Fashion,Style & Beauty on Fashion Girls

Charity is one of the hottest topics in fashion, and a very good one too. The fashion world seems to have made a lot from the society, so it seems that everyone do look forward to the celebrities to show their kindness in charity and to take their responsibility too. So it is really breaking news that fashion world always teams up for charity, and this time Naomi Campbell and Dolce & Gabbana design T-Shirts for charity. Despite my personal feelings about the supermodel (and it’s really nothing), this is really great news.

Naomi Campbell and Dolce & Gabbana have collaborated on a collection of 14 T-shirts for charity. Each tee has an image of the supermodel that was captured by some of the most acclaimed fashion photographers, like David La Chapelle, Patrick Demarchelier, Steven Meisel and Paolo Roversi to name a few.

Fashion for Relief is Campbell’s charity, and it raise funds whenever an urgent need arises globally. This organization mobilizes the fashion industry from within to help society at large. You can get a signed tee from the supermodel at Fashion’s Night Out on September 10th at Dolce & Gabbana’s Madison Avenue store in New York City. They will be sold for $200 each, but remember that the proceeds will go to a worthy cause.

I love the tees and the gift wrap is so nice and sweet, and it’s for charity! We love fashion all the way, and we love it even more when it comes to charity!

OK, we all love sunglasses, either for the real sun defense thing or merely that it looks cool on our face. So the best thing (at least one of the best, we know you love beach activities even more) for summer is that we can wear beautiful sunglasses everyday! And now let’s see how Prada’s new sunglass collection debuts.

It may not have been the best day for sunglasses what with yesterday’s dreary weather, but luckily, as night fell over New York, the clouds parted for the debut of Prada’s latest launch at Joe’s Pub on Lafayette Street. The smoky blue boite was the perfect place to unveil the ad campaign directed by Steven Meisel as sultry chanteuse Paula West performed show tunes with a live jazz band. Four models with sky-high beehives—Angela Lindvall and three Betty Draper look-alikes wearing plaid flared-out dresses—paraded around in the black and ivory shades, which brought to mind both the retro femininity of the fifties and the sleek nineties minimalism that the new sunglasses capture.

Guests like model Daria Werbowy, Teen Vogue’s Amy Astley, and Paper’s Mickey Boardman enjoyed Beausoleil oysters and summery watermelon-flavored cocktails. A final musical set by punk icon Nina Hagen, who wore electric neon green and yellow feathers in her hair, ended the evening on a perfect note. After all, as Duke Ellington once said, “It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.”

So, how do you like these sunglasses? Well I think they totally had a fabulous swing time and I love them anyway!

In the fashion industry, one important thing is to choose the right faces for your products, and usually the faces are either models or celebrities. For us ordinary people, one big feast (besides the gorgeous designs) fashion gives us is the glamorous ad campaigns. We’re actually happy to see a fashion ad campaign coming out every time, and the question is: Which face you want to see? Models? Or celebrities?

Well, anyway, this years, it looks like you’ll see more models, it has been said that models continue to book campaigns over celebrities.

This morning, WWD published a story about models’ edging out celebrities in fall campaigns.

The publication says that European houses have booked more models than celebrities for their recent ads, and that American houses—which tend to favor models over celebrities, anyways—will likely continue in this vein for fall as well. The one exception? Madonna for Dolce & Gabbana.

YSL’s Stefano Pilati and Gucci’s Frida Giannini agree that models are the preferred choice. Pilati, who is shooting fall ads with Daria Werbowy as I write this, said, “Actresses are fantastic, but they’re not models and it’s not easy. [Actresses] have an attitude, but will never be the fashion attitude. To me, fashion photography is with a model; otherwise, it’s a portrait.”

Giannini quips, “The other issue with celebrities is that they are characters who are often associated with a certain film. I prefer a strong, generic face that’s not related to any world—whether that be music or Hollywood.” Meanwhile, Brazilian beauty Raquel Zimmermann is set to star in Gucci’s latest campaigns.

WWD’s sources provided other examples: Balenciaga will cast ten models this season, among them Karen Elson and Stella Tennant; Louis Vuitton’s ads—recently shot by Steven Meisel—will feature Elson, Natalia Vodianova and Christy Turlington; and the Roberto Cavalli campaign will star Gisele Bündchen.

Karl Lagerfeld has also reinstated his band of Chanel and Fendi regulars: Abbey Lee Kershaw, Freja Beha Erichsen, Iris Strubegger and Anja Rubik. When asked why he selected only models, the designer replied that there are “not so many” celebrities to choose from. Plus, their “overexposure in ‘people’ magazines also makes it that one may be a little tired of celebrities and the red carpet. I love models and there are great ones for the moment.”

Another reason celebrity faces have dwindled in ads is that the star-crowd are a risky bunch. The director of Marilyn Agency’s celebrities and branding in Paris, Robert Ferrel, adds that “you have to understand that that movie star might have one hit movie and then a dry period. Especially in this economic environment, brands are definitely looking to get more out of their investment.”

Pilati concludes the article stating, “I do the fashion. They, the models, know how to wear it, and the photographer knows how to take a picture of it. It’s where the fashion dream comes from.”

The industry consensus is more “models and less celebs,” and we couldn’t agree more. Now if only Vogue felt the same way about their covers.

This time, in the little fashion battlefield it looks like models are winning. So what’s your opinion about this? Do you agree that models are more expressive in fashion industry, or you want to see more celebrities? Well, anyway, tell us your idea of this in the comment.

Fashion rocks and now the world is crazy about Lara stone! Seriously, can you count how many covers or editorials she has been featured on recently?! As she is now going to be married, she might be the most hitting girl in the fashion world now, well, let’s look at her new Louis Vuitton ad!

Marc Jacobs is very pleased with the selection of model Lara Stone for the new Louis Vuitton ad campaign. Lara replaced Madonna, and all indications are she was the perfect choice. This is one photo of her first campaign career at LV, photographed by the world-renowned Steven Meisel.  She epitomizes the curvey and glamourous sought-after look of the new decade. Arguably she ushered in the look, and we were all entranced. The theme of the ad is natural and tranquil and it works well against the glamour and luxury of the model and her Vuitton.

As I saw this I was very intrigued by how off the concept was from LV’s usual luxurious atmosphere and probably too editorialistic. To be honest, these ads are very close to the previous Stella McCarney’s campaign, but I’m happy Lara makes these visuals look fantastic. From these ads we can see the latest pieces from LV Spring 2010 runway, I find the items better looking here than it was in Paris probably making my mind change about this collection.

Certainly, the goal of these campaigns is to entice women to aspire to be like the model and shop Louis Vuitton. I would say that mission has been accomplished. And just asking, “Do you miss Madonna?”

This might be the most powerful commercial photograph I’ve seen lately, so vigorous, while still with the power of still life. Feels more than fashionable but luxuriant in life itself. And let’s meet the model!

“And she pays her bills doing print work, as a model, and, you know, she’s lucky to be able to do that—even though she fuckin’ hates the business, we both hate it,” said Michael Pitt of his girlfriend, Jamie Bochert, in The Observer this summer.

If she’s really just doing it to pay the bills, she must have some serious bills. She landed the cover of Italian Vogue in September, and stars in the new Marc Jacobs ads debuting in this month’s magazines and this morning, WWD published the first look at her Lanvin shoot. So this is the speed she make money. If he was talking the truth then can you imagine the speed she spend money?

The one thing we can’t deny is that she does appear gorgeous on these ads! Still, we don’t really care why Jamie keeps modeling (though it’s annoying to bitch about an industry that loves you) if her ads consistently wow. They’re action shots, with gorgeous clothes; Steven Meisel captured her racing through a New York hallway and Alber said, “She moved so fast, even the chandelier was moving with her!”

So what do you know about the girl? Me? Nothing, I just appreciate these photographs.