>> Raf Simons is sticking to the same team as Spring 2009 for his Fall 2009 Jil Sander campaign — stylist Olivier Rizzo, photographer Willy Vanderperre, model Natasha Poly — and the images, shot May 1 in Paris, are very similar to Spring 2009 — Natasha Poly standing in profile, but instead of a high contrast white background, she's bathed in black.  Another thing that's similar in these two ads — Natasha Poly's face doesn't seem to change.

>> The longtime Jil Sander campaign team of photographer Willy Vanderperre and stylist Olivier Rizzo have done it again — this time with Natasha Poly going solo.  The Spring 2009 campaign captures the essence of the brand — all minimalism, all the time — with its stark, high contrast take on black and white and shadows.  It's quite the departure from their more commercial image turn for the Fall 2008 season, and highlights all the best parts of the Spring 2009 collection — the shape of the shoe, the silhouette of the fringe, the slice of the earring.

>> There are few designers these days that can succeed without hopping onto the fashion train in some way — even Margiela sold a majority stake to Diesel — but Azzedine Alaia has done just that.  After all these years, he still remains a mystery — he has no website, and as The Imagist points out — "no seasonal shows, no advertising, no freestanding boutique network, very little retail outlets, and product that is about its own consistent identity, not the whims of a fashion moment."  Seeing his Spring 2009 lookbook, shot by Willy Vanderperre with Kasia Struss, seems like such a treat — mostly because of his elusiveness, but also because the black velvet gown he dressed Penelope Cruz in for the SAG Awards last weekend really whets the appetite.
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>> All of you who give Lara Stone grief about flaunting her assets in editorials, these are for you.  No top shelf visible here: She's all buttoned up in tweedy sheaths and wooly funnel-necked dresses for the Fall 2008 Jil Sander campaign. Natasha Poly joins her in the Willy Vanderperre-lensed mood-fest, but it's Lara's emotive emergence from the shadows that really does it for me.
*image: source