>> Interior Designer to Alexander Wang, Now to the Models? —Last night, Natasha Poly, Victoria Traina, and Alexander Wang teamed up to celebrate the launch of interior designer (an co-owner of Edon Manor boutique) Ryan Korban's signature website at the Soho Grand Hotel. Korban and Wang have been close friends since they went to college together — they collaborate often, on Wang's offices, for one — and Natasha Poly's up next — Korban will be doing an apartment she has yet to buy. No doubt, he'll have more models than just Poly to add to his client list soon — we counted over 25 showing up to the fete, including Maryna Linchuk, who palled around with Poly, Jessica Stam, Hanne-Gaby Odiele, Mirte Maas, Olga Sherer, Iris Strubegger, and Rose Cordero. One more tidbit that Poly let fly: she may not be doing the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show for the second year in a row — she has to choose between that or a shoot in Morocco. [Style.com, Modelinia]
Hanne-Gaby Odiele
Paris Agencies Go Comic Book for Spring 2010 Show Packages
>> So far this season, the most eye-catching show package came courtesy of One Management, who had their stable of models mimic an iconic '60s Harper's Bazaar cover by Richard Avedon, but a couple of Paris agencies are running a close second, and curiously, they are both feeling the comic book look. Women Paris altered portfolio pictures of the likes of Iris Strubegger and Iselin Steiro into with a little high contrast look and a splat of yellow, and WM emulated Sin City for their gaggle of fresh faces.
Alexander Wang Takes His Spring 2010 After Party to a Gas Station
>> Alexander Wang may have changed up his collection's look for Spring 2010, but he's not about to lose his street cred. He partnered with Katie Grand and LOVE, rented out a Mobil gas station last night, and brought a crowd — which included Trish Goff, Daphne Guinness, L'Wren Scott, Erin Wasson, Vanessa Traina, plus fellow designers Esteban Cortazar and Gareth Pugh.
Despite the fact that the station's gas tanks were drained yesterday afternoon and the venue drenched with nonflammable suds, cigarettes were verboten; nicotine-dependent guests were constantly reminded with "Please stop smoking!" announcements. To take their minds off those forbidden cigarette, there were performances by both Courtney Love, who told the audience she received (ironically) a carton of cigarettes and a pair of shoes to play, and Santigold; plus guests had a free run of anything in the station's convenience store: Bee Shaffer took advantage of the candy aisle.
Alexander, for his part, seemed to be enjoying himself — he chatted up Lily Donaldson and Frankie Rayder, got down with Hanne Gaby Odiele (below), and jumped onstage and into Courtney Love's arms during her performance.
The Last Two POP Covers for Dasha Zhukova's First Issue, Plus More Inside Details
>> The first issue of POP under Dasha Zhukova's guiding hand hits newsstands tomorrow at $8, with two international newsstand covers, each with a 50/50 split run, of Style Rookie's Tavi, plus a 500-copy limited-edition hardback cover by Ed Ruscha (below, left), and a limited subscriber's cover of Cicciolina for the Baltic States (below, right).
“The new Pop launches at an exciting turning point in fashion, where the possibilities and potential for creativity are almost overwhelming,” Zhukova told WWD. “The new era is more fluid than ever before; one where teenage girls in Chicago, fashion editors in Paris, street photographers from Berlin and bloggers everywhere . . . redefine the fashion landscape.”
>> Dree Hemingway Said to Be Already Booked for Calvin Klein Spring 2010, Is Featured in Purple's "Naked" Series —After walking solely in Givenchy last season, Dree Hemingway reportedly already has a spot on the Spring 2010 Calvin Klein runway — no world on whether it's an exclusive, but regardless, Calvin Klein is the New York show which generally sets the bar, model casting-wise, for the rest of Fashion Month. Dree is also the newest participant (in the past, it's been Chloe Sevigny, Angela Lindvall, Shalom Harlow) in the "Purple Naked" series, captured by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin for Purple Fashion #12 — The Imagist has a peek. And if you're dying to see the result of that Purple shoot by Paola Kudacki with Suvi Koponen and Hanne-Gaby Odiele, Models.com has the final cut (NSFW). [Fashionista, The Imagist (NSFW)]
>> Suvi Kopenen Hangs, Flips for Purple Fashion —You hear about models having to hold awkward positions for hours during a photoshoot, but here's some video evidence, straight from the set of the upcoming Purple Fashion (#12, Fall/Winter 2009). Suvi Kuponen hangs over Hanne-Gaby Odiele from the ceiling by her feet, a swing across her chest, and for every shot Paola Kudacki takes, she has to hang her head and then flip it upwards. [Purple Diary]
>> Ryan McGinley Scores Fall 2009 Missoni Campaign —Ryan McGinley is becoming a master at toeing the high-low fashion line: His Wrangler campaign won a Lion D'Or at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival last month; he photographed Levi's new campaign to grab the attention of youth; Stella McCartney re-hired him to do her Bambi-laden Fall 2009 campaign; and now he's replaced Steven Meisel for Missoni Fall 2009. Together with stylist Vanessa Reid, he captured Hanne-Gaby Odiele riding on the back of a truck at Floyd Bennett Airfield in Brooklyn in this first image. [Supreme Being]
>> ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL —Spring 2009 campaigns are all about going with the straightforward, traditional house image, and David Sims's interpretation of Balenciaga in all its robo-avant garde glory is no exception. Although there are ten campaign faces, Elsa Sylvan's shot is first out of the gates — fellow campaign model Diana Farkhullina confirmed back in November that each girl has her own ad. [TFS]
UPDATE: Hanne-Gaby Odiele's (below) and Iris Strubegger's Balenciaga ad just showed up. [Women Paris]
Balenciaga, Miu Miu, Prada Go With Gaggles of Girls for Spring 2009 Ads
>> For Fall 2008, three of the big campaigns that every model wants to catch — Prada, Balenciaga, and Miu Miu — all went with one big name — Linda Evangelista, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Vanessa Paradis, respectively.
Come Spring 2009, all three labels have decided to switch things up by using a large number of new faces — Prada is using eight models (Anna Jagodzinska, Giedre Dukauskaite, Katrin Thormann, Nimue Smit, Sigrid Agren, Toni Garrn, Viktoriya Sasonkina, Ymre Stiekema); Miu Miu is using eight models as "accessories" to campaign star Katie Holmes (Darya Kurovska, Elena Lomkova, Imogen Morris-Clarke, Katie Fogarty, Myf Shepherd, Sophie Srej, Tilda Lindstam, Yulia Leontieva); and Balenciaga is going with ten models (Amanda Laine, Anabela Belikova, Anna Jagodzinska, Anya Kazakova, Diana Farkhullina, Elsa Sylvan, Hanne-Gaby Odiele, Iris Strubegger, Katie Fogarty, Kinga Rajzak).
Surprisingly, there are only two girls overlapping between the campaigns: Anna Jagodzinska in Balenciaga and Prada and Katie Fogarty in Miu Miu and Balenciaga, and especially in Miu Miu's cast, some girls — Tilda Lindstam, Yulia Leontieva — are very new faces. Although some are skeptical, especially in the case of Miu Miu, that all the models cast will make it into the final shots, it's notable that all three labels, which usually go with one face, have all decided that power comes in numbers this season. Get to know the chosen faces in the gallery below.
*image: source, source, source
Lollipops, Picnic Blankets, and Minidresses Make the Rounds at Stella McCartney's Spring 2009 Presentation
Amongst the salmon-colored sheaths and boyfriend blazers, Iekeliene Stange carried a bag full of rubber ducks, Jourdan Dunn and Chanel Iman chatted the gig away, a brass band provided music, and a hot dog cart supplied provisions, setting the mood for a carefree collection.
To see how many models can fit on one park bench (and more of the collection, too) check out the gallery below.
*images: source, source
Vero Moda
Shoe Studio
Juan Antonio Lopez