>> LOVE's sixth edition boasts more covers than ever before: models Kristen McMenamy, Daphne Groeneveld, Nyasha Matonhodze, Lara Stone, Mariacarla Boscono, plus the young, 14-and-under starlets Hailee Steinfeld, Elle Fanning, and Chloe Moretz, "their faces free of makeup and streaked with tears," as alternatively styled by Grand, Panos Yiapanis, or Arianne Phillips. All eight were photographed by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott.
>> 16-year-old Zimbabwean model Nyasha Matonhodze majorly hit the model radar upon bagging a slot in the Fall 2011 Louis Vuitton ad campaign, and it looks like Vuitton show stylist Katie Grand is helping her perpetuate her rise. Matonhodze is featured on the latest issue (likely the first cover of many for the issue) of the Grand-edited LOVE magazine. [@THELOVEMAGAZINE]
>> Franca Sozzani is putting her money where her mouth is with Vogue Italia's June 2011 cover. After devoting a special section to "curvy" women on the magazine's website (of those highlighted she recently said: "Why should these women slim down? Many of the women who have a few extra kilos are especially beautiful and also more feminine"), Sozzani has cast a trio of plus-size models for the magazine's latest cover. No Crystal Renn, the current "plus-size" model du jour, in sight — instead, Steven Meisel shot Tara Lynn, Candice Huffine, and Robyn Lawley in black and white, marking the first time plus-size models have graced the magazine's cover since the days of Sophie Dahl, circa 2000. [Models.com]
>> In February, Kate Moss spent five days in both Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo with Mario Testino, shooting for Vogue Brazil's hefty 36th anniversary edition. "We worked the whole time," she told Vogue UK right after the trip. "We shot 60 pages for the magazine. It was a lot. I had Lila with me and I thought it would be more of a holiday, Mario usually finishes quite early, but not this time."
Testino captured her opposite Brazilian symbols of his choice — including architect Oscar Niemeyer, soccer star Pele, actors Rodrigo Santoro and Marcio Garcia, and model Mayana Moura. One location of choice was Rio's Copacabana Palace, where Testino had Moss posing in the hotel's spa and kitchen during working hours. The 508-page edition, which features Moss nude on the cover, hits newsstands May 2.
>> In a followup to her first Vogue Paris cover featuring Gisele Bundchen, Emmanuelle Alt's second cover for the magazine features another supermodel: Kate Moss, shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott in London. [Vogue.fr, HuffPo]
>> After last Summer's repeat cover appearances by a singular style of Miu Miu dress and then the Fall's cover domination by one gold Balmain dress, it's Prada (followed somewhat by Dolce & Gabbana) that seems to be the Spring 2011 cover go-to. The striped Spring 2011 Prada collection has figured front-and-center into over 15 fashion magazine covers in the last few months, including Anna Wintour's WSJ. cover and Gisele Bundchen's February 2011 Vogue China cover; Fashionista has a comprehensive look. [Fashionista]
>> With its new editorial team, the biannual Arena Homme Plus has become something of a brother publication to POP — they now share the same editorial director, Ashley Heath, and the magazine's new editor in chief, Max Pearmain, used to be acting menswear editor at POP.
Heath and Pearmain's first edition of Arena Homme Plus hits newsstands next Monday, April 11 in the UK (and Monday, April 18 for the rest of the world), boasting four different covers, one each playfully dubbed "Stephen," "Stevie," "Steve," or "Steven."
"The men's fashion magazine market has become so staid and predictable," Pearmain notes of his vision for the magazine. "It was actually more inspiring in many ways 15 years ago when there was just L'Uomo, Vogue Hommes, and Arena Homme Plus . . . We wanted to inject some surprise and some passion and some playfulness back into this world."
Pearmain himself styled New Order's Stephen Morris for the "Stephen" cover, artist Clunie Reid created scrawling artwork for the "Stevie" cover (left), David Sims photographed the "Steve" cover, and Steven Klein, of course, captured the "Steven" cover. The Klein version of the issue — or Homme+ PLUS as it has been christened — comes with 45 extra pages of more "hardcore" content. Some of it has already been posted online (NSFW) and will only be sold in selected independent retailers and online.
The move back to Arena Homme Plus is something of a coming home for Heath, who used to edit the magazine himself: "It's been fun to return. I really built that magazine on blood, sweat, and tears back in the day, so it was great that David Sims, Steven Klein, and others from the glory days returned and contributed such strong, strange work. There's this sense of travel, of art and design, of the way the world is changing . . . We changed the paper stocks a bit and did that 'special sections' thing I'm into recently. The magazine is still niche, but it will appeal to a broader cross-section of stylish men."
Alongside contributions from Sims and Klein, the new issue also features work by Wolfgang Tillmans, Collier Schorr, and Ari Marcopoulos.
>> Lady Gaga appears on Vogue's March 2011 cover — photographed by Mario Testino — wearing Haider Ackermann; inside, she sports Alexander McQueen, Louis Vuitton, Hussein Chalayan, and more Haider Ackermann. But as much as she loves her McQueen, she is also known for supporting unheard-of designers, and she notes: “I pay for a lot of fashion myself because I want to support young designers.”
It's all about returning the love to her early adopters, she says: “The fashion community in general got me much earlier than everyone else. But actually, I felt truly embraced by this London cultural movement, that McQueen, Isabella [Blow], Daphne Guinness wing of the English crowd. I remember when I first started doing photo shoots, people would say, ‘My God, you look so much like Isabella Blow, it scares me.’ And McQueen used to say, ‘Oh, my God, your boobs!’ He actually grabbed both of them and said, ‘Even your boobs are like hers!’”
>> Vogue is treading new cover girl territory, what with Kristen Stewart on the February 2011 cover and upcoming Vogue covers for two more first timers — Lady Gaga and Rihanna — but the Stewart cover also marks another first: Proenza Schouler's first Vogue cover. And the coup doesn't stop there — Stewart wears Proenza exclusively in the cover story, including outtakes.
Stewart first wore Proenza in November 2009, at the London Twilight Saga: New Moon premiere, but Lazaro Hernandez says that he and Jack McCollough hadn't met her physically until when they were photographed by Mario Testino together for the Vogue cover story. "She's very the girl we have in mind when we design," he added. "It's cool to see Kristen in the clothes because she's not 'the lady,' and that's exactly who we see in those clothes."
>> In less than two weeks, Carine Roitfeld is headed out the door at Vogue Paris, with Emmanuelle Alt set to take over on Feb. 1. Roitfeld's last issue will be for March, and although there's been no intel on who might feature on that cover — her last for the magazine — her second to last cover choice, for February 2011, is Lara Stone, captured by Mario Sorrenti (left).
So what, beyond these last few days in her current role, does Roitfeld have on her plate? There's still her biography, Carine Roitfeld: Album of a Woman of Fashion, that Olivier Zahm has been working on for over a year, which is supposed to come out in the Fall. Apparently she recently read the Keith Richards biography, Life, and has since been wanting to try shepherd's pie, Harper's Bazaar UK editor Lucy Yeomans tweets: "Just seen [British chef] Mark Hix sending shepherds pie to Carine Roitfeld in Paris.She has wanted to try one since reading SPscene in Keith Richards biog!" And now there's speculation that Roitfeld might look into launching her own brand. As The Imagist points out: "I mean if [Anna Dello Russo] can have her own fragrance, why shouldn't the masses be able to buy a little bit of le style Roitfeld?"
