Dope Ambition

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

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.

images via///

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.

Just in time for the return of Mad Men, Meghan Collison channels her inner 1960s housewife in an editorial for Vogue Russia’s January issue, photographed by Ben Toms.

Her look is a bit harsh, but the ensembles are dreamy in creamy pastels and innocent prints.

COME BACK MAD MEN!

via// fgr

Spotted this on The Ones 2 Watch. Everything about it is a YES.

Photography by Amos Fricke
Styling by Jade Leung & Philipp Humm
Hair by Taichi
Makeup by Yuko Shimada
Model(s) April Johnson @ Red Model Management

It’s been almost a year since I’ve posted an editorial starring Marloes Horst; she’s one of my favorite blond models. Because she has an undeniable sex appeal, though, she is usually thrust in front of the camera in over-sexualized ensembles we are meant to oogle at and drool over.

Here, Marloes plays a badass school girl for Intermission magazine‘s F/W issue, donning some oversized varsity jackets, innocent pins and a glare letting us know she’s not a girl, not yet a woman…or something. Whatever. I love it.

For the full spread, head to fgr.

It seems only weeks pass after a fashion runway season before labels’ ad campaign images come flooding in by the dozens. When I first began following fashion, I was always excited to see the newest arrivals of glammed up, glossy-legged models in angular poses with the latest bag draped over their shoulder and a smoldering gaze burning a hole in the camera lens. But perhaps I’ve grown jaded or overly critical; I am no longer excited by most of the ad campaigns, in which designers seem to recruit the same photographer talents and work with the same color palettes and concepts.

I understand there are restraints as to how far one can push creative boundaries when it comes to selling products, but varying the use of filters, photographers and models might be the answer. It seems contradictory, though, that the large fashion houses constantly pushing innovation and progression with each passing runway  season, remain so stagnant when it comes to their own ad campaigns. Versace’s Spring 2012 campaign, for example, doused in blue with a tanned and toned Gisele, reminds me of the Gucci ads for fall, (both shot by Mert and Marcus), but with blue instead of fall’s reds and oranges.

Many campaigns I’ve seen this season deliver the same scenario: models draped in front of <insert x> scenery (mountain, beach, car, boys), lounging on one another and looking utterly pleased with themselves for fitting into <insert y designer>’s sample sized garments. Call me crazy, but shouldn’t these campaigns be treated as permanent editorials? After all, (and especially for the two-page ads), these images live on in magazines for a couple issues at least, and are often a prelude to the actual content. If I were a designer, I would want the reader to linger as long on my photos in the first 100 pages as they do on the last 100 pages of the magazines, where fashion directors take liberty to style daring shoots, even if they’re tacky, over-styled or otherwise. At least they’re entertaining. The batch of Spring ad campaigns, on the other hand, are not.

A few campaigns caught my eye, however, and are a welcomed break in the monotony of Mert and Marcus and Camila Akron and Inez and Vinoodh and so on. Perhaps I’ll change my mind when more images start to roll in, but I feel like perhaps I should just lower my standards. It’s not about surprises anymore, it’s about selling the products in an easy, safe way.

Leave it to Nicolas Ghesquiere’s Balenciaga to deliver a quirky ad that lets the clothes do most of the entertaining. Last season, too, welcomed a rather boyish Gisele, seen awkward yet strong in a campaign that showed her in a new way that strays from her supermodel-esque appearances. You don’t have to like it or find it aesthetically pleasing, but at least Ghesquiere matches his collections, which always push boundaries and eschew prettiness for progression.

Cushnie et Ochs also had a simple yet enticing geometric-inspired series of ads by Hugh Lippe.

And then you have the illustrious Iris Apfe for MAC cosmetics which, I have to say, is fucking brilliant. That perfectly red pout with those old-lady red nails, styled to the heavens and unnerving blue-green eyes shielded by those sigature glasses. Yes yes yes.

image via// oyster 

It’s almost as if winter casts a perpetual shadow over our personal style compass, and we go from the flirty silhouettes and punchy colors of summer to the melancholy color palette of fall and winter. I’ll be the first to admit my winter wardrobe mostly consists of black, cream, tan and navy…in other words: the neutral rack at any given store. What we often forget is that texture is our friend, especially in a season consisting of so little else that will interest the eye.

But then I remembered: that cozy, fuzzy, throw-it-on-and-wear-it-out wardrobe item that should be a staple in everyone’s closet… the fuzzy sweater. Worn over leggings with motorcycle boots and a cross-body bag, you’re laid back and comfortable but still maintain a degree of chic. Worn with patterned tights and chunky platforms, you’ve successfully transformed your fuzzy knit from a daytime top into a dress of sorts for the evening. (Seen on Alexa Chung, the navy textured sweater takes on new life when paired with a pleated organza skirt; a modern take on the old classic school girl). And seen peeking out from under some weather-appropriate layers, it’s a texture tease, and will still keep you warm once you peel off your outerwear.

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Carey Mulligan has had an incredible year: she starred alongside Ryan Gosling in Drive, one of 2011′s most talked-about films,  she got engaged to Mumford and Sons’ Marcus Mumford, and I recently saw her shine in the new Steve McQueen film, Shame, starring Michael Fassbender. She has seamlessly transformed from my favorite indie queen into a big budget star, but still has the quirk and spunk to keep me interested in which roles she’ll take on in the future.

I usually hate employing overused words like “flawless” in my description of anything, but she really does embody the word on the cover of W magazine’s January issue. She’s shrugging off a Nina Ricci tweed blazer from the label’s polished but flirty spring 2012 collection. Bravo to Edward Enningful (previously of Vogue) for putting Mulligan right at the intersection of sexy and timeless. Brilliant.

To see all the photos, check out W Magazine’s site.