Dope Ambition

The phrase “do or die” takes on new meaning in the magazine publishing world, where  ”innovate or die” might be a more appropriate phrase. With Vogue still trumping other fashion publications when it comes to ad pages, its March issue will debut a whopping 442 pages of ads.

While Hearst’s Harper’s Bazaar (the first and oldest American fashion magazine) will close its March issue up 15.5 percent in ad pages from 2011, the magazine will also debut a brand new look and slick redesign. Publisher Carol Smith told WWD the mag was “embarking on a brand transformation” But aside from a few tweaks in font and less cover clutter in terms of typography, titles and hints at the inside content, Hearst is giving Harper’s Bazaar an e-commerce and m-commerce makeover.

“We are rethinking this product from magazine to mobile shopping. The new look very much calls on our past as we look towards the future,” Smith told WWD. And this makes a lot of sense for the magazine. Harper’s Bazaar has eschewed the explicit emphasis on celebrity shopping and style, and has been consistent for over a century with its focus on luxury goods and runway fashion. Because of this, the magazine’s transition to the world of mobile commerce should and can feel rather natural for the reader/user (terms which will become more interchangeable as magazines blur the line between editorial and digital storefront). I’m not sure if they’re pushing a “scan-to-buy” option for smartphones, or if they will align themselves with luxury online retailers like Net-A-Porter, but there are a few options that would make a lot of sense for a magazine that is sort of a heritage brand on its own.

The March issue of the physical magazine features a faceless Gwynth Paltrow, shot by Terry Richardson. WWD’s Amy Wicks describes the aesthetic transformation:

…it’s like the party guest who you recognize when she enters the room, but you know she’s hadwork done — a lot of work.

The magazine is larger by one inch, the paper quality is noticeably thicker and there is new cover typography. Inside the issue, the pages look less cluttered and thrown together, with more white space, while sections are more tightly edited. So far, there’s less celebrity and the related popcorn stories that can come with that.

While HB remains the fourth fashion title in terms of ad pages, behind Vogue, InStyle and Elle, I think the magazine will benefit from sticking to its focus on high fashion and letting Elle and Vogue overdo it on the celebrity coverage (though using Gwyneth as the debut cover girl is only excusable because we don’t know it’s her until we’re told so).

What do you all think?

The statement necklace, while always exciting, is nothing new. In fact, “costume” jewelry as we know it dates back to the early 20th century, where rhinestones were set in metals like pewter, nickel and brass. Today, however, we’ve stepped up our statement necklace game when it comes to materials, with some necklaces costing upwards of a thousand dollars, boasting  semi-precious stones, Swarovski crystals and even leather, all co-mingling at the napes of our necks.

While the runway often shows draped, multi-strand necklaces dripping off of models’ necks, the pairing is usually a bit predictable; low cut evening gowns and silk tops with generous V necklines are to be expected. After all, these statement necklaces are often used strategically to make a statement about the clavicle or decolletage of a woman, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

But this season, one of my favorite collections was relative newcomer Guillaume Henry’s Carven Spring 2012 show , where the hemlines were flirty, legs were ubiquitous, and cutouts at the chest and midsection gave the buttoned-up looks an extremely youthful appeal the label hadn’t seen in decades. The looks I was drawn to most also featured fun, arts-and-craft necklaces tucked neatly underneath the crisp collars of the buttoned-up tops (below).

But this is just one iteration of the topped off buttoned-up look. Neck deco can be as feminine, flashy or restrained as your tastes dictate; all look equally surprising under a crisp white shirt, slouchy chambray, or even a button up under a sweater, all fastened to the collar, necklace proclaiming itself against your shirt. In this way, no flashes of skin can compete for attention. All eyes are on your necklace, weather beaded, tangled or blingy.

Below are seven of my favorite looks that employ the buttoned up, neck deco look, followed by an ensemble suggestions in case you want the look like, yesterday. (P.S. that denim top is under $30!)

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1 - old navy denim pocket shirt

2 - rag & bone cropped mohair sweater 

3 - fiona paxton necklace

4 – asos faux croc clutch

5 - jeffrey campbell wooden oxford wedge 

6 - chuck taylor all star core hi 

7 - karen walker shades

8 - striped pencil skirt

I first noticed Barbara Palvin’s baby face and pouty lips around a year and a half ago, when I spotted her making rounds in street style blogs and smaller magazines. Her off-duty outfits still garner tons of clicks today, and even her more grown up editorials from almost a year ago pale in comparison to her appearances now, which are more overtly sexual and show the young model expressing a wider range of emotion and allure than her previous pretty-girl gaze.

Here, she dresses up in some of the Spring 2012 season’s most covetable whites, my favorite being the crisp Jil Sander dress (below). We’re watching you (in the most non-creepy way possible) Miss Palvin.

(above and below: Jil Sander look #1 from the Spring 2012 show)

see the full editorial here

Just as young boys have baseball cards, the fashion world has modeling cards. Before every major season of fashion shows (in September and February), modeling agencies send out “show packages” with models under contract. Show packages can sometimes bore, and rightfully so: agencies want to clearly communicate who a model is and what she may be able to offer a certain designer, hence the stats on usual model cards and the rather straightforward (but pretty) photography and wardrobe.

But here, IMG had a little fun with their A/W show package, with models like Jessica Stam, Frida Gustavsson and Bianca Balti getting cropped, cut and placed amidst kitschy art-inspired collages that somehow work.

more images here 

I’ll be the first to admit that throughout winter, I am noticeably more casual and feel less put-together overall. It’s somewhat difficult to wear tailored items everyday when you must throw on a coat over your pre-existing layers of shirt, sweater, blazer and scarf. In New York, especially, wearing those beautiful over-the-knee leather boots with 5-inch heels is tempting, but walking from your apartment to the subway (and actually making it down the stairs without the help of a pitying stranger) makes you want to mount the boots as display rather than show them off yourself.

With that said, while I don’t like to look like a slob, I can appreciate the thrown-together looks I’ve seen around the city with a mixture of vintage, high street and the casual shoe of choice: the Converse Chuck Taylor. When this iconic American shoe gets a little dirty, the overall looks gets even better. What other shoe can count that as a benefit? Some of my favorite looks are particularly feminine and colorful, with a pair of worn-in Chucks immediately bringing the ensemble down to Earth and giving it that chick-who-can-hang sort of vibe. There’s no such thing as a look too tailored, too bohemian or too girly for the Chuck Taylor.

Below, some looks I like.

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Apparently, mint green/seafoam green are going to be MAJOR this season. It has to be true; Lady Gaga apparently predicted it! But if you know anything about me, you know this particular shade of green has been a favorite of mine for quite some time. The details on my site, many-a-mint-green-photo on my tumblr and my constant minty green fingernails would alert anyone with wit enough to notice that I am seriously mad over mint green.

Now that I’ve said the words “mint green” more times in a paragraph than I should be allowed to in a week, allow me to turn your attention to some covetable items in my favorite shade that are out there for the plucking. One of my favorites? The cozy, oversized Acne cable knit, which can be worn slouched over denim and Docs or donned with a prim skirt and collared shirt underneath. Sometimes, however, the surprises are best debuted in the details, as with tiny trinkets and bracelets that add an affordable injection of the color into your wardrobe without going all out, as they say.

If you don’t like this color, to hell with you! It is a divine shade of green and the world will soon realize it.

clockwise from left:

acne sweater /// 1

asos mint green backpack /// 2

essie mint candy apple /// 3

mint street style look /// 4 via dam style

fath vintage maxi skirt /// 5

need supply co ambrosia skirt /// 6

mint green bracelet /// 7

vintage round glasses frame on etsy /// 8

While I was already a fan once I laid eyes upon Raf Simons’ paisley and gingham print pieces for Jil Sander Spring 2012, it was when he sent out modernist-inspired faces neatly splashed across stark white knit sweaters that I think I shed a tear.

I’m exaggerating of course, but sometimes the simplest references, especially paired with something as beautiful as a crisp white, are more startling and lasting than the most outrageous pairings seen during fashion week.

Going on recent history, the most embellished and, dare I say, cute pieces have been the ones to infiltrate magazine editorials most consistently, with Miu Miu and Jason Wu often taking the cake, in that regard. While I am a huge fan of the youthful femininity Miu Miu brings out in all of us, I can’t help but hope that this spotting of a Jil Sander sweater is the beginning of a new, more tailored season of editorials. Even if it’s not, I’m happy to see this piece amid a mother-and-child themed spread for Harper’s Bazaar Australia. And if I’m not getting ahead of myself, I bet Christine Centenera’s cool sensibilities had something to do with paving the way for the presence of Jil Sander in magazines in 2012.

Let’s see more, please.

editorial img via/// fgr

In one of the only Vogue‘s I actually respect, new face Anna Lundgaard channels her inner androgynous badass in sharply tailored menswear-inspires suits, slouchy sweaters and enough hardware for all of us.

Swoon.

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I probably don’t need to refresh you on the the endless (and I mean, omnipresent, non-stop) controversy that continues to surround Video Games singer Lana Del Rey. Pitchfork caught on to this uproar early on, and interviewed the singer on her background and how she is perceived by her listeners, both those who love and claim to despise her music. Comment threads below every story and music video at times read like raging letters to the editor…the editor, of course, being the music industry. Supposed music fans are angry at the music industry and at their peers for giving so much attention to and caring so much about the future career of such a “fake” singer who, OMG, used to look like a normal person and now looks glamorous.

It seems many of my peers are outraged that Lana Del Rey (formerly, Lizzy Grant) is a “product.” Links to “before-and-after” Google images claim she’s gone under the knife and lost weight to become the badass, Nancy Sinatra-esque, slick-talking vixen we see pouting into her laptop camera, flipping her hair with angst and oozing sex appeal. And my major question, and answer to the impassioned Lana Del Rey haters, is: so the fuck what? Why are we so obsessed with authenticity? Did Holden Caulfield pitch a tent in our brains and start calling “bullshit” on everything that somehow seems phony? Are we so hungry for something “real” because in an era where we use emoticons to express ourselves and we have thousands of “friends” across the internet, we’re all scared of becoming cyborgs who can’t tell real-life from pseudo, digital life? Do we want to point fingers at anything even remotely constructed because we want to prove our own realness? “She’s fake,” seems to be the echo across the internet, but the part left out, and implied, is: “and I’m not.”

Lana Del Rey has only recently made her big debut; today, the equivalent of a musician’s debutante ball, announcing his/her presence to society, is a music video that goes swine-flu viral in days. “Video Games” did just that, (18.7 million hits), as did Tyler the Creator’s “Yonkers” and Kreayshawn’s “Gucci Gucci.” But while Kreayshawn’s authenticity has been a point of debate, or at least a topic of conversation, we weren’t as quick to point fingers. Perhaps it’s because we know she won’t last, that she was a one-hit wonder that will milk her fifteen minutes, or maybe it’s because her “package” isn’t so overtly sexual, glamorous, fashion-focused. Her identity seems less shallow, but is it?

So, Lana Del Rey’s appearance, look, sound, tastes…they’re not a product of the music industry, because she’s new there. Her appearance, look, sound, tastes, are a product for the music industry. Just like Lady GaGa tried on many identities as a singer before her come-as-you-are, freak-like-me, open-sexuality-embracing identity struck a chord with fans, Lana Del Rey found her voice and her looks a home in the beautiful-bad-girl image she’s currently selling. And it’s working. If people feel as though they are being duped, it’s only because we want to see everything. We’re used to seeing the Kardashians poop on TV and we’ve seen every fallen celebrity’s naked photos. Now we want, no we demand, Lana Del Rey’s evolution from normal girl to superstar-on-the-rise in photos, antidotes from “inside sources”, and a tell-all book . But what will this prove? Lana Del Rey is not trying to be the next Bethany Cosentino; she’s on the road to becoming a pop star. And, I’m sorry, but which of our most beloved pop stars were ever “real”? Putting on identities is part of the fun…it’s supposed to be about the smoke and mirrors. Madonna, the Spice Girls, Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus…they’re all fake, and they’re all monstrously rich and successful pop stars.

Music fans should stop focusing so much on if their favorite musician got a nose job, and start giving more fucks about the path the singer is taking. Even if Lana Del Rey’s entire identity was constructed down to her number of eyelashes, she is, in a way, already remaining authentic to her identity. She’s posing for magazines that are fitting to her image, and using social media mainly for professional reasons. I often wonder if all the discussion surrounding her background and her looks will somehow stop her from becoming a star. But I think that even those people who are painting her with a scarlet letter F for Fake somehow connect with her videos and her look, or they wouldn’t feel so strongly opposed to it all.

Authenticity in pop music is an illusion. Tell the Holden Caulfield in your brain to chill the fuck out.

Okay, so we all know Tom Ford is notorious for his lusty ads that drip in sex first and fashion second. Even when he was on Oprah to promote a Single Man, my mom and I both shifted uncomfortably, knowing both of us were stupidly turned on by his gay-but-still-alluring sex appeal. And so.

And so, I see this Tom Ford ad and instead of “wanting to be the girl in the ad” – as in wanting to be skinny, wearing designer garments and paid thousands of dollars – I want to be in it because it looks fucking fun. I want a male model to bite into my calf like it is a leftover drumstick from this year’s Thanksgiving feast while wearing Tom Ford’s jewel-toned, silk ensembles while Tom Ford himself takes pictures. If anyone told me it’s not as fun as it looks, I’d call them a down and dirty liar.

(Also: Tom Ford originally hired Mert and Marcus for the gig, but probably decided their photographs looked like every single other ad campaign shot by the duo. And then he decided to do it himself. Because he’s Tom Ford).

images via/// fashioncopious