Boys and Girls on Film

The boys are back.

The original scene stealers and directors of fashion films in the form of music videos are in top form, after more than 30 years. Duran Duran have given us a piece of visual culture as only they can deliver, in a shiny, oozing new vid for Girl Panic, featuring not models of the moment, but models whose collective momentum changed the face of fashion.

In other words, the girls are back.

Helena, Cindy, Eva, Naomi and Yaz are the girls on film in this classic rock star meets runway romp. The ladies each play a member of the band, with the Durans making cameos, along with Dolce and Gabbana, a chauffeur and a few other notable characters.

Is it cheeky?

Is it tongue-in-chic?

Is it dripping with double D-dom?

Why yes, darlings, it is.

It is a Duran Duran video after all.

 

In true media form, the December issue of UK Harper’s Bazaar has an editorial to accompany the video’s release, with a Super cover. The video was directed and the editorial, photographed by Jonas Akerlund.

The ladies, in Dolce & Gabbana corsets.

Cindy as JT. She's got that look Down!

Eva as Nick. It's all about the shoulders, 'innit?

Naomi as Simon - hams, both.

Helena as Rog - hard to define which one of them is cooler.

Mrs. Le Bon as the band's rotating guitarist. Loved the attitude.

These ladies make the 40s look insanely good.

These boys make anything look good, really.

Editorial images: TFS; Duran image courtesy of DuranDuran.com.

Super September

What’s better than the September books?

September cover Supes!

First, there’s Cindy C in Louis V, vamping it up at 45 – as captured by Simon Upton for Harper’s Bazaar Singapore.

That's forty-tude, baby.

Three other Superfriends grace the cover of Vogue Spain, like the holy trinity of trend-setters. Photographed by Tom Munro, the girls are wearing star-printed Dolce and Gabbana frocks.

Eva, Helena and Claudia sought it, caught it and brought it. Again - and again.

I’ll take personality over plain Janes, any day – and more models on magazine covers! That’s what the fashion gods originally intended, ‘innit?

More Supermodel Stuff.

Images: TFS, MagXOne.

A Leg Up

Elisa Sednaoui, the 23-year old model made her debut on the Met Ball’s red carpet last year, with the only date that matters – Uncle Karl.

She was then seen making the scene at Chanel’s St. Tropez show last summer and starred in the accompanying fashion film, Remember Now.

It was the signal, the start.

Since then the Egyptian/Italian beauty with a dash of French (living in Paris counts!) – and current New-Yorker, has had a leg in major editorials and campaigns, Giorgio Armani among them.

Elisa Sednaoui at home in New York, as photographed for Harper's Bazaar.

Funny, her legs were the first thing I noticed in that Chanel knit dress in St. Tropez.

I wondered then, if she’d have a leg up on the best legs in the biz – Nadja and Yasmeen. I was reminded of the thought when I saw the photo above.

Nadja Auermann at the Met Ball, 2007. Nadja still may hold the record for the model with the longest legs.

Yasmeen Ghauri's gams were the envy of all women, during her Supermodel heyday.

Uncle Karl had an affection for Yasmeen’s knees, in particular. And when asked then who had the best legs? He answered Nadja.

Is it me, or are you hearing the pitter-patter of a pattern?

Uncle Karl never misses when it comes to muses.

Why walk the catwalk when you can run down the runway?

Images: Elisa courtesy of Harper’s Bazaar Australia; Nadja photo by Larry Busacca, Getty Images North America; Yasmeen wearing Alaïa, in Vogue source.

Yaz, Only You

Yaz-oo! Look who is back in a major campaign…

The one and only, Yasmin Le Bon was shot by Juergen Teller for the Moschino SS11 ads.

Lovely to see her in my mags again – she’s always been a favourite.

I miss models with personality.

Glam goes giddy-up again.

Love the contrast of the cathedral with the cowboy couture.

Nerdy chic was all over the SS11 runways.

Reaching back to an '80s Moschino moment.

Bag lady of leisure.

Striped lass.

Images: Moschino.

Shine On

The fashion sun rises and sets on the Supes.

Notice how the light shines through Kristen McMenamy, photographed by who else but Steven Meisel for the May, 2011 issue of Vogue Italia.

Mega-mannequin McMenamy.

Image: TFS.

Déjà Vu: Scrolling the Red Carpet

Well, well, well, look which Supe was scrolling the red carpet at the Met Gala?

Shalom Harlow in Marchesa. Photo: Getty.

You know I love this dress and she looks perfect in it.

I just thought that the woman who gave us one of the most memorable McQueen show moments – the woman whose dress was spray painted by robots while she was still in it – would have opted for McQueen. That’s all.

See all posts on the Met Ball 2011.

Compare it to last year’s red carpet:

I Knew It When We MET

METaphors and Similes

METa Data

Déjà Vu: Have we MET before?

Christensen Reappears

Well, technically she hasn’t left.

One sees Ms. Christensen from time to time – in the underground, avant-garde, below the radar sites and publications where culture, art and beauty lurk. Lately, she has made a few mainstream appearances again. Here she is in the May, 2011 Russian edition of Harper’s Bazaar, photographed by Luis Sanchis.

I have always looked upon her with reverence.

Other-worldly - the Supermodel in her natural habitat - floating ethereally.

The perfect do - no don'ts about it.

Sporting two of the season's big trends - electric blue and crazy prints - and still looking like an original.

She always looked great in black and white.

An intricate soul.

Breathtakingly beautiful.

Unabashedly feminine, even in a suit.

Supe-r star.

Hometown Helena.

"She's got cheekbones like geometry and eyes like sin." - Lloyd Cole in Perfect Skin

She is an original Supe, after all – and can you tell – my favourite one.

Images: The Fashion Spot.

Déjà Vu: Slash This, Copy That

Many years ago, in a land not so far away, two designers went head to head in a controversy over bandages.

The era was the ’80s. The land was Paris. The designers were Azzedine Alaïa and Hervé Léger. The bandages in question were in the form of dresses.

Léger worked for Alaïa (although this isn’t listed in the current bio on the Hervé website) and Alaïa claimed he copied his designs.

I will let you make up your own mind, but I distinctly recall the Tunisian designer, otherwise known as the “King of Cling”, being adored by the Supes.

Supes of the day: Naomi, Christy, Linda, Beverly and more.

I remember Naomi and Yasmin Le Bon in his stretch dresses – and I dreamed of adding one of those numbers to my own closet. I think I bought a clinging skirt in a mushroom tone, only because I saw Christy wearing that dress above. The skirt wasn’t an Alaïa (it would have taken a lot of student work hours to afford one at the time) – so it just wasn’t the same.

Monsieur Alaïa (amongst the Glamazons including Yaz Le Bon and Gail Elliott) is a giant in so many ways.

Well, Monsieur Léger, who created those bandage dresses under his own label in the ’80s to much success, lost control of his company and the right to use his name in the late ’90s. The Hervé Léger website says that the BCBG Max Azria Group bought it in1998 and Léger, who now runs a successful design business under Hervé L. Leroux says it was 1999, according to his own website.

I spotted the Leroux boutique while out for a Parisian stroll in St. Germain de Prés.

The Leroux label specializes in bandage dresses made from jersey, that drape and pleat. Incidentally, I took a photo of the Leroux shop in St. Germain, on a visit to Paris in 2009 and this green dress caught my eye.

The perfect green - it stood out amongst the otherwise black and white windows.

The Léger label, now designed by Max Azria, still specializes in bandage dresses to this day.

I actually came across one of their dresses via The Outnet today and it reminded me of a pair of Alaïa boots I had seen on the same site a few weeks ago. From memory, I thought they were somewhat similar and that I must have gotten the designers confused – both of them surely had to be by the same company.

The boot.

The dress.

When I looked again, I found that the boots are indeed by Alaïa and the dress is Léger.

The Alaïa boot.

The Léger dress.

The Alaïa boot slash.

The Léger dress slash.

It wasn’t until I was trying to find a vintage Alaïa photo for this post, that I realized Niki Taylor is wearing a longer version of the Alaïa slash bandage dress in it! Naomi and Linda also have one on in the original photo above (with actual skin – not skin-tone fabric showing through the slashes).

Niki's Alaïa dress at first glance/slash, back in the '80s.

Talk about a full-circle déjà vu!

Images: Leroux shop photos taken by Yours Truly, Paris, 2009.

Léger Dress and Alaïa Boots from The Outnet; Alaia and models image courtesy of YasminLeBon.net; Elle image courtesy The Fashion Spot.

The Art of Dressing, Super Edition

Sometimes I come across an image that is just perfect.

It isn’t airbrushed, it isn’t a 14-year old girl in women’s clothing, it isn’t art directed.

I thought Linda Evangelista was the picture of perfection at Art Basel in Miami, earlier this month.

Tailored, yet relaxed. Casual, yet dressed. Minimal, yet detailed.

Yes, she’s a Supermodel. But she can teach us all a thing or two about not trying too hard – very little makeup, a nonchalant roll of a pant, sublime snake-skin flats, do-it-yourself hair and that air of self acceptance. Can you see it in her lovely green eyes?

The cut of this pant has changed my life in recent years - so comfortable to wear.

There’s something to be said for a woman in her 40s, accepting her natural beauty, dressing for herself.

Worn at an event where spectacle is everything, quiet grace speaks volumes.

Saved by Who Else, a Supermodel

Darling readers, I’ve been in a fashion funk lately.  

I wanted to get off the merry-go-round for a while. 

Well, leave it to one of the Supes to save me. 

I couldn’t help but share this darling cover of our friend Christy. Ms. Turlington (or Mrs. Burns) has such a timeless quality about her and at 40, she looks even more divine than she did in the ’90s. 

The one and only Christy, Vogue Italia July 2010 by Steven Meisel

Here’s a look behind the scenes at the photo shoot. 

 

I’ll  have more for you soon…slowly starting to make my way back from the sartorial haze.

(And don’t think for a minute that I haven’t been following the collections – just letting them marinate for a bit.)

Mag Rack: Uncovered

Super Claudia just had her baby, but the water cooler chat is still about her nude cover for German Vogue .

Photographed by Uncle Karl, because really, there are no other photographers in the history of the fashion world – or one would think with all that Karl does these days.

Mama Claudia on German Vogue, June 2010

Photo courtesy of TFS.

The Art of La Linda

Linda E is hot.

She is literally sweating it out for W mag’s November edition.

Well, okay, maybe it’s designer makeup sweat. But here’s a woman who isn’t afraid of a little drama.

The Super-sport touches on social, religious and political taboos for the mag’s annual art issue.

Always entertaining – there is no other Linda.

Living cover art: Ms. Evangelista

Sweating over her craft.

Santa Maria!!

All photos by Maurizio Cattelan, courtesy of WWD.

Linda Looking Vibrant in V Mag

Linda E has done it again. How that woman still manages to look different in each shoot, after all these years is a testament to her crazy chameleon ability.

The new issue of V Magazine leverages that chameleon charm – literally showing Linda in a Pantone palette of colours, as photographed by Sebastian Faena.

You’ll do a doubletake but will have no doubt that La Linda is Gorg-a-rama.

Photos by Sebastian Faena, courtesy of V Magazine.

See more photos of Linda in Linda and Meisel – Together Again.

See more photos of the beloved Supermodels in Turlington Turns it Out for YSL, She’s Baaaack: Meisel Shoots McMenamy for Vogue Italia and Supernatural Supes in Harper’s Bazaar.

Linda and Meisel – Together Again

Super Linda was photographed recently by super snapper, Steven Meisel for Vogue Italia.

Ciao darrrrlings. Good to have you back.

 

[Click on the thumbnails to see a larger view.]

More Linda to come…watch for it over the weekend.

Supernatural Supes in Harper’s Bazaar

Say the word ‘Supermodel’ and a flurry of first names floods your mind. Then words like ‘Glamazon’, ‘mannequin’ and ‘freaks of nature’ soon follow. After all, these icons of the late ’80s and early ’90s were no ordinary girls.

They likely required pounds of makeup and the most expensive clothes to look the way they did, right? Well, here is where the Supes really differed. Unlike the blank canvas models of today who need layers of accoutrements to acquire a personality, these ladies brought it.

So getting back to that freaks of nature thing…

Harper’s Bazaar reveals the natural side of Kristen, Cindy, Claudia, Amber, Shalom, Tatjana and Nadja in an editorial called Supermodels Supernatural, photographed by the brilliant Peter Lindbergh.

This reminds me of Bazaar during the Liz Tilberis years.

This is a magazine moment, darlings. Let’s savour it.

[Click on the thumbnails to see the larger images.]

Photos by Peter Lindbergh, in the September 2009 issue of Harper’s Bazaar. Go out and buy it – it’s a great issue for your fashion archives.