got a backpack from the Row on Net-a-Porter a few weeks ago and it's the best thing I've bought in a long time. I love it like crazy — it's practical, chic, kind of everything I have ever wanted out of a bag. Plus, it's fancy in the most discreet kind of way. Unless you're a real fashion person, you wouldn't bat an eyelash at it. But then the fashion girls are like, 'Oh my God, is that the backpack from the Row?!!!! It's AMAZING!'
”She told The Cut
The launch of Carine Roitfeld's new magazine, CR Fashion Book, hasn't been without its controversies. As you will know, Condé Nast reportedly banned several photographers, models and stylists from collaborating with the former Vogue Paris editor but despite all of that, Roitfeld is flying high. The preview of the issue has gone down well and this weekend, just about everyone turned up to congratulate her at the party she hosted to celebrate the debut issue.
'It's very different from my last party,' she told The Cut, having a look at the guests in the marble-floored atrium of the Frick Museum. Around the same time last year Roitfeld through a karaoke party to celebrate her Barneys campaign at a strip club on the West Side Highway so basically the polar opposite of this year's swanky 'do. 'I want to do something different, more classic,' she said about the formal Mercedez Benz-sponsored black tie event. 'After all, I am a grandma now.'
The news that US Glamour managed to bag an interview with President Obama for their November issue was slightly baffling. Granted, the magazine's readers are the female votes that he wants to appeal to as his campaign gets underway, but the decision to talk to Glamour over some of the more serious fashion magazines is questionable. After all, the magazine have admittedly increased their fluffy, throw-away celebrity content over the last few months so talking to the President about serious issues like health care seems at odds with that. By the sounds of things, I'm not the only one that had that feeling.
On the whole the critics have been unncessarily harsh with some going as far as saying that he deliberately opted for the magazine to avoid having to talk about the serious issues but as The Cut points out, whether you like the magazine or not, he was hardly talking about mascara. However, I can see what National Review contributor Jim Geragthy was coming from when he told WWD that, 'the grumbling about Obama's fluff interviews would be quieter if the country were in a time of peace and prosperity or if he hadn't gone close to eight weeks without a press conference.'
What do you think? Was the Glamour interview a good move?
By now you've all probably seen Gwen Stefani's amazing September cover of US Harper's Bazaar (it's my favourite so far) and if you liked that, you'll be pleased to know that it doesn't end there. Yesterday the magazine released a behind-the-scenes video from the cover shoot and before you dismiss it, it's not one of those typical ones with music playing on top.
In the video Laura Brown sat down and spoke to the singer about everything from how she came up with her signature look to when she discovered fashion and everything in between. Most interestingly, though, was the revelation that Stefani used to play with Terry Richardson's band in the early No Doubt days:
No Doubt used to play with [Terry Richardson's] band, Double Freak. It was pretty freaky. It was the L.A. scene, back in the day. I didn't even realize it until I walked in and he was like, "Double Freak!" And I was like, "Oh my god, really?"
As The Cut hilariously point out, Brown didn't push her for details considering how crazy some of the those stories could, and have, been so kept it on a fashion level and of course, spoke about Stefani's new record with No Doubt.
It was also so nice to spend three days in Taormina, Sicily, with all of the other girls; swimming in the hotel pool until the early hours and going out for dinner. All the local people would stare and ask if we were models — to which we would reply 'no.
”Via The Cut
I’ve worked many times with Terry Richardson, and I like him a lot, and I’ve never had a situation with him where I felt uncomfortable. What photographers do is open the door and see how you react to different things. And if they see that the girl’s uncomfortable, then they stop. I know there was the whole drama with Terry Richardson, and actually, I was asked to do the Pirelli calendar with him as well. But I know his pictures, and I knew that I might not feel comfortable in certain situations, which would be really difficult for me and for him, because he has a vision. So, I decided not to do it because I was not sure it would work for both of us. But every time I’ve worked with him, there was never a situation where I was pushed into something. Everyone has their own limits and everyone has their own boundaries, and you know, another girl can do way more and feel comfortable with it.
”She told The Cut
Image via The Cut
Earlier on this month Britt Aboutaleb confirmed that she was leaving her role at Elle magazine to serve as the beauty director of Who What Wear and now another Elle staffer has joined a big digital site. Today The Cut confirmed that Nick Axelroyd has left his post as senior news editor at Elle to work for Emily Weiss on her blog, Into the Gloss.
The news is big for Weiss, especially considering that the blog was only a side project to her main gig assisting Vogue contributor Elissa Santisi and the fact that Axelroyd is prepared to leave his steady role at Elle shows just how big things are getting. Talking to The Cut Weiss explained that there's a lot of new things in the works. 'Besides ramping up daily content, we'll be launching a newsletter, adding new features, contributors, and components, and continuing to develop video,' she revealed.
Much to her amusement, there's been a revival of interest in Iris Apfel's style over the past year or so.'I think it's funny, because I'm not doing anyting differently than I did 70 years ago,' she told The Cut recently. 'Now all of a sudden I'm an icon, so I guess that's pretty good.' Now the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, is tapping into that by creating an exhibition in her honour.
Apfel donated 600 items from her personal wardrobe for the exhibition including pieces from Lanvin and Alexander McQueen as well as special flea market pieces that she's picked up over the years. The collection will also feature some of the statement eye wear that she's become known for, as well as art pieces.
As fashion editors go Stevie Dance has always been one of my favourites. While she is a favourite amongst street style photographers, Dance is one of the few editors who is more known for her work than her own outfit choices. As much as I'm very pro the presence of editors on street style bloggers, Dance's relative anonymity has always been something I've admired.
In case you're unfamiliar with Dance, her styling work can be seen in magazines ranging from Vogue to V Magazine Spain but her main gig was when she served as editor-in-chief for Russh magazine in Australia. Now, though, she's shaking things up and has returned to her journalism roots (she majored in cinematography and journalism in college) and has just launched an online 'zine called Shop Ghost. Recently I wrote about her interview with Tommy Ton for the zine but aside from interviews, the features also include a round up of products that the given industry figure loves.
The Cut caught up with her recently to find out more about the site and what she's currently working on.
With the news of Raf Simons' appointment at Dior well and true out and confirmed, the question as The Cut posed is how much Simons knew over these past few months.
It was only in March when the news of his departure (or being forced out as Cathy Horyn put it) from Jil Sander was confirmed that Simons' name was really thrown into the hat of potential candidates to take the reigns at the house so it begs the question; was it only at this stage that the negotiations with Dior began? That conclusion would seem to make sense when you look back at the sequence of events last month. Back in March reports claimed that Simons' had a clash with Dior CEO Sidney Toledano over money yet only a few weeks after the negotiations began the brand announced that the creative director had been secured with an announcement said to come soon. Clearly the negotiations were not as frosty then as the reports had us believe.
According to The Cut, LVMH bosses were concerned about having to compete against Yves Saint Laurent after it was confirmed that Hedi Slimane would replace Stefano Pilati so brought Simons on board to make sure they had a well-celebrated and modern designer on board too. The decision definitely makes sense. Along with Phoebe Philo's work at Celine, Simons is amongst the designers pushing the modern minimalist aesthetic forward, which is something that Slimane has always championed so with all three designers at the helm of such big brands, the competition truly begins.
