Fashion news roundup

Posh gets dumped...by stores

Victoria's dvb line has been dropped by fancy-dancy U.S. stores Fred Segal and Kitson after poor denim sales and complaints that Posh hasn't done enough promotional work. I guess that means she won't be coming up to Holt Renfrew anytime soon.

Nina Garcia also dumped...by Elle

The fashion director and the magazine have parted ways. Rumour has it that Garcia and creative director Joe Zee have been knocking heads since Zee's arrival. Perhaps Garcia didn't want to share column space.

The Hills is going across the pond

The reality (hehe) show is casting for a British version. Maybe instead of working in fashion and PR, the new girls will try to make it in the pub scene. I know this show will be awesome because Spencer Pratt won't be in it.

Karl Lagerfeld making video game debut

That's right! Uncle Karl is playing a radio DJ for Grand Theft Auto 4 on the Liberty City station K109 The Studio. Apparently, "DJ Karl" picked all of the tracks. Maybe he used his ipod nanny to help him out.

My favorite editorial spread in Vogue

This photoshoot is from American Vogue Dec. 2003. Shot by Annie Leibovitz, model Natalia Vodianova (yes I know, another Natalia post) plays Alice in Wonderland wearing clothes by the designers she poses with (who also play characters from the novel.) It is worthy to note that Karl Lagerfeld refused to play a character; he chose to play himself which fits since he is a pretty fantastical character in his own right.
What I love about this editorial is the absolute fantasy it captures; the playful dresses express the eccentricities of the Alice in Wonderland theme (as well as the fanciful fashion industry.) I feel like I am watching dream sequence. (Photos: Style.com)

MEXICO CITY - mexican electrik, malva club + the adanowsky night show, 04/12/08

Missing the point

The controversy of the shape issue of Vogue with LeBron and Gisele is old news but I think that most people who commented on it missed the real issue at hand with fashion magazines. This issue wasn't the only one that perpetuated a stereotype- all covers perpetuate stereotypes- whether it be about race, body type and how women are represented.
The Vogue cover came under fire because some people criticized it as perpetuating the stereotype of the black man as a wild, savage beast who wants to steal the white woman. Comparisons to King Kong arose. It's easy to see why people came to these conclusions. Just look at LeBron's face: He looks menacing and is even crouched kind of like a monkey would (but hey, one could argue that humans are closely related to monkeys so it's not unnatural- and the menacing look? Well that could be LeBron's game face.)
To say that Gisele is the white-woman-in-distress would be pushing it. She looks like she just won back that Victoria's Secret contract.

The good thing about this controversy is that it makes us look at the way fashion magazines depict people (mostly women) on their covers.

Women of different races are categorized into stereotypes.
White women are always slim with no discernible curves (because white women don't have hips, tits or ass), straight hair and very wholesome and non-threatening. Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Hudson, Jennifer Aniston make good cover choices.
Whenever a rare black woman makes the cover of a fashion magazine (Halle Berry is a safe choice) they are always light-skinned. You never see a dark-skinned black woman on a cover. Hair is also straight, curves are shown a bit more than a white woman. Their photos are usually set up in a exotic location and the woman is usually pictured as wild and exotic- not fully human.
Latinas (magazines like to generalize) get to "flaunt their curves." Because all latinas have big booties like Jennifer Lopez. They, like black women, are also made-up to look exotic- usually with dark eye-makeup and wet, glossy lips. Again, they stereotype Latin-American women to look as if they are animals.
Asian women, who by the way are rarely shown in Western fashion magazines, are always petite with big eyes so that they resemble dolls- they are shown as little girls, not functioning adult women.

So instead of worrying about whether LeBron looks like a fictional ape, we should be pressing Vogue et al. to stop stereotyping and diminishing women.

Jealous of Irina

Irina Lazareanu in Behnaz Sarafpour and Freja Beha Erichsen in Michael Kors backstage at the Earth Pledge FutureFashion show. Photo: Elle.com

Why I love Coco Rocha

I can't really explain my obsession with everything Coco. Maybe it's because she has the same name as my icon Coco Chanel. Maybe it's her death-stare coupled with a sucked-in pout she uses when she walks the runway. Maybe it's because her eyebrows remind me of Natalie Portman (heart!) Maybe I feel that I can relate to her because we're both Canadian...even though she grew up in the West and I'm in Toronto (it's all the same, right?)

The facts are: She can take a damn good photograph (see my first post) and she has an incredible walk. I'm still kicking myself for missing her at the Joe Fresh Style show at L'Oreal Fashion Week. God, that was stupid.

I found this video of her on YouTube (yes, I look her up on YouTube and I Google Image her as well, ok??) and she now has a firm place in my heart.



Look at how normal she is! She's just like you and me! AND, she even has a Facebook account. I'm still trying to work up the nerve to message her without sounding like a psycho.

More Coco goodness:

THE FACE HUNTER SHOW

After two years of chasing the elegantly strange, the aesthetically sensual and the discretely eccentric in the world-wide playground of Face Hunter, I feel like it's high time I share more with you than just my photos.

I can finally announce that I'll be playing myself on MySpace TV: THE FACE HUNTER SHOW!

The idea is extremely simple, but sometimes they're the best. Accompanied by my trusty cameraman, each week I'll voyage to a different country, hanging out with up-and-coming artists, designers, musicians and liberated souls... Hang out, yes, but also film their ideas and their lives with a constant eye for adventure. Besides the show, I'll of course keep face hunting, you know it's in my blood...

Woohoo!!!! We'll be shooting the first episodes in Mexico City (Apr. 12-16) and then moving on to the cooler (?) and colder climes of Moscow (Apr. 18-23). The show will be launched just a few weeks later on the platform MySpace TV.
I'll keep you posted!