fashionologie

Spring 2012's Top Catwalkers

fashionologie — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 15:41:44 PDT

>> Who walked 73 shows this Fashion Month while still finding the energy to play guitar backstage? Who skipped London Fashion Week this season and still managed to land among the top catwalkers this season? See which models were most in demand for Spring 2012 in the slideshow.

Photos by Greg Kessler

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A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Today's Dolce & Gabbana Fall 2011 Campaign Shoot (Plus Gucci Campaign Rumors)

fashionologie — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 11:41:41 PDT

>> Stefano Gabbana tumblred images from the New York set of Dolce & Gabbana's Fall 2011 campaign today, showing a cast that includes Liu Wen , Maryna Linchuk, Constance Jablonski, Monika Jac Jagaciak, Isabeli Fontana, and Kate King. The girls are shown alternately dressed up as men and women, mirroring the label's Fall show. Jagaciak - who has her hair slicked back and is wearing a suit - tweeted a few hours ago that she "is Jac the dude today." Gabbana's photos in the gallery.

No images from the Gucci Fall 2011 campaign set, meanwhile, but the end product is rumored to feature four girls - two who Gucci has cast before and two who are newcomers to the label, including "that one stunning Top 10 Newcomer who all the key clients had to have," The Imagist reports.

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Will Kate Moss Be in Louis Vuitton's Fall 2011 Ad Campaign? Plus, More Casting Rumors

fashionologie — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 12:33:05 PDT

>> The latest Fall 2011 campaign scuttlebutt: Isabeli Fontana is taking the early lead, with campaigns for Escada and Donna Karan booked, and a rumored appearance for Bottega Veneta as well. Karan's campaign, which was captured by Patrick Demarchelier the past three seasons, was snapped by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin for Fall 2011.

Meanwhile, Steven Meisel shot (and Karl Templer styled) the Fall 2011 Louis Vuitton campaign in New York yesterday - but there will reportedly be no Kate Moss appearance as there was on the runway. In fact, no supermodels will be featured at all: Instead, the six models chosen are said to be from the current generation - "Top 50-ish, a bit new. Nothing from the Icon list." Daphne Groeneveld and Fei Fei Sun are rumored to be among them.

Kate Moss has reportedly been cast for another Fall 2011 campaign for Mango; however, it will be shot by Terry Richardson and is today, making lots of appearances on his blog.

Versace, like Donna Karan, is also switching up photographers - after going with Mario Testino for the past eight seasons, Donatella Versace has chosen Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott to do the Fall 2011 honors (with styling by Joe McKenna). Originally, the Versace campaign, like Vuitton, was reportedly supposed to feature six models, including Candice Swanepoel and Groeneveld, but the photographers are rumored to have settled instead on one girl with "short dark hair" who is a "cover star." Some are thinking that might indicate Saskia de Brauw as Versace's new girl.

To round out the Fall 2011 campaign placements so far, Juergen Teller shot Irina Kulikova yesterday for Moschino at Turin's Ristorante del Cambio, Ralph Lauren has reportedly cast its runway opener Sui He, and Liu Wen is rumored to be in the upcoming Dolce & Gabbana campaign.

A few images from the various shoots in the gallery.

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See Joan Smalls's First Estee Lauder Ad

fashionologie — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 16:35:47 PDT

>> Joan Smalls joined the Estee Lauder stable - which also currently includes models Constance Jablonski, Liu Wen, Carolyn Murphy, and Hilary Rhoda - late last year. Although Smalls filmed a Lauder TV commercial right around the time of her contract's announcement back in December, her first ad just launched for the brand's Women in Beauty campaign, depicting Smalls alongside Jablonski and Wen, shot by Craig McDean. Smalls recently spoke to Vogue about suffering from scoliosis - she was diagnosed at fourteen, when it was too late for the spinal curvature to be corrected with a back brace, and is therefore left vulnerable to injury and pain. "I do my best not to think about it," she says. [Modelinia, Models.com, Models.com]

Prabal Gurung Goes Edgier, Dressier, and Gets Stronger for Fall 2011

fashionologie — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 22:23:15 PST

>> Prabal Gurung had us at look number one - when Karlie Kloss stomped out in a brilliant red dress, sexy in its full party skirt and sleeve nonchalantly slipping off one shoulder. The designer says he was dually inspired by John Singer Sargent’s A Parisian Beggar Girl and Miss Havisham from Great Expectations for Fall 2011, but really, it was about a simple challenge: "Can I do undone? . . . After such a long time of tight, short dresses constantly, I thought that was something so chic.”

Gurung returned to his dressier roots after last season's more sportswear-driven stint - there were textures galore (furs, sequins, intricate appliques and the like, which made for some expensive-looking pieces). But that's not to say that the collection was uber feminine; in fact, with its black leather moto gloves and leather lashings around the waist, it forayed into edgier territory than Gurung has tried in the past. Pink hair streaks (which have also been spotted this week on stylist and WSJ contributor Lauren Goodman and the model Charlotte Free) finished off the look, and evidence that the designer's star keeps rising came in both the caliber of model cast (Kloss, who walked Gurung's show for the first time, Constance Jablonski, Jourdan Dunn, Joan Smalls, Liu Wen) and the number of editor-in-chiefs in the front row (including Robbie Myers, Emmanuelle Alt, and Anna Wintour, who was joined by Bee Shaffer).

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Riccardo Tisci Casts Only Asian Models to Show Japanese-Infused Spring 2011 Givenchy Couture Collection

fashionologie — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 10:35:19 PST

>> Now that Givenchy's couture presentations are intimate and without the hoopla of a fashion show, Riccardo Tisci has decreased the number of dresses per collection produced - this time, there were only ten. But that doesn't mean there's a lack of drama. Inspired by Japanese robot toys and Kazuo Ohno (the legendary Japanese Butoh dancer who Tisci met through a mutual friend), the collection is pastel in front with shocks of brighter color in the back - like with Pre-Fall, Tisci has left his usual black-based palette behind. One dress, with hand-dyed and hand-cut matte sequins, took 4,000 hours of handwork to assemble. And as for the model cast, Tisci went completely Asian, with Chinese (Ming Xi, Liu Wen, Shu Pei Qin, Sun Fei Fei, Du Juan, Jiang Xiao Yi), Japanese (Ai Tominaga, Tao Okamoto) and Korean (Hye Rim Park, So Young Kang) all represented.

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Joan Smalls Joins Estee Lauder Stable

fashionologie — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 14:09:19 PST

>> At the end of last week, Puerto Rican-born model Joan Smalls became the third new model signed by Estee Lauder this year; she joins Constance Jablonski and Liu Wen, who were welcomed by the brand in April, and long-term Lauder faces Carolyn Murphy, Hilary Rhoda, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Elizabeth Hurley.

Last Monday and Tuesday, Smalls, Jablonski, and Wen filmed a television commercial for Lauder in New York - Vogue has a couple of pictures on set. Smalls is the first black face of the brand since Liya Kebede's contract ended in 2008, and her global campaigns debut in May 2011. She told Vogue: “When I found out, I was in my hotel room in Milan during Fashion Week. I started jumping on the bed like a little girl. The hardest part was keeping it secret - even from my parents.”

Givenchy Tried to Cast Adriana Lima for Runway Show at Four Months Pregnant; Roland Mouret "Would Never Do a Diffusion Line"

fashionologie — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 11:56:40 PST

Givenchy called Adriana Lima when she was four months pregnant to walk in their Spring 2010 show, she says: "They take my measurements and I’m like, 'Oh my God, oh my God, I'm big!' And then they say, 'You’re not big enough!' Because they wanted to see the belly." [The Cut]
Roland Mouret is anti-diffusion line: “I would never do a diffusion line. I don’t think the future is that. People mix brands all the time already, so you need to do something else. We are living in a different fashion world now.” [Style File]
Karlie Kloss and Jourdan Dunn spent some quality time together yesterday, Kloss Tweeted: "Lovely day in London w/bff ms.dunn...lunch at Claridges, shopping at Selfridges, and now off to the eurostar...goodbye london hello paris!" [@karlie_kloss]
Street style favorite and Harper's Bazaar senior fashion market editor Joanna Hillman is documenting her style daily during December for the magazine's blog [Harper's Bazaar]
Gap's Spring 2011 faces include Anja Rubik, Liu Wen, Anais Mali, Carolyn Murphy, Karmen Pedaru, and Monika "Jac" Jagaciak [TFS]
Talon cuff fans: Pamela Love just launched an online store [Pamela Love]
Peek Naty Chabanenko in Cushnie et Ochs's new Spring 2011 lookbook (pictured) [Refinery29]
Cathy Horyn takes an in-depth look at Chinese couturier Guo Pei as part of Sally Singer's first issue of T, which is slowing leaking online [T]

The Rise of the Asian Model - A Moment or a Movement?

fashionologie — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 08:41:14 PST

>> Is the current rise of Asian models a moment or a movement? The latter, Kwok Chan, director of international scouting at Marilyn Agency (which represents Liu Wen), tells Vogue in its December 2010 issue. Curiously, of all the most in-demand Asian models currently, none of them are Asian-American. "The only way I can explain why there are no big Asian-American names is, why are photo shoots done in some exotic locale and it looks like you've shot in someone's backyard?" Chan says. "Fashion is fantasy; it's about perception."

Dick Page, creative director of Shiseido, chalks up Asian models' increased visibility to "most economics. Everybody in the fashion/beauty industry recognizes the importance of global markets, and currently, China, Taiwan, and South Korea are at the forefront. The upshot is that customers want to see some version of themselves represented." And Anita Bitton, a casting director who has worked on Alexander Wang's shows and Gap campaigns, says that an ease in travel restrictions could also be a contributor: "Some of these girls had trouble obtaining work visas."

Liu Wen herself has noted a change within the last two seasons: "The challenge for me, and for Asian models in general, has been convincing editors, stylists, and photographers that we can have mass appeal. "But Asian, especially Chinese, models have become a stronger presence. Just a season or two ago, there weren't many models for me to talk with backstage in my native Mandarin. Now I usually have no trouble finding someone at any show." Du Juan adds: "There still are brands or clients that would not consider using an Asian model, but things are changing dramatically and quickly. I am not so sure if being Asian was or is a hindrance. In fact, I think it is a plus."

Because of the shift, Angelica Cheung, editor in chief of Vogue China, has noticed a shift in the Chinese ideal of beauty: "Traditionally the Chinese favored a classic kind of beauty - big, round eyes, cute small mouth, a high nose, and very fair skin. The Chinese models who have made it internationally are not beauties in the traditional sense, so they are modernizing the concept of beauty in China. When I was growing up in the seventies, everyone wore a blue, gray, or green Mao suit - there was no chance for women to be glamorous or different. Now you see young Chinese trying to be radical by dyeing their hair blonde or blue, sporting tattoos. It is a combination of copying what they see is popular in the Western world and trying to stand out in a nation where almost all of the 1.3 billion population have straight black hair and brown eyes. I like to joke that in less than a decade, China has gone from Karl Marx to Karl Lagerfeld!”

Brazilians Still Going Strong at Victoria's Secret Fashion Show; Plus, After Party Images

fashionologie — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 11:12:36 PST

>> Victoria's Secret models are all over fashion editorials and campaigns these days - Models.com suspects Candice Swanepoel might be next to cross over - and no wonder, with 10 and Harper's Bazaar editor Sophia Neophitou as show stylist. As Neophitou told Style.com of casting the show: “It’s such an editorial level . . . We looked at girls we love to shoot editorially; that’s what great. I think there’s a perception before you get here of what will work. But the reality is, it’s about the girl, it’s about the woman, what she brings as a human being to it, rather than has she got a size 34C cup. No, it’s not about that at all. That’s what they’ve got the miracle bras for.”

Brazilians were heavily favored as usual this year, with Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio, Isabeli Fontana, Izabel Goulart, Flavia Oliveira, Lais Ribeiro, Fabiana Semprebom, Emanuela de Paula, Gracie Carvalho, and Martha Streck all representing; 10 Brazilians out of the 33 total models. Check them out, plus Jessica Stam, Lily Donaldson, and more - at the show's after-party at Lavo last night.

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