Kate Moss, the supermodel with a sordid history and a gold statue of herself on display in a British museum, has hit upon a novel idea and she wants to share it with the world. As it turns out, being a professional model is not the best diet plan in the world, "You go to a show and there's no food at all … I remember standing up in the bath one day and … I was so thin! I was never anorexic … I remember thinking, I don't want to be this skinny."
Not to knock the idea that fashion runways and the modeling industry create unrealistic body-image expectations for young women, but Kate is picking an interesting time (two weeks before New York's Fashion Week, which kicks off the global event) and place (Andy Warhol's magazine) to drop this truth bomb on the world.
Kate's clothing line Topshop is on the brink of a lucrative deal in China, and all of a sudden the formerly mum model gets all chatty with Vogue and Interview about eating disorders? If she really wanted to do something about the pressure models face about their body image, she'd put a sandwich where her mouth is and move up a cup size or two.
Robert Cavalli is a dick. The designer who made a career out of dressing models in bondage stilettos and drapery is now turning around and biting the malnourished hand that feeds him.
"For me, models are just pieces of wood that I carve to make clothes look beautiful," said the gnarled human tree trunk. "There are thousands of models like all other models. Naomi Campbell is the same way."
Indeed, he hates models. So who does Cavalli love? Artists. Artists like — insert air quotes — Diddy.
Let's put aside for a moment the creepy Buffalo Bill-esque metaphor of "carving" up women (let's blame that on the language barrier) and look at what's really bothersome: CONTINUED »
What magazine isn't getting into the reality TV business? Well, not Vogue! Except they are. They've got a new web series out next month — the annoyingly punctuated Model.Live — that'll track three models as they run from casting calls to runway shows in eight-minute webisodes. Naturally, because this is Vogue doing it, the project is the most expensive of its kind. With a budget of $3 million, the show costs about $31,000 a minute. But fret not! There is sponsorship attached. Express paid a low seven-figure fee to take part, somehow convinced that stocking its clothes in the closets of the models will produce a decent ROI. (It won't. At least not without additional integrations.)
It's Vogue's "at last" foray into the reality segment, because editor Anna Wintour, one who hates the word "blog," passed when Project Runway came calling (you know, in the days before it started charging magazines seven figures to take part). So why this web project? Because everything else that came their way was "not reality at all, just amateurs live," insists Vogue's Tom Florio.
Hah. CONTINUED »
Although the recent LeBron James Vogue cover didn’t do so well on the stands for what, perhaps, are obvious reasons, there’s a lot of speculation that the all-black issue of Vogue Italia will exceed money-making expectations. For one thing the issue — see sneak-peek pics* from Naomi Campbell’s Vogue Italia spread above and below — has received international attention. For another thing, far more ads were sold for this special issue than normal. Sure, part of it is the novelty aspect. But it also dispels the myth that black models can’t sell magazines or products.
While reporting on apartment-jumping Russian model Ruslana Korshunova, who reportedly committed suicide on Sunday after leaping to her death, Fox News broke what most media types would argue is an ethics commandment: Thou shalt not show the dead. This tenet falls somewhere next to "Thou shalt not show sex abuse victims," though clearly on the other side of "Thou shalt be OK if you show a dead Saddam Hussein hanging from the rafters." Now, following its various apologies to Obama's camp, FNC is apologizing for broadcasting Korshunova's corpse, lying partially covered by a sheet on the street. CONTINUED »
Supermodel Ruslana Korshunova, the one-time cover girl of French Elle and Russian Vogue who supposedly flung herself off the balcony of her 9th floor downtown apartment yesterday, may have, like so many before her, left clues about her inner suffering in the dumpster of all emotions: the Internet. One line in particular — "My dream is to fly. Oh, my rainbow it is too high." — is already being highlighted as the "foretelling" bit from her online postings, though, in all likelihood, had nothing to do with how she planned to take her own life. [Daily Mail]
Suddenly, after several years of being at the bottom of the fashion heap, black models are back on top. In a big way. Not only are they exclusively populating the pages of this month’s super-hyped Vogue Italia, Wintour & Co. also begrudgingly gave them some attention. At Milan’s Men’s Fashion Week, the designers of Dsquared used a group of models, led by Tyson Beckford, made up almost entirely of black men. And rumor has it that Lanvin’s show next week has an “all-ethnic lineup.”
Subject: "How can I get my daugther noticed??"
"Dear Editor: I'd like to get an agent for my daughter…please see pics below. If interested, my name is Melina [xxx] and I can be reached at 858-245-[xxxx]." Because we, like women's magazines, are service-oriented, let this serve as an open call for all "agents" on the hunt for new talent. Photos below. CONTINUED »
“24-year old beauty and Victoria’s Secret model Karolina Kurkova is being criticized over her appearance in recent days at Sao Paulo Fashion Week, especially after a runway appearance in a bikini.One Brazilian paper blasted her back fat and cellulite, as did other outlets. The impetus for the stories were two still photos taken at the Cia Maritima fashion show at the end of last week.”
In honor of Barack Obama’s Abercrombie moment, here are some snaps of Vision Men model David from Europe’s new “adults only” Abercrombie & Fitch catalog.
We may hate the company, but we love their dedication to the male body.
Ever wondered what you've always been missing by depriving yourself of $4.5 million diamond-encrusted panties? Don't. According to model Selita Ebanks, "the diamonds between [your] legs pinch" so the experience is roughly analogous to "getting a Brazilian wax every two seconds.” Granny panties never looked/felt so good. [R&M via Stereohyped]
It's not just Milan trying to make modeling, ahem, safer. (Pause, swallow, breathe. Modeling can be, like, life threatening.) Now London Fashion Week might wave g'bye to girls under 16, fearing these young things might develop eating disorders to maintain the human hangar look the runway requires.
There's also, supposedly, a risk of sexual exploitation because these young girls are made up to look like older women.
Just like your younger sister at Guest House.
You think Anna Wintour was going to let Portfolio steal the thunder at 4 Times Square this month? Uh, uh. That's why she stuck 10 skinny bitches on the cover who most Vogue readers won't recognize. That's because they're models. You know, those women whose bodies are a temple to couture and haven't seen the cover of an American fashion magazine for the better part of a decade? Yeah, them.
But before you run off to the newsstand, look before you leap … at the cover line. "The World's Next Top Models." That couldn't be a slight dig at Tyra Banks' reality show – the one Wintour turned down with a condescending nod – could it?
We're not sure how we missed this days-old clip from LX.tv about model-host-Advocate coverboy Pedro Andrade showing us what it's really like to be a male model. But let's just say it's tempting to take up this lifestyle when our visa sponsor employer threatens to send us back to the banana fields in Brazil.
(Full disclosure: LX.tv is a Jossip production partner. And when they title a clip "Sexy Pedro," how can we overlook it?)
CONTINUED »
Do you see what all that complaining about too-thin models has done? Now they're so large, they don't even fit in the frame. Fatties.
• For banking $21 million in her jewelry auction, Ellen Barkin could've at least afforded a martini to throw in ex-husband Ron Perelman's face.
• Madonna's children's book effort began with 350,000 copies sold of her first book. Post-African adoption scandal, her latest in the series has yet to move even five-figures worth.
• Paris Hilton's wonky eye and Nicole Richie's wrists hit the Victoria's Secret fashion show.
• Sacha Baron Cohen faces another lawsuit from a movie subject who claims she was lied to. This, from a woman who won't wipe Borat's ass for him.
• That Jann Wenner has a son should put to rest the notion that gays in media can't have kids.
• Lady models aren't the only ones with drug problems.
Today the New York Times' Styles section actually spends a bit of time covering (wait for it) fashion. It's a miracle. And the fashion piece aren't even really trend pieces, but come to be this anomaly known as "fashion reporting." And one of these reported pieces is on 15-year-old model Chanel Iman.
Modeling, it seems, was her "birth right." She was born to walk runways, wear couture, and flip around at photo shoots in front of fans and stuff. And it's not just because her name is Chanel Iman either. She's gorgeous, and tall, and under 18. And under 110 pounds.
“I was at Stella McCartney’s show,” she said, “and I’m dying to go to the bathroom, and so I went up to this guy and asked: ‘Do you work here? Do you know where the bathroom is?’ I didn’t know it was Paul McCartney! I mean, I know who Paul McCartney is, but I didn’t know what he looked like.”
And it's not like "brain surgeon" was really a viable career option.
A Model From Day 1 [Eric Wilson, New York Times]
• The Italians are accosting adopt-a-model spokesperson Dylan Stableford. [FBNY]
• We would find this article sentimental or something, except the only game we've ever seen played in Prospect Park is softball. [NYT]
• Andrew Krucoff earns his Conde Nast potatoes, one charity dollar at a time. [YM]
• Brian Williams tries to save Saturday Night Live, viewers remain unimpressed. [You Tube, Gothamist]
• Because everyone in New York thought that the 9/11 hijackers never laughed before. Not once in their lives ever. [NYDN]
• There is a reason all writers are alcoholics. That's the only topic that really sells books. [NYO]
• Cindy Crawford isn't saying she didn't get Botox — she's just saying the fake interview that ran in Gala is a bunch of bull. [Page Six]
• Friends, family, and fans say goodbye to Steve Irwin. By laughing at all the times he almost died but didn't. And then cried again. [AP]
• Who hasn't Madonna drunk dialed with an offer to do freaky things to them? JFK Jr. is, like, a given. [NYDN]
• Dina Lohan tells Star magazine that her and Lindsay are tired of the tabloid's crap. And that Lindsay won't be doing cartwheels. Which is breaking news, considering, you know, her wrist is broken. [Star]
• Jared Kushner's dad bribed his safety schools, too? Now that's just good business savvy. [Ivy Leak]
• Cindy Adams has been writing her gossip column longer than we've been alive. That's kind of sad … but still worth a shout-out. Especially since she coined the phrase which headlines this daily round-up. [Cindy Adams]
bull; This is more "tri-state" but if Jim "McG" McGreevy's sultry tell-all is good enough for Oprah, it's good enough for us. Plus, we can't really imagine anything like this happening in Texas or Nebraska. [NYDN]
• Television news just discovered the Ghetto Film School, and they'll be talking about it for a whole two days. We know Black people are fascinating, but do yourself a favor and opt to check out the site before the nice White lady on TV gives you an inside look. [GFS]
• A new model called "Sweet 16" tells Animal NY it's her energy, not coke, that keeps her going. Yeah. Uh-huh. Energy. [Animal]
Editorial Director
