Posts for June 2008
Harper's Bazaar Stoops Low For an Advertising Pick-Me-Up June 30, 2008 4:53 pm >> Depending on where you're standing, Harper's Bazaar has either reached a new high or a new low. As reported yesterday by The New York Times, the Hearst-owned magazine forked over 40, yes 40, editorial pages, plus the cover of its July 2008 issue, to advertiser Estee Lauder. The cosmetic company is keen to sell the socks off of its new perfume, Sensuous, and is using its four stable girls, Gwyneth Paltrow, Carolyn Murphy, Elizabeth Hurley, and Hilary Rhoda to give it their all.
Desperate economic times call for desperate measures, it seems, but Allan Mottus, a beauty industry analyst, said it best: "Boy, they really sold out — Hearst — didn’t they?"
It's no secret that advertisers and magazines have long been in cahoots — Nylon collaborated in a similar way with Chloe earlier this year, placing the faces of the brand's new fragrance on their "Beauty Issue" cover, with an accompanying editorial inside.
John Galliano Plays Peekaboo with Fall 2008 Dior Couture June 30, 2008 12:42 pm >> Transparency is still the word, in John Galliano's mind. The beanie-sporting designer had Lisa Fonssagrives, wife to Irving Penn and oft-credited as the first supermodel, in mind when producing his typical voluminous dresses, but with layers of light chiffon, rather than the heavier, stiffer fabrics Christian Dior couture has boasted in recent seasons.
Frequent collaborator Stephen Jones, meanwhile, looked to Eduardo Garcia Benito, famous for his '20s Vogue cover illustrations of women in cloches, when creating the accompanying skull cap-cum-cloches.