One of my favorite photo shoots from V magazine. Models as barbie dolls in a dollhouse.
By Sebastian Faena
Styling by Sofia Achaval

Belle of the Ball Barbie
Eniko in a Dolce and Gabbana gown.

Nurse Barbie
Catherine in a dress, apron and hat by OK Uniforms.

Villaness Action Figures
Catherine in a dark, sculpted Maison Martin Margiela dress.
Chanel Iman in a Alexander McQueen Poison Ivy bodysuit.
Eniko as a female devil wearing a Salvatore Ferragamo dress and Carolina Amato gloves.

Vegas Barbie
Hannelore as a Vegas girl. Ribbons of pink and a waterfall of tulle and flowers on her Marchesa dress. Hat by Philip Treacy.

Liza Minelli Barbie
Abbey as Liza Minelli in a bright Valentino Red dress and Carolina Amato gloves. She rises above the zombie like Catherine and Anja, wearing Giorgio Armani.

Retro Barbies + Starlet
Hannelore wears an Oscar de la Renta dress that seems to be made from an old 70′s couch. Catherine in Marilyn Monroe colors. Ralph Lauren Collection white dress.
Anja hangs out in the dining room in Jean-Paul Gaultier pjs.

Weird ending…
Hannelore in a Paul & Joe polka dot red dress topped with a Zac Posen for Pologeorgis coat. She holds the rope that’s tightly wound around Anja.
Abbey wears a green Lanvin dress with silver Galliano shoes. X-mas scene.

Leashed up, Screaming Ghost Barbie
Anja screams as she suffocates in a white L’Wren Scott cape. Catherine, in a gold Prada dress and gold Prada shoes, covers her ears. Merry X-mas.

US Vogue reports a supposed trend in women’s apparel: long skirt lengths for day wear, short skirt lengths for evening.

The events they have for this imaginary woman:

11 am “Meet the Clients”
“Ann Demeulemeester’s lean, lanky whites would command respect at, say, a SF architect’s draft presentation.”

9pm “Curtain Up”
“Opening night at the Tribeca Film Festival”

11pm “The Boom Boom Room”
“pint size party girls” enjoying “Hudson River views from a cozy leather banquette”

2pm “Weekend Poetry Reading”
“offbeat romance” “unexpectedly revealing or concealing underthings”

10am “The White House”
“Easter lawn party”

7pm “Table for Two”
“sharing usuzukuri sashimi with your date in South Beach”

3am “Chateau Marmont”
“roof deck of the hush-hush penthouse suite”

9am “Dotting Yourts”
“Impress your new editor”

3pm “Fielding Pitches”
“authority of the creative director at a marketing agency”

My favorite look in the entire magazine:  head to toe Balenciaga by Nicolas Ghesquière.

dress $5455 belt $375 brass bracelet $465 tights $70 suede platform wedges $1495

6pm “Private Preview”
“Working the Chicago crowd at the ‘Next’ emerging-art fair”

5pm “Coachella”
“Vampire Weekend playing”

8pm “Grand Entrance”
“New Museum’s Brazilian-themed spring benefit”

As always, these women are art/music/literature enthusiasts who work in creative/media/marketing.  They travel between LA, NYC, Chicago and Miami.

I don’t imagine most women in the suggested industries (in the real world) could afford these looks.  Are they simply creating appeal for women who wish they could live like this?   and who can afford it?

My neighbor moved out and left a stack of European fashion magazines. It felt like christmas.

Looking through the May issue of Vogue Italia, I came across a spread featuring Irina Lazareanu. Not sure how Kate made her famous since Irina had been engaged to Pete Doherty.

A few colors dominated this fashion story.

Green Apple: like the green you see on apple flavored jolly ranchers
Magenta
White with a bluish/purple tint

Morbid Hansel and Gretel, Wizard of Oz, sinister fairy tale + nursery rhyme…definitely not US editors.

Hamish Bowles writes about the Vogue staff.

Did they run out of things to write about? I know Lucky magazine likes to feature a staff member and their style every month, but it’s strange how Vogue is doing the same. Voguette style is unattainable. Why even try describing it?

Lauren Santo Domingo has a fun and youthful outfit on. Proenza Schouler babydoll dress ($2,240) with a fitted, cropped Dolce & Gabbana blazer ($1,795). I guess it’s still unattainable.

The photo is quite funny. Both Voguettes have the posture of young girls–Lauren dragging her Dolce & Gabbana bag and Giovanna Battaglia in her signature pose: fourteen year tomboy girl and her first time wearing nice clothes.

Giovanna always looks awkward. It’s as if she’s uncomfortable with the niceness of her clothes and that she’s scared because her mom is ready to yell at her if she does get her clothes dirty.

My favorite photo shoot in the March 2010 issue of Elle.

Fun, playful combinations, without too much pretension.

Lady in the sun

coat, Michael Kors; dress, Michael Kors; scarf, Roberto Cavalli; sunglasses, Balenciaga; necklace, Kate Spade; lips broach, Zac Posen; clutch, Nancy Gonzalez

Green Backyards

shirt, Miu Miu; silk dress, Stella McCartney; hat, Hermes; belt, Zac Posen

Florescent Walls

embroidered shirt, Louis Vuitton; print pants, DKNY; cuff, M.C.L.; shoes, Alberta Ferretti

Bathhouse

jacket, DVF; shorts, Roberto Cavalli; hat, Hermes; broaches, Emporio Armani; bow pin, House of Lavande; clutch, Calvin Klein

Salmon Streets

jacket, Alberta Ferretti; pants, Sonia Rykiel; necklace, M.C.L.; belt, Zac Posen; broach on belt, Miriam Haskell; clutch, Calvin Klein

Fanning Break

shirt, Roberto Cavalli; skirt, Etrol; hat, Hermes; necklace, House of Lavande; croc clutch, Nancy Gonzalez; bracelets, Alexis Bittar; espadrilles, Ralph Lauren

Prom?

jacket, Marni; dress, Oscar de la Renta; turban, Patricia Underwood; bracelets, Alexis Bittar; sandals, Emporio Armani

Waiting Outside a Strip Mall

dress, Moschino; hat, Hermes; belt, Etro; necklace, Alexis Bittar; clutch, Giorgio Armani; necklace, M.C.L.

Waiting for the Bus that Never Comes

shirt, Roberto Cavalli; dress, Giorgio Armani; hair beret, Sonia Rykiel

Catalog Model

silk dress; Dolce and Gabbana

Why so many of the same brands? Moschino, Alberta Ferretti, Roberto Cavalli, Armani, Rykiel sprinkled with accessories by Zac Posen and CK. Same silk white Hermes hat featured in several images.

All shot in the warm Miami sun!

I was flipping through the endless “Vogue-a-Porter” editorial in February’s Paris Vogue and I realized every picture I liked was styled by Carine Roitfeld.

There were other editors: Camilla Nickerson and Emmanuelle Alt just didn’t make much of an impression.

Here are my favorites:

Her style reminds me of Moschino–overly dark and sweet at the same time. Black and bright red.

I’m a fan of Tavi.

featured in Paris Vogue February 2010

Other than the fact she’s from Oak Park (a suburb of Chicago I’m familiar with…) Tavi puts together non traditional looks that are quite quirky and she truly LOVES fashion. I’m not so impressed by her age–I felt like I had the capacity to think like an adult at that age.

I find too many “fashion people” who are more obsessed with themselves than fashion. They care how they look! Much more than they appreciate the beauty and construction of the clothing and much more than the work that goes behind fashion photography and everything that makes the fashion world so fashiony.

It’s incredibly refreshing to see other bloggers try quirky silhouettes that look funky and neat. Really the heart of what fashion is.

Did anyone else think this shoot was weird?

Featured in February 2010′s Vogue was a fantasy romance between P. Diddy and Natalia Vodianova.

Some scenes made me uncomfortable. Like when P Diddy was in a wrinkled button down shirt (as if he had just had some action) on a bed next to Natalia in lacy boy shorts. Ewww. Maybe because I find P Diddy repulsive? I don’t think too many women consider him attractive.

modelcouture.com

To see a visual suggestion of Natalia’s affair with P Diddy is just too gross.

Also, it is a weird setting. The shots were trademark Leibovitz (dreamlike, foggy, romantic), but the era it was depicting? Quite strange to feature a black man with a white woman–knowing how forbidden that was in the 40′s, especially a black man that traveled so luxuriously without being hassled? No, I would not want to be Diddy in that era or ever think of what would have happened to him if he did travel in the way depicted in these scenes.

I recall a very old shoot with Kate Moss and P Diddy where they were in a palace much like Versaille. That very shoot was just as perplexing and that’s why I’ve remembered it to this day. What’s Wintour got with Diddy?

See all the pics here.

What does it mean for a look to be “styled by Joe Zee”?

Let’s take a look in the latest issue of Elle, March 2010.

elle.com

Keira Knightley is featured in this month’s issue. Joe Zee styles her in 5 looks:

Look 1:

Vera Wang Dress
Vera Wang Skirt

Too matchy matchy? JZee found this “look” visiting Vera Wang in Soho.

Look 2:

Plunging Canary yellow Bottega Veneta cocktail gown. How much styling is there in this look? Keira–put this on! Styled.

Look 3:

Emporio Armani black dress
Vera Wang black tights
De Beers Jewelry
Chanel Pumps

Black on black on black–it’s hard to match black, except in this picture, Keira is in the dark, so it doesn’t matter. Let’s just pull a few things in black and make her wear them.

Look 4:

Chanel Dress
Chanel Wrap

Creative. Chanel & Chanel. Maybe there’s a theme? Vera & Vera. What next?

Look 5:

Marc Jacobs Tunic
Marc Jacobs Tights
De Beers Jewelry
Antonio Berardi Pumps

Ah, Marc & Marc.

De Beers for all jewelry. Not sure why Elle is so conservative in introducing looks from a mixture of brands–just always seems so lazy.

Perhaps with less brands, their readers can understand better? Not sure.

JZee was featured on 2 reality shows: Stylista (the one where people fight to be Anne Slowey’s assistant) and MTV’s the City, where JZee hires Olivia Palermo. Bad judgement–Stylista is just terrible, makes Elle the laughing stock of the fashion world. The City–why on earth would you ever hire Olivia Palermo?

Based on the mtv show, Joe Zee has his assistants do all the work in pulling looks. So perhaps it wasn’t him, but the looks seem pretty boring.

The boring taste has been pretty consistent issue after issue. It is the style that is recognized at 100% Elle (post JZee takeover).