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subscribe to style file blog via RSSModels We Stand
February 7, 2012 6:18 pm
“For too long, the modeling industry has been like the Wild West,” said Coco Rocha at last night’s launch party for the Model Alliance, a new nonprofit group organized by models, for models. Top models including Doutzen Kroes, Crystal Renn, Missy Rayder, and Ajak Deng stopped by the Standard Hotel to toast the cause. The Alliance started as an idea established by model Sara Ziff (the filmmaker behind the revealing documentary Picture Me), explored in a paper she wrote while studying community organizing at Columbia University. Ziff, who at 29 has now been modeling half her life, understands firsthand how young girls are often mistreated in an industry without real labor regulations. For example, catwalkers often begin working in their mid-teens, and many never get the chance to finish high school. They can go through an entire day of walking back-to-back runway shows without actually making any money, getting paid in “trade” (a.k.a. designer clothes) instead. And, there are still a great deal of complaints about backstage photographers taking unauthorized pictures of the girls changing. Typically, the models don’t speak up about these inequities because they know they’re highly replaceable. “Most models’ clout is as tiny as our size zero frames,” Ziff told Style.com. So she teamed up with former model and current fashion writer Jenna Sauers to give these girls a voice, and developed the Alliance along with the support of the CFDA and the new Fashion Law Institute at Fordham Law School. “Having experienced the highs and lows of this industry, I am ultra-excited about this,” said Rocha. “But we’ve still got a long way to go.”
tags: Ajak Deng, CFDA, Coco Rocha, Crystal Renn, Doutzen Kroes, Fashion Law Institute at Fordham Law School, Jenna Sauers, Missy Rayder, Model Alliance, Sara Ziff, Standard Hotel
Gisele Does Givenchy
February 7, 2012 9:44 am
Givenchy’s Riccardo Tisci cited surfers and mermaids as the inspiration for his Spring ‘12 collection. So, it came as no surprise that when the label debuted its Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott-lensed campaign, it was set on the beach (shot near Barcelona) with surfboards in the background. The ads feature Gisele Bündchen (along with models Chris Moore, Mariacarla Boscono, and Simone Nobili) wearing Tisci’s sexy suits trimmed with eel and stingray and of course, those shark tooth pendants. Style.com has exclusive behind-the-scenes images and video of the shoot in action, here.
tags: Gisele Bundchen, Givenchy, Riccardo Tisci
The Fresh Crop
February 6, 2012 12:30 pm
It was all about the Super Bowl for most people this weekend, but not for the models walking in New York fashion week, who were busy shuttling to and from back-to-back castings. Andrew Weir (who casts for Thakoon, Jen Kao, and Rebecca Taylor) can spot a potential star from across a room, and there were plenty of them at his ACW casting call on Saturday at the Hudson Hotel. “Do they even know they have these crazy bodies?” he said, referring to Lithuanian stunner Aiste Regina. But it was Roberta Narciso, an Elite agency contest winner with mile-long legs, who really caught Weir’s eye. “She’s from Angola, so she’ll walk like royalty,” he said. After she took a few strides, Weir enthused, “Oh my God, that is crazy. This does not happen in America.”
Meanwhile, over at the BCBG Max Azria showroom, casting duo Barbara Nicoli and Leila Ananna (who also select girls for top clients including Yves Saint Laurent, Burberry, Gucci, Marchesa, and Versace) were on the lookout for models with a straightforward kind of beauty, which Ananna described as an “eighties glamour—not the fragile, quirky look anymore.” It was girls like South African newcomer Katryn Kruger—one of Prada’s Spring ‘12 campaign stars—who they were especially taken with, along with Nadine Ponce, Josefine Nielsen, and Appoline R. We also spotted Kelly Mittendorf (pictured, below), who was unknown until she was cast in Prada’s Fall ad campaign, in the mix.
Though Nicoli and Ananna say straightforward looks are what they want right now, that’s not the case with all casting agents. Jennifer Venditti, who casts for the likes of Rodarte, Tory Burch, and Helmut Lang, told Style.com over the phone this weekend, “Agents will often wait to break in a girl in Europe because New York designers often don’t take risks on a more unique look.” She cited current Balenciaga campaign star Laura Kampman (an aspiring Dutch photographer who was discovered on Facebook) as an example of redefining beauty. “You can see the character in her walk,” Vendetti said. “These days, models are expected to be more than just a hanger. They have to be ‘the whole girl’ and brand themselves in a way that makes them memorable in an industry where you’re competing against celebrities and thousands of other models for editorials and campaigns.” Let the contest begin.
tags: Aiste Regina, Andrew Weir, Appoline R, Barbara Nicoli, BCBG Max Azria, Burberry, Gucci, Josefine Nielsen, Katryn Kruger, Laura Kampman, Leila Ananna, Marchesa, Nadine Ponce, Roberta Narciso, Yves Saint Laurent
Carine’s Calendar Girls
February 3, 2012 10:00 am
Carine Roitfeld stuck to using “real people” (as opposed to models) for her guest-edited issue of Vman, due out February 14. The exception: the bonus pinup girl calendar, shot by Willy Vandeperre, featuring “supermodels and Victoria’s Secret Angels, 12 of the planet’s most celebrated creatures.” Roitfeld dressed the girls, including Joan Smalls, Miranda Kerr, Adriana Lima, and Karolina Kurkova, in an assortment of Victoria’s Secret lingerie and customized pink American Apparel jackets. Style.com has the exclusive first look at the full calendar. Here, a few of our favorite months.
tags: Adriana Lima, Carine Roitfeld, Doutzen Kroes, Joan Smalls, Karolina Kurkova, Miranda Kerr, VMan, Willy Vandeperre
Pretty In Purple
February 2, 2012 12:39 pm
Many people did a double take when Prabal Gurung’s Spring ‘12 campaign, featuring a barely recognizable Candice Swanepoel, made the rounds earlier this week. Gurung’s go-to team, stylist Tiina Laakkonen and makeup artist Hannah Murray, transformed the South African model for the sensual shoot with photographer Daniel Jackson, showing off the designer’s Nobuyoshi Araki-inspired collection. Here, an exclusive Style.com behind-the-scenes look at how it happened.
tags: Candice Swanepoel, Daniel Jackson, Hannah Murray, Nobuyoshi Araki, Prabal Gurung, Tiina Laakkone
Sea, Sex, And Sun—And YSL
February 1, 2012 6:11 pm
The Resort season found YSL’s Stefano Pilati in a nautical mood. So when the label commissioned Maciek Kobielski to shoot an atmospheric video for the collection, the coast is just where he went. Kobielski shot Eniko Mihalik in Cannes for the sultry new spot, debuting exclusively on Style.com.
tags: Eniko Mihalik, Maciek Kobielski, Stefano Pilati, YSL
Hot-Rodding With Prada
February 1, 2012 2:00 pm
Steven Meisel shot the Spring ‘12 Prada ad campaign in the most sensible place for the hot-rodding, fins-and-taillights collection: a gas station. Now here’s your first look at the accompanying video campaign, with Natasha Poly, Elise Crombez, Guinevere Van Seenus, Meghan Collison, Ymre Stiekema, and newcomer Katryn Kruger all strutting their stuff. Baby, you can drive my car.
tags: Elise Crombez, Guinevere Van Seenus, Katryn Kruger, Meghan Collison, Natasha Poly, Prada, Spring '12, Steven Meisel, Ymre Stiekema
20-Year-Old Newcomer Matthew Terry Raises The Bar—In His Underwear, Naturally
January 31, 2012 4:05 pm
Joan Smalls and Saskia de Brauw aren’t the only models playing gymnast these days—the male models for Calvin Klein Bold mounted the parallel bars in just their underwear for the brand’s new Steven Klein-lensed campaign.
“I have always liked gymnastics and I give the people that do it a lot of credit because they make it look so easy, but it’s actually really hard,” Matthew Terry, the label’s 20-year-old new underwear model, tells Style.com. “It was one heck of a workout doing some of the poses they wanted.”
Here, catch Terry and his sexy cohorts, Arran Sly, Chris Garavaglia, and Myles Crosby, in action in these exclusive behind-the-scenes photos from the Joshua Tree shoot. An unreleased image of Terry from the campaign is below.
tags: Arran Sly, Calvin Klein Underwear Bold, Chris Garavaglia, Matthew Terry, Myles Crosby, Steven Klein
Lane’s Trifecta
January 31, 2012 11:36 am
For its latest Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott-lensed campaign, Lane Crawford cast another group of Asian models. This time around, the retailer tapped a Chinese trio: actress Li Bingbing, Chinese It girl Chen Ran, and model Sui He, to show off the latest pieces from brands like Azzedine Alaïa, Alexander McQueen, Alexander Wang, and Balenciaga. The campaign, styled by Panos Yiapanis (who has done editorials for the likes of Another Man and VMan and worked with photographers like Nick Knight and Steven Klein), was shot in London back in November. Here’s a Style.com exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the shoot.
tags: Chen Ran, Lane Crawford, Li Bingbing, Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, Nick Knight, Sui He
Prepping A New Class Of Models For Their Runway Debuts
January 27, 2012 4:49 pm
As a new model, how do you prepare for your first-ever New York fashion week? For those eager, lanky teenagers just recently thrown into the fashion vortex, no piece of advice falls on deaf ears. On Wednesday afternoon, New York Model Management, which represents notables like Melissa Tammerijn, Sui He, and Lisanne de Jong, held an orientation for its crop of fresh faces to answer questions about what they should expect in the coming weeks. Panelists including the CFDA’s Steven Kolb, top casting director John Pfeiffer, and street-style photographer Phil Oh commented on everything from the CFDA’s updated health guidelines to ways to stand out using your personal style.
“Who am I? Some 50-year-old coming to talk to all these pretty girls?” Steven Kolb laughed. “But I know about it. Fashion is very seductive, but at its core, it’s a very warmhearted industry. And you should never apologize for being thin or in shape.” Pfieffer, who casts shows like Victoria’s Secret, Michael Kors, and Prabal Gurung, added, “Always walk around as much as possible. People are looking at you all the time. You never know what casting director or blogger will be around, so you always have to look the part.”
Some of these pointers may sound obvious, but even the non-freshman catawalkers, like 19-year-old Marihenny Rivera-Pasible, found the tips helpful. “I think these types of open conversations are pointing us in the right direction,” said 16-year-old runway novice Amira Ahmed, who just moved from London in time to shoot the new Gap campaign. Keep an eye out for her this season, on the runway and on the street—as the panelists pointed out, she already seems to have personal style figured out and has been popping up on street-style blogs frequently.
Of course, not every girl makes it big on her first outing, à la Daphne Groeneveld. “If it doesn’t work out this season, just keep trying,” Pfeiffer encouraged. “There are so many girls who didn’t make it their first or second season. Or fourth—Daria Werbowy. Or even fifth—Lara Stone.”
tags: Amira Ahmed, Daphne Groeneveld, John Pfeiffer, Marihenny Rivera Pasible, Steven Kolb
