8 posts tagged "Alana Zimmer"
For New Models, There’s Room At The Top
It’s been a puzzling season for model spectators. One of the biggest questions among enthusiasts is: Where are all the big-name girls? We let out a cry of relief when Karlie Kloss opened Anthony Vaccarello today after skipping out on New York, London, and Milan. But what about Abbey Lee Kershaw (Alexander Wang and Anna Sui have been her only stints)? Or the incomparable Freja Beha Erichsen (who’s gone totally MIA)? The answer comes down to economics. Walking in shows pays a paltry sum compared to landing an ad campaign, which these supes continue to score in spades. Simply put (and much to our dismay), fashion week isn’t financially worth their time or energy.
So you’d think that Fall’s fresh faces would fill in the void at the top right away, but that hasn’t been the case. Aside from Nadja Bender and Marie Piovesan, there are just a handful of new girls who have proven themselves to be more than just blips on the radar. Spunky Icelandic beauty Kolfinna Kristófersdóttir managed to win (with a whopping 42 percent of readers’ votes) the Style.com Walk-Off in London, beating out veterans like Shalom Harlow and Alana Zimmer. She continued to up the ante even further in Milan, booking shows including Versace, Emilio Pucci, and Marni. The other one who has demonstrated she can compete in the major leagues is Chinese model Lina Zhang, who walked A-list runways like Dolce & Gabbana and Bottega Veneta this week. As Paris gets under way, we expect to see a few more of these uncovered gems, as well as more of the veterans, turn up at the shows. After all, walking in the Chanel show: priceless.
Exclusive: Pre-Fall Prabal
After winning a large chunk of change from the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, Prabal Gurung decided it only seemed natural to launch a pre-fall collection.
“You have to do all four seasons at this point,” he says of his first pre-fall collection, debuting exclusively here on Style.com in this video made during his lookbook shoot with photographer Dan Martensen, who has worked with the likes of i-D, The New York Times, and The Last Magazine. “It’s a huge opportunity to introduce new categories and more sportswear pieces—it’s an incredibly important season.”
Here, Gurung’s girls Alana Zimmer, Hanne Gaby Odiele, Kate King, and Ming Xi (all have walked in his shows) model his latest efforts. “With this collection, I developed a particular print that I had taken a picture of. I had this printmaker in London that I was working with and it looks like a kaleidoscope,” Gurung tells Style.com, in between meticulously pintucking Zimmer’s dress and picking out the perfect pair of Linda Farrow shades with his longtime stylist, Tiina Laakkonen, as Rihanna blasts from the stereo in the background. “We worked to develop the image more and more and more. I didn’t want it to have the same floral idea of my Spring collection—if you look, it’s pretty from afar, but up close, it’s a little hard.” The kaleidoscope print appears throughout the collection, on featherweight T-shirts (his first), Lurex and cashmere jacquard knits, and multiple silk wool or silk georgette pieces in rich green and jet black.
A pre-fall collection isn’t the only new addition to his growing list of accomplishments—Gurung has been hard at work with his new duties as chief designer for ICB, a label that hasn’t been sold in the States for nearly a decade. “The design integrity, aesthetic, and what I believe in will be the same,” he says of his vision for the new ICB collection. “Obviously I come from the American couture background, but there’s also a side of me that lives in the East Village, you know? It will reflect that a little bit more, but not in an obvious East Village way; this will have more grit.”
A Meal With Models (No, Really)
It was only the latest of the many Japan relief benefits that have sprung up around New York and around the world since the earthquake and tsunami, but this one was distinguished in at least one way—it was a lot taller. Blame it on the hostesses, two of the most in-demand catwalkers working: Britt Maren (back to blonde, after a season as a brunette) and Alana Zimmer (left). “We saw the news and were just devastated,” said Zimmer at Saturday’s Brunch Happening, proceeds from which went to the Japan Earthquake Relief Fund. Zimmer, in fact, had tried to put together a similar event over a year ago for Haiti, but her work and travel schedule proved too much at the time. This time, she solicited the help of pal Maren—and Maren’s boyfriend, a sous chef at the Lower East Side restaurant the Fat Radish, which played host for the afternoon. (“I’m not a Fat Radish,” read the T-shirts on sale. “I’m just big-boned.”)
With the location and food squared away, the girls got Orlo salon, MAC Cosmetics, and Fallon jewelry to donate prizes for a silent auction. They also brought in an acoustic guitar player and graffiti artists to tag canvases. But for model-watchers, the real attraction was the guest list: Hanne Gaby Odiele, Jana Knauerova, Sheila Marquez, and Ashley Smith all stopped by, as did industry folk like Richard Chai and casting bigwig Russell Marsh.
Fall 2011: The Season In Review
Hard to believe it, but 430 shows later—and those are just the ones we covered!—Fall 2011 is coming to a close. In tribute to the season that was, Style.com’s editors took a moment to reflect on the highs, the lows, the raves, and the rumors of the season. From our favorite catwalkers (Aymeline Valade, here’s looking at you) to the biggest moments at the standout shows, it’s our complete Fall scrapbook. Click here to thumb through.
Ford’s Girls Get A Makeover, The Year’s Power Players Revealed, When Tati Met Marc, And More…
The Telegraph‘s Hilary Alexander sits down with model-of-the-moment Tati Cotliar. Cotliar—who opened Marc Jacobs’ Fall ’10 show—reveals MJ felt like they’d known each other before. A previous life, perhaps? Some girls have all the luck—twice. [Telegraph]
Show packages from the major modeling agencies are starting to arrive, including one that’s hotly debated among model-watchers: Paul Rowland’s first package since taking over at Ford. Karmen Pedaru, Tao Okamoto, Rose Cordero, Alana Zimmer, and the gorgeous newcomer Dafne Cejas (pictured) are done up in Mad Men-ish retro style. [Fashionologie]
Vanity Fair has released its Top 100 New Establishment list, including plenty of fashion types. LVMH chief Bernard Arnault is at number 6; PPR’s François-Henri Pinault is at 17; Karl Lagerfeld is at 39; and DVF and her husband, Barry Diller, share the number 40 spot. [WWD]
Phillip Lim’s Fall shoe collection—his largest yet—has hit stores and the Web. What was that we were saying about Wednesday being the prime online-shopping day? [FabSugar via Refinery29]