Thu, 07/02/09 — 11:24:58 AM
>> Giorgio Armani sticks with an idea when it works — the newest wave of Victoria and David Beckham's underwear ads, shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, are out today — and the same goes for his Cruise 2010 collection. He started exploring the eighties with a little Grace Jones influence in his Fall 2009 collection, and for resort he's taking the idea further with brightly-checked party dresses, polka dots, and a dash of sequins.
Thu, 06/25/09 — 02:33:40 PM
>> Lara Stone has developed a devoted cult following — Carine Roitfeld dedicated an entire issue of Vogue Paris to her, Stella McCartney recently gushed about wanted to "celebrate Lara" and her "fantastic breasts" — and as a result Lara's been able to convert more single girl campaigns. For Fall 2009, she picked up lingerie with Eres and the followup to DSquared2's epic Spring 2009 campaign with Linda Evangelista and Naomi Campbell fighting. Originally, designers Dean and Dan Caten were supposed to join her in the ads shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, but in the images they uploaded, it looks like they went with three male models instead.
Thu, 06/11/09 — 05:01:28 PM
>> INSIDER WIRE —Kate Moss has been pretty off the radar since she hosted the Costume Institute Gala last month . . . until she popped up today at the Topshop offices. Maybe a vacation was in order, but she also worked at least a little, shooting an upcoming W cover — September 2009, perhaps — with Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott on May 22. More recently, the magazine photographed Lara Stone, Guinevere van Seenus, and Edita Vilkeviciute at a country house with a lake outside of London. [Sophynails Twitter, Sophynails Twitter]
Thu, 06/11/09 — 01:32:40 PM
>> Giorgio Armani has niece Roberta Armani increasingly stepping in for him in the public eye as a brand ambassador and just released the newest set of underwear ads featuring David Beckham this morning, but the brand face we're most interested in is Raquel Zimmermann, whose Fall 2009 ads for Armani — the first of many for her this season — are starting to pop up. The same team was used for Fall 2009 as for Spring 2009: stylist Katy England with Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, but Raquel replaces Sasha Pivovarova as the face of the brand.
Wed, 06/03/09 — 05:44:58 PM
>> THE MODELIZER —New modeling faces are rolling into New York, trying to make a dent in time for resort season, and one girl who's been getting a lot of attention, particularly because she's new on the Prada rotation — she's said to have shot an upcoming (presumedly Fall 2009) Miu Miu ad campaign with Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, and just closed Prada's resort show yesterday — is 18-year-old Hannah Holman from small town Utah. [Models.com]
Wed, 05/27/09 — 12:17:25 PM
>> THE MODELIZER —Talk in the last week has centered on which model might be poised to give Raquel Zimmermann a run for a place on top of the heap — Lara Stone or Natasha Poly — but her Fall 2009 campaign run is shaping up well so far — she's shot Gucci and Jean Paul Gaultier, both with Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, Giorgio Armani with Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, and Hermes with Eric Valli — all supposedly before she bleached her hair. Speaking of the new hair, the first editorial with it on display appears in the July 2009 issue of Vogue Nippon, captured by Mert and Marcus (above). [WeLoveModels, TFS]
Tue, 05/26/09 — 03:26:55 PM
>> Louis Vuitton switched their advertising image up last season, replacing Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott with Steven Meisel after a six year partnership. This season it looks like Givenchy is up for rebranding — they've adopted Mert and Marcus after collaborating with Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin for nine straight seasons, and ditched the black-and-white, edgy look of recent seasons for a little color and a touch of French classicism. “It’s a new step,” Riccardo Tisci said. “I wanted to give this feeling of going from a studio to reality. It’s important to give reality to women.”
Tisci's muse Mariacarla Boscono is the only model carrying over — joining her are Ranya Mordanova; Leonor Scherrer, daughter of retired couturier Jean-Louis Scherrer, who Tisci says he's "completely in love with . . . she represents France in all senses: the elegance, the aristocracy, the darkness of France"; Iris Strubegger, who doubles in the season's accessories campaign, shot by Mark Pillai; and Adriana Lima, who just announced her pregnancy today, making her return to high fashion.
Tue, 03/24/09 — 03:44:03 PM
>> Kate Moss is still very much in business — that photoshoot with Craig McDean in Paris last week was for a future Yves Saint Laurent women's fragrance, she recently had buckets of water thrown in her face during a Mert & Marcus shoot, and soon she's going to be jetting in to New York to launch that first stateside Topshop store — they've already got racks inside — simultaneously with her ninth collection for the brand, which she's already been wearing out and about, and has garnered fans like Giovanna Bataglia.
But those things might not be the only projects on Kate's plate. In a recent interview with the Telegraph, it appears that Kate slipped up and admitted that she's getting married — why else would she say "the wedding"?
An exquisitely beaded 1920s-style flapper dress that is draped over a chair catches her eye. "Ooh that would be great for the wedding." She pauses, suddenly realising the headline-worthy nature of what she has just said. "Not my wedding. A friend’s. No. I’m not getting married and my boobs haven’t grown because I’m lactating or pregnant."
But back to her Topshop collection — she's says it's evolved since round one.
"The first season was pieces that I loved which had been hanging in my wardrobe that I then tweaked and improved. It was great, but now I can’t wear any of it because, oh my God, all my favourite dresses have a Topshop label in them, ha ha. Now when I come into the office I’ll talk about things that I really want. It’s about what I think I am going to wear next season."
On to more pressing matters: for whom does she dress to impress? »
Tue, 02/17/09 — 02:22:44 PM
>> BLOWING THE COVER —Folly or flattery? It seems the new thing for Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott to do for major March or September covers is to remake another magazine's old cover — in September 2008, they redid Patrick Demarchelier's iconic Harper's Bazaar cover with Nadja Auermann for W using Kate Hudson, and now, for Vogue Paris's March 2009 cover, they've reinterpreted Iris Strubegger from Steven Meisel's 1992 Vogue Italia cover with Kirsten McMenamy. And for those of you who were wondering about the Teen Vogue Paris rumor — Carine Roitfeld says it's just that — a rumor. [Models.com, The Cut]
Thu, 02/12/09 — 08:00:40 PM
>> BLOWING THE COVER —Katie Grand promised the first issue of Love would be "very curvy," and judging by the cover alone — featuring the zaftig Beth Ditto — she did not tell a lie. As for her further promise — that "no one is a sample size in the whole issue, and it's not so retouched," we'll just have to wait and see; Beth is obviously missing a couple of anatomical parts in the shot — albeit likely to meet cover standards — and the cover photographers, Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, are not exactly known for their light hand with the Photoshopping. Nonetheless, the cover is striking — let's hope it sells. [The Imagist]
