Great Editorials: Black Magic, Hilary Rhoda for Vogue China, photographed by Greg Kadel, January 2006

I love this editorial! The simplicty of it makes it so dramatic and Hilary Rhoda looks great. She goes from looking a little scary (the lone, stoic portrait of her in the long black dress), to looking like a rock star. Also, sorry if the pictures are a little out of whack, it was a nightmare trying to get them to look right at all. If someone knows any tricks to posting a lot of photos at one time (other than don't do it, heh), I would be grateful to them for life.

Brooke Shields

Brooke Shields photographed by George Hurrell

Brooke Shields has one of the most beautiful faces I've ever seen documented on the screen. Even the famous photographer George Hurrell came out of retirement to photograph her. I also think she had that scary, unnerving, Lolita-like "is she a woman or a girl?" type of look that she seems to have lost as she got older.

Many seem to comment that she's lost her beauty, even though she's still gorgeous to me, I can see what they're saying, she looks very different now. It's not so much the typical "she got older" argument (yet technically, it really is), it's just that her facial structure is very different now. She was born with strong features, those same strong features combined with the youthful plumpness of her face from her child and teenage years made for a striking combination. Our faces get thinner with age of course, so with that youthful plumpness gone, Brooke's strong features became sharper. It's basically the opposite story of Michelle Pfeiffer, who was very average when she was younger, but suddenly blossomed into a very beautiful woman within the last several years (it's also worth noting that Michelle has very soft, delicate features).

Brooke is still attractive though, and and has that regal, sophisticated look, like what Ingrid Bergman and Grace Kelly had in their 40's, I could only wish to be that hot at 42. But can you imagine being one of the most beautiful women in the world at only 15?

In the movie, Wanda Nevada, Brooke plays the title character. Part of the premise is that Wanda Nevada is a 13-year old runaway who has fled Catholic school. Peter Fonda's character "wins" her in poker game, he feels obligated to take her with him as a way of protecting her, but he mostly regards her as a pest. In one scene, the two characters are at a reststop diner, Wanda has just gotten into this big argument with Peter Fonda's character, and decides to go off on her own. As she's making her way around the parking lot, she's whistled at and solicited by various bikers and truck drivers. She's obviously frightened, but she keeps on walking, a creepy guy follows her, he threatens her and tells her to get into his truck. Peter Fonda drives up just in time to rescue her. The juxoposition of the make-up, jewelry, the tough game she talks, and the fact that she is still just a kid underneath all of that make-up couldn't be greater. It's a feeling that I was familiar with growing-up. I liked wearing make-up at that age, fixing my hair, and wearing trendy clothes, but underneath it all, I still felt awkward and self-conscious. When I was 14, I met this actor who was a friend of my cousin's, he was cute enough and in his early 20's. Upon meeting him, he asked me " I think I've seen you before", I told him I was pretty sure that was impossible. I related this to my sisters and was suprised to learn this was an obvious pick-up line. I remember feeling both incredibly flattered and weirded out by this, I wasn't used to being seen as a woman (he didn't know how old I was until later).

I think it must be some sort of miracle that Brooke came out of her teenage years uncorrupted. She didn't become addicted to drugs, she went to college. Part of it could be contributed to her mother. Terri Shields was a classic case of a stage mother, she was famous for being rigid, and hard to work with regarding her daughter's career. I do think it's strange for a mother who has a reputation for making Mama Rose look laid-back, would let her then 10-year old daughter pose naked, with a face full of make-up in a series of photos (a photographer whose name was appropriately, Gary Gross), or star in a film like Pretty Baby. I remember reading that Teri regarded Brooke like a painting, her beauty as something that should be seen and shared, which I think, is an interesting way to look at the career choices she made for Brooke. I can't get over the feeling that Brooke was, in a way, exploited for her looks. I think it's great that her beauty was documented on film, but the problem lies in the type of film and the way she was photographed.

Anyway all of that aside, I love how Brooke's look is experiencing a resurgence in the fashion world. John Galliano made a spring/summer collection inspired by the way she looked in Pretty Baby. Last year, The New York Post ran an article, telling everyone to throw out their tweezers. Hilary Rhoda, Doutzen Kroes, Ali Micheal, and Marina Linchuk are all in high demand. Natalia Vodianova was hired by Calvin Klein because she reminded him of Brooke. Of course, none of the new girls are quite like the real thing.

left: Brooke Shields, right: Marina Linchuk

The Red Shoes

When I was a newborn, my granny bought me two volumes of books entitled "The Worlds Best Fairy Tales". As soon as I was old enough to read, I read them cover to cover. Even my mom and my older sisters read them. I think they appealed to them because they were not the sanitised Disney versions that they grew up with. These were the real deal. In these stories, the ending wasn't always pretty, the girl didn't always get the prince (The Little Mermaid). Sometimes people outright tourtured their stepmothers and mothers-in-law to death (Snow White).

One of the more gruesome tales I remember was The Red Shoes (a great annotated version can be found here). I remember there was this horribly frightning illustration featured in the book of the main girl Karen, dancing out in the wilderness at night, with the red bearded executioner staring menancingly at her behind a rock, holding an ax. If my scanner wasn't broken I would unleash this traumatizing image out into the internets.

Anyway, the story itself is a good read, (and I absolutely love the 1948 Moira Shearer version), but then it devolves into a religious fable about how you should go to church every Sunday, be humble, and sing hymns. Which, there's nothing wrong with that, I guess, but how can you end a story about a girl with an enchanted pair of red shoes that make her dance for so long, that she begs someone to cut her feet off(....and they do!) in such a way? It's a strange horror story full of gore and suffering. I'm sorry, but ending a story like that, with bible-thumping church lecturing is insulting. That's like ending The Texas Chainsaw Massacre with a "hey man, they should've just all gone to church Sunday night and this would never have happened". But then again, isn't that one of the hallmarks of the 80's teen slash flicks? You know, how the first victim in most of those movies is usually a poor, hapless, heathen of a teenage girl who has premarital sex a lot? And the only surviving character is a virgin? Perhaps The Red Shoes was a precurser to all of that?

Another good version of "The Red Shoes" is the music video for Mark Ronson's "Stop Me". In it, a guy is just chillin out at a coffee shop and happens to see an old man leave a pair of white trainers in the street. He becomes curious and decides to go investigate. He follows the shoes all the way to the back alley where he finally captures them. He keeps them in a cage in his appartment. As he doses off in front on the tv, the shoes decide to escape and encase and tie themselves onto his feet. The hijinks start there and it's a pretty good video, one of the better one's I've seen in a while. I have to say it's way better than the animated tears "international" version.

The Cats

Irina Kulikova from img.com

Move over Gemma, Lisa Cant, Lily Cole and the rest of you with oversize doll faces. Your days on the catwalk are numbered and it's time for a new breed of model (at least according to The New York Times anyway). Make room for the cats:

"Sometimes there is a hankering, more felt than articulated, for types with snub noses, shortened upper lips, eyes set on a slight diagonal, and petulant expressions that inspire one to offer them a dish of cream."

"I call them the cats," said Pat McGrath, a make-up artist who has worked with virtually everyone of importance in the business. "When I first saw Irina [Kulikova]," Ms. McGrath said, "I thought to myself, "She looks just like a little cat."

Clockwise from top: Behati Prinsloo and unidentified male model (who kind of looks like a young Malcolm McDowell from "Cat People" btw), Irina Kulikova, Marina Linchuk, Caroline Trentini, Jessica Stam, Madalena Frackowiak, and Sheila Marquez
Center: Sasha Pivovarova

The original article can be read here: In Paris, a Fevered Pursuit of "It" by Guy Trebay

Also from the same article:

"Wherever at the dozens of parties during fashion week one finds the pretty cats, the old dogs can also be seen sniffing around. And there at the Tuesday night party the models Carmen Kass and Jessica Stam gave for "the green cause" of some sort at Le Baron-a charming dingy dive first popular decades ago- was Bruce Willis , in uh, very antic form.

Was Mr. Willis there to learn more about the neoprane florals at Balenciaga? Was he there for a lesson from Ms. Kass on carbon neutral living? Was he there to dance with Ashley Olsen hiked around his waist? (oh, wait, that was someone else, in another corner of the bar)."

Oh Bruce, give it up. You're old. Don't you think it's time to throw in the towel? Especially when your conquests are friends of your daughters? I mean, at least think of them. That's got to be totally embarrassing for their dad to be pulling a Ryan O' Neal.

Bjork - Human Behaviour

I'm the youngest of 4 girls. It was pretty tough growing up, there was an 8 year age gap between me and the next youngest sibling, so I basically grew up in a house full of teenagers. Naturally that meant that I rarely got control of the main television in the house, thus, I ended up watching a lot of MTV (I watched the very first Real World when I was merely 6 years old).

One summer MTV decided to introduce their US viewers to the new artist Bjork. And this is the video that they decided to play the hell out of all summer.

Imagine the terror of watching poor little Bjork getting stalked, then eaten by a giant demonic teddy bear! I'ts all trippy and cool now, but I'm forever convinced this is the reason why I never quite got into Bjork. Thank you Mike Gondry.

Balenciaga RTW S/S 08

pictures from style.com

I got a look at the infamous S/S 08 Balanciaga collection yesterday. Of course fashion writers and editors are wetting themselves over this collection. Many are calling it fresh, innovative, well constructed, and very daring. It does look different from any other collection. However, what bugs me about it is that it's supposed to be Ready to Wear.

It sort of reminded me of those old back order McCall's prom dress patterns you see at Wal-Mart, looking all neglected because it's got puffy sleeves and is from 1992. Maybe it was the floral print that was throwing it off for me. Though the designs were beautifully beaded and made of silk, those floral patterns made the designs hard to swallow for me. I think it was Anna Sui that said visualizing everything in black makes people understand a design better, but I tried to envision Ghesquiere's gladiator-like ensembles in black and they still looked odd. Maybe these designs are just too foreign for my feeble little mind to "get". I mean, didn't people think Coco Chanel was crazy when she showed everyone the revolutionary sack dress? Weren't people pretty peeved about The New Look? Or the Marc Jacobs F/W 05 collection that helped kick start the volume craze?

Of course the there is a fine line between "mad cool revolutionary crazy" and "weird nerdy crazy". But as I kept looking at these designs, I began to wonder how us common plebians would even approach wearing these clothes. Possibly a bright yellow blouse with the blue and yellow floral skirt? As I thought about it more and more, it began to haunt me like a David Lynch movie. At first you're all "wtf did I just see?" Then as you keep thinking about it, you begin to analyze everything you just saw. You then start to seeing something interesting and want to watch it again and again.

However, I'm still on the fence. Check back with me next year when I'm wearing the hell out of puffy sleeves and looking like a flower garden just threw up on me. Kelly Kapowski, eat your heart out.