Beautiful but Overpaid, and Vacuous.

Are you smarter than a supermodel? Sybil Buck does the legwork (and cheesy interpretive dance style acting) to find out in this vintage House of Style clip.

How the hell did that girl know the capital of Mongolia? Cudos, my pretty friend, cudos!

You Look Pretty. I Look At You. I Feel Better.

Peter Lindbergh's work from the Supermodel age.

Italians Do It Better.

Let's try and forget about Anna and her American Vogue empire for just a second. In terms of provocative, artistic achievement Italian Vogue is the true top of the fashion magazine heap. It has been for years. The cover of the Italian edition of the fashion bible has launched a thousand models' careers from Kristen McMenamy to Karen Elson. The partnership of the publication and photographer Steven Meisel has yielded shoots as innovative and notorious as Super Mods Go To Rehab, and the all black issue.

Meisel shots from Italian Vogue's all black issue, and their editorial that cheekily sent supermodels to rehab a la Lindsay and Britney.

While Meisel is the maestro in charge of shooting the superb content, none of the magazine's insanely good material would ever come to be without the pub's editor in cheif, Ms. Franca Sozzani.

Sozzani has a surfeit of laudable qualities. She's softer than Roitfeld and eons more daring than Wintour. Her humble demeanor and undeniable talent has won her legions of fashion insider fans and more praise than one can proffer in a reasonable lifetime. Sozzani's sartorial style is as admired as her editing skills. Her soft mane of blond waves compliments her striking baby blue eyes in a way that leaves her looking angelic and gentle. Yet, she dresses like a sharp Milanese woman; her choices leave her looking sophisticated and stunning. Here, watch her talk about transforming the magazine from a trade rag to an international phenomenon over the past 20 years:



She's an icon.

Two Minutes For All Time

A few years ago Nick Knight lined up some to the world's most cherished human resources (supermodels!) and snapped their photos for a model-heavy issue of British Vogue. Before the gorgeous creatures escaped his studio to return to their natural habitats, he pointed a digital film camera at them and let it roll for two minutes in a Warholian exercise. The project, called More Beautiful Women, was for Knight's brilliant fashion/web love child, SHOWstudio. No instructions were given; there was no goal, no endgame- just two full minutes of permission-granted voyeurism. The videos are like mini-psych experiments. The models mostly begin with fierce stares, or some sort of strong, put-on pose. Then they giggle and loosen up. Then they attempt to regain composure, but we've seen through their pay-per-hour stare and it doesn't last as long this time. They look away, they fidget, or they become mannequins. They get bored. They are no longer models, but women watching their own thoughts, unaware of the camera. Then they are relieved when it's over. Here's a play-by play of Helena Christensen's two minutes:

The opening stare into the camera is fierce and sexy from behind a half curtain of perfectly tousseld hair. That's why she gets the big bucks.


Then the arms relax, a smile cracks.


She tucks the fierce hair behind her ear.


Makes a brief attempt to get the fierceness back.


But melts again.


Gives us a stellar, goofy eyecross.


Gets bored.


Is no longer vamping in the least.


Gives a goofy, girlie grin when the timer buzzes.


Leaves the set giggling.

It makes for great watching. Click here to see Christensen in full. Erin O'Connor and Kate Moss also took turns staring down the lens.

kate moss in more beautiful women


I wish there were better archives of this project. Knight had so many women participate, from Twiggy to Naomi, to Penelope, to Shalom. If you hunt down anymore beautiful creature clips, send 'em my way!

Allegiance to Alaia

When The Met's new show Model as Muse opened recently, it's organizers caught some flack for their exclusion of the work of Azzedine Alaia, who has been known for his close relationships with models throughout his wonderful career. I just stumbled upon a vintage Alaia profile that could be submitted as evidence in a court of law to prove his claim of shafting.



Alaia claims that editrix Anna Wintour had most to do with his absence from the show, and that her say and opinions have too much influence over the museum's choices. I wonder what Alaia did to upset The Wintour. Maybe Morley Safer will ask her about it on 60 Minutes tonight. (can't hardly wait)
PS: I love Naiomi's eyebrows in that video.

She's Gonna Beat Me With Her Phone.

I think I may have discovered the reason behind all of Naomi Campbell's irrational bouts of violent rage. Her victims must have discovered this lovely nugget from the catwalker's past and threatened to spread the word:

A duet with Vanilla Ice? Oh man, if that ever got out there she'd be really mad. Wait, she's going to find me isn't she? Uh-oh...

One/One-Thousand: Roxanne Lowit

Roxanne Lowit has been fashion chaos' documentarian for decades. She single-handedly brought the bustle of fashion's backstage to the forefront. She sneaked behind the scenes on the arms of model friends like Jerry Hall in the eighties and worked her way from FIT educated textile designer/painter/sometimes photographer to fashion snapping legend. Lowit is an icon in front of and behind the camera, in her all black signature style. Stick with her and her infinite coolness and you'll never miss a single celebrity/fashion model soaked second of fun fun fun. Let's put it this way, Lowit gets you in when you aren't even invited. Where? Everywhere.Will it be fun? Yes. Will you love it? Yes.

For more information and more photos, visit Lowit's agency Stockland Martel.

How, She Does It

The term "stylist" gets tossed around so loosely these days that anyone with a credit card and working pair of eyes thinks they can fit the bill. However, true stylists are artists on par with creme de la creme designers and fashion photographers. They are the glue of a photoshoot, marrying the model and the clothes with the photog's vision to create perfect images. Jane How is an example of a super-stylist. Her work has bettered the pages of the best magazines in the business. She has a longstanding relationship with I-D and is the go-to-girl for many a top snapper. Here's a few examples of her work and why she keeps getting great gigs:







I can't even begin to imagine where one finds a giant lion-door-knocker-bra, or how you can go from creating color-crazed outfits with cartoon bathing suits and platforms, to the softest combo of Kate Moss and a flowered bed spread. I'd love to tag along and see How.

You can view a selection of Jane How's work, including all of the images above, at her agency Streeters London.