Gabrielle CHANEL was a precursor proposing the attributes of male clothing to women to free their movement and participate in their emancipation. Yes, fashion is always one step ahead in the setting of trends.
However, Karl Lagerfeld is taking everyone on this time. The current global warming is provoking the disappearance of the Gulf Stream which seems to be directly leading us in to a new ice age. CHANEL is preparing us to face up to this new reality for next season.
White bears and seals are back on the ice packs and will only have to fear the Orcinus orca, as fantasy fur is a must at CHANEL for next season.
Before the cold hits us all, we sheltered in a cozy ice cave with the musical instrument furniture-sculptures of Pierre Arman presented in the Arman Suite at the Hôtel Lutetia. Brazilian Model Luana Teifke is showcased as the sophisticated CHANEL Yeti-Woman playing a Symphony on Ice.
Photography and Co-Creative Direction by Benjamin Kanarek Co-Creative Direction & Video Direction by Frédérique Renaut
Fashion Editor: Giovanni Frasson
Model: Luana Teifke @ Marilyn Agency, Paris & One Model Management NY
Make Up by Topolino @ Calliste Agency, Paris
Hair by Jean- Luc Amarin @ Airport, Paris
Manicure by Typhaine Kersual @ Jed Root, Paris
Digital Retouching by Freddy Baby, Paris
Digital Montage and Comping by Andrew Matusik at DigitalRetouch, New York
Ghislain Taschini 1st Photo Assistant
Charlotte Fuhr Miller 2nd Photo Assistant
Mustapha Hamma Benjamin Kanarek’s Assistant
Massako Jean-Luc Amarin’s Assistant
The Politics of Fashion Photography Part 12 will not be written by me. Instead, it is a short essay written in response to my Part 11 of this series by Miami Photographer John Fisher.
I found it worthy of being posted, as it sheds a very personal note to my rather curt rant in Part 11…
I’ve seen them come, and I’ve seen them go (but God, in her infinite wisdom, makes more!)
I actually get asked that question frequently, in fact I invite it. The people I invite to ask the question for the most part could model. The real question (for these people) is rarely “can I model?”, but rather, “will you model?”
Will you go to a place where you don’t know anybody, set up camp, be responsible for yourself (at an age where most American girls are hoping to get invited on their first date), and commit yourself to the life?
Will you go to ten castings in a row where you stand in line with 20 or 30 other girls who look a lot like you (and you have never in your life seen anyone else who was your age, 5’10, thin, and actually pretty)……. And not get picked? And then go to the eleventh casting with the same sense of excitement and joy that you went to the first casting?
Will you give the industry your undivided attention for the two years it will take to get you fully developed? Will the industry be your boyfriend/girlfriend? Will you not go home except for Christmas, and book round trip because you know you have to be back on the 2nd of January? And actually come back, on the 2nd? Will you on your own change planes in Abu Dhabi on your way to Shanghai? Live with 5 other girls you don’t know in a model’s apartment in Milan with one bedroom and one bathroom?
Will everything about fashion be endlessly fascinating to you? Will you learn a basic walk in high heels and do it over and over and over, until that’s the way you walk? Do you accept that every guy want’s to date a model, they just don’t want the girl to actually model? That no boyfriend is “supportive”? That your friends back in Lake Wobegone will say you are stuck up, think you are better than they are, that you’ve “changed”, and ignore them?
Will you watch your diet, accept the fact that your body is going to play a dirty trick on you as you get older? You used to be able to eat anything and everything, and unless you learn not to, you will fight a losing battle after seventeen or eighteen. Can you accept that you must stay out of the nice car, even when it’s raining and the car appears warm and dry? You have a chance to have your own car, not now, but soon. That nice car that you get to ride in? It belongs to someone else, and there will be another girl in the nice house, driving the nice car, and wearing the nice clothes in six months, a year, or if your lucky, two years. And you will have lost your opportunity to be a model, to have your own car, house and clothes. You can not buy back the time you lose in the beginning.
I can tell if you can be a model. I can not tell if you will be a model. I can see your face and body, I can not measure your heart. You will not try this business, the business will try you, and most will be found wanting.
Strangely, models have it easy. They do have access to managers and agents (in fact they must have them). And it happens quickly for them (two years? Humph, I can do that standing on my head!). But everything I’ve said can be said of those who want to be fashion photographers, and it’s harder, much harder, and takes longer.
That it is hard is what makes it great, if it was easy, everyone would do it! (And no one would pay to watch.)
Fish
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John Fisher
900 West Avenue, Suite 633
Miami Beach, Florida 33139
(305) 534-9322 http://www.johnfisher.com
After more years in this business than I want to say, one of the classic lines I have heard more than any other is “…Do you think I can model?”
It has gotten to the point when I get asked “THE” question, I shirk and want to run as quickly as I can from the scenario and pretend that it really didn’t happen. I, probably like most of us being confronted with that question, generally don’t feel comfortable being asked “THAT”.
So, the next time one of you out there considering this “BIZ” from the receiving end of the lens and want to ask us “THAT” question, consider this…It is a responsibility that many of us Photographers would rather not wish to be part of.
My advise to you interested in getting in to the modeling part of this “BIZ” would be this; go to a Model Agency and ask them. They know how to deal with “THAT” question.
In 1990, the US Space Shuttle put the Hubble in to orbit. It carried the most accurate and clearest ever telescope. Gradually it has unveiled the secrets of the Universe.
On the 20th anniversary of Hubble’s launching, Harper’s BAZAAR has invited photographer Benjamin Kanarek to lead an International team of outstanding on-camera and off-camera talent to replicate the dream-like and miraculous experience of reaching the moon and to enjoy the spectacular beauty of the boundless universe together with the anniversary of Harper’s BAZAAR China.
Digital Retouching by Freddy Baby, Paris
Digital Montage and Comping by Andrew Matusik at DigitalRetouch, New York
Fashion Editor’s Assistants: Ronan Pecher & Olivier Pichou
Photographer 1st Assistant: Audrey Saulem
Photographer 2nd Assistant: Timothée D’Arco
Set Designer and Prop Assistant: Anne Chevallier
Shot at LaPlateform Studio
Special Thanks to “La Cité de L’Espace“, Toulouse, France Photos taken at “La Cité de L’Espace” by Stéphane Renaut
The whole editorial is on line on the Harper’s BAZAAR site. You will be able to find the August issue of Harper’s BAZAAR China on the news-stands July 10th.
It seems that Paris is going through a Trade Deficit in Fashion lately. Numerous Designers from outside of France are coming to Paris to take over French old Brands like Phoebe Philo at Céline, the revival of the centenary brand Madeleine Vionnet now shortened to just “Vionnet” by Rodolfo Paglialunga and recently Giles Deacon at Ungaro. They also often present their own Collection like Manish Arora from India and Gareth Pugh from the UK… Is Paris no longer able to produce and support a new generation of Fashion Designers?
In the meantime other Designers are beginning to occupy the market. One of them did an astonishing entry into the last Paris Fashion Week Show.
Pedro Lourenço, a Brazilian of 19 years old, presented his first Parisian Collection and cut the umbilical cord from his parents. Both of whom are considered Brazil’s leading designers; his Father Reinaldo Lourenço and his Mother Gloria Coelho. They never pushed him to enter in to the metier, but gave him all the tools and support he needed. He has designed clothing since the age of 12 and has been presenting his Collections in São Paulo since 2005!
And as for support, he has the best one can wish for…
- Brana Wolf, the American Harper’s Bazaar’s editor-at-large was not only supportive but also quite involved in his first presentation in Paris.
- KCD, the very affluent fashion’s prominent public relations and event production firm run by Ed Filipowski and Julie Mannion.
As an aggregate team effort, they were able to pull off a promising first collection. It showed a strong and assertive direction and quite mature for a 19 year old. Pedro told us in perfect English, that his influences were, “Diana the Huntress and the architect, Oscar Niemeyer.” Pedro also speaks a perfect French, Portuguese being his mother tongue.
He loves contemporary architecture, building materials and finds quite a few similarities in Fashion Design. The thick leather contrasts with a touch of metal, organza, velvet and rubber. Optical effects are given by the military applied ornament similar to Venetian Blinds, the range of colors he plays with: from beige, to dark brown, black and flesh-tones as well as see through organza tops with suspended leather geometrical trimming.
The model casting was also quite impressive for a first show in Paris. Getting the “It Girl” of the Paris Fashion Week: Jac to open his show, followed by Constance Jablonski (one of the new Estée Lauder’s faces), Jacklyn Jablonski, Sigrid Agren, etc…
But with all the support he gets, can he go wrong?
Financial difficulties and constraints are often compelling for the designer who has to find creative solutions to keep their businesses afloat…
Keep an eye on Pedro Lourenço, he might be the first ever son of known designers with talent and who is able to break through and last in the Fashion Industry.
A few weeks ago, I bumped in to Super Model, Artist and Singer Karen Mulder at a party that was thrown by artist Philippe Pasqua. I hadn’t seen her since I last shot with her for L’Officiel Magazine and it was a real pleasure seeing her again.
Just wanted to share this amusing short vignette totally shot with my iPhone of Karen Playing the Photographer with my Camera…
At the crossroads of Manchuria and Siberia, in the grassy fields of Mongolia, in the “Khavriin Khavsraga” the wind chill of spring reddens the faces of the nomadic shepherds living in their yurts.
Rosy cheekbones and noses, the look of lips cracked from the cold. A powdery foundation from the dusty steppes, wild-flower nails, folk hats, head pieces, rustic jewellery and magnificent colourful tops.
Here we are, with Pernille, in Genghis Khan’s Kingdom, in the Steppes of Ulan Bator… Out now in the June Issue of VOGUE Brazil.
I am so pleased to announce that I will have the privilege to work with one of the most talented teams in the “BIZ” for Harper’s BAZAAR China this coming Thursday. It will be shot in Paris at La Plateform Studio’s, one of my favourites. I can’t yet tell you the theme of the story yet, but it is for the July 2010 Issue and it will be “Out of this World”.
Once the story is published I will post the images, as well as the making of video. I will also post my last two VOGUE shoots and video’s when they are published.
For those of you interested, here is the team.
Co-Creative Direction & Video: Frédérique Renaut (Our Fashion-Beauty Director of BK Blog)
Model: Mae Lapres, Marilyn Agency, Paris
Fashion Stylist: Laurent Dombrowicz
Make-Up: Topolino, Calliste Agency, Paris
Hair: Cyril Laloue, Jed Root Agency, Paris
Prop Stylist: Anna Carage, Dessine-moi une vitrine, Paris
Digital Retouch: Freddy Baby, Paris
… and the rest of the support team that will be at La Plateform Studios for this production…
Oh and I forgot, Photography and Co-Creative Direction, Yours Truly.
Fashion silhouettes and the models used in most spreads in all of the major Fashion Magazines are generally quite sleek. Woman who read these magazines aspire to the precedents set by these Trend Makers. It is more often than not very frustrating for the readership to have to live up to the standards being set by those influential glossies.
Pharmaceutical and cosmetics companies make a fortune on their magic formula’s, which they regularly advertise in the Beauty or Fitness sections of ELLE, VOGUE, Harper’s BAZAAR, Marie Claire, etc… The income generated by catering to weight lose and the associated regimes to do so are astronomical. Considering that purchasing one advertising page in one of the above giants cost between $25-35k, you can now begin to calculate the importance of this sector. The Dove campaign is a case in point. But, the problem up to now has been, although weight lose regimes are advertised, the magazines do not really cater to the present physical state of a large sector of the potential readership population. In fact, they more often than not alienate those potential adopters of the Mega-Magazines, by not directly communicating with them. They treat Plus Sized woman as a malady and not a normal fact of life, thus alienating them even more so.
Hungry by Crystal Renn
However, there has been some stirring amongst the general female populace and some magazines are starting to react. Most recently with French Marie Claire’s’ Special Un-retouched April 2010 Issue and in the March 26th, 2010 French ELLE (a weekly), they grace the cover with XXL Model Tara Lynn at FORD Agency. To say it was a cultural shock, would be an understatement. We have become so accustomed to size “0″ models featured on most covers that the shock and awe stopping power of this one became a huge seller, outselling their average weekly sales by a Large Margin… No Pun Intended.
Why did the ELLE cover create such a stir? Well first off, being that the model was not a recognizable celebrity, people had to look more closely at what many would ask, “who is this larger than what I have been accustomed to classic model they generally show, doing on this cover?” Secondly, breaking with convention is a sure way of getting people to stand up and take notice. Thirdly, it is a paradigm shifting and powerful statement being made by one of the Big 4 most influential magazine conglomerates in the world.
Historically, there have been several magazines and web-zines dedicated to large sized woman’s wear such as, Plus Model Magazine, Daily Venus Deva, Plus Size Clothing Magazine, Lou Lou and several others, but it is quite rare when a mainstream major fashion or trendy press magazine, features full figured women. Perhaps this is indicative of a new trend, which will allow the majors to increase their readership. It wouldn’t surprise me if ELLE were to do a special supplement for Plus Size Fashion.
Miss Dirty Martini by Karl Lagerfeld for V Magazine
Ford Model’s Crystal Renn’s book Hungry addresses these issues head on. Are we seeing a trend here? Or are we just witnessing a blip on the screen. Time will tell. But in the mean time, don’t throw out those XXL tee shirts you have hiding in the bottom drawer…
Jacklyn Jablonski opposing Crystal Renn by Terry Richardson
You might also wish to read this article at thePlus Size TallWeb Site.
As you may already know, if you want a credible model, you will have to go through a model agency. But in the Politics of Fashion, nobody is more adept to playing the game and playing it extremely well as Model Agencies. If you ever thought that it is as simple as picking up the phone and saying, Hi, I am shooting for so and so magazine or so and so client, I would like to book so and so for the shoot, when is she available, you are in for a Big Surprise.
Model Agents are there not only to get their Models the best jobs, but are there to determine whether that job will have a positive or adverse affect on her or him getting the campaign they really want or if that job and the impression it will leave on the public is steering them in the right direction.
Model Agencies will not only ask what the job is or which magazine it is for, they will also ask about the team being employed and if they do not know with whom the model is working with, will ask to see their work. The Politics of Fashion also says that if a Model is working for VOGUE USA and Harper’s Bazaar want the same model in a similar time frame, the model agency will have to play the tender role of diplomat and deal with the delicacy of the situation. They will have to make decisive and wise decisions as to which magazine and with which photographer and stylist the model will best benefit from their association with. A bad strategic decision could literally ruin a model’s potential in becoming a Top and remaining so for several years.
A Model Agency will also have to know about image maintenance and how and when to change the model’s persona allowing them to maintain their longevity. If for example, a model is in a rut and they wish to change their image, they might suggest shooting with a photographer quite different than they have been type cast to shoot with. Of course that involves knowing the Politics of Fashion well enough to convince “THAT” photographer to book that model that the photographer might not have considered with her present image.
Not all Vogues, Harper’s Bazaar’s, Elle’s and Marie Claire’s are created equal.
Depending on which country you are in, the perceived value of each of the above depends on with whom they are directly competing with and will have a decisive effect on whether the model agency will take one more seriously than another… Now that is one of the most import FREE bits of info you will probably ever get??? More Nudge, Nudge, Wink, Wink, Say No More, Say No More.
Gabrielle CHANEL was a precursor proposing the attributes of male clothing to women to free their movement and participate in their emancipation. Yes, fashion is always one step ahead in the setting of trends.
