen much "hip model" - related crappy analysis for some time...one of the weirdest pieces, from early 2003, follows - I am not responsibe if you feel that someone underestimates your intelligence...

"...Paris and Milan are the two places where modeling agencies each season import new talent to be started in a difficult business. Tastes in beauty tend to be adventurous among European fashion makers, and it is on the Continent that trends in beauty also take flight.
It is in Paris and Milan that the industry books odds on the new stars of magazines and runways. During the fashion season, certain streets in these two cities have something of the quality of the magical river bends certain anglers dream about, where extraordinary creatures arise above the water, hatched out of who knows where, and are just as suddenly gone. One year it is lush Brazilians or beaky Belgians or quirky Britons or Russians with child's pouts and sexy, suspicious hooded eyes. Styles roll on inexorably, however, and on the evidence of four fashion weeks in New York, London, Milan and Paris, this bids to be a pie-plate year.
With no obvious new national or ethnic vein being mined by talent scouts (and certainly not one that benefits black, Latina or Asian models), the current preference in the business where beauty is capital is for young people of no particular beauty — women with attenuated limbs, tiny heads and a range of expression that can sometimes put an observer in mind of an aquarium.
Elise Crombez, Madeleine Blomberg or Adina Fohlin are a few of the aggressively nondescript women seen everywhere on catwalks this season, frequently in the first entrance (which is called an exit) at a fashion show, a position that signals designer favor and often a trend. "She is the show star of the season," Nian Fish, the creative director of KCD, a fashion show producer, said of Ms. Crombez, backstage at the Chloe presentation in Paris a week ago. The usual gaggle of slender young women were clustered behind clothes racks on a bright early morning, laughing and gossiping and smoking Marlboro Lights.
"Elise is Belgian, but she's a sexy Belgian," said Ms. Fish of Ms. Crombez, who is 21 and comes from Koksijde, a town near the border of France. "She opened Prada," added Ms. Fish, referring to one of Fashion Week's most important runways shows, one that was notable this year for its tone of chic but anonymous androgyny.
Ms. Blomberg is a severe young Swede who opened the Louis Vuitton show last week and is featured in the latest Miu Miu campaign. She was cast for Vuitton, the designer Marc Jacobs said, less for her facial beauty than for her height and her peculiarly somnambulist walk.
Ms. Fohlin is another Swede ubiquitous on runways this season. Not long ago she had decided to quit the modeling business, which had been unreceptive, only to discover suddenly that designers like Alexander McQueen, who featured her prominently in his Paris show, were seeking precisely "a girl who doesn't look like a typical model," said Myriam Obadia, the creative director of Ms. Fohlin's agency, Next.
What she, Ms. Crombez and Ms. Blomberg look like are "students on the runway for the first time," Emmanuelle Ault, the fashion director of French Vogue, said.
If modeling is "always a business that creates the looks," said Ms. Obadia, a vehicle for transporting to the global-image market whatever form of beauty seems fresh at the time, there will likewise always be changes in how beauty is symbolized.
There are moments, Ms. Obadia added, when "it's all about a particular strong kind of beauty," the kind exemplified by supermodels in the 1990's, a time when the steady flow of money created a backdrop for a certain kind of vain, hoof-stamping loveliness — that of, say, Linda Evangelista, whose famous remark that she would not get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day now seems emblematic of a dated opulence.
IN leaner times, beauty, too, gets pared down. "These things come in cycles," said Alex de Betak, the director of Bureau Betak, one of the premier fashion show production houses. "It's a trend like every other trend."
Mr. Betak was speaking at last week's Chanel show, held in the Carrousel du Louvre. The parade of models deployed by Chanel's designer, Karl Lagerfeld, included most of the big name "girls" currently at work; as a group, they displayed Mr. Lagerfeld's clothes efficiently, a progression of sleek but interchangeable cogs.
Also working in the Chanel show that morning was the lovable, and lovably off-kilter, 1970's model Pat Cleveland, along with her son and daughter, Noel and Anna Van Ravenstein.
As Ms. Cleveland mugged from the runway, blew kisses to friends in the front row and pranced in delight, she gave some observers the impression of being a representative of fashion's sister planet, a place where personality is a natural complement to beauty and where the height of beauty is not an ability to impersonate an automaton.
"Designers don't want someone too recognizable at the moment," said Mr. Betak, whose wife, the French gamin Audrey Marnay, seemed faintly out of place in the show. "Now what is more important and more efficient," Mr. Betak added, "is neutrality in whoever is wearing the clothes."...

Obviously, a successful model agent needs to have "nondescript" models with a "somnambulist walk" -or attenuated limbs and tiny heads- in reserve, just in case...

Despite all the crapola, Next Models still gets little respect from the cabal...they probably can't come up with mods that are hideous enough for the job...

Art, Postmodernism, Warholites and the High Fashion cabal - II

2006-07-08T13:50:00.000Z

A few more details on KCD - probably the most influencial fashion PR people in NYC, along with Kevin Krier and Alex de Betak (Audray Marnay's husband)

After Duka died of AIDS in 1989 and Keeble of breast cancer in 1990, Paul Cavaco "inherited" the company - today it is supposedly run by Edwin Filipowski and Julie Mannion. KCD was the first NYC fashion PR firm to open an overseas office - they followed Tom Ford in his invasion of the Paris fashion biz, back in 2000. You may remember that after AW and the Newhouses got rid of the president of Conde Nast France, Gardner Bellanger, and the Paris Vogue editrix, Juliet Buck, Tom Ford had his long-time (and Testino's) assistant, Carine Roitfeld, installed as editrix at Paris Vogue. He also engineered a major shift in Parisian fashion aesthetics by replacing Natalia Semanova in the Yves Saint Laurent Beaute Opium fragrance campaign by a grotesquely retouched Karen Elson, in one of the most hideous campaigns in history. By pure coincidence, KCD's Meisel did the shooting - and Tom Ford was of course represented by KCD.

As for their clients (2003 info) - "...KCD's client list includes YSL, Gucci, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Versace, Marc Jacobs, Louis Vuitton, Vogue magazine and Cartier...produces the fashion shows of many of the best designers, plans parties such as Valentino's 40th anniversary (at which Gwyneth Paltrow and Tom Hanks were guests), and organizes the Council of Fashion Designers of America Awards, the fashion industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards...they produced the shows for Alexander McQueen, Anna Sui, Calvin Klein, Chloe, Gucci, Helmut Lang, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Narciso Rodriguez, Ralph Lauren, Sean John, Versace, Yves Saint Laurent and hot young designer Zac Posen. In Paris, the company also threw a party for about 800 people for designer Helmut Lang...at the Yves Saint Laurent show, always the last big show of Paris fashion week and held in the evening at the Rodin Museum, Ed Filipowski escorted France's first lady, Bernadette Chirac backstage to meet designer Tom Ford and then to her front-row seat..."

Andy Warhol's original swindle, Interview mag, is also a client...

After Tom Ford left Gucci Group, it was revealed that YSL, including the previously profitable Beaute business, did miserably under his helm and that Gucci Group finances were used to prop up some of AW's proteges - and KCD clients - such as McQueen...

As for Krier - some of the same names pop up, so there are complex inter-relationships between NYC fashion PR types, or perhaps the same person is pulling the strings behind all of them...

(2001 info) - Krier was an actor before he started Kevin Krier & Associates, a special events production company that stages fashion shows as well as events such as the Council of Fashion Designers of America's awards. When producing a runway show, Krier oversees the selection of music, models, theme and venue--just about everything but the clothes.
Krier arrived in New York in 1981, after touring the regional theater circuit as an actor. His first show was for designer Bill Robinson, and he graduated to working for designers including legends Giorgio Armani and Yves Saint Laurent...Krier credits his success to his highly efficient staff of 10, and the opportunity to work with visionary fashion designers. "I can learn from Tom [Ford, Gucci's creative director] every minute. I've had some great experiences with young designers like Todd Oldham."...

IMG has bought nearly everything lately, so their mods are favored in the events they control - "...IMG currently owns and operates a number of the world’s most important fashion events under the IMG FASHION business including Olympus Fashion Week (New York), Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios (Los Angeles), Fashion Fringe (London), and the Sunglass Hut Swim Shows Miami presented by LYCRA® (Miami). IMG has associations with other fashion weeks around the world and has previously produced Lakme India Fashion Week...IMG has signed an agreement to acquire Australian Fashion Innovators (AFI) and with it the region's premier fashion event, Mercedes Australian Fashion Week..."

Art, Postmodernism, Warholites and the High Fashion cabal

2006-07-08T11:20:00.000Z

It's fairly easy to understand why "hip" fashion models look a certain way, if you know about the people who influence the fashion modeling biz and their mentality. NYC "high fashion", ever since the late 70s, is controlled by a particular group of people who have one thing in common - they are Andy Warhol groupies. For many, Andy was the greatest artist the USA has ever produced, so it's logical that the NYC fashion cabal iconises Warhol. The group includes characters like the infamous S Meisel and the lesser-known Paul Cavaco - responsible (along his his daughter) for Allure, and also Harper's Bazaar in the past. People like Cavaco regard little-known biz figures like US Vogue ex-editor Kezia Keeble as very important, perhaps more so than A Wintour. It was people like Keeble who got them in the biz, a decade before AW became the US Vogue editrix in 1988. Keeble is the K in KCD - one of the top NYC fashion PR houses since 1985. Meisel was working with KCD from the very beginning, with clients like Versace. Today, the same people and their minions control all NYC fashion publications, with the exception of US Elle - which is run by French interests and is seen as an outsider.
After the cabalists realized that high fashion was a dead end and beauty/cosmetics offered the best financial opportunities for the future, they infiltrated that biz sector in force - although they used to claim that beauty/cosmetics work was suitable only for retiring fashion models and routinely made fun of "unchic" mods working for beauty brands like L'Oreal. Today, the cabal has conveniently forgotten its past critique and is getting into L'Oreal too, with people like J Kaliardos from V and Garren/Pita from Meisel's side working for the brand.
Meisel and his pals remain avid Warholites - it's important to understand Warhol's philosophy in order to figure out how high fashion operates, especially since 2000 when biz control passed to NYC, with Paris and Milan playing a next to zero role.
First of all, people should know that the fashion cabal's "artists" (photographers, stylists, etc) have nothing to do with real art, and especially its avant-garde side - they view whatever "art" they do as simply a successful business, just like Andy W did. This is the reason the hardcore artsy crowd in NYC and London treat fashionistas like lepers - AW has struggled for years to get NYC museums and art centers to even bother with fashion, and succeeded only recently, thanks to help from people like the Lauders, major donors of such institutions but also her clients, since they own Estee Lauder.
Andy was a postmodernist - an useful excerpt from a paper on the subject:
...The end of the Twentieth century marked a change in American society with the mass consumption of goods. From this mass consumption spawned a new cultural era in art. This new era was dubbed postmodernism. One of the leading artists of this new era was Andy Warhol...
In essense, postmodernism is the enemy of modernity in everything - and avant-garde art, which is always after something new and original. Warhol did not take art seriously - he himself said that "Making money is art, and working is art and good business is the best art."
In its Warhol form, postmodernism is the father of today's "trash" culture. One example - celebrity gossip in fact started with the foundation of Interview, a mag Warhol intended as a vehicle which could make money by selling trash celeb/socialite gossip. The aim was to guarantee employment for his party friends, many of whom worked for the magazine.
The fashion cabal shares the same mentality - selling trash labelled as "fashion" is for them a sarcastic joke on the clueless middle/upper classes, who will buy hipness enthusiastically without realizing that they are in fact making fools of themselves. Miuccia Prada, a cabal fellow-traveller, has openly said many times that her fashion designs are simply a joke on the bourgoisie...
High fashion is always retro, and never attempts to offer anything novel - pastiche is the code word here, one which Karl Lagerfeld likes a lot. This is the reason the NYC cabal (along with their London and Paris allies, who always depended on hype and theatrics to sell their inferior products) hates Milan - Italian fashion grew to an 80 billion dollar business by offering technically superior and novel products rather than depending on retro trends or "fur trim on everything". The cabal knows that people will always choose quality when they are offered an alternative to trash - which is why they will never allow quality models to appear in the mags or campaigns they control. Quality is bad for business - in their world.

If you like to see a movie that ridicules the philosophy - which manifests, as someone notes, in "...gender bending, camp, masquerade, varieties of cross dressing, collapsed high/low dress distinctions, proliferating anti-fashion genres and pastiche styles..." check out Robert Altman's 1993 Pret-à-Porter - a movie universally hated by high fashion "professionals".
The funny thing is - these characters tend to see themselves as social subversives...Rowland has pictures of Che Guevara in his agency...
On a lower level, the Warhol influence appears as the "inspiration" Andy's famous transvestite stars bring to S Meisel's model selection (Karen Elson looking like Jackie Curtis, according to the NYT), Meisel again shaving the eyebrows off his fave mods, or the fact that every other male model looks like Joe Dallesandro, the star of Warhol's Flesh and Trash...

2006-07-06T15:50:00.000Z

New sexy Russian tennis babe with fashion aspirations?
Yep, it's Maria Kirilenko...

2006-07-01T21:24:00.000Z

Damn - even when you don't want to believe conspiracy theories, they smack you in the face...Brazil just lost to France, and I am glad I didn't bet money on a Brazilian World Cup win like most...

There was the affair of the 1998 WC final, when Brazil played shitty football and lost to France - Brazil then wins the 2002 WC in Korea easily, and we get to 2006, with major WC sponsor Adidas behind Germany, Spain, Argentina and France (from a total of 6 teams) big rival Puma sponsoring Italy (among 12 teams) and Nike dressing Brazil and Portugal (among 8 teams).

Argentina, easily the best Adidas team, plays shitty football against the Germans, their coach makes childish mistakes, the best Argie players miss their penalties, and Germany advances...both Adidas teams, but Germany has to be one of the two finalists. Portugal beat sorry England earlier today, and a Brazil win would result in two Nike, one Puma and only one Adidas team in the final four.

France plays well, but the Brazilian defense clears the ball easily almost every time - then Zidane takes a foul kick, five (!!) Brazilian defenders go to sleep and leave only three teammates chasing five French players toward the post - nobody follows Henry, who scores easily. The Brazilian coach replaces Kaka who was among of the best up to that point, and leaves tired Ronaldo in the game...the Brazos look like a mess all evening and can't even shoot straight (the French goalkeeper, Barthez - also known as ex Mr Linda Evangelista II - has a very easy day)

What about England, the sole team sponsored by Umbro? They are so pathetic, they probably wouldn't score against Portugal even if they kept playing for another 24 hours...Portugal is a mess, but at least they know how to score from the penalty mark...

Semifinals - Germany against Italy, France against Portugal...looks like a Germany vs France final.

Spice Boy is finished, the talk is that he will move to the USA next year to play football there...it's reportedly up to Posh Spice to decide if she likes NYC (Red Bulls) or Los Angeles (Galaxy) better - Beckham has already opened a football academy in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson with the owners of the Galaxy...

2006-06-29T21:05:00.000Z

The "Devil Wears Prada" opens in NYC this weekend, so it's time for the local fashion pros to prove once again to AW that they are indeed her loyal and devout minions...read the movie review in the Conde Nast - friendly NYT Style section and weep (or laugh, or puke or whatever)

The news here is that someone from Elle is actually quoted...why is the respected NYT always paying attention solely to Vogue - about 98% of the time, with the rest of its attention going to Bazaar (when there is a negative story about its editrix) while pretending Elle doesn't exist?
Well, perhaps globalized high fashion journalism shows the way for the rest of the freedom-loving media - Hearst doesn't complain much, so why should others care? Bazaar people are the classic wannabe losers - if Vogue stopped publishing one day, they wouldn't have a reason to exist any more...when AW used the top names from the "hip in NYC" model charts, H Bazaar contractors used every new entrant into the hippy roster, 50 or more places below the voguey choices, to show that they were "fresher"...of course, selecting mods of a different aesthetic was probably too much to ask of them...

For those who think AW's look is original - she actually copies Mary Quant in every way, inc the hairstyle...a pic of Mary with her partner, in front of their second fashion store in London, back in 1961 - does the store logo (Bazaar) look familiar?

Elle is a different story - when the US edition of Elle launched in NYC in the late 80s, the effect on the US women's mag business was profound - Bazaar was mortally wounded and has never recovered, while Vogue competed so poorly that a new editrix had to be brought in to save the mag - A Wintour. This traumatic experience, similar to the effect that the launch of Maxim had on traditional US men's mags like GQ, is still being felt and the voguey crowd would rather not discuss Elle at all. Not to mention that Elle is all about the global sensual boho woman, a direct assault to the dry WASPy princess image that Vogue and Bazaar sell. I read somewhere that Cindy Crawford was the first woman with brown hair/eyes to ever appear on the cover of a US fashion publication back in the 80s - and I believe it.

2006-06-29T01:22:00.000Z

Anyone knows what happened to Elizabeth Perfoll? Last I heard, she was in a campaign for Riachuelo in Brazil (pic, right)...she is somewhat famous for being Kaka's ex-girlfriend, they broke up just before the World Cup in Korea, four years ago...I met her in a model contest when she was 15 yo, she is probably taller than even Ana Hickmann
The blonde is Marina San Vicente

You've noticed that I am paying little attention to US fashion mag financial data this year - the main reason is that since the Conde Nasties decided to accept crappy advertising from Wal-Mart and the like, to save A Wintour from the embarassment of posting more yearly DECREASES in ad-page count, the game is rigged...so the plain stats will tell you little.

This blog has consistently exposed the true -and very shitty- financial performance of US Vogue for many years, very different from the picture painted in the glowing press reports you may have seen in Conde Nast -friendly media...to understand how the competion has cought up with AW's rag, note the following data, for Jan-May 2006:

Notice that US Elle, with 879 ad pages, generates 96 mil while Vogue's 1132 ad pages account for 141 mil...

As for the US dollars that each ad page generates - 10.92K for Elle and 12.46K for Vogue, a very small difference...

Note the data for the "prestigious" W - every ad page generates only...7.59K dollars !!!! No wonder they keep publishing semi-nude photos of Kate Moss...

Remember what you have been told all these years? That maybe Vogue isn't doing all that great when it comes to circulation, but because it is so "prestigious", the mag can generate far more dollars from the same ad pages than anyone else. It seems however that despite all the "new prestige" (like AW's "new elegance" and "new beauty") that Wal-Mart has brought to Conde Nast, things are not exactly all that rosy...

2006-06-25T19:48:00.000Z

Sabrina Jales may be thinking - "If I keep the intensity up, I will eventually morph into Jessica Alba...and I will be a lot taller..."

New dark hair color looks nice - Sabrina is now officially 22 yo

2006-06-23T15:49:00.000Z

An exclusive calendar with 25 Brazilian top models photographed by Bob Wolfenson is to be launched on July 12th. The calendar comes with a DVD full of mod interviews - to be broadcasted on GNT TV in Brazil.
The calendar includes sensual pics of (mostly) sensual mods - not the recent Pirelli-style "high fashion" crap or Gisele's airbrushed nipples...
Mods being featured - Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrósio, Ana Beatriz Barros, Ana Claudia Michels, Camila Finn, Carol Trentini, Caroline Ribeiro, Cintia Dicker, Fernanda Tavares, Gisele Bündchen, Isabeli Fontana, Jeísa Chiminazzo, Jessica Pauletto, Letícia Birkheuer, Liliane Ferrarezi, Luciana Curtis, Marcelle Bittar, Mariana Weickert, Michelle Alves, Raica Oliveira, Raquel Zimmermann, Renata Maciel, Shirley Malmann, Solange Wilvert and Talytha Pugliese

Since this is real photography by a well-known and respected photographer (as opposed to "high fashion" photography by Conde Nast contractors, which is a cheaply-produced swindle job intended to sell luxury products to "It" girls and the nouveaue riche) the calendar can be ordered through any bookstore that carries photography books/calendars...

I am not sure what the 16yo olds will look like in the pics, but it's a good excuse to show off their bods...btw you can watch original Brazilian TV shows (inc the one with the Raica interview) on TV Globo, which is right now FTA on Hotbird 13 deg East in Europe...

2006-06-23T04:14:00.000Z

Ronaldo scored twice against Japan, Raica should be relieved...she was pissed when everybody (even the Brazilian president) was calling Ron a "fat boy"
Nice interview with a relaxed Raica, from a Brazilian TV talk show

2006-06-21T16:26:00.000Z

This is scandal season in Italy...the big football scandal, involving the Juventus director and many others, is followed by raunchy exposes featuring some well-known local personalities:

It seems that the ex-King, Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy, "helped to procure prostitutes for an Italian casino" - more about this debacle here...his son is the equally infamous Emanuele Filberto, a major asshole...
Classic dialog involving the ex-King, on R&R to Milan:

A conversation with Venetian businessman Ugo Bonazza:
VE I’m going to Milan . . . and I’ve got three quarters of an hour now . . . I wanted to go to a whore . . . to go again to . . . what was her name?
Bonazza Alice, Alice. [supplies the address]. She’s there, ring the bell, number 18, where it says “Yoga”, you remember?
VE I’ll give her €200 and no more, eh?
Bonazza No no, you don’t have to give her anything. Just a wave, a little kiss. Tell her I’ll sort it out later

As they say - "pay no more than 200 euro"...

An even spicier affair just exploded, with state TV (RAI) executives allegedly asking various aspiring starlets for sexual favors in exchange for their very own show on RAI TV...one of the names mentioned is Elisabetta Gregoraci who is often seen next to Flavio Briatore...she started as Miss Calabria, did the usual nudie calendars and even some Wonderbra ads before jumping to TV and cinema

2006-06-19T07:03:00.000Z

Politics detour -- Don't you love conspiracy theories? Hehe...

Check out this news story - by the respected BBC, in case some people claim it is a hoax...the spy ring cracking started in 2004
The recent news -and the real beef - is here, amazingly this appeared in the equally respected London Times... tells you how much some people in the UK hate Tony Blair nowdays...

If you google the names, you will see that this story has received very little attention from Western news sources - no wonder, if you notice the part where it says:

In a bizarre twist, Hussein Khattab, a Palestinian member of the spy ring, who is still at large, is the brother of Sheikh Jamal Khattab, an Islamic cleric who has allegedly recruited Arab fighters for al-Qaeda in Iraq.

The "bizarre" part is that this agent is closely connected to people who keep the terror campaign going in Iraq, thus helping Dubya claim that he is there to do the right thing - fighting Bin Laden's people...for this to work, a high-profile bogeyman like Al-Zarkawi, along with a strong organization, is needed...
Of course, terror networks are heavily penetrated by all sorts of secret agents, who sometimes may show more zeal than the actual terrorists - but conspiracy theorists will certainly have a field day

2006-06-15T16:06:00.000Z

Why do I still bother, you ask - well, maybe one day, even the most clueless out there will eventually figure out why the hippest models look a certain way, and stop trying to discover "alternative" versions of beauty and being in constant denial...

I mean - why do you think the sort of people who love the idea of a naked Amanda Lepore doll balk at the notion of sexy women in swimsuits? They perhaps think that sexy mods are not "high fashion" enough? Or maybe that nudity is "wrong"? Yeah, right...

If you watched the recent Kate Moss special on E! you saw that her minders won't let her open her mouth in public ever since that Bailey interview in 1998 where she came across as a rather unglamorous Croydon gal...S Meisel also hasn't said anything in public for decades - not suprisingly, since this is his last known quote, as detailed in the Gross book "Model" - from my earlier Blog:

Gross mentions an interview Meisel once gave to the gay mag Advocate, in which he says he always liked to photograph "...more effeminate-looking men, more masculine-looking women, and drag queens in hopes of teaching that there is a wide variety of people...there's absolutely a queer sensibility to my work...but there's also a sense of humor...a sarcasm and a fuck you attitude as well as a serious beauty"

Unless you believe A Wintour's fave photographer changed his mind, the fresh versions of the same "fuck you" models can still be seen in Vogue Italia (like the masculine H Rhoda in the latest issue, supposedly having something to do with Jane Fonda's workout videos - at least that's the intepretation for the average Joe) and most major high fashion campaigns...

2006-06-15T13:43:00.000Z

Fashionable NYC characters continue to provide major comic relief for free - most people would be willing to pay for the service...

As you may know(?) many A Wintour minions are involved in something called DIFFA (The Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS). To fïght AIDS, they decided to produce and sell a doll (three actually - called Glam, Couture Baby and Look Better Naked) modelled after Amanda Lepore. Amanda is of course "...one of New York's most influential transvestite, drag, and transgendered performers..." - but in a country where porn stars become born-again "Christians", Amanda is as qualified as any to lead the fight against AIDS...

Not all art intended for DIFFA fundraisers is as tasteful - some years ago, the organization decided that an art piece by a Jeff Owen "...depicting a Ken doll and an Aladdin doll perched together on Aladdin's flying carpet..." was inappropriate - probably coz none of two heroes was a female impersonator...

For those who wonder why McQueen adores Pam - not coz she is S8 sexy...

I know what you may be thinking - why not a Lady Bunny doll?
After all, the Lady (with Pam in the pic) is far more influential than Amanda in hip NYC circles -she gets invited to every Marc Jacobs party- but IMO, Anna Wintour vetoed her, since we all know how determined she is to keep costs down, and a Lady Bunny doll would probably cost over three times as much to produce than any normal doll - she is such a "big" character...

That's hardly the whole story - as the official Lady Bunny blog informs us, by late March 06, the Amanda Lepore doll had sold out - "...the initial run of Amanda Lepore dolls by designer Jason Wu have sold out after having been available at Jeffrey less than two days...among those that wanted dolls, but couldn't get them, are Pamela Anderson, Hugh Hefner, and Mister and Mister Elton John..."
Every trash symbol wanted one - so, what was the solution to the crisis?
Hang on - Mr Wu was somehow "inspired" by Maggie Rizer's "beauty" and decided to produce a new series of dolls modelled after Maggie !!
Of course, Karl Lagerfeld could not be possibly left out from all this crapola, so the "inspiration" reportedly came from some old photos he had taken of Maggie...I don't think it's the infamous Fendi shots from the late 90s, coz Maggie was so overexposed in those you couldn't tell what she actually looked like...or maybe that was the point.

2006-06-13T08:45:00.000Z

Nice Raica pics (and videos !!!) in the Paparazzo site, here

2006-06-11T07:01:00.000Z

Gisele was seen having an intimate dinner with Guga Kuerten a few days ago - Gis watchers may remember that she was always present at tennis tournaments near her L.A. home when Guga was playing...

Ana Beatriz showed up for the Lenny show - check out her Summer 06 Intimissimi pics here ...the show looks were inspired by Cindy C, Naomi C and Linda E (Christy Turlington is virtually unknown outside the US and high fashion circles)...Izabel Goulart did a special appearance just for this show...Bianca Klamt and Fabi Nunes were also there...plus Isabeli (who is very pregnant and still with H Castelli) Michele Alves, Gianne, Marcele Bittar, Fabiana Semprebom, Juliana Imai and many others...

Letica Birkheuer remains the classic "Lenny girl" and no longer needs the services of IMG NYC thanks to her celeb status - notice the resemblance to a certain actress recently seen in Namibia...

Truth is, Brazil has produced very few quality models after 2000 - even the veteran model scouts failed to come up with new faces which can be compared to the big names of 1994-1999...one of the few young names who has real model qualities is ultracute Monique Olsen, who should be 15 yo by now - she is painfully thin, but at least that's her normal look and not a result of induced starvation...Monique is amazingly expressive, as seen here

2006-06-10T21:40:00.000Z

Raica is in Rio, to catwalk for TNG on Sunday - Rio is home since her family lives in a Rio suburb. The pic is from an Erika Palomino interview...she now has waist-long hair, which is the proper thing for Brazilian mods - Ana Beatriz would look even better with long hair...

2006-06-10T08:42:00.000Z

What about model types for the upcoming Fall/Winter shows and campaigns? The Brazilian agents at Fashion Rio think brunettes will be popular - this is also evident in the "hip in NYC" model lists, where blondes are nowhere near as dominant as they used to be.
Of course, women's fashion sells to women, and most women would rather be blonde and see blondes on mag covers, editorials and ads. This is not the case with men any more, despite what certain types would want you to believe - in real popularity polls, a majority of men -even in the US/UK- say that they like brunettes better. This fact is however of little importance to the fashion world, and the shift to brunettes is probably just another seasonal trend...
New names so far - Ford is promoting Bruna Sotilli and Julia Robazzi (in the pic) who are slated for over twenty Fashion Rio shows each. As for comebacks, the impressive Guisela Rhein is back in the limelight, with a new agency. Stephanie Oliveira is 14 yo and the daughter of footballer Bebeto, she may grab some attention thanks to the World Cup. There are a couple of names that are somewhat hip in NYC fashion circles since last season - and Rowland, after getting mud on his face (several Brazilians he kicked out last summer became international successes with Ford) went back to Brazil to "discover" a couple of fresh (ho-hum) faces...knowing how NYC modeling operates, any nobody can become the new No 1, so commenting on traditional model qualities is probably a waste of time...
Ford NYC has had some success with young cute brunettes, so they continue with the same recipe...I think Vika Sementsova is a dozen times cuter and a better mod that these brazucas, but DNA seems more interested in selling "services" to their mods than promoting them...
I've mentioned before how IMG NYC ignores sexy Brazilians (Jeisa sells to a different market) - probably coz someone is afraid Gisele's value may be diluted by any comparisons...this is killing the careers of mods like Bianca Klamt, who is with IMG but she may as well not exist - the reasons why some would rather avoid comparisons are obvious...

2006-06-10T06:54:00.000Z

Whoa...I would never have guessed...Karen Elson is involved in a "lesbian duette" with singer Cat Power - the song is an english version of Serge Gainsbourg's "Je T’aime...Moi Non Plus", originally performed by Jane Birkin in 1969...
If you have to know - 1969 was also the year Andy Warhol was at his peak, and hardcore warholite S Meisel is said to admire Karen coz she resembles one of the infamous transvestites in Warhol's movies...

People ask - what the heck happened to Cinthia Moura?
Well, she was unfortunate in being with the "wrong" model agency (it's like saying Britney or Shakira would have been ignored coz their agent wasn't "cool" enough - but that's how shitty high fashion operates in NYC)...she is now in the movies, starring in a film by John Landis
As I've mentioned before, she is also in the 2006 Maxim swimsuit issue

Petra Nemcova is now officially with James Blunt, whoever he is

Cintia Dicker is in "boyfriend bliss" mode and it shows - from Fashion Rio

There is no shortage of interesting Brazilian mods - Julia Pereira (left) and Sheila Ruschel could give many hipper faces a run for their money, but some model agents are not working hard enough...Julia is amazingly photogenic and Sheila was shot by Ellen v Unwerth some years ago

2006-06-09T09:46:00.000Z

Fashion mods and World Cup - unfortunately(?) the Germans failed to consult with NYC modeling biz "professionals" and so Julia Stegner won't show up anywhere...Claudia S still looks good, as evident from her Cannes appearances, and she will be the German beauty representative...
You probably saw this in the evening news - "...Triumph International is presenting an unusual and very special fashion show in Munich to celebrate the 2006 World Cup. The fashion show will be held in Munich. The highlight will be the presentation of exclusive football bras, specially designed for Triumph and modelled by the girlfriends of some of the world's best footballers. The internationally celebrated top model Raica Oliveira, girlfriend of Brazil's international player Ronaldo, joins Alena Seredova, girlfriend of Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and Pamela Diaz, wife of the famous Chilean player Manuel Neila of Union Española, will present the creations of football bras...As a big fan of the German national team, Lena Gercke, winner of the successful Heidi Klum TV Show "Germany's next Top Model" will be present to support the top class trio on the catwalk..."
Raica looks rather glamourized lately...and she even helped Ronaldo with his blisters:
Raica, 22, spent Monday with Ronaldo at the Brazilian team’s hotel in Konigstein, Germany, before heading back across the Atlantic for modeling assignments in New York and Rio de Janeiro. ‘Raica, the solution for Ronaldo,’ Folha said, noting that she had helped him deal with his blistered feet. He has been recuperating from blisters on both feet but resumed training with the team on Tuesday, Brazil’s squad doctor Jose Luis Runco told reporters in Germany...
She also stated she is not much fond of Milan (who is?) and would rather live close to a beach..."...Ronaldo's fiancé, Raica Oliveira, admits she doesn't want to live in Milan and would prefer to see Ronaldo playing for a club by the sea. Raica said: "I just don't like Milan. He goes where the job takes him, but it's not a pretty city. I much prefer the sea."

2006-06-08T23:01:00.000Z

I've been busy lately, and missed the start of Fashion Rio (June 6th-11th) - but even Brazilian fashion shows as not as exciting as they used to be...Gisele will be the star model once again for Colcci while Raica will be the TNG star...someone booked Kim Noorda (!!) and a Romina as international "guest models", so it's a safe bet that the locals won't go wild any time soon.
Cute Carol Trentini got a nice beautyfying job for the cover of Vogue Brazil and is the main star for a 2nd year, along with Raquel Z, who remains largely unknown in Brazil...Gianne Albertoni is not only a carioca, but also celebrates 11 years in the biz - she was hailed as the "Milan lolita" at 13, back in 1995...
Raquel Zimmermann btw lives in Williamsburg and her bfriend is Cuban-American photographer Ruy Sanchez Blanco...Fernanda Motta is also there, but she is even lesser known than Raquel Z locally...Carol Francischini heads for California on June 16th to be photographed for a Victoria's Secret catalogue...Leticia Birkheuer is of course a major TV celeb, while Izabel Goulart is expected to walk for Lenny and Jeísa Chiminazzo for Animale...Michele Alves, Juliana Imai, Fabiana Semprebom etc are also in Rio.
If this is true, you may hear a lot more about Emanuela de Paula soon - apparently A Wintour compared her with...Liya Kebede ! (I guess coz they are both dark-skinned)-Emanuela is better model material and far more impressive than Liya IMO

Fun-loving teens in Fashion Rio...Schynaider, Bruna Freire, ? , Emanuela and Cintia Dicker

2006-06-03T00:17:00.000Z

Early this week, the newswires were reporting that Gisele did a shoot for a new campaign - for Apple Computers. If you think that's explosive news, you are right...but it wasn't just Gis, Apple laptops began to explode for real, apparently due to faulty lithium-ion batteries.
Check out the story and dramatic pics here. The iBook (a fave amongst models, most get them as gifts from admirers) burned for five minutes !!!
No wonder lithium is also used in atom bomb detonators !

2006-06-01T02:31:00.000Z

How many pretty ~~Alinas~~ Andreas are there in Romania?

2006-05-27T20:39:00.000Z

Damn, I knew someone in Nick Nolte's entourage looked familiar...Olga K is yet another mod who is modeling for over a decade (she was on the cover of US Glamour back in 1998) with many major campaigns but is ignored by the Gemmanoid-loving vogueys ...who gives a #@&% you ask...certainly not Olga, who after a lead role in a 2005 movie which made a big splash at the Toronto film festival, shows up in 'Paris Je T'aime', along with Nick Nolte, Bruce Wiilis and many others..

Olga Kurylenko in Cannes, from the movie premiere

Noemie Lenoir who also has an acting career, is more visible thanks to L'Oreal - I love her new hairstyle..

2006-05-26T03:10:00.000Z

Victoria S decided to wear this outfit in the Cannes AIDS gala yesterday - I am not sure how it can promote the fight against AIDS...

Petra Nemcova was also there...Noemie Lenoir finally changed hairstyle...various NYC voguey characters showed up too, since AMFAR is involved in the charity...Mariacarla wore a 95% transparent dress...thirtysomething Adriana Sklenarikova still looks unreal, while some 90s French top mods I saw on Canal+ looked like a very mature Molly Sims...no Russians whatsoever, except a Svetlana Metkina, who is said to be an actress...

2006-05-25T13:27:00.000Z

Ana Beatriz was seen in Cannes a few days ago, she was in the big Cardin party with Jeisa...they were originally supposed to fly to Nice (the Nice airport serves Cannes, Nice and Monaco) from Sao Paulo along with Alessandra Ambrosio, Ale says in her forum that she will be a guest of BMW-Sauber for the Formula One GP in Monaco this weekend...I suspect all three may show up in Monaco, so check with the BMW-Sauber press office if you are in the area...no need to get tickets for the big race, I bet they will be making lots of appearances tomorrow and Saturday as well...Ale is scheduled to do an ed for Vogue Italia, perhaps with Michel Comte, who worked with her in a BMW-related shoot before

Big movie directors usually don't get photographed with their girlfriend next to their major Hollywood star - but Alina Puscau is an exception. Alina in Cannes, with Brett Ratner and Halle Berry for "X Men"...I've met Alina, she is a very nice girl and I bet Rattner is in a blissful state of mind...

The mods who made the most impact in Cannes - Victoria Silvstedt, who outboobed the competition, and Adriana Sklenarikova...sure, MariaCarla was in town too, along with members of the Roitfeld clan, but "high fashion" afficcionados are few and far between in the Riviera, so the bombastic blondes got the spotlight...

God almighty...the French were speechless...and she looks twice as tall as Pam Anderson

2006-05-25T10:14:00.000Z

Typical crappy NYC model story - tells you how much the "pros" know about the top mods...

SUPERMODEL Karolina Kurkova is in trouble with Simon Doonan. The Czech catwalker was reportedly due to present the famously outspoken creative director of Barneys with a Fashion Maverick Award at the American Image Awards in New York last week – but she pulled out at the last moment. And he was taking no prisoners once he got onto the stage of the Hyatt Regency to pick up his gong. "Miss Kurkova was scheduled to present the Fashion Maverick Award to Simon Doonan tonight," he said, according to PAGESIX.COM. "And, in typical model fashion, she cancelled. Needless to say, this is something she will live to regret… Miss Kurkova pulled out at the last minute. Her excuse? Very interesting. She said she had to dash back to the Ukraine because of 'an immigration issue'. For those of you who are not in the fashion industry, allow me to explain: When an Eastern European supermodel claims she has to 'dash home' because of 'an immigration issue,' this can only mean one thing - it means she is heading home to avail herself of some free socialised dentistry - anything for a freebie! These hussies make a fortune, but they can never get used to paying to get their teeth scraped."

Of course, K Kurkova has nothing to do with the Ukraine - she is Czech, as the piece itself states in the beginning!!

As for why she gave Doonan the two fingers - she flew to Athens, Greece instead, to catwalk for a local Couture designer and make some serious money...

2006-05-24T14:13:00.000Z

Boy, this is a nice birthday present...Ana Beatriz, who will be celebrating her bday this weekend, gets not only the Elle Spain cover, but also appears in a great bikini ed inside..add to that Diana Kovalchuk and Talytha, and you have another must-buy Elle ES issue...

2006-05-23T21:07:00.000Z

The June issue of Elle Spain is out - Ana Beatriz gets the cover...G. Bensimon remains in a creative coma, with dowdy Hollywood celebs dominating the US Elle covers

I noticed Isabeli in a Revlon product launch, for the new Flair fragrance...

2006-05-21T00:02:00.000Z

New model name - 26 yo Alexandra Paressant joined Team L'Oreal 2006, is in Chanel Reves and looks like a cross between Isabeli and Rianne...interesting. She was also in several Paris shows last season, 1m78 tall and 90-62-92.

The Milanese think "rules" may be the problem - for the fact that people care little about Milan anymore... could it possibly be that the problem is elsewhere - in that they choose to accept and represent shitty models, blindly following the biz rules that NYC sets? Unfortunately for them, hip NYC types know how to play the "high fashion" game much better than they can...

MODELS, photographers and stylists in Milan went on strike for three hours on Wednesday to protest against the lack of rules governing their industry. "When you go to New York or Paris, there are rules you have to follow," says Guido Dolci, president of Assem, which represents some of the fashion agencies there. "You need a visa to work, or a license. In the Eighties, everyone was here, all of the most famous models and photographers. Everybody worked in Milan. Now everyone shoots abroad and our economy has fallen."

The local offices of IMG and Women NYC continue to make good money though - so maybe the losers should ask Rowland and Co how come the lack of "rules" in Milan doesn't seem to affect them...

2006-05-13T14:09:00.000Z

Pagesix discovers C Murphy home movie - she had the surfer dude busted, but the tape got leaked...

Jake Schroeder - who was arrested on extortion charges in January after he tried to sell a graphic sex tape he made with his ex-wife, supermodel Carolyn Murphy - says he's sorry he ever tried to hawk the homemade porno. "Do I regret it?" he asked us. "Damn straight I do." Schroeder claims all he was really trying to do was recoup $200,000 he says Murphy owes him from a hotel they planned to open in Costa Rica together. The surfer dude, who is the father of Murphy's daughter, Dylan, 5, was bailed out of jail by Internet Commerce Group, the company that tried to market the two-hour video, parts of which have already been leaked on the Web

2006-05-11T14:58:00.000Z

AW went to LA fashion week (despite what her avid fans may think about it) and now NYC exports its high fashion "Mary Poppins" values to LA as well:

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Missing: scantily-clad females hawking the latest in electronic toys for the boys.
The video game industry's annual trade show in Los Angeles opened its doors to its exhibitors on Wednesday with organizers ordering women staffing the booths to cover up or face a $5,000 fine.
Banned are nudity, partial nudity, bikini bottoms or any sexually explicit or provocative conduct, according to the handbook from The Entertainment Software Association, or ESA, which owns and operates the E3 Expo.
Pauline K, who declined to give her last name, wore a white shredded tank top with an exposed midriff, short mini skirt and knee-high leggings as she handed out fliers for a company that makes custom face plates for Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 game machine.
She said another of the models received a warning from show organizers for showing too much skin. "Apparently her cleavage was a little too distracting," she said.
"Last year there were a lot of complaints about how the models were beyond, in many cases, what was decent," said ESA President Douglas Lowenstein on Monday.
Despite the new rules, there was no shortage of exposed skin, patent leather and knee-high boots. Many exhibitors dressed women like video game heroines and there was a group of women wearing sexy nurses' outfits.
"They're wearing slightly more clothes this year," said Gail Salamanica, an exhibitor at the show, "But not much."

This reminds me of Leticia Birkheuer (some others probably think of Karen Elson and Erin OC in sexy lesbian nurse drab) in these infamous pics from her blond days...

2006-04-28T21:37:00.000Z

Despite what you may assume from looking at typical NYC modeling biz choices, Belarus mods can be very impressive - even back in the mid 90s, when Tamara Models was the top agency in Minsk, Belarus was producing great mods, like one of my faves, Alina Shilak...another mod who appeared in many campaigns over the last decade is Anna Bondareva, who was Miss Top Model Belarus 1996. Anna worked in London and Paris a lot, doing mainly luxury lingerie work - one campaign I didn't know about is the one for Police eyeglasses, together with none other than George Clooney !
She is now into music and acting, she appears in Bunker Paradise along with...Audray Marnay!

2006-04-28T11:52:00.000Z

Nice Alessandra Ambrosio photo, on the cover of German GQ

If you check her official site, the latest "Diaries" video was shot in her apt in Florianopolis, which is located right on the beach...she can also be seen sunbathing with her sister and Ana Beatriz

2006-04-26T06:42:00.000Z

Is Yogi Berra still alive?

The dude who runs beersandshots.com received the following cease-and-desist

Carolyn Murphy/ICG - DMCA Notice
James,
As you know, we are litigation counsel for Carolyn Murphy. As you also know, we sent a DMCA Notice to you earlier today. If you do not remove the copyright-protected video of our client from your website, www.beerandshots.com, immediately, our client will sue you and anyone working on your behalf or in concert with you for millions of dollars and injunctive relief.

Govern yourself appropriately.

P. S. Berra

Right...I dunno if the comic relief you get from watching Ms "US Fantastic mother of the Year" -or similar- will offset the "injuctive relief", but you can rest assured that this blog, which respects US copyright laws, will not link to any C Murphy video...just use the mule or any P2P s/w...

Are these lawyers for real? I would suggest to the dude who talked to them on the phone to investigate whether the phone numbers are registered to a certain NYC model agency, or a company which employs an editrix who used to party with Bob Marley in the 70s...

His original link was this - who the hell are "Ljuba and Juliana"?

btw here is C Murphy with her ex, the surfer boy who sold their "home video" to ICG after they had certain "disagreements" - which were covered here extensively...whether the action was filmed in Barbados or his surf camp in Costa Rica, I dunno

He looks more like a "manly man" than a "socialite man" - I am referring to the sort of men featured in the voguey-friendly fashion section of the NY Times

For people who don't know shit about C Murphy (almost everyone) and who want to see the "perfect mom" -according to the Lauder heiress- in (modeling) action, I am posting again the infamous MaxMara campaign pic, where someone decided Ms Murphy would match the interior decoration better if she was varnished as well...the year was 2000...you could say she looks somewhat "wooden" in the pic

2006-04-25T08:11:00.000Z

"Terrorism" is useful to a lot of people - it may also help safeguard the (dwindling) profits of various trash merchants, who are feeling the pinch since the international public is rejecting many of their (sub)cultural products...

...A new 24-page DMCA draft law being circulated in congress would give government officials far-reaching permissions to wiretap anyone suspected of piracy and will make the act of circumventing copy protections – even if it's for fair-use – a federal crime... And more disturbingly revealed is U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' mental connection that piracy funds terrorist activities....Obviously we should give up our fair-use rights to fight the “War on Terror.”...
The proposed law also expands civil and criminal restrictions to possessing or distributing any anti-circumvention tool the may “make, import, export, obtain control of” copy protected digital media. This rule even applies to software applications that can remove PC rootkit style scripts media companies feel compelled to bundle into their harmless looking music CDs. And if that wasn't bad enough...the new law will boost “criminal penalties for copyright infringement originally created by the No Electronic Theft Act of 1997 from five years to 10 years (and 10 years to 20 years for subsequent offenses). The NET Act targets noncommercial piracy including posting copyrighted photos, videos or news articles on a Web site if the value exceeds $1,000.”
If anything, this misguided and self-serving law shows how our government officials DON'T represent the views of the people who have elected them, but more accurately represent the views of the lobbyists giving them perks and kick-backs. In this case, lobbyists backed by the deep pockets of the MPAA and RIAA...

So, if IMG NYC for example decides that a shitty polaroid or mag photo featuring one of their "hip" faces is worth "over $1000" they can sue the web site that's posting it for "piracy"...but there may be a simple solution to avoid getting into any such trouble...

2006-04-24T09:45:00.000Z

Coming up in the next couple of months -if I manage to find my old Hi8 videotapes- you'll see video of a young Raica frolicking in the French Riviera, Valya Zelyaeva being selected in the castings for a 1999 Moscow model contest, and more...

Anyone noticed Maxim "Swimsuit Special 2006"?
Only six girls, three warrant any mention - Lisa Martinaglia from SA, Bree (the GUESS? girl) and Brazilian Cinthia Moura...check out Cinthia's pics here

Speaking of Bree Conden - I missed several episodes in the GUESS? campaign saga, but it seems Paris Hilton was replaced by a Tori Praver - as the Honolulu Sun informs us:

Move over, Paris Hilton. Make way for Lahaina's Tori Praver, 18, the new face of Guess.
Cindy Kauanui, owner of model and talent agency Jet Set Management Group in La Jolla, Calif., discovered the surfer last year while browsing through a magazine.
"She radiated health and beauty," Kauanui, now Praver's agent, said from La Jolla, "and she didn't have a stitch of makeup on."
Praver, already featured in Guess ads worldwide, is following in the footsteps of former Guess girls Claudia Schiffer, Anna Nicole Smith and Drew Barrymore...

For whatever strange reason, Galeries Lafayette threw a party in Paris with Bree and Tori as the model guests - the Parisienne listed Bree as "Bree Connor" but it's not some other Bree...in the pic from the party photo-op, Bree seems to be thinking "Who put me next to this tall blond bitch?" - and looks just about to explode out of her overstreched dress...

On the subject of surfer girls - the voguey-approved variety, Carolyn Murphy, appears in a "home sex" video shot by her ex hubby back in her boho days - the video has now surfaced and can be downloaded from the usual sites...we are eagerly awaiting the comments from IMG's Ivan Bart and the Lauders...
And don't forget to vote in the blog's always up-to-date poll, for IMG's most obnoxious face - C Murphy's home video appearance is one of the options...

Yeay - Eliza Joenck is in the new Cia Maritima campaign - and she is still with Anderson Dornelles...in the pic, with friend Tati Dumenti (ex-Rossi)...Q for the knowledgable - in addition to Izabela Tavares, who often appears in the same pics with Tati and Eliza, and a couple of other models, I've seen Alvaro Jacomossi - is he "related" to any of the mods?

2006-04-23T09:07:00.000Z

The geriatric set is staging a big comeback this year - the Rolling Stones are on tour, Sharon Stone is in the news (I hear Basic Instict II bombed, dunno about Dior sales) and 90s "top models" are back in fashion - from Katie to Stella Tennant. I ran out of Stella T jokes long ago (I still like the beer) but I will comment on this - as you may have sensed, high fashion is one great swindle, and the official Stella T "discovery" story (the genious of S Meisel was credited for it originally) is not an exception from the rule. The truth is very different, and as you can see from the hilarious "My husband ran off with a lesbian" story on Isabella Blow (one of the few people whose fashionable diktats even AW follows) Stella was her "discovery" - the specifics are detailed in another article...
Ms Blow, Sophie Dahl and many of these ladies (and I suspect AW too) have something in common - they were hated (or at least ignored) by their fathers, which partly accounts for their mentality IMO...
Stella T recently said (Jan 06) that she now has a "real life" and doesn't miss the catwalk...wasn't she in the F/W 06-07 shows just a couple of months later?

In other important news - the Swedes decided to officialy add the letter "W" to their alphabet. Why was I certain the Swedish Chef used Ws in the Muppets? The Germans btw think the Danes are funnier, and have the Chef singing in Danish...plus there is a version of Google in bork-speak, here

2006-04-16T02:08:00.000Z

Gisele graduates to full supermod status - she now dates rich old men...the guy is Ron Burkle, the billionaire who was involved in the pagesix debacle mentioned before...
Toby Young, who wrote a very unflattering book about the Conde Nasties had this to say about Burkle and his motives...

2006-04-13T11:27:00.000Z

Ines Sastre married Alex Corria at the Brompton Oratory in London - she is also getting ready for Hollywood, with a starring role in Andy Garcia's directorial debut, Lost City.
Bee Shaffer, Anna Wintour's daughter, writer for the UK Telegraph and contributing editor at Teen Vogue, has revealed that "...even the most well-heeled girls get in a panic about what to wear"...this startling revelation is almost as significant as the recent expose about Teen Vogue readers sniffing glue in their cool bedrooms...
We also learn that Kate Moss has been receiving death threats from crazed Pete Doherty fans, according to The Daily Star newspaper. Good news for cocaine dealers too - "The Star also informs us that she is planning a girly get-away with some of her favourite gal pals"...
Katie also posed for a sculpture, as seen in the pic, by a "renowned artist" - according to whom "...She is a contemporary version of the Sphinx. A mystery. There must be something about her that has clicked with the collective unconscious to make her so ubiquitous, so spirit of the age..." UK Vogue however fails to mention that Katie once also "posed" for another artist, who took a anatomically-correct plaster cast of her butt area. Unfortunately, the masterpiece was stolen before it could be revealed to the public - this site, as you may know, continues the quest to recover the priceless item...

NYC DA's office - helloooo !!!

2006-04-07T13:57:00.000Z

Xcuz me - what's the difference between the "ïllegal act" described below, and what the alpha female demands in order to feature people in her lousy rag?
That the pagesix people are not major financial contributors, like some other "nasties", when the various Giulianis run for public office?

New York Post fixture Jared Paul Stern — who freelances for Page Six, edited the Page Six magazine, and as of two days ago was still handling the Post’s Sunday book reviews — has been suspended from the paper pending an investigation by the FBI for extortion. Law enforcement videotaped two meetings between Stern and supermarket billionaire (and rumored Radar 3.0 investor) Ron Burkle, who is known as a ladies’ man, in which Stern asked for $100,000 up front to keep Richard Johnson and Page Six’s coverage of Burkle fluffy and favorable, plus $10,000 per month for maintenance...

Noticed how AW is positioning herself as a more "accessible" person lately - with pictures of her tacky Hamptons home printed in mainstream media? Why would she want to appear more appealing and "homely" to the common people - her minions will adore her regardless...well, Hillary C is getting ready to run for 2008, and you can bet AW will play a role - remember who said it and when...

J K Rowling blasts voguey ideals

2006-04-07T13:40:00.000Z

Society obsession my ass - the "thin" look is championed by the same mafia who was behind the "heroin chic" product a decade ago...the alpha female in NYC, her alter ego in London, their gurus -Isabella Blow (!!) etc - the same Conde Nast contract photographers, the same stylists - working for "independent" fellow-traveller publications whose purpose is to supply "hipness" credentials for the mafia's chosen faces...all accept the same advertising from the same "luxury" fashion conglomerates, push the same product and hype the same cokehead from Croydon and her party pals - nothing has changed. Some poor bastards in Paris and Milan joined in to avoid being blackballed, and that's about it.

The author J K Rowling has lambasted society's obsession with thin women and the models who uphold the look, saying she does not want her daughters to grow up "empty-headed, self-obsessed, emaciated clones".
In a rant on her official website, the Harry Potter writer hits out at stick-thin models whose sole function in life appears to be to support "the trade in overpriced handbags and rat-sized dogs" and get photographed.
Rowling says too many healthy young girls are labelled "fat" when in fact it is society and the models they look up to who have the problem. She criticised those who promote thinness as desirable, saying she did not want her two daughters - Mackenzie Jean, aged 15 months, and Jessica, aged 12 - to grow up "emaciated clones."
"Being thin. Probably not a subject that you ever expected to read about on this website, but my recent trip to London got me thinking," she wrote.
"I whiled away part of the journey reading a magazine that featured several glossy photographs of a very young woman who must surely be suffering from an eating disorder; there is no other explanation for the shape of her body.
"She can talk about eating absolutely loads, being terribly busy and having the world's fastest metabolism until her tongue drops off (hooray! another couple of ounces gone!), but her concave stomach, protruding ribs and stick-like arms tell a different story. This girl needs help, but, the world being what it is, they're sticking her on magazine covers instead."
Rowling wrote how strange and sick the "fat" insult is and how it has become "an everyday feature of female existence".
She also recounted an experience she had last week to illustrate that even she, a writer, felt pressure to be thin. "I went to the British Book Awards... After the award ceremony I bumped into a woman I hadn't seen for nearly three years. The first thing she said to me? 'You've lost a lot of weight since the last time I saw you!' 'Well,' I said, slightly nonplussed, 'the last time you saw me I'd just had a baby.'
"What I felt like saying was, 'I've produced my third child and my sixth novel since I last saw you. Aren't either of those things more important, more interesting, than my size?'"
There are an estimated 1.1 million sufferers of eating disorders in the UK. Those in the 14 to 18 age group appear most prone to anorexia nervosa - refusal to maintain a healthy body weight - while sufferers of bulimia, which is characterised by binge eating followed by purging, tend to be slightly older between 18 and 25.
Rowling believes the subject is important: "It's about what girls want to be, what they're told they should be, and how they feel about who they are," she said. "I've got two daughters who will have to make their way in this skinny-obsessed world, and it worries me. I'd rather they were independent, interesting, idealistic, kind, opinionated, original, funny, a thousand things, before 'thin'."
Rowling's ouburst follows criticism from the model Twiggy who accused the fashion industry of causing anorexia among angst-ridden teenagers.
Steve Bloomfield of the Eating Disorders Association said: "The media and society do present this image of how thin is glamorous and for people suffering from other problems it can be a trigger that sets them off on a path which is unhealthy for them." (UK Independent)

2006-03-27T23:19:00.000Z

According to the NYT, zombies are very big in the USA right now. It is no coincidence that many recent NYC biz "discoveries" look like they spend some weeks ten feet under, before they started winning all those "major show" casting calls (that was an esoteric joke). H Bratton, M Perez, etc look like scary shit indeed. But this is not all - the really undead ones, from the darkest days of the late 90s, are also returning to the high fashion stage - years after they were unceremoniously buried in the high fashion modeling graveyard.
Eco-friendly Angie Lindvall headlined Chanel PAP, we have the never-ending quest of securing appropriate employment for Guinevere V S, Maggie Rizer is on the comeback trail - and even Malgosia is re-emerging. Malgosia was actually a very good model, but after spending time in NYC she started campaigning for the Democratic party, touring the world for months with lesbian photographers - and then disappeared, as Meisel and Co went wholesale "edgy" and switched their attention to maturing Belgian part-time "models".
The only Meisel/AW oldie fave we haven't seen ressurected yet is Sunniva Stordal - her whereabouts are unknown.

2006-03-26T22:57:00.000Z

Some in the UK media are concerned about the social implications of Katie's latest statement - here is the story:

Now, it is reported, the supermodel has asked her ex-partner Jefferson Hack to father another child with her.
The response of long-suffering steady-eddie Hack, seen quietly toting their three-year-old daughter Lila Grace around while Kate is on another photoshoot, has not been recorded...

I guess that was after Potty Pete kicked someone's head in public while screaming "I love Kate" - and before the news that Katie is now partying with erotic home video star Colin Farell.

The NYC "Mary Poppins" family values crowd remains unfazed - they may claim that women in swimsuits is a sinful concept, but nothing Katie says or does will make them love her any less.

Roberto Cavalli was convicted - I bet the judge refused to accept his decision to hire Katie to impersonate the "Cavalli woman"
ROBERTO CAVALLI was sentenced to 14 months in prison yesterday after a Florence court found him guilty of tax evasion. However, a technicality in Italian law means he is unlikely to spend any time in jail.

2006-03-17T23:40:00.000Z

The Adriana Lima GQ interview. Am I surprised? - not really...all the iBooks and iPods you see models carrying are presents from admirers, but very few managed to score with gifts...as for "boyfriends", most are glad to just get the mod's attention...and won't take any risks. Of course we are talking about teenagers here, but there may be a few older ones who have been too busy working to settle down and have any real relationships.
If you wonder about her sex "experiance level", Adriana says she is "not very experianced" - which should give you some clues...but sex, as defined by Slick Willy, it is not.
She shows up precisely on time—for breakfast. At ten o’clock on a Saturday morning. In Midtown Manhattan. (This alone tells us she is not your average supermodel.) But wait. Adriana Lima, the Brazilian beauty, the ninety-seventh highest-paid famous person in the world according to Forbes, the reason our nephews spank away to Victoria’s Secret catalogs, has plenty of surprises. (Unfortunately, no surprises about her famous ex-boyfriends: We are told ahead of time that any questions about Lenny Kravitz, the model-collecting rocker with whom she was allegedly involved, are “off-limits.” Ditto for Derek Jeter.) But did we mention she’s a virgin? Hey, that’s her story—and she’s stickin’ to it.
How old are you, anyway?
Um, my age, I’m gonna leave, like, free for everybody to think about. I’m gonna leave it a secret, so when I get old, nobody will know.
Did you always plan on being a supermodel?
When I started, I was too young to know what I wanted. But today I would like to be a doctor. I want to be a pediatry…how do you call it, pediatrician?
Yeah. Pediatrician. So you like kids?
Not really. Depends. If they act well behaved, yes. When they start screaming, I don’t like them. But this is my plan. I might change my mind. For now, God has given me a lot of work.
I take it you’re religious?
Yes! I am Catholic. [she pulls out the cardboard scapular hanging around her neck, under her big gray sweater]
Wow. A scapular. Do you go to church?
Of course! Every Sunday.
Is there anything in the teachings of the Catholic Church that you don’t agree with?
No.
Are you pro-life?
What do you mean, pro-life?
How do you feel about abortion?
I think it’s a crime.
Okay, so let’s get started. You know the theme of this issue, right? Love, Sex, and
Madness—
Uh-huh. Yes. God.
Which category do you want to talk about first?
Love.
I figured. Okay. Have you been in love a lot?
I’m in love now.
Were you ever before?
No! I believe love just happens once. You can be mistaken, you can think you are in love, but after a while you discover that you’re really not. Real love is different.
Are you a one-guy woman?
Of course! I’m a Catholic.
Look, I’m Catholic, too, but there’s a lot of things about the church that make it hard to date within its rules, don’t you think?
Like what?
Birth control, premarital sex…
Well, you know, sex is just for after marriage.
Say what?
Sex is for after marriage.
Are you saying you’re not going to have sex before marriage?
Exactly.
You mean you’ve never had sex?
That’s why I have to say.
You sure about this?
Yes.
How do men respond to the fact that you plan to, you know, wait?
I don’t care. They have to respect that this is my choice. If there’s no respect, that means they don’t want me.
Who was your first boyfriend?
I have just three boyfriends in my life.
Get out.
And this is the third one now.
Did you ever have your heart broken?
By my two exes, yes.
They dumped you?
Noooo. They did not dump me. But… It just did not worked. It did not work. You know?
Were you depressed?
No, not depressed. I don’t have depression.
You didn’t crawl into bed for a week and cry your eyes out?
Well, I felt sad, you know, but what am I gonna do? What’s crying and crawling and locking myself in gonna do for me? Nothing.
So except for the man you’re so in love with, who is your idea of a really hot guy?
My man.
Besides him.
I can’t look at another guy! I can’t. I swear. I’m blocked. I cannot look.
But how do guys—when you’re out and you’re at a club or a restaurant or an event, how do guys approach—
Don’t approach me.
They don’t approach you?
No, I say: Do not.
I know you don’t sleep with anyone, but just for the sake of argument: Who would you rather sleep with, Bush or Clinton?
Ohmigod. They’re too old for me!
Any other thoughts about sex?
I’m not very experienced, okay?
I guess we don’t have much to talk about, sexwise?
I don’t think so.
So…any beauty tips?
I don’t work out.
And is all of you natural?
No, it’s all fake. From my hair to my toes to my nails. Everything’s fake. Everything! Even my heart is fake.
Okay, got it. But if you could improve one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Patience. I’m very impatient. I like everything now. I want it all now.
Except sex.
I’m talking about work.
Of course.
No more details!

LISA DEPAULO is a GQ correspondent.

Told ya so...

2006-03-17T01:46:00.000Z

I told you something was about to hit the "high fashion" fan...
Trash always meets trash - and yobo McQueen and Co are so predictable...

CAN you imagine Jordan making it onto Anna Wintour's list?
The 27-year-old glamour model and mother-of-two is to feature in the US edition of Vogue for its "shape issue", which advises women on how to dress for their shape. Describes in the magazine as "top heavy", Jordan is photographed by David Bailey looking demure in a Lanvin dress. For the benefit of the American audience who may not yet be familiar with her, she is referred to as a "living brand" and the article also defines the word "chav": "Chavs is the latest moniker for Britain's underprivileged white youthquake… stereotypical adjectives are bing-drinking, bling-loving, boob-displaying, Burberry-wearing." Jordan also has a chance to plug her lingerie range and her books, which she says she writes by using a tape recorder. "I talk," she says. "I'm not going to say I sit there with a pen and paper – I don't think anyone does that, do they?"

My fave Jordan story has to do with her fake boobs making funny noises during a flight - apparently, there was a real danger of a boob explosion inside the cabin...the hazard did not go away though:

Jordan's silicon-enhanced breasts could explode during I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here!, doctors have said.
The model has vowed to strip off as soon as she enters the camp in the heart of the Australian jungle, but if leeches decide to feed from her, her breats will become inflamed, growing even bigger.
"She'd need to be treated quickly if she was bitten on her chest," a medical expert told the Daily Star today. "I dread to think what would happen if her breasts started swelling. There is a danger they might explode."
Meanwhile, fellow contestant Lord Brockett has said he will use Jordan as a float if in water. "If I've got to swim in crocodile infested waters I'll cling to her," he said. "She'll be the last thing to sink."

Maybe Gisele should be certified explosion-proof as well...

2006-03-12T10:52:00.000Z

I highly recommend getting the March issue of Elle Spain - it includes a massive mode supplement and the most visually pleasing set of ads I've seen in the last five years...the good thing is that fashion brands produce alternative versions of their campaigns, for markets like Russia or Spain where consumers don't identify with the crappy aesthetic of Meisel, Bart and Co - not to mention that the editors of Spanish mags tend to pick the more tasteful and elegant model pics, even if you can't really escape from Gemma's clueless stare wherever you go these days...
Excellent pic of Fernada Tavares on the cover - Bensimon may be in creative coma for several years, but the Spaniards are alive and kicking. The ed was shot in Ibiza in late December, especially for Elle Spain and features not only Fernanda T, but also Talytha Pugliesi (whoa!) and Fernanda Motta (whoa!!) People would pay money to actually be around that shoot - I am glad that Talytha escaped NYC and is chilling out in Biarritz, and I am also grateful to the guy who conviced F Motta to try modeling...
Tons of other interesting stuff inside - btw who is the one in the LaPerla PaP campaign pic with the flowers?
Spring is around the corner, and the obligatory "Brazil specials" are already appearing in all sorts of mags - the April issue of US Elle has a theme ed with Ana Beatriz (not shot by brain-dead Bensimon though) while the March issue of German MAX has "MAX goes Rio" printed on the cover page. The model is Cris Noronha, with 40 Graus agency - also known from her MissBikini pics.
MAX comes with a small booklet which had to be glued on a mag page - they chose to glue it on Gemma's face, in that hilarious CK Obsession Night for Men (!) perfume ad, where a naked Gemma emerges from a dark lagoon, to the amazement of a dude who was obviously expecting something else...hey, fashion people may have proven to be 100% pathetic, but there is still comic relief to be found in browsing mags...

In the pic, Cris Noronha from last years Rio carnival:

2006-03-11T18:53:00.000Z

People are wondering whether the voguey crowd will love or hate the upcoming movie (expected release this June) based on the "Devil wears Prada" book - so here are 2 eurocents worth of my opinion...

Don't confuse the book with the movie - movies many times have little or no relation to the book on which they are supposedly based. The reaction to the book was downright nasty in NYC circles - from a 2003 article on how the NYT treated the book:

"...The fact that the paper (me says: the NYT) twice reviewed a literary debut by a previously unknown author would be noteworthy in itself; what's unprecedented is the fact that its reviewers twice ripped the book to shreds — arguing not simply that it fails as literature, but that it should never have been published in the first place...Given how many books are published each year, and how few the Times actually reviews, why would the paper twice in two days go out of its way to hammer a first novel by a hitherto unpublished writer? (Another point of disclosure: The Times did not review my first novel last year.) The answer cannot be that The Devil Wears Prada was heavily promoted . . . since even a cursory glance at its own bestseller lists will reveal many mega-hyped books the Times wouldn't touch with a ten-foot highlighter."

Meryl Streep (the editrix) and Anne Hathaway (her assistant) from a movie still

The answer is that AW's minions were really pissed by the book's treatment of...themselves. They did their best to trash Lauren Weisberger, who committed the "cardinal sin" - as K Betts put it, "..."I have to say Weisberger could have learned a few things in the year she sold her soul to the devil of fashion for $32,500. She had a ringside seat at one of the great editorial franchises in a business that exerts an enormous influence over women, but she seems to have understood almost nothing about the isolation and pressure of the job her boss was doing...."

We are talking about the sort of people who publish articles (which are of course approved by higher management)in a paper with very expensive real estate, just to blast those (PETA members mainly) who love to throw all kinds of stuff at A Wintour during FW - and not at other fur wearers around her...as if anyone really gives a shit. The NYT has now become "AW's Defense League"?
So AW's lackeys hated the book and the author - but what about the movie?
It is entirely possible that the movie will present a totally different image of the alpha female and those around her. It all depends on how likeable the main character - the editrix - ends up being. Meryl Streep IMO is a rather unlikely choice for the editrix role.
Hollywood treats movies as products to be sold to a certain demographic - the actors are chosen to appeal to the movie's intended audience. Meryl's traditional fans have little to do with the voguey crowd and the educated and more cultured people in NYC tend to view fashionistas as lepers - the problems US Vogue had in convincing NYC museums to hold fashion-related exhibitions are well known. Will this audience appreciate any "positive" messages about fashion? Or is the movie supposed to appeal to Anne Hathaway fans? She is hardly "high fashion" material - you would expect a WASP/JAP blonde to play that role.
AW herself is not dismissive of the movie openly - and she has made ambiguous statements about it so far. Radar claims that she is pissed - "...When Wintour got wind that producers had been recruiting major designers for walk-on roles, sources close to the film say she unleashed a flurry of phone calls intimating to the aspiring thespians that they’d be persona non grata in the pages of her high-end glossy if they participated..."
The bottom line is - we should really wait for the final edited product and see what the merchandising spin is, before deciding which way it goes...her minions claim that "Anna’s happy about anything that supports fashion" - we'll find out fairly soon.

2006-03-08T20:56:00.000Z

Yes, there was a Paris FW...news coverage was at an all-time low, and few people care anymore...

The semi-official UK Conde Nast mouthpiece details the extent of the alpha female's micromanagement of everything in the fashion biz - it should help you understand why certain nobodies suddenly get lots of hype:

Let's see if you can figure out the clues to why "Englishness" will be hip next season...

"....Years ago, during some of John Galliano's darkest hours in Paris, when money was drying up and the showing of his collection was unlikely, Wintour rustled up a backer and, subsequently, championed his debut as the new "star" of Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy - first at Givenchy, and then at Christian Dior (both of which are owned by the group).

She has similarly boosted the careers of Michael Kors, who was also the former creative director of Celine, and Marc Jacobs, New York's design darling, and the current name behind Louis Vuitton. Proenza Schouler, Trovata, Derek Lam, Behnaz Sarafpour, Tuleh and Rick Owens have also made Wintour's hot list.

In 2003, her passion and networking zeal led to the creation of the Council of Fashion Designers of America-Vogue Fashion Fund, which provides an annual award of $200,000 - together with professional mentoring and editorial coverage in Vogue - to the best emerging young label, chosen by a panel of industry experts. Proenza Schouler won in 2004, with Cloak and Habitual as runners-up, and Trovata won last year, with Derek Lam and Thom Browne in the runner-up spots.

Some of the names may be unknown here - for the present - but, with the endorsement of a woman as powerful as Wintour, that will not be the case for long. In their winning year, Proenza Schouler were taken on by 100 new stockists, with the help of their mentor, Rose Marie Bravo, the chief executive of Burberry..."

Burberry probably got a lot of free coverage in return - all this may be illegal in other business sectors, ie having a virtual monopoly which favors certain business interests and engages in constant manipulation of a supposedly "free" marketplace, but the NYC elected officials (who are often seen enjoying themselves in CN - hosted parties) obviously don't agree...

2006-03-08T11:49:00.000Z

Did the modeling biz ever have a reputation? And if so, when exactly did it lose it?

Andre Leon T impersonates Mr. Potatohead during Milan FW

If you ask the usual NYC/London "pros", they'll tell you about the TV exposes featuring playboy agents allegedly lusting after teenage models - and pretend there is really nothing wrong with drug use, as illustrated by Katie's troubles (even when everyone seems to be making drug jokes as soon as "fashion model" is mentioned) - or anything else in the biz...

The truth is that the coke-supplying grannies who still run the "major" London agencies and the motley crew (ranging from "Mary Poppins" puritans to militant lesbians and Warholite Lady Bunny afficionados - the only thing they have in common is their aversion to women in swimsuits) that controls NYC "high fashion" were almost wiped out back in 1997-1998 by the "heroin chic" scandal. If you look at press reports from the era, you'll see that AW and her lackeys received constant abuse from the mainstream media, criticizing them for allowing their mods to become drug addicts - and promoting superwaifs as the female body ideal...even US presidents joined in the condemnation:

Clinton Condemns "Heroin Chic" in Fashion Industry Following New York Times Story

A Death tarnishes Fashion's Heroin Look

It is obvious how hypocritical all these "magazine editors" etc were - the "healthy images" they promised to deliver were quickly forgotten when they felt they could get away with it.

The hypocrites tried to shield their faves - who disappeared from the fashion scene for a few years, with C Murphy going boho in Costa Rica, etc - by putting the blame on upcoming models, like Amy Wesson, who was blackballed by S Meisel and his Warholite pals when her drug problems became too public - the same hypocrites who "ignored" Katie's troubles had nothing good to say about Amy, whose career was destroyed in the US market (she continued working elsewhere, and showed up in the campaign for the top-selling perfume "Angel")

The "heroin chic" episode killed the glam modeling biz public image and led to major changes - Elite Models, the dominant agency at the time, had effectively collapsed in NYC even before the BBC TV "expose" exploded in late 1999, mainly due to greed and inept management. Their successful affiliates in other countries died for similar reasons - but mainly because their markets could not sustain the inflated fees they demanded for top quality models. The talent that originated from their model contests carried a high price tag but the demise of the "supermodel" could no longer support that. The "virgin mods in distress" BBC story never aired in the US, so there was really no major public outcry about any "sex troubles" over there. Still, it serves as a useful tool and is often used against the old enemies - but few straight men would be interested in the sort of models that Bart, Rowland and the like produce nowdays. The BBC later admitted that the story was false and never touched the subject again.

These days, the biz people (NYC now controls the biz in every respect, with Paris and Milan quickly disappearing from the modeling biz map) prefer to keep a low profile and use bland models that won't draw much public attention - which also suits their mentality. A couple of "mainstream" faces (ie Gisele and Natalia Vodianova) are used for PR purposes and that's about it.
In this context, it will be interesting to see how they handle the upcoming "Devil wears Prada" movie, which can potentially cause them a lot of trouble if it focuses mainstream media attention to biz practices and makes people realize that AW and her minions "forgot" about all the promises they made back in the late 90s...

2006-03-06T19:14:00.000Z

After Katie did her "rehab" in the picturesque Arizona desert, she got a lot of support from the Conde Nasties and some of her contracts back - even the firm that carries the name of Calvin Klein (CK himself was last seen chilling out somewhere in Brazil) is thinking about signing her for a second time...

Today, the SUN just dropped another bomb, with new coke stories - check out the report:
(in addition to Naomi and Katie, Christy Turlington was also there in 98)

" The picture on Page One of The Sun newspaper shows her in a hotel with cocaine chopped into four lines on the table.
The supermodel, 32, is holding a rolled-up tube ready to snort the killer drug in another night of wild partying.
We can reveal ‘Cocaine Kate’ even took it at the home of the then South African president Nelson Mandela — moments before meeting the great man.

And our probe also shows Kate:

BLEW an estimated £500,000 on the Class A drug.

BECAME so desperate for a hit she once hoovered up a massive line off a dirty floor.

MAY kill herself if she ever goes back to the drug, pals fear.

NEEDED coke so badly she would brazenly snort a line every five minutes in front of others.

HAD ready supplies in a new city thanks to her management sending out for it.

The latest revelations come as the mum-of-one battles to turn her life around after being pictured snorting coke at a recording studio last year.
She spent weeks in an Arizona rehab amid the furore that cost her deals with top names.
But today a former member of her inner sanctum reveals just how tough her battle must be.
Model booker Gavin Maselle, 36, said Kate was high on cocaine EVERY time he met her during their eight-year friendship.
He added: “Kate has been addicted for years. I truly hope she stays off coke because if she ever goes back, it will be the end of her.”
The front page picture was taken in a room at the exclusive Table Bay Hotel in Cape Town, South Africa, in February 1998, when the model was 24.
Another picture shows Kate bleary-eyed at the hotel during the same trip.
She was in the country for a fashion show and to meet Nelson Mandela for a formal evening at his mansion.
Other models there included Naomi Campbell.
But despite the glittering occasion and meeting one of the world’s most respected men, Kate could not resist drugs.
Gavin, who was with her at the party, revealed she suddenly yanked him into a toilet while the South African president greeted his guests.
She chopped out a line of cocaine — and snorted it from the seat. Gavin said: “She was insatiable I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. We were there at Mandela’s house in the Bishop’s Court area of Cape Town — and Kate was doing coke.”
Gavin first met the model in September, 1997, when she jetted into Cape Town for an event organised by her agency Storm.
Within minutes of being introduced at a lunch she followed him into the gents and snorted coke in front of him.
Gavin revealed: “I heard this tap on the door and this squeaky English accent saying, ‘It’s Kate. Let me in’. So I let her in. She did a line of cocaine and we sorted of bonded there and then.
“She wanted to hang out with me all the time. I was in her inner sanctum for years.”
The next day Gavin arrived at Kate’s hotel and a party was soon full swing again after the model “ordered” a massive five grammes of cocaine. He said: “She got f*****. I stayed with her until we both crashed out.”
But that was just a warm-up for the main event on that trip.
The following day was the show for the launch of Storm Models South Africa, which Gavin was helping to organise.
He said Kate was so addicted she had to have a line just ten minutes before the start of the event at Cape Town’s Velodrome sports stadium.
Gavin revealed: “She was running around backstage looking for somewhere to do the coke.
“It was pandemonium, just minutes before she was due to open the show. She pulled me into the changing rooms and when she saw that there was no toilet seat or other surface to chop up the cocaine she just said ‘f*** it, the ground, let’s do it off the ground’.
“The cocaine was thrown on the floor, not even chopped up and divided into two. Then she bent over, bum in the air and snorted half in just one go.
“I could not believe it. It was gross and unhygienic but she didn’t care.
“I thought ‘my God you will collapse’. But she laughed and went straight out on to the catwalk and was seamless.”
Afterwards Kate partied hard into the night with a multi- millionaire businessman, a world-famous rock star and a host of A-list models, getting through several more grammes of coke.
The model — who now has three-year-old daughter Lila Grace — and her entourage ended up at the Table Bay Hotel after running out of cocaine backstage.
Gavin said: “Kate and I, and about four other top models all piled into a convertible car and drove back to their hotel.
“It was crazy. I was in the front with Kate on my lap and the millionaire was in the back squashed between other models. More cocaine was picked up and we returned to a suite at the hotel.
“The other models were openly racking up lines of coke on the coffee table in the sitting room.
“But Kate wanted to be more discreet. She and the businessman locked themselves in the bathroom. Kate snorted more lines. She let me in and we sat on the edge of the bath chatting. I remember thinking how surreal it all was.
“I was locked in a bathroom with Kate Moss and this famous businessman and the cocaine was flying around.
“More cocaine was delivered and we partied until morning.”
A chauffeur who ferried Kate around during the 1997 trip said she would snort coke even on the short trip from her hotel to the shops.
He added: “She would do a line every five minutes. It became clear that as soon as she arrived in Cape Town her management here sent out to get her the cocaine.”
And Gavin warned last night: “Kate needs to realise what is real in her life, what is good and what is bad — and stay off coke.”

2006-03-06T10:09:00.000Z

Did you know that Diane Kruger was in the French film (Joyeux Noel) nominated for a Foreign Film Oscar?
I doubt too many people noticed - she has gone low-profile since Troy so she was not a media "target" - Diane showed up in 100% Chanel, but remains too elegant for the voguey crowd, so don't expect to hear much about her from the Conde Nasties...I did see K Kurkova, who was planted on the red carpet to add some classic glamour, since Hollywood actresses look less than exciting these days - but no Gisele in babydoll this year...
Diane Heidkrueger is my fave chilly blonde ever since the 90s supermod era - I used to post her ed pics long before she won the casting for Troy...you have to give credit to J Casablancas for making her one of the best known models in Paris in the mid and late 90s...

2006-03-05T13:37:00.000Z

Leticia Birkheuer was a pro-level volleyball player in Brazil before she was discovered, and it shows...she has no trouble parading along with the usual shapely ladies in the sambadrome...with high visibility thanks to her successful acting career, she doesn't seem to need the services of IMG NYC anymore...
Isabeli with hubby were also there - and Raica, of course. No Gisele and no other models of note - unfortunately, AW and her lackeys have succeeded in bringing back modeling to the 80s and the resulting worldwide drop of interest in anything fashion-related also applies to Brazil...

2006-03-01T22:21:00.000Z

NYC experts have finally acknowledged the existence of Eastern European models, even though the ones they are aware of are just as mediocre as everyone else in "high fashion" - of course such mods constitute over 70% of the model population in Paris and Milan since the late 90s, but that detail escaped the pro's attention until recently...not too many years ago, one of the local biz experts was telling Paper mag that Elite Models didn't have an office in Moscow because there were no worthy models there...the fact that several Russian models represented by Elite's old affiliate in Moscow, Red Stars, were winners of Elite's own model contest in the 90s, was obviously not widely advertised in NYC...
Meanwhile, Gerald Marie is reportedly getting together with Jean-Luc Brunel, the only other surviving "mediterranean playboy" agency boss, of the type that so horrified London and NYC agents in past years mainly because they promoted sensual and appealing women...
Roberto Cavalli reportedly could face two years in jail if found guilty of fraud - the fraudulent depiction of Kate Moss as a "Cavalli woman" deserves a stiffer sentence...

2006-02-27T17:21:00.000Z

It's Rio Carnival time - the agency boss, Ana Beatriz and J Vellutini are there for the Feijoada do Gattopardo

More Rio stuff - Raica is now a major celeb, and gets as much attention as Maradona and Puff Daddy, who are also there as celeb guests...plus Ana Beatriz and Leticia Birkheuer

2006-02-26T14:39:00.000Z

Yep - by amazing coincidence, the Milanese once more "adored" the same familiar faces we all love, so....

A Jay McCarroll(?) reportedly called Heidi Klum a "twat" after she asked him to design an Emmy dress worthy of a "red-hot mama" - just for her - and then chose a Dior dress for the event...

Twat is a "derogatory term for a person whoose behaviour is considered to be extremely or intolerably ignorant, obnoxious, offensive or moronic" - and also a slang term for the female vagina...
Another term used to describe morons is "twit" - a few years ago, Lady whatshername was declared by UK Vogue to be the "It girl of the year"...the Mirror then run a poll asking their readers to vote for the "Twit girl of the year" - won by the same Lady...not everyone is being as respectful to Conde Nast faves as NYC "fashion journalists"...this is what I reported back then:

...Remember the top Vogue "It" Girl in recent years, Lady Victoria Hervey? She is the one who took over Tara Palmer-Tomkinson's (whose claim to fame was her appearance on a security cam video blowing Prince Willy) column in the Sunday Times. The Lady somehow appeared topless in the Sun - the heading read "Top Toff Totty". After she complained about paying taxes and criticized poor people and the homeless, she became the "Twit Girl". In fact, nine out of ten Mirror readers voted her for "Twit Girl of the Year". I think she is nowdays someone's fashion muse...
The Lady was involved in many bizarre episodes, inc one with Ronaldo - as the Scotsman reported:

"....Last week Hervey was in a Monte Carlo night club after attending the Laureus World Sports Awards, whatever those are. One tabloid, under the headline "No go for Ronaldo", described how the Real Madrid striker asked Hervey to accompany him on an intimate trip to the casino. She refused demurely, saying she fancied an early night.
Another gossip column ran the titbit under the headline "Lady V scares ’em off". They claim she made a beeline for the football ace, but "as soon as the annoying socialite started stroking his head, the Brazilian star decided to get out of the penalty area". A third, fairly similar version ran under the surely libellous screamer: "Twit makes a pass at Ron," asking, "has she no shame?"
Based on these newspaper reports, the only thing I know for certain is that she was photographed wearing what passes for clothing in the celebrity world - a few sheer handkerchiefs held together by a prayer, with a bit of dental floss covering her nether regions, and a necklace that weighed considerably more than her entire body mass. Ronaldo was certainly there too, for they were pictured together. Though not together together, by any stretch of the imagination.
So maybe they shared a banquette and some banter. Beyond that, it’s anybody’s guess. Perhaps Hervey was waving a cigarette around and Ronaldo backed off to keep from singeing his head. Maybe they gave each other the rapacious once over, or maybe they sat and chatted about the glorious weather in Monte Carlo at this time of year. By the time this brief encounter wound its Chinese Whispering way back to the UK, you could choose the variation on the truth that best served your prejudices about Ms Hervey..."

Stroking Ronaldo's head? Is that code for something?

2006-02-19T11:03:00.000Z

A NY Times Fashion/Style section hack thinks "the grim expressionist ballet" in the Torino Olympics opening ceremony was "kitsch" - if the organizers had consulted any A Wintour/US Vogue affictionados, they could have included some of Lady Bunny's postmodern styling touches, to supply the requisite "flux"...

US Vogue's avant-gardness is unsurpassed - nobody else ever thought of printing an editorial with Naomi Campbell as a flamenco dancer, performing to the tune of a Mariachi (!!!) band...that was back in 1998...but then again, as Rowland would propably say, they all look "latin" anyway...

Hedi Slimane fans beware - UK experts claim that "...the Pete Doherty / little drummer boy jacket is deeply, deeply passe. Even Pete isn't wearing his any more. And while we're on the subject: pork pie hats are, if anything, even worse..."

Hey - what's wrong with men who want to look like "little drummer boys"?

dk thinks Sabrina Jales (left) and Tamiris Freitas are adorable - and they aren't even kittenish blondes ...

2006-02-18T22:02:00.000Z

Nope, C Kass wasn't the star at Madrid FW - Raica was...appearing in anything from "you won't see that in NYC" lingerie to 60s Ipanema girl / Jackie O fashions...Ronaldo, who is still scoring lots of goals for Real Madrid, was of course there, since Raica is now his fiancee - after all, Ronaldo's mom approves...
In the small pic, the 40 Grauss boss with Raica and Ana Bia...

Some semi-knowledgable high fashion characters are once again floating the idea of Daria W being the "new Romy Schneider"...but there may be a slight problem with this approach:
German speakers (and many others) remember Romy as a teenager, playing Empress Sissi - note Romy's popular teen image, as seen in these rare postcards...

If you think that teen Romy looked more like ...Natalia Vodianova, you are right - it's not just wise-ass FV, German Elle mentioned the resemblance when they featured Natalia, a year or so before high fashion discovered her...
Daria looks more like a 30 or 35 year old Romy, which is OK if you are trying to sell products to 35+ year olds, but I doubt that was the intention...
Romy appeared in dozens of forgettable movies in later years, but it is the Sissi image that still remains dominant
And don't forget that Z Macasova had her 15 min of fame coz someone thought she "resembled" 45 yo Carine Roitfeld (who UK papers claimed could pass as Iggy Pop's sister - some sinister folks claimed Iggy's brother would be more appropriate...)

As for what the avid Lady Bunny fans saw in Natalia when she arrived in NYC - I would rather not think about it...
Excellent Natalia V pic from French Marie Claire, when she was still slightly chubby...

2006-02-18T21:28:00.000Z

Ana Bia and Jeisa from the NYC Lancome Hypnose party - any of the two would look better than "fresh face" Daria in the perfume campaign, not to mention that much less "image processing" would be required...Daria is OK (even if took seven or so years for NYC "pros" to figure out she had potential) but looks five or more years older than her age, and I doubt she will appeal to the MTV audience - which is why she was allegedly chosen...

SI Swimsuit 2006 stuff

2006-02-15T00:31:00.000Z

As jb mentioned:
New in 06 - Carla Campbell, Pania Rose, Brooklyn Decker, Aline Nakashima, Yesica Toscanini (and Maria Sharapova as the celebrity model)
Missing from last year - Michelle Alves, Jessica van der Steen, Jessica White, Michelle Lombardo, Alicia Hall, Frankie Rayder, Shakara Ledard

Aline Nakashima was reportedly 25 yo in Sept 2005 (Sao Paulo media)- she really exploded in 2000 and has worked a lot in NYC since then. Yesica is 20 yo, from Argentina. Pania Rose is 20 yo, from Perth, Australia.

In general, all new faces look respectable, and like they belong in a smimsuit issue.

Ana Bia pics are better styled this year - there is an obvious effort to "glamourize" her and the results are quite good. Someone thought "cute Kathy Ireland, circa 1986" - makes her look less intimidating...she wears some transparent stuff, which allows those who don't know her work well to better appreciate her curves...

SI Swimsuit 2006

2006-02-14T09:16:00.000Z

Here is the SI Swimsuit issue cover - I guess the sexiest you can get that can still be allowed in US newsstands. No recent faces and no Brazilians in the photo...but Carolyn Murphy somehow sneaked in!!!

2006-02-14T01:18:00.000Z

The new SI Swimsuit issue will be revealed in less than 24 hours - as the clock is ticking down, we go into flashback mode...

I remember when Yamila Diaz-Rahi got the cover - I was in Vegas for a geek trade show and since I was the only one reporting on her modeling work at the time, my site (and the server that hosted it) exploded...I found out that Yamila was the culprit a couple of days later, after getting angry calls from the server owner - I couldn't even see my own pages...fascinating faces on the SI Swimsuit issue cover generated lots of excitement back then. When I managed to finally get back into my site, a nasty bossy female character threatened to throw me out of the show PC area coz I was looking at pics of women in swimsuits...welcome to the USA !

You know something stinks when the fashionable crapsters who used to giggle about "women in swimsuits" suddenly get all fired up about swimsuit models - it took Carolyn Murphy (IMG bought the SI Swimsuit cover page for her last year) to get them excited...we'll soon know if SI sells out for the second year in a row...

Then and Now dept - anyone noticed Danita Angell in the NYC shows? That's Danita in the pic, from an Elite Models party, back in 96 or 97, soon after she was snatched from an Oregon highschool...the cute boy next to her is now the president of Trump Models...if you have any equally embarassing pics of Ivan Bart and the like, email me...

The NYT asks the question - "Would you buy Karl Lagerfeld brand products even though Karl hasn't designed the clothes himself?"

Xcuz me - why not, does Miuccia Prada design anything? She knows shit about fashion design, since she has a PhD in Political Science and the actual design is done by low-cost labor from UK Art Schools (which is why they get the "English housewife look" so right every time)

Beauty and the Beast (you decide which one is which - I won't comment) Marylin Manson - the character on the right- picked "21st century model" Lily Cole for his upcoming movie...IMG propably thinks Gemma W (or some Gemma-noid) will follow...I thought the Heigl girl looked great in "Bride of Chucky" - others liked the bride's looks a lot more...

2006-02-13T09:40:00.000Z

Vanessa Hessler fans - rejoice ! Vanessa, along with other "young models" (don't fret, noone looks like Gemma W) will be among the hosts of the venerable San Remo music festival...which is televized by Rai TV - Feb 27/28 and March 2/3/4

You people are supposed to let me know about this stuff - Elena Santarelli is on the cover of Italian magazine Chi...good thing I can still spot worthy faces beneath the clutter of dozens of "Hollywood-ready" blondes hanging in newsstands...I assume from this that Elena will be co-presenting "Bravo Grazie" on Rai Due (free on Hotbird 13 East) in March...
Elena is linked with a dude who co-ownes Billionaire in Porto Cervo

What about Leo diCrapio? The Italians claim he is now with Israeli model Bar Rafaeli...

Things you see on TV - I spotted 19yo Izabel Goulart sandwiched between two generic blondes (one was probably Heidi K) holding a chocolaty heart-shaped thingie and talking to reporters - I guess a VS Valentine's day special...

2006-02-11T06:58:00.000Z

Carla Bruni had an important role to play in the Torino Olympics opening ceremony - she was the one carrying the Italian flag. Carla is a rather complicated personality and currently has a new career as a singer...
The annual US Vogue "shape issue" is not far away and I don't have to waste much brain energy to predict what you can expect from AW's rag...as usual, normal women (especially ones married to straight men) will be absent and the focus will be on various anorexics/bulimics contrasted to grotesque characters like Pam Anderson (yobo McQueen adores her) or compatible types with equally gigantic mammaries.

2006-02-09T20:38:00.000Z

"Things I would never have known if it wasn't for pro fashion journalism" dept...apparently, NYC FW "celebrated feminine passivity" - no word on what Amanda Moore has to say about that.
We also learn that "...If there is anything in the success of "Transamerica," "Brokeback Mountain," a spate of transsexual plot lines on cable television, drag kings in cabaret and movies like the new Miramax production "Kinky Boots," it seems to show that Americans are regaining their interest in cultural flux..." - I guess you can't have any serious "flux" without Lady Bunny, in hip NYC circles...
After much researh on NYC FW (10 min of my valuable time) I noticed some "portents and signs" - despite yet another season of Gemma-noids on the attack, ye olde NYC faithful refuse to be sidelined. Nothing can seemingly dislodge such legends as Tasha T, Trish Goff and Missy Rayder from "major" shows. As for the scary shit award - M Peres, A Dejanovic and H Bratton were tied for 1st place.
Men's fashions - the Milanese are unlikely to feel threatened by the designs shown, with looks which ranged from BluesBrothers extras to Angus Young wannabees. IMG once again failed to produce the massively popular Guinevere V S - who reportedly charmed the Parisienne during the Pirelli calendar launch... Where was Gisele?

2006-02-07T10:29:00.000Z

Tatiana Dumenti, looking better than ever, next to her PC at home - I guess somewhere in Rio Grande do Sul.
Recent pic from her fotolog - I met her at a model contest in 1998, she was one of the winners of the Brazilian Model Look that year, as Tatiana Rossi, and actually finished third in the international final. She was 14 yo (more probably 13) at the time.
The small pics down right are from a 2003 Dumont campaign, where the casting dude selected her along with Patricia Barros for a wild shoot - some people know their business !!

2006-02-05T08:15:00.000Z

Security dude tells the WSJ about policing NYC FW...

Top prize for dodgy impersonation:

Nabbing imposters is a favorite sport among the guards, especially when the fashion wannabes attempt to pose as someone as recognizable as Vogue editor at large André Leon Talley. Mr. Talley is a towering black man known for his exuberant fashion statements. Mr. Yorio recalls how, about five years ago, a diminutive thirtysomething white woman tried to pass herself off as Andrea Leon Talley.

If you like collecting freebie bags, beware:

Guards contend with all sorts of tactics from poseurs, who present fake passes or pretend to be someone else. "We call them 'lobby fleas,' " Mr. Yorio says. Some are easily spotted because they flock to the freebies -- such as tote bags and samples of beauty products -- offered by show sponsors. The real fashion elite typically don't touch the stuff.

Andre Leon and his typical understated style

Why fashionable people profiling doesn't work:

While crowd control and safety are paramount concerns, 'profiling' for dangerous characters doesn't always work. That is because the industry's avant-garde can look a tad suspect: Their clothes may be tattered, eyeliner smeared and hair mussed and dirty. "Someone could come in with one shoe and half a hat and is supposed to be in the front row," Mr. Yorio says.

What happened to that JP Stern guy who used to do model reporting for Pagesix.com? Some years ago he decided to follow model Satya Arteau (good choice btw) around Europe during FW season - he discovered that Paris shows were attended by "flamboyant homosexuals" (!!) and other amazing facts. No such amorous types dare to show up in NYC...

2006-02-04T01:07:00.000Z

The Forbes mag list of "best paid models" is out...a certain nasty character, who enjoyed busting my balls in the past, claimed that the guy responsible for the ranking is Ivan Bart's boyfriend...can't really tell, probably more NYC bitchiness...the list is always IMG-friendly, and totally different from similar UK lists, but what do you expect - quality journalism? Yes, you guessed right - Gisele is the top earner...

Yes folks, it's NYC FW time, and every crapster gets to talk about what it takes to join the elite circle of hip faces adored by Marsh, Meisel and Co. Ivan Bart of course also has a comment - he actually claims that his models "fit" the clothes !! A voguey character reveals that AW missed the mark when she thought her fave faces may get popular a year ago...

In September 2004, Vogue — the fashion industry's bible — put nine familiar-but-not-famous models on its cover and heralded the return of the fashion model.
Unfortunately, says Kate Armenta, the magazine's sittings editor, the theory didn't prove true.
"The tide is really toward the celebrity culture right now. Models have taken on a different role. ... Gisele is well known but she's known more for Victoria's Secret or dating Leonardo DiCaprio, not by what ad campaigns she's been in," she says.
Nian Fish, creative director and senior vice president at KCD, which produces shows for top fashion houses, says that's kept new talent from being developed into the next generation of fashion stars.
"It's like how reality television takes away from actors, celebrities take away from models," she says.
Runway regulars Caroline Trentini and Jessica Stam are pretty successful by industry standards but most average Joes would never recognize them on the street.
Contrary to popular belief, not all models are carted around in limos while wearing chic dresses and high heels. Outside the Bryant Park tents where many of Fashion Week's runway shows are held, it's a common sight to see pretty young things smoking cigarettes in jeans and sneakers looking remarkably unremarkable as they try to hail a cab to beat the audience to the next show.
To achieve top-tier status — the ones who are chauffeured from show to show while carrying handbags that cost more than startup models' monthly rent — you need more than a pretty face.
Fish ticks off what matters more:
• Bone structure.
• Shape of head in proportion to body. (The classic fashion illustration of a small head and long body is indeed what the industry looks for.)
• How she looks in clothes.
• Her "hunger."
"There's definitely work to this," Fish says. "Maybe you're not building a log cabin, but there's a lot of psychological wear and tear. They'll hear, `You lost weight,' or `You gained weight.' And you can't read the stares (of) the casting directors. All that, coupled with the tremendously long hours, which can be 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. if she's one of the working girls of the season."
Some models develop the passion — and, maybe even more importantly, confidence — after a special moment on the runway or an ego boost from one top designer or photographer who lights the spark for "the wildfire effect," Fish says.
Before that, though, aspiring models have to find an agency willing to bring them to the attention of casting directors. They're the ones who can see up to 500 models during the weeding-out process, out of which a handful make it to a session with the designers and creative directors.
"A certain number of girls will start in New York City and get the good shows. The shows go immediately online. Then one or two models will start getting buzz, whether they do Marc (Jacobs), Calvin (Klein) or Karl (Lagerfeld), then they go on to a cool show in Milan and then THE show in Paris. ...Daria (Werbowy) was the most recent wildfire," Fish says.
Armenta from Vogue says Werbowy came at the right time. "I'd seen pictures and heard of her, but when (Steven) Meisel shot her for Prada, it blew her out of the water. She was unique. She had such presence. She's so gorgeous and unique but not in an off-putting way."
Occasionally, it's the shy girl who perseveres. Fish predicts Heather Bratton, who did the Chanel, Chloe and Burberry Prorsum shows last season and was then shot by Meisel for Italian Vogue, will have "an amazing season."
Meanwhile, Armenta has her eye on Snejana Onopka, who has been photographed for American Vogue a few times since her turn on the Louis Vuitton, Valentino and Chanel runways last fall.
The models not only have to look good in clothes but also "fit" them, says Ivan Bart, senior vice president of IMG Models, which represents Werbowy, Bundchen, Moss and Jacquetta Wheeler.
Again using Werbowy, now the spokesmodel for Lancome, as the example, Bart notes that she had the hippie-chic look when everything coming down the runway had a bohemian style.
"The main thing is the designers are always looking for the woman who best suits the collection, but, that being said, they always want a sure thing," he says. "The bottom line through all of it is selling clothes."
It makes sense that designers first look at models with a paper trail of fashion advertisements because practice makes perfect, Bart says, just like with any craft.
And it pays to be nice and easygoing. It's hard for anyone — including designers, casting directors, photographers, the audience and consumers — not to like an approachable, friendly person, Bart says.
"Taking fashion shows out of the equation, when you're booked for a five-day trip on a remote location for a shoot, would a photographer, stylist, etc., want to be with you? You have to connect to people," he says. "You can't be too demanding or diva-ish anymore, not in 2006. ... If you're not in the best form and giving and excited to be here, there are a lot of other people who are happy to do your job."

Typical load of rubbish from the local AW cronies - KCD btw is one of the big NYC fashion PR firms, the types who organize the "major" shows (ie brands that are good Conde Nast advertisers) and sell the various weirdos to people like Meisel - who is too busy to do model castings. The top KCD people are Meisel's old buddies from the 70s - along with Betak and a couple of others, they run a mafia-like system which guarantees that their choices are the only ones who get attention. Outsiders - like photographers who don't work with them or won't take orders and promote whatever weirdo is destined to be hip next season are blackballed - and get regularly trashed by the cabal's lackeys in model discussion forums...

The bottom line is that if you look normal, have no obvious defect (asymmetric jaw, head too big for the rest of the body, exaggerated face features, unstable gait, etc) you stand no chance in high fashion. Even if you are very thin and quirky-looking and your idol is Kate Moss, the minute the Ivan Barts discover that "average Joe" thinks you are fascinating, you are thrown out - that's what happened to Cintia Dicker. AW's lackeys don't like models who actually appeal to people - and that's the plain truth. The rest, like the article above, is just crap talk to confuse the clueless.
Why hate the "fascinating" models, pretty or not?
It's simple - if you are running a "closed market", where various nobodies are guaranteed a good income if they participate in a quota-based system and agree to promote a uniformly low-quality product (at a high price), what is your biggest fear? That someone may actually try to sell a product that is more appealing than the usual crappy merchandise, thus introducing competition and uncertainity - not the sort of thing that a micromanaging mature alpha female would like...
And what about Gisele, you may ask - isn't she conventionally glam? A phoney system like this needs only one (maybe two at most) classic glam face at the top, to fool the public and get income from the more traditional markets, like lingerie. Have you noticed that IMG doesn't have any other glam Brazilians in its top echelon -and that Rowland, DNA and the rest haven't even tried to promote any Gisele "lookalikes"?
Why is it OK to have so many Gemma-noids, etc - but no Gisele types? Because that would dilute the value of IMG's prime product - more evidence for you that the game is rigged...

2006-02-01T13:05:00.000Z

What about Elie Saab's show? The vogueys will continue to trash him every chance they get - AW won't easily forget the "Halle Berry Oscars gown" debacle - or that he is a real threat to major Conde Nast advertisers - and always makes sure her pathetic lackeys post negative reviews...as for the models, those who watched the Saab weekend special on FTV probably noticed that his mods used to look entirely different in past years...he now uses "standard issue" NYC hip names, like everyone else. Aside from Ai Tominaga, Michele Alves, Rianne, Hana, and maybe Zelyaeva, the rest don't really belong in a (real) Couture show...they simply look wrong in the clothes.
Sao Paulo FW was a real stinker - most top names didn't bother to even show up. If the FW casting director wanted to make the event resemble a genuine "high fashion" FW, he succeeded. It was just as boring.

I bet Katie didn't take any drugs for at least a week, since she knew she had to visit a police station for questioning - and what was that white powder anyway?

2006-01-27T17:05:00.000Z

Some of the real fashion models from Paris Couture - Eva Herzigova with Astrid Munoz (Chopard), Noemie Lenoir (Chopard) and Wonderbra girl Inna Zobova, from a posh party.

2006-01-25T11:09:00.000Z

Things I would pay money to see:
Isaac Mizrahi squeezes Gisele's breast on some red carpet pre-show, asking "what's in there"?...Gisele screams, Vida attacks Mizrahi and chaos ensues...

AW's daughter obviously learned the principles of quality journalism from her mum - in this piece for the UK Telegraph (still a semi-official voguey mouthpiece, despite the Lord Black/Lady Barbara debacle) she reports on new years resolutions and plants an important Conde Nast advertiser in the title...
'My resolution is to get a job at the Marc by Marc Jacobs store'
I guess "high fashion" journalism is much like "high fashion" models - an oxymoron...

From our "who gives a shit" dept: AW plans to attend London FW...which changed dates - the idea is that if the FW coincides with really newsworthy events around mid-February, some people may actually pay attention to it...Kate Moss was convinced to "set the record straight about her life" in an autobiography (maybe we'll finally find out what happened to the anatomically-correct plaster cast of her butt that disappeared from a London artist's studio some years ago)...Posh Spice is now chic enough to be invited to Couture shows(Chanel)...Chanel was sued for counterfeiting...the Prada store at 575 Broadway Av in NYC was damaged by fire...Burberry selected Rachel Weisz because she is "a real British beauty...someone with true elegance and intellect but approachable and real at the same time..." - no word why Katie didn't qualify...a Longchamp person explained the complex reasoning behind "high fashion" casting decisions - "Kate was a no-brainer, because she's number one"...

2006-01-22T10:25:00.000Z

Ford's model contest final took place on Jan 18th in NYC - the winner is a 15yo (born in 1990) 11th grader from Minsk, Belarus. (Belarussian news report video here)
Her name is Katya Damenkova -the local "pros" probably thought she looks like a Belarus version of Kate Moss (which is actually a big improvement on the original). Brazilian 14yo cutie Camila Finn (born November 6, 1991 in Botucatu, São Paulo - although Ford NYC claimed she was 16 last year...) was also there (on the right, with 2006 winner, and Nataliya Gotsiy, the 2004 winner)
The Russian contestant was 16yo Olesya Boslovyak, from Komsomolsk-on-Amur (I bet her dad works at the Sukhoi figher jet factory). Olesya is 1m80 tall, 85-62-90 and I suspect she didn't pose as seen below during the NYC contest. Looks like a classic Russian contest model from the late 90s, which is rather exciting news these days, when compared to the typical crappy -alleged- "models" from the ex-USSR promoted by IMG/DNA/Women and the like...

AW's pathetic performance for 2005

2006-01-18T06:40:00.000Z

The mag sales data for Jan - Dec 2005 are in.
Incredibly, the usual Conde Nast dirty tricks couln't hide the miserable performance of A Wintour's mag, compared to Jan-Dec 2004 - US Vogue posted a 1.8% DECREASE in ad pages vs a 4.0% increase for InStyle, 10.7% for Elle and 6.5% for H Bazaar.
Of course, thanks to the Wal-Mart deal and other similar tacky campaigns that do not belong in fashion magazines, AW's rag claims a 9.4% increase in ad revenue - vs increases of 18.1% for Elle, 12.1% for H Bazaar and 9.8% for InStyle.
For yet another year, InStyle whips AW's ass in both ad pages and total ad revenue - 391 vs 345 mil and 3,503 vs 2,958 pages.
AW's lackeys could claim the overall market is "soft" or maybe bird flu hurt luxury fashion sales and the like, but they have to explain (to the nominally intelligent people outside the fashion world) how Vogue's competitors do not seem to be affected...

2006-01-17T10:32:00.001Z

High fashion seems to be fast running out of options - Daria W appears to be mothballed, the usual "top ten" fare is going nowhere and Gemmanoids are already oversold. What's next?
The new CK Obsession Night for men ads are hilarious - I dunno which version runs in the Americas, but in Europe, I saw a naked Gemma W emerging from the water as a kind of "clueless creature from the dark lagoon" - while a totally astounded dude (it's a men's fragrance after all) watches in amazement...
The original ad featured one of the most unflattering pictures of Kate Moss ever shot, I guess they continue in the same tradition...I bet Natalia V refused to do this...
I was browsing French Elle the other day - a few pages after a grotesquely retouched but glam Daria W in the Lancome ad, the same Daria, without too much post-processing and sporting a trendy "hip London houswife" look, shows up hawking the kooky Prada perfume...
Tells you how unprofessional fashion/cosmetics people have become - that's why cosmetics executives insisted in exclusive contracts for their top faces in the past...
What else? Stella T is back...I guess to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of her 1996 appearance as the Chanel girl. She was replaced in 1997 by Karen Elson, described by Karl Lagerfeld at the time as resembling a "mutant alien"...

2006-01-12T10:33:00.000Z

Raica pics from the TNG backstage - looking like she is enjoying herself. The guy next to her is her brother. Ronaldo is busy playing for Real Madrid in Spain...
Also, two pics of Isabeli, revealing some of her plentiful assets...

Fashion Rio - Jan 06

2006-01-11T00:51:00.000Z

The Brazilian show season is on - Fashion Rio is the first leg, and Isabeli already did her only show exclusive. Raica is now famous, so she beats even Naomi C in the celeb stakes and commands top show dollar for TNG. Gisele is staying in the Copa Palace, as usual, for those interested...

Tons of info on Raica, who makes the cover of Istoe Gente, as the new Ronaldo love interest...Gisele is photographed while shopping in Rio...Isabeli arrives for one show after visiting Tokyo, Sydney and Tahiti with hubby - also Ana Claudia Michels, and in the big pic, the 40 Graus agency boss with Ana Beatriz and Jeisa...

2006-01-01T20:38:00.000Z

Yours Truly - and Julia Pereira, a very pretty gaucha - wish you a very happy 2006 !!!

Tereza Maxova Foundation

2006-01-01T11:56:00.000Z

One of the most effective and well-known charities for children in Europe is run by Tereza Maxova, one of the original Czech/Slovak "supermodels".
The Foundation has been helping abandoned children since 1997, cares for over 4,000 children from 200 infant homes and receives a lot of recognition - here you can see Tereza with Eva Herzigova, in a 2004 pic.
A big fashion event for the Tereza Maxová Foundation's "Fashion for Kids" was held in November, with many famous mod names - Nemcova, Pestova, Varekova, etc - taking part.
Tereza was born on Aug 31 1971 in Pardubice and has a Law degree.

2005-12-29T01:11:00.000Z

Maybe I was the only one buying French Elle at the time, but few people seem to have scanned this one...after failing to find much -if any- editorial work in Russia, Natalia Vodianova (plus Eugenia Volodina and Eugenia's boyfriend, who was their common agent) flew to Paris, some time in Dec 1999. After a few months, she certainly got noticed by many (except "high fashion pros" it seems) and spent a couple of years working a lot around Europe, before the agent impressed some people in NYC and sent his "package" to the New World. Natalia appeared in several French Elle beauty section eds before her move to NYC, inc the one where she famously impersonates Copenhagen's Little Mermaid...

2005-12-28T17:48:00.000Z

Raica with Ronaldo, from Kaka's wedding...

Merry Christmas and happy holidays!!!

2005-12-24T23:55:00.000Z

Ana Bia says -"Never mind the bollocks - enjoy your holiday season" !!!

2005-12-21T12:57:00.000Z

French PHOTO also has an article on J Casablancas, where he reveals the plans for his return to the international model agency business. His partners are Andrei Krapotkin and Xavier Moreau (one of the original Elite owners) and the Paris agency is known as FirstModels - run by Sebastien Tranchant, with Beatrice Bruno as the booking director. That's part of a network, called StarSystem, including Lumiere in Sao Paulo, 40 Graus in Rio, and other agencies in many countries. The only model I know from those listed with the Paris office is Callie Mahoney, a sexy US mod that once won a model contest in Italy, and used to work a lot in Milan.
Ford Paris lists Cameron Russell as their No1, Fabiana Semprebom (1m77, 84-60-86) as their No2, Flavia Oliveira (1m77, 84-62-90) as their No3 and Camila Finn (1m75, 76-60-85) as their No4.
Anouck Lepere had a 76cm chest at 23 years of age, same as Camila at 13/14.
Ford was the original Paris "edgy" agency, unlike the NYC geriatric outfit - back when "edgy" was little known in Paris and few people cared about AW or S Meisel - they used to rep Karen Elson and Erin O C, and they still rep Kristen McMenamy...

2005-12-21T11:32:00.000Z

The December issue of French PHOTO was always a must buy for model fans - it is the "Top Models" special issue, where all the big Paris agencies list their current and future top names...I had all the issues since I started to follow models back in 1997, but I stopped buying the mag a couple of years ago, when the model lists had become a repeat of the "hip in NYC" model charts. I burned some euros for the mag this year for one simple reason - there is a full-page pic of an Ana Beatriz nude, by Demarchelier, a shot that was perhaps destined for Chanel - unfortunately for Ana it's an "inedite" - "unseen" - it was never made public...she is wearing just a white watch...the article is an extensive look at the work of Jacques Helleu, who is closely associated with Chanel campaigns. There is also Stephanie Seymour showing her nipples and a rather low-budget boob job, shot by Terry R - she did not botox herself like Linda E, and looks ten years older, rather than "ten years younger" as Linda does. There are two more photo features, with N Vodianova and H Christensen. Add to that Pirelli 2006 - the usual pics, with Karen Elson fingering herself and the like. Guinevere V S looks a lot less fluffier than in past nudes, for those interested. Like I said - it makes female nudity look boring - maybe that was the purpose behind the whole concept.
The model agency feature is pathetic - the same faces you know from NYC, not a single name that is Paris (or Milan) based. I don't know how most Paris agencies manage to survive - probably just barely. As for the smaller agencies - nothing too exciting.
I have no idea if Visions still exists - but even back when it was the hippest agency in NYC and supposedly just as hip in Paris, PHOTO refused to mention them. Maybe they thought it was some sort of swindle - I wonder...

2005-12-17T17:25:00.000Z

"High fashion" (virtual) reality check - a new Brazilian said to be favored by NYC hipsters is Drielle Valeretto - she is allegedly a "Jeisa lookalike". Judging from the pic below, she obviously has nothing to do with Jeisa - but that's close enough for "high fashion"...

That Flavia that shows up in the Top 50 "hip in NYC" charts - isn't she Fabiana Semprebom's sister? If not, then her best friend perhaps? They are together in many pics...
What does her sensual look have to do with the usual fare of Gemma W and Co?
The schizoid world of the kooky-hip marches on...
Flavia (center) with Fabiana Semprebom and efortlessly gorgeous Bianca Klamt-Motta...

2005-12-16T22:59:00.000Z

Czech girl Petra Kwapilova grew up a lot since I last paid attention - and I like the results !!!
I saw once a news item about her winning a Gucci casting - but the usual predictable faces appeared in the campaign...maybe she showed up (in a very sexy oufit) in a Gucci Milan show that season, but I am not sure...

2005-12-15T20:06:00.000Z

Aahhh - Fabi Tambosi joins the married fashion models club !!!
The lucky guy is Alexandre Birman, owner of Schutz (he is a 27 yo award-winning designer of women's shoes, as seen here)
Pic from Glamurama

Gisele was seen sunbathing with surfer dude Kelly Slater in Hawaii - she also now sports the same tattoo as Ana Beatriz (half moon and star) below the ankle...