>> Spring 2010 Ad Campaign Casts for Alexander McQueen, Christian Dior, and Chanel: Revealed — After skipping out on a traditional ad campaign last season, it sounds like Christian Dior is bringing it back for Spring 2010 — John Galliano revealed Monday that Karlie Kloss is his girl of choice for the brand. Karl Lagerfeld, meanwhile, is continuing the trio theme from the Spring 2010 Chanel show finale for his campaign cast — menage a trois participants Freja Beha Erichsen and Baptiste Giabiconi are both staying on, with Claudia Schiffer replacing Lara Stone; Lagerfeld plans to shoot the threesome on location in Buenos Aires, marking his first time in Argentina. And word is Nick Knight and Raquel Zimmermann, who worked together to produce the background video for Alexander McQueen's presentation, also collaborated on the designer's forthcoming campaign. [WWD, WWD, WeLoveModels]
Alexander McQueen
Alexander McQueen Shows Holographic Alien Beauties for Spring 2010
>> Raquel Zimmermann, who has been missing from the runways all season, finally made an appearance at Alexander McQueen — projected on a screen behind the runway, topless, with a snake writhing around her; she later morphed into an arm-waving sea creature. Two cameras, each mounted on a robotic arm that glided back and forth on the runway, moved over the audience, replacing the video of Raquel on the screen and signaling the start of the show, titled "Plato's Atlantis."
Stiffly sculptural minidresses started out in mirrored snakeprints, moving into owl and insect territory, and finally the aquatic. Hair, which began in cornrows with crimped tufts, ended in two gravity-defying horns, and the hologram catwalk operated on motion-control technology. Some of the white-faced models had prosthetics around their eyes, giving them alien-like bone structure, which took three hours to apply. And if the Fall 2009 Nina Ricci shoes needed an editorial replacement, McQueen has it for Spring 2010 — hoof-like platform booties that Imogen Morris-Clarke says were ten inches high.
The collection, embellished and couture-like as it was, will be reinterpreted to be more wearable for retail, but if the livestream — which couldn't handle all the people who tried to tune in — is any indication (full video can now be seen here), people do love their McQueen spectacles.
Alexander McQueen Teases Spring 2010 Collection as Fall 2009 Campaign Pops Up
>> Less than a week before Alexander McQueen shows for Spring 2010 next Tuesday, his Fall 2009 campaign has appeared, featuring Tara Gill shot by David Burton. The effect is much different than that amped-up dramatic show, but at this point we're already looking forward to what's coming on Tuesday — the designer has been busy dropping hints on Twitter like: "Dante's Inferno !!!!!," "TRANSMUTATION," "The Creationist?," "MEDUSA," "NEBULA," "HUBBLE PALLET [sic]," "FULL CIRCLE," and posting a picture to do with the origin of species. Mid-September he Tweeted, "Fashion month has started with banality," so hopefully his collection will help change that.
>> Alexander McQueen is Dating a Porn Star He Met Online —According to Cathy Horyn's article in yesterday's Men's Fashion Fall 2009 issue of T, Alexander McQueen is seeing a porn star, who he met online. Horyn writes: "'It's great! ' he cackles. [McQueen] told me the man's name but asked that I identify him only by his porn nom de famille, Mr. Stag." [T Magazine]
>> Alexander McQueen to Stream Spring 2010 Show Live — One of fashion's most anticipated shows of the season will now be watchable live worldwide: Alexander McQueen — who recently finished a "killer twisted jacket," presumedly for the Spring 2010 collection — is collaborating with ShowStudio to stream his Oct. 6 show as it's taking place on AlexanderMcQueen.com. [McQueenWorld Twitter, McQueenWorld Twitter]
>> Alexander McQueen Opens World to Twitterverse —The latest — and perhaps most unexpected — designer to join Twitter: Alexander McQueen. Yesterday, while preparing for his Spring 2010 show, McQueen tweeted: "STRESSED! Microwave head meltdown! sparks flying out of my brain!" And today, his PR chimed in, adding: "Camilla Nickerson is here from New York, 2nd fittings begin....heads are down in the studio." [Racked, McQueenWorld Twitter, McQueenWorld Twitter]
>> Karlie Kloss Snags Alexander McQueen Fall 2009 Campaign, Celebrates 17th Birthday at Disneyland —A preview of Karlie Kloss's impending Fall 2009 Alexander McQueen campaign, styled by Karl Templer, is up on the designer's website; the model celebrated her 17th birthday over the weekend by taking her family, agents, and friends to Disney World; Vogue UK has pictures. [Next, Vogue UK Blog]
A Peek Inside What Is Supposedly Alexander McQueen's East London Home
>> There's a four-floor, 2,957 square foot house in East London up for sale that The Real Estalker reports is Alexander McQueen's. The interior, which is surprisingly minimalist when compared to McQueen's fashion aesthetic, was supposedly done by architect David Adjaye (who has been confirmed to have worked with McQueen), and the listing price is £1,700,000 (approx. $2.87m). The house is situated right on the edge of Victoria Park and has a private garden in the back.
Good on Tomas Maier: Bottega Veneta Is Currently PPR's Only Brand Seeing a Rise in Sales
>> Just a few days after LVMH reported a decline, causing all marketing to be cut save for its top-performing brands, PPR reported a 76 percent decline in first-half profits. Tomas Maier can breathe a sigh of relief: the company's only area of growth was Bottega Veneta, on which PPR has been focusing, which saw an 8.6 percent rise in sales in the second quarter.
At flagship brand Gucci, which accounts for the bulk of Gucci Group's profits, Frida Giannini was credited by PPR chairman Francois-Henri Pinault for bolstering PPR as a whole with sustained demand for her bags in China.
Isabella Blow Gets Two Biographies in 2010
>> Isabella Blow, discoverer of Stella Tennant, Sophie Dahl, Hussein Chalayan, Philip Treacy, Alexander McQueen — and muse to the latter two — passed away at 48 a little over two years ago after ingesting weedkiller. The motive was suspected to be a recent ovarian cancer diagnosis; Blow had a history of at least two suicide attempts, one involving her throwing herself from the elevated Hammersmith Flyover road in London.
Needless to say, there's a story to be told, and two different biographies, both scheduled for 2010, are in the works, reports the New York Observer. The first, Blow by Blow: The Story of Isabella Blow, is co-written by Isabella's husband of 18 years, Detmar Blow, and author Tom Sykes, who first met Isabella when he was 20 and his sister Plum Sykes was her assistant at Vogue.
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