Going up?

I joked with my friend once that I would love to ride the elevator at the Conde Nast building (after feasting in the cafeteria of course) up and down for a day just to see what happens in the world's most fashionable shafts. Well, now I can have that experience and still hang on to my dignity.

Introducing @CondeElevator's Twitter feed. It's every bit of crazy goodness that 4 Time Square employees overhear on their way up the building. It's fantastically full of all the fashionese and fat phobia you would expect.

Must See.

My hero's doc is out!

Want to see this with me? I'm so there.

Apotheosis.

I'm a geek for fashion. I'm a quiet dork for fashion. I'm a history nerd, an aspiring wordsmith, an art-history-like appreciator with no desires to be hip, in, or sceney. I'm too goofy for all that. Last night though, I was a screaming tween to Fashion's boy band. My general rules of decorum (you do not point your camera directly into anyone's face; you smile at people, not gawk; you ask for photos unless people are obviously posing) flew right out the window. When the seas of scensters parted last night in front of Milk Studios where my friend Neil and I just happened to stumble upon the just ending Porenza Schouler show, there she was. Trailing her perfectly non-fashion-figured daughter Bee, who held her hand and gently guided her through a channel the beefy security men made to her waiting towncar. In the hushed silence, and amongst the hulking, walkied, yelling men, Anna Wintour looked ever so slight, so tiny, so....oh my god...right in front of me. I heard a voice in my head say point and shoot! Point and shoot! And, despite all rules about not being a fashion stalker, not being ridiculous in the face of people who I hope to one day interact with on some kind of a professional level, I pointed my camera in her face and snapped a picture, because, well? It was a fashion fan instinct. It was Anna Wintour. What can I say?

I think my camera flash kind of blinded her because the next thing I knew she was right, right, right in front of me saying "Excuse me." Very polite of her considering I just photo smacked her. Although, I'm sure she's used to it. As I turned around, I caught one more snap of her and have been staring at it since, marveling at the perfection of her bob.

Every hair was in perfect place! I have utter respect for Ms. Wintour and the empire she's built. I love that even the rowdy, me-me-me fashion circus fell silent in a symbolic, auditory bow towards her as she passed. It was quite the quiet moment.

Funbelievable.

My date (that's my mama!) and I "shopping" at Bergdorf's on Fashion's Night Out.

Dear Ms. Anna Wintour,

Thank you for inviting me to your party last night. It was so much fun! I saw a little, Indian man in acid-colored golfer gear talking to a bedecked zaftig lady in ruched ruffles of black on black at Bergdorfs! That was fun. There were too many people on the 7th floor for me to see Mary Kate and Ashley, but I did watch Andre Leon Talley walk by. Anna, that was wonderful!

One of the gorgeous windows at Bergdorf's.

I saw your frenemy Grace Coddington at her exhibit at Prada. She let me get a picture with her, which I thought was very kind of her. Next time she tells you off in the office, let her go easy. She was sweet to me.

Look, our photo came out "soft" just like Coddington likes it! She set up those suit-wearing wolves at a Red Riding Hood themed exhibit at Prada.

I bumped into one of your cover girls, Sasha Pivovarova who told me that she'd really rather be a full time artist and that I should check out her exhibit at Bendel's down the street. I did. There was a giant doll made of all sorts of things! That was cool.

God, if you ever want to feel dorky and stocky stand next to a supermodel! Recent I Want To Wear It. post subject Sasha Pivovarova's art was on display at Henri Bendel's. She's really tall.




Shots of Sasha's show at Bendel's

I also got an astrological reading at Bendel's. I wanted a Poppy King lip reading, but I settled for a star-ologist instead. She told me I was an old soul, with a natural ability to lead, but a tendency to get stuck doing grunt work and loving people who lack commitment and structure. That made me think about all sorts of things that weren't fun, but then I spotted a fashion illustrator doing portraits of women who waited on a line and that made me happy again.

Custom portraits at bendel's.

Anna, I was a little worried throughout the night that the mix of mobs, booze, and expensive (with a capital E) clothes would prove disastrous for you. I was having thoughts of the Terminal 5 exhibit that backfired when art got wrecked, ruined, and snagged by drunken revelers. I thought the triumph of the evening could turn out badly for you in the end, but maybe I wasn't giving the fashionistas enough credit.

It was crowded everywhere! But, I think the biggest crowds were at the bars, not the registers. I wonder what the final takes for the evening were.

The next stop of the night was at Opening Ceremony, and let me tell you, Anna, it was a hipster mobscene! The store was p-p-p-packed to capacity and even the sidewalk was jammed with people wearing fake prescription glasses and giant bows on their heads. It was the place to be. I really wanted to see The Mulleavy Sisters there, but alas, it wasn't going to happen.

All I saw of Rodarte were their Kurt Cobain t-shirts on the car they customized outside. The hipsters were packed into every square foot inside and outside the store!

My last stop was at Topshop. Where I bumped into Karen Elson, literally. She stumbled down a few stairs in her stilettos. I felt so bad! Good thing she's got practice in those things. She teetered but didn't topple. Once she steadied herself, I told her how much I loved her work, which I guess is an awkward thing to say to a model? But I do. So I said it.

Mannequins were out for fashion too.

My Mom admiring a gorgeous orange Thakoon dress. We shopped with our eyes, not our pocketbooks.

Anna, all in all, I had the best time. I satisfied some dreams my ten-ear-old self has been carrying around since she became an avid Vogue reader (um, hello? Meeting Grace Coddington? ALT? Supermodels?) Amazing.

I'm sorry I didn't buy anything, but maybe next year?

Thanks for the good times,
Anna Y.

Full Of Grace.

Grace loves kitties.

I saw The September Issue yesterday morning with my wonderful friend Blaire, and since I'm a cheap chica we took advantage of AMC's $6 before noon deal. Hence, we found ourselves in a dark theater with Anna Wintour while the majority of the city still slept, or slurped mimosas through a hangover straw at brunch. I for one found the film very worth my early rise and shine, and I think Blaire did too.

The September Issue that the documentary swirls around. Grace didn't love Sienna...

I was going to live Tweet my viewing, but I realized that if I had some d-bag next to me fiddling with her glowy phone through an entire film, I'd be super annoyed and decided to forgo the electronic connection. Besides, I was too enthralled to peel my eyes away from the screen for very long. There were so many wonderfully delicious moments in this film and nearly all of them starred the oh-so-inspiring and utterly lovable Grace Coddington.

Marc Jacobs loves Grace.

Just who is Grace? She's the magazine's current creative director. Working under the dictatorial guidance of Anna, she oversees the ins and outs of many of the magazine's photo spreads.

Examples of shoots from the Vogue archives overseen by Ms. Coddington.

She pulls together stories based on a theme, gathers clothes to fit her narrative, helps cast the models, directs the photographers, and approves the images. That's a lot, but actually that's not all. She also dresses the models, styles the shoots, laces corsets, and buttons, and wraps, and...well if you need a fashion related thing done, she does it.



And she's been doing it for years. She's been at American Vogue since 1995, before that she was under the umbrella of British Vogue, and before that she was a well shot young model. She knows this business inside and out and she's not even a bit done making brilliant things happen within it.

Grace in her modeling days.

Her eye is sharp and her sensibility is romantic. She keeps her senses perked for inspiration that may strike in any, tiny way, through any narrow conduit. She's a true example of someone born to do what they do. Her work means a lot to her, and seeing her fight the good fight in it's honor against her boss is remarkable. She pushes when it's time to push and warmly embraces when it's time to comfort or concede or console. She's a perfect foil to the galaxy-large egos stomping the halls of her office.

A wonderful shoot from the August '08 issue of Vogue starring Karen Elson as Grace.


The book published by Edition 7L featuring thirty years of work by Grace. Click the image for ordering information.

Her shoots are gorgeous additions to the annals of fashion photography and I hope she continues to do her thing for years and years to come.

OMG. SRSLY. OMG.

I know, the story is so old...Anna Wintour is a cold, bitchy boss who tortures her skinny employees in various ways while they bleed, sweat, and cry over fashion editorials. I know. You know. We know. However, the chance to witness Wintour in action, behind her desk, rolling her eyes, glaring blankly, and hurling curt insults? I'm so all over The September Issue like LV logos on Andre Leon Talley's water bottle case! So on it. Here's the trailer. Watch it and get excited and then come see it with me this weekend!



Sweet dreams, fashionophiles!
xoxo
The Other Anna

One More Thing Before I Go...

Why should Wintour be warm anyway?

I just watched the 60 Minutes piece on Anna Wintour, and I have to throw my two cents into the fire. Wintour is the head of the most influential, successful, widely known fashion magazine in the world. I really think that all comments regarding her bitchy, cold, wintry persona are quite sexist. Normally I'm of the overly optimistic crowd who hopes that everyone acts like they gently consume rays of sunshine and rainbows for breakfast, but in the fast-paced, high-stakes game of the media business, there isn't room for cozy, maternal, gentleness. Heard any male CEOs held to standards of warmth lately? I haven't.

Watch Anna's episode here, in case you missed it.

I admire Wintour for her shrewd, quick, decisiveness, and think it is well within the demands of her job. She runs an empire built on image and the assertion of her taste as the taste to have, and she succeeds. I like to poke fun at her persona as much as the next fashion fan, but underneath the teasing is true admiration and respect. I mean every hair on her head is in place, she wears runway-fresh Prada to work, and she keeps a team of stilettoed, skinny chicks scurrying through the Conde Nast hallways as if their lives depended on it, because well, they do. It's impressive. I wouldn't enjoy having to be that tightly wound all the time, but she seems to like it. And she's damn good at her job. Truth be told, I found her surprisingly smiley in the interview portions of the piece. At work it was a different story, as it usually is in business. In the end I say save the expectations of kid gloves for caretakers, give Wintour her feirceness and let her do her job. Just don't expect me to want to work for her-which I say with all due respect, Ms. Wintour!

Ok, Jamaica! Here I come!

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.

Glamorous Girlfriend

Anna Wintour's 60 Minutes segment is coming on Sunday! Here's a taste for the impatient.

I love seeing Grace Coddington and Andre Leon Talley around the same conference table. I cannot wait. Can. Not. Wait.

Delighted To Meet You, Mr. Bowles!

New York is my homie. I love this city. Luminaries and lunatics share sidewalk space on any given block at any given moment. Yesterday, I shared a concrete square with Mr. Hamish Bowles. He was fresh from the Model as Muse show at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (where I had spotted him, but shied away) and walking down the street in the most amazing coat I have ever seen. I think it saw me too...

Mr. Bowles in his Libertine coat a few blocks from The Met.

I stopped him and asked where that coat came from and he delightedly told me that it is a Libertine piece, an original vintage that they silk screened in LA. He was so impeccably and interestingly dressed, with every detail assessed and curated. His round rimmed glasses, his purple tie, his foppish hair, it was all so... Hamish.

Hamish and that other Anna.

Just what is Hamish? Well, as one of the upper echelon of fashion's intelligentsia, Mr. Bowles's taste is tapped for the pages of Vogue. He was hand picked by Anna Wintour to succeed Andre Leon Talley in the mag's post of European Editor at Large. His qualifications for the spot include being educated in fashion design alongside John Galliano at Central Saint Martens, and doing a healthy term at Harper's and Queen Magazine where he rose through their ranks from Fashion Director to Style Editor. He also has a sick collection of couture in a storage space in Queens.

Selections from the Bowles collection as featured in Interview Magazine.

He's a student of the art of fashion, through and through and I'm so happy to have bumped into him. This fashion geek was quite thrilled by the run-in, and he was all sweet smiles. Lovely.

Word Association: The Met Gala

We're going to play a little game with the red carpet photos from The Met Gala last night. We'll do a little word association. First thing that comes to mind:


Bob


Tent-tastic


Sexy Back*


Tulip*


Swallowed


Whoa hair


Fruit roll-ups


Powersuit


Shiny*


Nerd


Pitstop


Thigh(too)High


WT effin' F?



* = Anna likes!

Photos from Getty Images via The Cut.