>> Peter Lindbergh seems to be quite taken with this no-makeup, minimal-to-no retouching concept: In April, he captured Eva Herzigova, Ines de la Fressange, and a slew of European actresses without makeup or retouching for French Elle. A month after, he told the New York Times that he was tired of subjects in fashion magazines looking like overly-Photoshopped “objects from Mars": “My feeling is that for years now it has taken a much too big part in how women are being visually defined today. Heartless retouching should not be the chosen tool to represent women in the beginning of this century.”

Lindbergh continues to lead the charge against excessive retouching, this time by capturing supermodels Amber Valletta, Nadja Auermann, Helena Christensen, Shalom Harlow, Claudia Schiffer, Tatjana Patitz, Cindy Crawford, and Kristen McMenamy without makeup or excessive retouching for Harper's Bazaar's September 2009 issue.

>> Yesterday was all fittings and a dinner party — which host Karl Lagerfeld and his entourage were a full two hours late for (blame it on the fittings and Lady Amanda Harlech's mosquito-stung eye) — but the Chanel Cruise 2010 was this evening at the Grand Hotel Excelsior Lido Resort in Venice.

Siri Tollerod, Heidi Mount, Liu Wen, Charlotte di Calypso, and Denisa Dvorakova were all in town to walk, powwowing with Lagerfeld for their fittings yesterday; add to that list Inguna Butane and Snejana Onopka, who sent photographic evidence of their arrival, plus Lara Stone and Tatjana Patitz, who walked the finale with Karl.

Carine Roitfeld and Emmanuelle Alt were spotted lounging in the sun on the Hotel Europa's terrace pre-show, and at the Excelsior Lido, white tents were set up on the beach and the pier lit up. The catwalk was a boardwalk and the front row a line of deck chairs, with editors left to deal with their heels sinking into the sand.

Last night, Lagerfeld hinted that the clothes would be reminiscent of Peggy Guggenheim, the patron whose palazzo now houses Italy’s most important collection of twentieth-century art, and inspired by Venetian high-society of the '30s, with fabrics sourced from "the rich reds of the Renaissance, Fortuny's prints, and the chiaroscuro technique of the great Italian masters."

The show happened at sunset — Karl made everyone wait two hours because he wanted to start then — with the girls wearing Marchesa Casati-inspired wigs and makeup, the opening "sailor girl-inspired cream and navy knits" and a finale of metallic lace cocktail dresses.  Guests brought home a Chanel beach towel as souvenir.

More photos of the collection here.

>> No one fainted this time around at Alexander McQueen, but the show could win this season's Prada award for torturous shoes — even over Nina Ricci.  Numerous inches were added to the festishistic heels, and the girls took every step with care — some even broke their runway stare to glance down momentarily, and Sigrid Agren looked around like she's frightened of the next step. Karlie Kloss, below, had to stop and fix her dress to keep from tripping over it.  Suzy Menkes was discomfited by the display: "the models were tortured into dresses that hobbled their feet, making each runway step treacherous and giving a discomforting misogynist feel to the show."

Meanwhile, this morning at Hermes, another painful scene: supermodel Tatjana Patitz seemed to be out of practice on the runway.  She almost tripped and fell three times, including when she closed the show.  When Jean Paul Gaultier came out for his bow, he gave her a hug, and apparently she looked like she was about to cry.
*image: source