Friday, August 29, 2008

Now representing Christina Kruse


Christina Kruse, photographed by Paul Rowland.

Christina Kruse is a model and a photographer. She has spent eleven years focusing the camera on her own persona to produce a series of works that explore the idea of self-portraiture. Most of her photographs play with feminine stereotypes.

In 1997 Christina bought a Mamiya camera and began the first of her "books" (an ongoing project), a series of mixed media journals chronicling her world travels and composed of call ages, drawings, writings in several languages and photographic self-portraits. As an artist, working primarily in photography and mixed media, she has had shows in Paris (at the Sanchez Galley, 1998, and the Cueto Gallery, 1999), New York (Spencer Brownstone, 1999), and in Hamburg, Germany ( at the Galerie Robert Morat, 2007).

Christina's recent projects include three series of photographs (Women On Beaches and Religious Affairs, Perspective People), a performance art piece printed on canvas (No-Series). At present, in addition to her ongoing "books" project, Kruse has two additional series of photographs in progress (Domestic Affairs and Underwaterworlds), a series of sculptures and a 2-panel video installation.

September Italian Vogue - Complete Story - Viktoriya, ph: Steven Meisel














Thursday, August 28, 2008

The voice of young America

Today in1961 Motown released its first number one hit, "Please Mr. Postman" by The Marvelettes.



This vintage video is fantastic. The Marvelettes look like they are having a great time. Their dance moves are joyous!

Motown had a trademark "The Motown Sound". The Motown Sound was typified by a number of characteristics: the use of tambourines to accent the back beat, prominent and often melodic electric bass guitar lines, distinctive melodic and chord structures, and a call and response singing style.

Artist development was a major part of Motown's operations. The acts on the Motown label were fastidiously groomed, dressed and choreographed for live performances. Motown artists were advised that they should think, act, walk and talk like royalty. Given that many of the talented young artists had been raised in housing projects and were short on social and dress skills, this Motown department was not only necessary, it created an elegant style of presentation long associated with the label.

This sounds exactly like the way that we develope and prepare new models for the shows - buying them new clothes, teaching them to walk, sending them to school to learn English.

Motown was the Voice of Young America before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and during the entire Vietnam War. I love Motown. Those songs make me smile, make me dance, make me sing, make me happy.

the personal and the political


Election is a 1999 film adapted from a critically acclaimed 1998 novel of the same name by Tom Perrotta. The plot revolves around a three-way election race in high school that satirizes high school life and politics.

Reese Witherspoon as Tracy Enid Flick is an ambitious student determined to win her school election. She believes in hard work and ambition. Her drive can be attributed to her desire to be better than other people and she shows contempt for those who have wealth and popularity but don't appreciate it. Her contempt leads her to be malicious to her competitors, and to violate her own ethical standard by lashing out against Paul Metzler in spite of all his hard work and dedication.

Matthew Broderick as Jim McAllister is a teacher who truly enjoys educating. His passion is with his work and the study of ethics. He cares about his students, but has contempt for those whose ambition gets in the way of their humanity. In spite of his lofty moral ideals, his contempt for Tracy renders him unable to live by his own ethical standard.

Chris Klein as Paul Metzler is a extremely popular star athlete running in the student election. His inherent fortune, popularity and high ethical standard serves as the foil for both Tracy and McAllister, since he has what both of them strive for but cannot achieve.

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction........

"Fashion is a reflection of our time,'' said Yves Saint Laurent in 1971. How does fashion reflect the times we live in? This is an election year - Americans have a choice to make that will affect the rest of the world. Only 41.9% of this blog's readers are from the United States.



Fashion designers rarely get involved in politics. Oscar de la Renta dressed Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush. In 1967 Geoffrey Beene designed the the high-necked princess-line dress that Lynda Bird Johnson, the daughter of President Lyndon B. Johnson, wore at her wedding to Charles S. Robb. His other clients included Richard Nixon's wife, Pat, and Ronald Reagan's wife, Nancy.

President George W. Bush's daughter, Barbara, interned at Proenza Schouler.

Taking a political stand during a recession, during wartime, poses a challenge to stability, status and money. In 2004 Marc Jacobs designed a T-shirt with Hillary Clinton's face on it to raise money for her Senate reelection campaign. He also designed a Hillary Clinton tshirt in February to raise money for her presidential campaign. I admire him for putting his money where his mouth is. He bravely took a stand.

Viktoriya - September Italian Vogue Cover - ph: Steven Meisel


Steven Meisel photographed Viktoriya for Italian Vogue (cover & an only-girl editorial) in July, stylist: Andrew Richardson, makeup: Pat McGrath, Hair: Guido.

The editorial was inspired by the fascinating yet complex life of Bette Davis.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Bette Davis Eyes



Music video tribute to Bette Davis filmed with Super 8 camera with Kim Carnes hit "Bette Davis Eyes" :


Bette Davis is a cinematic icon and a personal hero of mine. As a child I first saw Bette in "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane". In this psychological drama Bette plays Baby Jane Hudson, an alcoholic former child star who feels feels responsinsible for putting her more successful sister, Blanche, in a wheelchair. The two sisters live alone in a large gothic home in Hollywood. Jane resents her sister for having success as an adult actress, and for the burden of taking care of her. She starves her sister as an outlet for her envy. Her rage was palpable. At the time I was frightened by her sadism, yet still empathized with her running unfettered through all the stages of oncoming insanity.

In the 6th grade, for Women's History Month (March) my class had to do book reports & oral presentations on Women who were our heros. I chose Bette Davis. For my presentation I used a shoe box to recreate the scene where Baby Jane buries her dehydrated sister in the sand at the beach - to die. Bread crumbs glued to the shoe box simulated sand, and I drew my own Baby Jane & Blanche Hudson paper dolls. I got an A.

Bette Davis as baby Jane Hudson in "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?":

Carmen, Alison, Kasia & Mariacarla - ph: Anna Bauer






Anna Bauer photographed backstage at the f/w '08 shows for Interview Magazine. She shoots with an immense large-format camera that uses 4-by-5 inch sheets of black and white Polaroid film. The setup requires that her subjects remain perfectly still. Anna says: "I try for that one calm moment. I really need them to focus on me and my camera."

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

19th Amendment


Today in 1920 - The 19th amendment to United States Constitution took effect, giving women the right to vote.

Spring 2009 Show Package


From models.com :
"Since Louie Chaban went to the head of the Women board, the industry has been watching for his first statement of intent. Well Women’s blockbuster S/S 09 package is very much that and then some. The package comes in a green cloth binder that flips open to an inside panel colored in a very luxurious shade of bronzed green. That color treatment shows up on the card font, which are a four panel fold-out signaling to a fashion audience that Women is now a proposition that invokes a super-distilled taste point, an predisposition for the iconic and a belief in women (not girls) as avatars of elegance and glamour. This was the way the modeling industry was convened in the 70’s and early 80’s and the very clever way it is modernized by art director Jason Duzansky makes that aesthetic feel both seductive and necessary. Interestingly enough, nowhere on the package does the signage S/S 09 appear, accelerating the value of the imagery as timeless. Women as a luxury brand, expensive and sophisticated…It’s a very seductive sell, one that refreshes all its now iconic girls (Carmen, Isabeli, Iselin, Natasha, Kasia, Maria Carla) while making its new generation (Naty, Toni, Jourdan, Viktoriya, Georgina) feel upscale and expensive. From picture choices to the layout, plus the bonus of exclusive Meisel images on Caroline and Naty’s card, this one clocks in as an undeniable extravaganza painstakingly constructed with maximum taste and uncompromised chic."

Monday, August 11, 2008

Belstaff fall '08 campaign - Isabeli Fontana, ph: Steven Meisel


A soulful expression of the living word


Today is the 43rd anniversary of the Watts riots, a large-scale race riot which lasted six days in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, in August 1965. The riots inspired the Wattstax concert, which was held at the Los Angeles Coliseum on August 20, 1972 and organized by Memphis's Stax Records to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the Watts riots. The Reverend Jesse Jackson gave the invocation, which included his "I Am - Somebody" poem, which was recited in a call and response with the assembled stadium crowd of over 100,000 attendees. Performers at the concert included The Staple Singers, The Emotions, Rufus Thomas, and the late Isaac Hayes.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Willy van Rooy

Willy Van Rooy Vogue cover, September 15, 1967, ph: David Bailey


Ph: Helmut Newton





Steven Meisel photographed Willy van Rooy for his trubute to Yves Saint Laurent in the August 2008 Italian Vogue.

Interview with Willy van Rooy, from http://groups.msn.com/minimadmod60s.
MMM60s: First of all, we would like to thank you for sharing your photographs and stories with us. It is not often one gets such an intimate glimpse into that vivid and wildly romantic era.We understand that because of you visibility on MMM60s, you were recently contacted by Italian Vogue to participate in a photo shoot.

Willy: Yes I got an email to ask if I would be available and interested to do a shoot for Italian Vogue the 9th and 10th of June. The photographer would be Steven Meisel. I was a bit nervous and nothing was for sure but I answered that I would be thrilled. I kept my fingers crossed. I have learned to not make myself any illusions and I figured I would probably be an extra and appear in some picture in the background... Still, I was excited about it and just to work with Meisel is already a trip. I am only 5.7" and I do know now my measurements because I had to give them to Vogue, 35- 27-36. Not as thin as I used to be, but carry the same weight always, somewhere between 116 and 122 pounds. They asked me for some recent snapshots.

MMM60s: ...Are you thinking of getting back into modeling?

Willy: I think if something is bound to happen it will. Of course I do all my best to keep my mind lucid and free so things can happen. Anyway it is very important to know what one really wants but once you know the doors will open by magic. You know that just a few days before I got the email I was talking with my friend, Rory Flynn, who was a model too in the 60's and 70's, and now is a headshot photographer, that we both should go back to modeling and that we could have fun making a whole day of pictures of each other and then find an agent (still with the illusion that they are really waiting for us).And then out of the blue comes that email and I was working for Italian Vogue!It is a sort of miracle. Of course, I realize that it would be totally impossible for me to be a commercial model unless I would really be allowed to look like a grandmother, no glamour or beauty, and only with the very best people. Then it becomes interesting because you know they wanted you because they saw something that inspired them.

MMM60s: So how was the booking? How was it working with a fabulous photographer again?

Willy: To work with Steven was a great pleasure. You know you are going to look great because you know he wants to make a good picture and you also know he can. Everybody was very kind and what a setup! There were at least 60 people and tents and dressing-room-cars and toilets and an incredible catering and many people walking around doing something. The make up was by Pat McGrath and her artists, and Jeffrey did mine. He was very funny! All the hair was by Guido and his equipe and several young stylists supervised by KARL TEMPLER the Vogue editor, I know he is one of the fans of your site. All this was done in a big cemetery and of course all the clothes were black. Beautiful clothes, D&G, Chanel, Dior, YSL etc. MMM60s: Wow, just like the kind of clothes you modeled in the Sixties and Seventies.Were there any other models?

Willy: Linda Evangelista was there and she is very beautiful and very kind. There were three other girls, one by the name of Karen and she is soooo beautiful, too. Wow! And two very young lovely models named Iris and Guinevere as well as three handsome male models. All together, on the first day, I did five pictures, two group shots and three by myself.! I think it went well and it was a very nice day. They even came to pick me up in a beautiful car with chauffeur who opens the door for you and in between shoots they immediately came running with a chair and a bottle of water and you see the pictures straight away ( I never dare to look at mine) they have enormous computerized machines, enfin unbelievable!

MMM60s: Did you work a second day?

Willy: I did work the second day too and all together I was in nine pictures ,of which three of them were solo.It was fun to work with Linda, she is very kind and at a point even said to me that she it was an honor to work with me! What do you know!? Some of the models are interested in seeing my jewelry which is great. Now I realize, though, that it is not that easy to start modeling again, for me at least. Of course to work with Steven Meisel or other very good photographer is OK, They can make you look good,especially for magazines like Vogue and so on, which is fun but does not bring home the bacon and I am afraid I am not commercial at all. The clothes fit me perfect though, really amazing and the stylist even said they looked so elegant on me, that's why I thought of maybe returning to the catwalk, but the heels.......We will see...

MMM60s: We think you are being too modest, Willy. You have not lost a thing.Well, we will certainly look forward to the pictures in Italian Vogue when they come out in August. Once again, thanks for all your very interesting input. You really brighten up the site.

Willy: My working for Vogue again is all because of MMM60s. They never would have found me if not for this site. Many people on the set there read your website and some knew and follow my story and told me it was fascinating, so funny!

Tribute to YSL - Italian Vogue August 2008 ph: Steven Meisel






The death of Yves Saint Laurent marked an end of an era. He was the King of Fashion. He gave his life to fashion, beginning his career at Christian Dior, establishing his own house, and dying 6 years after retiring. Steven Meisel was inspired by his passing to photograph Iris Strubbegger, Linda Evangelista, Karen Elson, Guinivere Van Seenus and model Willy van Rooy as mourners at the grave of Yves Saint Laurent for August 2008's Italian Vogue (Stylist: Karl Templer, Hair: Guido, Makeup: Pat McGrath). This is the highest tribute anyone in fashion can be paid. Linda Evangelista did several Opium perfume campaigns, Karen Elson was the face of Rive Gauche perfume, and Willy van Rooy modelled for Yves Saint Laurent in the 60's & 70's. Willy also designed shoes for Yves Saint Laurent.

"Fashion is a reflection of our time,'' said Saint Laurent in 1971, condemning the "boring tradition of so-called good taste.''

Steven Meisel's Italian Vogue tribute accurately reflects the despair and pathos many felt at the end of an era of artistry, where fashion was all about proportion, cut, and a delicious combination of colors. Yves Saint Laurent's times were about social change, the equality of women, the inclusion of black models on the runway, gay liberation, breaking of class barriers, social mobility and above all love. YSL's triumph was the “rich peasant” collection of 1976, “The clothes incorporated all my dreams,” he said after the show, “all my heroines in the novels, the operas, the paintings. It was my heart — everything I love that I gave to this collection.”

Jourdan Dunn - POP Fall 2008 cover, ph: Sebastian Faena, Stylist: Katie Grand


Friday, August 1, 2008

Summer Vacation


I will be away on summer vacation until August 25th - I will be checking in , and updating occasionally. Please email me photos, memories, and stories from your summer vacation to: James@WomenManagement.com

TGIF