Yesterday, Kanye West and pal Jared Leto (huh?) were in the studio making sweet music when The Killers' front man Brandon Flowers stopped by, wearing a great top: "I WAS WORKING ON THIS DOPE ASS SONG WITH JARED AND BRANDON STOPPED BY. I PLAYED THEM SOME OF THE NEW JEEZY BEATS AND BEFORE EVERYBODY BOUNCED BRANDON HOPPED ON THE KEYBOARD AND I HOPPED ON THE MPC. SHIT WAS DOPE. OH AND YES THOSE ARE SWAROVSKI CRYSTALS ON BRANDON'S SHIRT BY DRIES VAN NOTEN." Aw, Ye. If only my guy friends were as well versed in high fashion as you.
April 15, 2009
Kanye West Creates Music With Jared Leto, Compliments Brandon Flowers' Shirt
Filed in: Fashion | Tagged with: music, Kanye West, Dries Van Noten, Swarovski, top, studio, The Killers, Jared Leto, Brandon Flowers
April 14, 2009
Bravo's NYC Prep to air this Summer With the Help of Kooba
The reality show version of Gossip Girl is set to air on Bravo on June 16th. NYC Prep will chronicle the lives of rich Manhattan high-school students and, in a new venture for Bravo, watchers of the program will be able to buy special accessories and clothing made exclusively for NYC Prep's cast on Bravo's web site.
According to the New York Times, Kooba has designed exclusive colors of its bags, which the lead girls got to pick their favorite. At $595, the bags are expensive, said Michelle Cutter, vice president for marketing and new-business development at Kooba. “They’re just launching this merchandising strategy themselves,” she said of Bravo, “and for them to offer $500 to $600 priced handbags on their merchandise, they hadn’t really done anything that expensive before. Hopefully it’ll work.” Kooba has manufactured only 200 of the bags, hedging its bets.
Meanwhile, The Fashion House -- Bravo's answer to its befallen Project Runway -- will feature similar special Kooba pieces that will eventually be available purchase online.
Posted on April 14, 2009 at 12:00PM | Permalink | 0 Comments
Filed in: Fashion | Tagged with: handbags, bravo, Gossip Girl, advertising, kooba, reality tv, the fashion house, nyc prep
April 14, 2009
Valentino and Giammetti (Heart) Male Models
Last Friday, New York Magazine attended a screening of Valentino: The Last Emperor at City Cinemas and stuck around afterwards for a fabulous Q&A session with Vogue's André Leon Talley and the fashion doc's director, Matt Tyrnauer. The two men discussed everything from Valentino special valet who exclusively tends to his pugs poo to the influence male models have over Valentino and Giammetti.
Audience Question: How was it doing this as your first film?
Matt Tyrnauer: "When Bruce Weber [the photographer] heard I was doing a film, he said, “Oh, you’ve never done a film before. I’ll take you out to lunch and we can talk about it.” He said, “Hire male models to work for you. It doesn’t matter if they know how to do anything; you’ll get double the time with Valentino and Giancarlo. And let me tell you, no better advice has been dispensed. We did hire male models, and eventually the job they ended up doing was putting the mikes on Valentino and Giancarlo before we’d start filming each day. You know, it has to go under the clothes. Well, they loved that. They’d say, “Is it time to get our mikes on yet?”
And you thought Karl Lagerfeld was the only one with an affinity for beautiful male friends.
Posted on April 14, 2009 at 8:00AM | Permalink | 0 Comments
Filed in: Fashion | Tagged with: Andre Leon Talley, Vogue, Valentino, New York Magazine, male models, q&a, Matt Tyrnauer, giammetti, mikes
April 13, 2009
What is the new black?
If you read copious amounts of fashion and style blogs everyday, then more likely than not you've stumbled upon the flashing multi-colored leopard print advertisement for some new fashion venture tentatively titled, WhatIsTheNewBlack.TV. After about two weeks of seemingly ignoring said blog distraction, I finally decided to click on it last week. And after spending about 10 minutes on the site, I'm just as confused about its intended purpose as I was when the blonde lady first appeared on my screen in her underwear.
From what I can decipher, the site allows guests to pick one top, bottom, and accessory for the virtual model to try on. Once the outfit selection has been made, she scurries behind the black fold dressing curtain (Is this the 90s?) and then reappears once again wearing whatever combination you decided upon. I choose the semi-laced black top, over-sized necklace, and purple skirt. To which the model replied, "This outfit is definitely pushing the envelope. Now let's see if you're black is the new black." Naturally, I received four stars in creativity, four stars in wearability, and three starts in trendiness. Uh, right.
Unless this is just a teaser for the site that boasts the dated fashion addage in its name, I'll probably never return to WhatIsTheNewBlack.TV. And I imagine those who've already checked it out won't either. Unless, of course, they're under the age of 12 -- when dressing people up like this still seems fun. Meanwhile, the model who was forced to stand in her underwear for this had to try on 216 different top, accesory, and bottom combinations in order to make it seem as though she was trying on the outfits at the user's command. Damn.
Posted on April 13, 2009 at 9:00AM | Permalink | 0 Comments
April 12, 2009
First Look: AT&T TOMS Shoes Commercial
Really, when does TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie ever sleep? The young entrepreneur recently shot a commercial for TOMS as part of AT&T’s latest ad campaign. Directed by Bennet Miller, an Academy Award nominee, filming for the commercial began in early February 2009. Using a variety of locations, shooting stretched over several weeks and two continents so as to go along with AT&T's "more bars in more places" meme. The result is a cool look inside the huge brand that only came into fruition in a mere three years ago.
Meanwhile, TOMS Shoes is asking everyone to not wear anything on their feet on April 16th, in an effort to bring attention to the impact a simple pair of shoes can have on one's life. "Walking is the primary mode of transportation in developing countries, and children often have to walk miles to get food, water, or medical help. Without shoes, they are subject to cuts, infection, and soil-transmitted diseases that can drastically impact their lives."
I suggest staying in your house on that day because bare feet and hot pavement aren't a good combination.
Posted on April 12, 2009 at 12:06PM | Permalink | 0 Comments
April 11, 2009
Leighton Meester Discusses the Paparazzi, her Love for Britney Spears, and Going to NYU
This weekend, Leighton Meester is featured in New York Times Magazine. Before the Terry Richardson lensed spread debuts tomorrow in Sunday's issue, the actress sat down for a quick Q&A with Horacio Silva. In their conversation, the 23-year-old star discussed her forthcoming album, what it's like being hounded by the paparazzi, and Blair Waldorf's post-prep school plans. Here are a few highlights from the interview:
Blair Waldorf is college bound, ya'll:
It’s yet to be decided, but [Blair Waldorf] is definitely going to college — to N.Y.U. — and not wearing any more school uniforms. Thank god we’re not pretending we all get held back and just continue with high school like all those other high school shows. I guess I’ll wear magnificent clothes every day that don’t have anything to do with school.
Leighton will most likely be Jason Wu's date for the Costume Institute's Model Exhibit this spring:
He’s such a sweetheart. We actually went to Anna Wintour’s house for dinner. It was very cool and quite the fashion baptism by fire.
Lady Gaga better watch out:
Absolutely. I’m determined to no longer wear pants. The music is electric pop, with a little bit of rock element to it. It’s not like bubble gum — it’s actually very edgy.
And yes, it sucks to have scandalous parents when you're working on a show based on gossip:
This is the type of thing that you can’t be too sensitive about — it’s not like I did anything that’s worth talking about. I love my parents very much, but people either continue or break the patterns of what their life should be and I just want to completely break whatever patterns would lead me to the same life choices that they made.
For the rest of the interview, click here.
Posted on April 11, 2009 at 11:11AM | Permalink | 0 Comments
Filed in: Fashion | Tagged with: Anna Wintour, college, Jason Wu, Terry Richardson, Gossip Girl, Leighton Meester, blair waldorf, nyu, new york times magazine
April 07, 2009
“
My agent told me to sleep with the photographer when I was 16.
”-- Model Cameron Russel in Sara Ziff's new documentary, Picture Me. From the Twitter page of Confessions of a Casting Director.Posted on April 07, 2009 at 9:30AM | Permalink | 0 Comments
Filed in: quote of the day | Tagged with: documentary, Fashion, models, Gen Art, Cameron Russell, Sara Ziff, picture me
April 07, 2009
Raf Simmons for Eastpak: Part Trois
Much like pal Kanye West, Raf Simmons hasn't been deterred by the funky economic recession we're currently situated in at the moment. Right on the heels of the successful collaboration between London-based design duo Eley Kishimoto and popular backpack company Eastpak, Jil Sander's main man will drop his collection with the latter next Tuesday, April 14th. This will be the third and final release by Simmons for Eastpak.
As with the previous collections, the satchel and knapsack styles stay true to the Jil Sandrer aesthetic: they're quirky, modern, and sleek. So, if you're one of the few college students who a) carries a bag around campus and b) surprisingly aren't broke, you'll make a quite the fashion statement amongst your peers with this cream-colored satchel at left.
Especially if everyone at your school carries those monochromatic pieces with the initials emblazoned on the front which is practically everyone if there's a sorority or fraternity on campus.
Filed in: Fashion | Tagged with: Jil Sander, Raf Simmons, april-fools-prank-in-a-cafe, EastPak, third collection
April 03, 2009
Rihanna to Cover 'Major Magazine'
And we're back.
Since the time we dropped the imitable B. Scott's commentary on the whole Chris Brown/Rihanna debacle on our blog, the following has happened: okay, we totally haven't been keeping up with this story. At all. Totz crazy, right? But that's life! Anyways, we have caught word that RiRi may have snagged the cover of a very important fashion tome somewhere in between dealing with the mess she's currently found herself in.
According to RadarOnline.com, one of the topics of discussion at a recent party thrown in Rihanna's honor was the fact that the singer was "about to land the cover of a major fashion magazine." Now which 'major magazine could this be?
Obviously, not Teen Vogue since she's already graced that publication before. Also, we're going to say it's probably not Glamour, Marie Claire, or Cosmopolitan because while we count them as some of our favorites they're not anything to cow tow about in the press. So, what is left: Vogue, W, and Interview. Unless, of course, there aren't any major European mags in talks with Rihanna's camp.
It would be interesting if Vogue was the one to secure the cover with Rihanna because it would make her the third African-American woman to grace Vogue thus far this year. Remarkable, considering there have only been a handful (literally) of women of color to grace the so-called fashion Bible throughout its entire 100-year-old history. Stay tuned!
Posted on April 03, 2009 at 8:45AM | Permalink | 2 Comments
April 03, 2009
StyleCaster, Sign-Up Today!
Good morning, everyone!
It's finally Friday and after the week we've hand we couldn't be any happier. Anyways, just before you head out of the office and shut off the Blackberry (like that's possible) for the weekend you should check out the new online fashion outfit, StyleCaster.
The website is kind of like a mix between Facebook (social networking) and a magazine and features magazine-like video shoots with people such as Jessica Joffe, running around New York in pretty clothes and vacant stares. Privately funded by Dan Gilbert -- chairman and founder of Quicken Loans and majority owner of the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers -- the site has the pockets, talent, and ideas to make it one of the few successes to come out of this rough recessionary period.
While Stylecaster won't be launching to the public for another few weeks, there allowing Chic & Untroubled readers to take a peak of their upstart venture right now! If you're interested, and we know you most certainly are, proceed here.
Posted on April 03, 2009 at 8:00AM | Permalink | 0 Comments