#1168 Best Dressed Businessman Awards - get nominating!

Photo: The Sartorialist

The cut-off date for nominations for the Working Style and Mercedes Benz Best Dressed Businessman Awards is two days away! April the 2nd. That's Friday this week. We already have tons of nominees but a few more thrown into the mix wouldn't hurt anybody. Especially in the Wellington and Christchurch areas. So basically, if you know of any well dressed businessmen (and bear in mind that businessman is a fairly loose term - we have everything from surgeons to journalists to accountants covered), CLICK HERE and nominate them for the award. They'll thank you for it. There are six prizes in total. They are: Mr Auckland, Mr Wellington, Mr Christchurch, the Sartorial Award, the Contemporary Award, and the supreme award – New Zealand’s Best Dressed Businessman for 2010. And I'm one of the judges.

Here's what they could win...

#1167 New Zealand Fashion Week is here to stay

Photo: Stolen Girlfriends Club A/W 2010 at Air New Zealand Fashion Week

Rumours surrounding the demise of New Zealand Fashion Week have been rife after naming-rights sponsor Air New Zealand chose not to renew their contract for this year's event, but organisers assure me it'll be business as usual come September at the Viaduct. The event formerly known as Air New Zealand Fashion Week turns ten this year, and will continue under the new name New Zealand Fashion Week. "We owe it to the industry to continue an event that helps them have unity in numbers and sell," said NZFW brand manager Myken Stewart via email, "The only change being [that] we are taking our name back... we will be New Zealand Fashion Week which is perfect for 10 years."

#1166 New-look Remix looks good

Photo: Damien Van Der Vlist

I have in my hands a copy of the brand new, new-look Remix Magazine. The same Remix Magazine that I blogged about two weeks ago, and which, at the time, received quite a dressing down in the comments section. I'm happy to say that it's a massive improvement on the old-look Remix. The paper stock is of a higher quality; the design is cleaner, more sophisticated and full of white space; and the fashion is much stronger. Keep in mind that while it's indie (from a publisher's point of view), it's mass-market, and it focuses on music and pop culture in equal measure to fashion. That means you still have to get through a few stories on singers and TV presenters (Hollie Smith and Shannon Ryan respectively) before you hit the fashion. But once you get there, you'll find 102 pages of the stuff to keep you happy. There's something for everybody.

#1165 1AM's Glenn Hunt gives his two cents on model exploitation in NZ

Photo: 1AM - image censored to preserve the model's (barely concealed) modesty

Before I get into what Glenn Hunt has to say for himself, I wanted to say that I'm amazed by the lack of response to Thursday's blog about model exploitation in New Zealand. Besides several magazine editors speaking out in response to two local episodes where models were apparently given drugs on set, very few people have made any noise. It's a little confusing. The feedback to an ad campaign where a model was depicted dead was gargantuan. And an ad campaign where an over-age but young-looking model was shown in lingerie drew an overwhelming moral objection. But as soon as the actual topic of models being exploited is raised, or an invitation to start a dialogue about what can be done to safeguard the vulnerable is suggested (thanks to Melinda Williams), all anybody seems to want to talk about is whether or not photographers should get paid for photo shoots. Like I said, it's a little confusing.

And to make matters even more intriguing, the following email just arrived in my inbox from 1AM's Glenn Hunt.

#1164 Model exploitation in New Zealand

Film grab: Blow Up

Yesterday I mentioned a couple of stories about girls being offered/given drugs on the sets of New Zealand fashion magazine editorials. I've had plenty of responses to that blog - in comments (most of which couldn't be published for fear of defamation suits), and in phone calls and emails. Many have asked me to reveal the names of the magazines, and I've been told that to not do so is to be an advocate of their behaviour. First of all, let me say that I do not advocate any behaviour that involves drugs and minors. Second, short of getting the models or the magazines to go on the record and admit that it all happened, at this stage, there's not a lot I can do. I believe the stories to be true, but I don't have proof. Yet. To go buckwild and start dropping names all over the show would be straight-out defamation and I'd find myself in court quicker than you can say 'Whale Oil'.

But I do want to explore the subject further, so I've enlisted the help Melinda Williams - editor of NO Magazine, and, like me, a former model booker.

#1163 NO Magazine speaks out against model exploitation

"We want to make clear that NO is not one of the magazines Isaac referenced (as supplying models with drugs). No photographer commissioned by NO has ever given a model drugs on a shoot and if we found out one was doing so (on our shoots or others), we would not work with them. We also make sure that if a model is in a revealing outfit, that she is totally comfortable. We’ve never had any problems, but if for some reason a model changed her mind retrospectively about a particular shot, we would not run something she (or he!) was unhappy about. All models who do that kind of work for us are over 18 and many of them are older than that."
- Delaney Tabron, Creative Director - NO Magazine.

#1162 Model exploitation isn't just a Terry Richardson problem, it's an industry wide problem

Terry Richardson with Vogue Paris Editor-in-Chief Carine Roitfeld - Photo: Terry's Diary

By now you've no doubt read about the allegations of sexual exploitation against photographer Terry Richardson. New Zealander Jenna Sauers has been leading the charge over at Jezebel, and doing a fine job of giving a voice to those who wouldn't normally have one. I like Terry Richardson's work. Am I surprised to hear these stories? No. Had I considered an exploitative aspect to his photographs previously? Surprisingly, no. I figured all his models were over 18 and they were choosing to do what they were choosing to do. Should I have thought more carefully about the situation before declaring my undying love for him? Absolutely. But do I think the bad press will negatively impact on his career as one of the world's top fashion photographers? Perhaps, but not as much as many would like.

The problem is, people like his work.

#1161 Topshop is coming to New Zealand!

Topshop Spring 2010 - Photo: Fashion Gone Rogue

The commenters had it right - Topshop is coming to New Zealand and will officially open its doors inside The Department Store this April. Following the example of concept stores Opening Ceremony in New York and Incu in Sydney, The Department Store will host Topshop's first ever New Zealand retail space in the former Michael Lett Gallery spot alongside Stephen Marr (upstairs on the third floor). A selection of Topshop's brands, including Topshop mainline, Unique and Kate Moss for Topshop will be stocked.

#1160 A quick note on commenting

I started this website a little over two years ago with one purpose - to be a positive voice in what I saw as being a sea of negativity on the internet. Time went by, and things changed. I wanted to break stories, to critique shows, collections, labels and events, and to speak honestly about the things I saw around me. To speak honestly, but never to be unconstructively negative or begrudging or unnecessarily nasty. As the website has grown, the comments section has been something that I've enjoyed the most. I love the conversation. I love how I can write something and anybody can give their opinion. They can agree, disagree or critique. But recently it seems like anytime I write about something or someone, the majority of the comments are unconstructively negative or begrudging or unnecessarily nasty.

#1159 Aimee McFarlane leaves Lonely Hearts, heads to Huffer

One half of the original Lonely Hearts founding duo, Aimee McFarlane, has left the company to take up the head womenswear designer role at Huffer. According to McFarlane, "In any relationship there are always highs and lows, but I still think Lonely Hearts is great. When it's time to move on, it's time to move on." She'll begin her role at Huffer designing the winter 2011 womenswear collection that will show at New Zealand Fashion Week in September.

#1158 Federation to stock 38 new stores worldwide, plus collab with Devon Aoki and Marvin Jarrett

Hilary Duff in Federation on the cover of NYLON's January 2010 issue

North Shore based skate/streetwear label Federation is currently experiencing gargantuan growth, having just picked up 38 new accounts across Asia, Europe and the Middle East. How? Directors Nick and Jenny Clegg took the collection up to Berlin's Bread and Butter tradeshow in January and signed them up on the spot. They'll now be stocking far flung locations like Italy, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Czech Republic, Lebanon and Japan. According to a press release, they're also currently in talks with Paris boutique department store Colette.

Sounds amazing, but it's not all quite as simple as that.

#1157 A story told with pictures - Zoolander

Mugatu: Hold still. Very still. I'm working right now. This...

#1156 NZ Fashion Festival - not a bad way to spend $45

Derya Parlak working it in Juliette Hogan at the New Zealand Fashion Festival

New Zealand Fashion Week's sister event - the consumer-targeted New Zealand Fashion Festival - took place for the first time on Tuesday this week. A press release was sent out about six hours prior to the show to say that tickets had sold out online, and that the inner city venue would be packed out with 1200 guests. I'm not sure how many eventually showed up, but the place was pretty damn full. And not just with paying customers. Among the crowd was a smattering of fashion media and celebrities, including New Zealand's current number one album holder, Hollie Smith.

#1155 New Servilles campaign - a who's who of NZ's modelling stars

Photo: Tony Drayton

New Zealand doesn't have supermodels. Not yet anyway. But we do have several boys and girls who work pretty consistently well overseas, like Zippora Seven, Georgia Fowler, Nicole Clulee and Jasper Seven. Good for the models, but bad for the New Zealand clients, because it's a rare day when they're all in town at the same time. But Servilles got lucky, nabbing all of the above plus Jasper Seven's girlfriend, Dempsey Stewart (an Australian) for their Winter 2010 hair campaign It's Hip To Be Square. With the geek-chic theme and spectacles, you'd be forgiven for thinking it was an eyewear campaign, but presumably relaxed, care-free, tousled hair is the look du jour for Servilles. Regardless, it's not a bad looking commercial campaign - I can definitely imagine it on billboards around town, we'll wait to see where it goes.

Shoot credits below.

#1154 Crane Brothers reveals dramatic expansion plans

Photo: Karen Inderbitzen Waller

Last night at the Crane Brothers High Street store, Murray Crane launched Black Sheep, his first ever ready to wear collection, and revealed the company's future growth plans in a letter personally addressed to each guest. It included a quick note about the new print campaign and a commitment to "develop new channels and opportunities to promote the brand" (translation: advertise in several titles); formally introduced Glenn Yungnickel as Assistant Designer and Robert Niwa as Creative Director; and spoke of an intake of staff - five across the company this year alone, with two extra interns coming from AUT's design school programme - the two interns they took last year have become full time Crane workers.

#1153 The definition of frustration

The following is not a joke. It is an actual email conversation between a friend and his client that occurred yesterday afternoon.

My friend: Image attached as per your specifications. Thanks.

Client: Can the image be bigger please? Thanks.

#1152 Remix gets a makeover

New Zealand's magazine market is well and truly over saturated. I once heard a statistic that we have more magazines per capita than any other country in the world. When it comes to fashion, that statistic must be about a billion times more extreme. I've just counted 10 full-sized fashion magazines in New Zealand off the top of my head, and I'm sure there are more. 10 fashion magazines in a country of four million people whose biggest interest is rugby. It doesn't quite compute. Needless to say, it's a crazy competitive market fighting for those advertising dollars - you've gotta stay ahead of the pack. So kudos to Remix for taking it upon themselves to rev up the look and feel of the magazine, starting with a brand new masthead, page size and design which will be released in a new issue on the 25th of March.

#1151 Classic American menswear

Steve McQueen - Photos: GQ

GQ has just posted an homage to the 50 most stylish leading men of the past 50 years. If a stylish Englishman is made in the fussy details, his American counterpart is made in the lack thereof. The nonchalance, the classic pieces, the relaxed look. Take Steve McQueen, for instance, above. White tee shirt, cream pants. It's not about the amount of shirt cuff showing, or the perfect dimple in a tie, it's about looking incredible in the simplest outfit you can imagine. Likewise with Paul Newman below, in a v-neck sweater, rolled up cords and sneakers, Jean-Michel Basquiat in a cropped duffel coat and baggy pants or my all time favourite shot of JFK standing on his yacht in a crewneck sweater and beige pants (those last two were taken from a different GQ best dressed list). I'm feeling like it's time to move on from skinny pants and done-up top buttons and into this kind of stuff - though it might take me a while to transition. And, like I always say, if you're looking for the perfect go-to outfit, nothing beats a white tee shirt and blue jeans. It's the American way.

#1150 Karl Lagerfeld's not going anywhere

Once again, the rumours surrounding Karl Lagerfeld's impending departure from the house of Chanel were incorrect. Chanel sent out the following statement this morning: "Please note that Karl Lagerfeld is the Creative Designer of CHANEL and has a long-term contract with the company. Replacing him is not an issue." So to answer all my own questions, I guess Alber Elbaz will be staying where he is, as will Lucas Ossendrijver at Lanvin menswear. Baptiste Giabiconi has nothing to worry about, Karl Lagerfeld will keep on doin' what he's keepin' on doin' and hopefully - hopefully - Hedi Slimane will show up somewhere. Until then, this storm in a teacup started by Jak and Jil's Tommy Ton can be solved by watching style.com's recent Paris videos, according to Tommy Ton. I just did, and didn't notice anything at all. Anybody else??

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#1149 The Department Store is the best in the world - so says Monocle

With Karen Walker outside The Department Store

The Department Store is awesome. I've been saying so since it first opened. In fact, my exact words were:

"What better way to while away an afternoon than a trip to The Department Store. Clothing - check. Knick knacks, furniture, books, art - check. Did I mention the salon? The real peppermint tea? The particularly attractive staff? I'm already petitioning for a second, south o' the bridge location."

Well now I can say I told you so, and boo the haters who commented that it wouldn't work, that it would fail, that it was a dumb idea... Because Monocle Magazine, the global arbiters of cool when it comes to luxury, travel and shopping, have come out and called it the number one new store in the world, praising its 'vernacular’ of celebrating local talent. And those guys know what they're talking about. They devote their entire lives to roaming the globe seeking out the best of everything. And they're bloody good at what they do - people who know say they're people who know.

#1148 Alber Elbaz rumoured to be replacing Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel

Photo: Grazia

There's nothing I like better than a good scoop, and this one looks like it's going to be the biggest fashion scoop in absolutely ages. Rumours are currently circulating that Alber Elbaz will leave Lanvin to replace Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel. Where did they originate? On Twitter, but not in so many words. On March the 9th, a cryptic Tweet was sent out by Jak and Jil's Tommy Ton, saying, "I received some news tonight that is going to SHAKE the fashion world in the next two days. CRAZY!!!!" That was six days ago, but so far, no earth-shaking news has been revealed.

#1147 Corduroy suits are my new obsession

Wes Anderson... a vision in tan corduroy

It's been a while since I had a proper obsession. Last year I had the maroon suit and the uniform dressing. Those were true obsessions. Wake up, thinking about maroon suits and uniform dressing. Go to sleep, thinking about maroon suits and uniform dresssing. Talk to my Mum on the phone... about maroon suits and uniform dressing. This year though, while I've gotten quite into those blazers that button all the way up and everything forest green, nothing's come along and slapped me in the face, knocked me off my feet and taken control of my mind. Until now. It's official. Corduroy suits are my new obsession.

#1146 A story told with pictures - An Education

David: Hello.

#1145 Fashion pronunciation for dummies

Image: James K Lowe

I watched the first episode of America's Next Top Model Cycle 14 yesterday. This girl Angelea who'd previously been kicked out from another series was given the opportunity to compete again. She was ghetto fabulous. When asked what had changed since the judges had last seen her, she said, "I bin doin' mah homewuuurk, I bin lookin' at dem campayyyyyyns, I see Gucci, I see Prada, I see Givenchy..." Her pronunciation of the first two companies was spot on. Givenchy, however, was pronounced exactly as it's spelt - Giv-en-chee. Tyra immediately gave her a lesson in correct fashion pronunciation. It reminded me of the above picture, posted by James K Lowe last week. If only Angelea had been given the opportunity to see it, she might have saved herself from potential embarrassment on the world stage. I don't know about anybody else, but I still find it difficult to say 'AIR-mehz' and 'Eddy Slim-MAHN'. Force of habit I guess.

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#1144 Zandra Rhodes - copied by Dior, but not closely enough to sue

Zandra Rhodes presented a lecture and slide show on her life's work at Otago Museum this morning. The room was packed with a mixture of students and septuagenarians, and had to be cordoned off to avoid fire risk. She's one popular lady. I arrived late and was forced to stand at the back of the room next to a crying baby and a young girl who kept rustling through a bag of potato chips. The first thing that caught my eye was a black and white double page spread of a young girl modelling a printed Zandra Rhodes sari. "If any of you have seen that American movie about the September Vogue, you might recognise the model; it's a young Grace Coddington," said Rhodes, drawing a loud cheer from the audience.

#1143 Olivier Zahm on mixing sex with parties, creating a character, not selling out and the benefits of wearing a uniform

Olivier Zahm front row at Hugo Boss

I am obssessed with style.com's The Future of Fashion series. Obsessed. It's easily the best fashion reading available online right now. So far Dirk Standen has talked with Robert Duffy, Cathy Horyn and Hedi Slimane, and yesterday he took on Olivier Zahm. In the interview, Zahm discusses everything from Purple Diary's blend of private life - sex and love, and public life - fashion shows and parties; to wearing a uniform, creating a character and his decision to not have advertising on the blog.

#1142 The definition of darkness

Photo: style.com

The definition of darkness: flying halfway around the world to walk exclusively in a show for 1500 euros (a paltry sum), only to be cancelled 24 hours before it starts. That's what happened to five girls booked for the Givenchy show in Paris last week. According to one booker, "We had one girl who flew to Paris all the way from Argentina. It was too late for them to get new gigs, and they had to pay for their own hotels. I've never seen something so unprofessional and arrogant." Like I said, the definition of darkness.

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#1141 Diary of a fashion judge

9:25am Arrive at the venue 25 minutes late with Sunday's Katie Newton and Stefano Sopelza, an Irish fatboy (his words). Zandra Rhodes and Andrew Logan sit in the foyer surrounded by Dunedin models. She wears flaming pink hair, gold rimmed, jewelled spectacles, a ruffled fox fur cape and one of her signature printed dresses. He wears a Turkish hat, multicoloured Adidas tracksuit top, orange corduroy trousers and red and yellow plaited hemp sneakers. Together, they look like a couple of 80s club kids who never left the party.

#1140 Meet Zandra Rhodes - pretty in pink and patterns

Sitting on a panel watching student after student after student lecture you on the intricacies of their collections for eight hours is enough to drive you mad. But I had Zandra Rhodes sitting next to me, and she's pretty much the most awesome lady ever. When I found myself losing my mind, I'd just sit there and watch her go. There's nothing like the sight of a 69 year old lady with shocking pink hair to keep you motivated.

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#1139 The first ever Crane Brothers campaign

Photo: Karen Inderbitzen Waller

Here it is, Crane Brother's first ever campaign for their first ever collection Black Sheep. Beautiful in its simplicity, I love the open space on the left hand side of the frame, the blocking and the shades of grey. The models are brothers Nat and Hal Cheshire, the former an up and coming architect at Cheshire Architects, the latter a tattoo artist, model and black sheep. The campaign image bears a similarity to the Prada campaign shot by Hedi Slimane which featured the Simonon brothers (and sons of Paul Simonon of The Clash), but without the heavy photoshopping and retouching.

#1138 How not to wear Lanvin

After yesterday's post extolling the virtues of the traditionally dressed men on the red carpet (Ryan Seacrest, Colin Firth and Tom Ford), I can't help myself but say something about Robert Downey Junior in Lanvin. I hate to hate, but seriously. Come on. I don't understand how two of my favourite things - Lanvin and Robert Downey Junior - could get it so wrong. Fashion is fashion and acting is acting and never the twain shall meet?

#1137 On the road again, and a quick note on fasting

Photo: GQ

This is me today, but without the expensive luggage, perfect hair or chiselled jawline. My destination is also presumably less grandiose, though you never can tell. I'm winging my way down to Dunedin to judge the iD emerging designer awards with Zandra Rhodes - yes, the Zandra Rhodes. What fun! We'll be joined by Sunday's Fashion Editor Katie Newton, and the crazy Italian/Irish Stefano Sopelza. My flight leaves in two hours and I'm yet to pack a bag, so I must run, but you'll hear from me again once I arrive down south.

#1136 Stella and Ella at Issey Miyake

Photos: Steve Wood

New Zealand girls Stella Maxwell and Ella Drake both walked in the Issey Miyake F/W 2010 show four days ago. It's been a bit of an uneventful season for the Kiwi girls (besides Ella Drake's Gucci exclusive), with Stella skipping most of the shows due to a flu, no sign of Georgia Fowler and no major conversion (so far at least) by Ella Drake on her Gucci exclusive. It ain't over till it's over, but from where I'm sitting I'd be surprised to see anything big happen at this late stage in the game.

Ella Drake below.

#1135 The Oscars fashion - in conclusion

Photo: Huffington Post

Six hours since I sat down to watch my first ever full-length Oscars ceremony, I've come to a few conclusions regarding the spectacle of excess that was. We saw somewhere in the realm of a hundred incredible gowns, but what kept popping into my mind was the mind-boggling irrelevance of it all.

#1134 Oscars red carpet live blog LIVE NOW

Hello best good friends, today I'm going to ask you to join me on the New Zealand Herald website to read, participate, comment, debate and mud-sling the Oscars red carpet. I'll be joined in the frivolity by Noelle McCarthy, Myrddin Gwynedd and Russell Baillie. Fun and hilarity is guaranteed.

CLICK HERE!

#1133 Behind the scenes at the Crane Brothers campaign

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#1132 A story told with pictures - Lost in Translation

My Dad (who has written three feature films) always tells me, "A film is a story told with pictures." I love that line. To illustrate his point, check out the following story told with pictures from my favourite movie Lost in Translation. There are only two short lines of dialogue spoken in the whole minute long scene.

#1131 Coveting Zambesi

Buffalo jacket

Hold the fricken gates. I am officially obsessed. Zambesi's new winter collection is like the Jezebel of clothing - luring me over to the dark side of poverty and promiscuous behaviour. Maybe not the promiscuous behaviour so much, but poverty for damn sure. And it's funny, because Zambesi is one of those labels that I've always appreciated from afar, but never actually bought. Up until three weeks ago, I had never owned a single piece of Zambesi. This is of course due largely to its inaccessibility to my wallet, but I've always felt that the dark, moody nature of the label didn't really fit in with my wardrobe aesthetic. Everything's changed. Let me break it down. First of all, the baseball jacket (above). Encyclopedia Brown-chic.

Then...

#1130 Live blogging the Oscars

Photo: Out

I am privileged to have been asked to live blog the Oscars red carpet build up for the New Zealand Herald website with Noelle McCarthy on Monday. One of the things that I've been briefed to talk about is recent trends in red carpet attire. I joked with a friend this morning that, being more a menswear specialist, those trends would sound a little like this: "Expect to see plenty of tuxes, lots of black, some satin lapels, a few white shirts, maybe some pleats or bibs, a bow tie here and there, a few regular ties, and, if we're really lucky, some midnight blue." Out had the same idea, but decided to spice it up a bit, by transposing the nominated actors' heads onto their favourite runway looks. Case in point - George Clooney above, in Comme Des Garcons. If only. See the rest here. And don't forget to tune into the Herald website on Monday!

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#1129 Marc Jacobs eat your heart out

Photos: Katherine is Awesome

My best good friend Katherine bought this tweed dress from Juliette Hogan yesterday. She came round to my house after work to show it off and I got all jealous because I don't own any tweed. So I decided to try it on. I was all dressed up for the Skycity Diamond Ball anyway, and I figured it'd fit perfectly under the suit jacket. It did. The best bit (as you'll see in the photo below), is that you can unbutton the top button and fold back the placket to make it look like a lapel. So basically it's just like a really long waistcoat with a pleated skirt at the bottom. Sadly she didn't let me wear it to the ball.

More photos below.

#1128 The perils of being a male model part two: Return of the creep

Remember my mate John Smith (not his real name) and the creepy middle-aged Western European man who was shopping nudie pictures of him on the web? After I wrote that blog a few weeks ago, John Smith emailed me and said that if Creepy-Middle-Aged-Western-European-Man tried to contact me again, I should ask him to send me the photographs. I figured he wouldn't talk to me again because my reaction was so strong last time, but I agreed that I'd try if he did. One week passed, then two, then on the eve of the third, the Creeper returned.

The conversation started innocently enough.

#1127 Curl Girl

Photo: Sonny Vandevelde

Ella Drake backstage at her Gucci exclusive at Milan Fashion Week.

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#1126 Lonely Lingerie Collection Two

Photos: Karen Inderbitzen Waller

I'm probably not the most qualified person in the world to discuss lingerie, seeing as I don't wear it and all, but Lonely Lingerie by Lonely Hearts sure looks pretty good to me. Which brings me to a question that I've been pondering since I started looking at these photos - is lingerie marketing targeted at men or women? Is it supposed to arouse or entice? Or both? Anyway, the Lonely Hearts guys went back to the studio with Karen Inderbitzen Waller last November to shoot their second set of lookbook/campaign imagery (this was their first), and they used my former best good friend and housemate Corinna. The collection features lots of sheer silk mesh, chiffon and lace sourced in France, and as far as I'm concerned, looks like the kind of stuff you want to wear when you're planning to have the naughties. It's going to be available at all the usual places, plus Black Box from this weekend. Ladies, do your worst.

More photos below.

#1125 1am's new-look book a success (minus the barely legal teens)

All photos: 1am

Growing up in the cultural wasteland that was Christchurch-in-the-90s, the only thing that kept me connected with what was actually going on in the world was Pavement Magazine. I used to buy each issue, go straight to the fashion editorial pages and scrutinise every outfit, model and photograph in minute detail. (Then I'd read the articles.) Names like Karen Inderbitzen Waller, Robert Niwa, Penny Pickard, Derek Henderson, Barney McDonald and Glenn Hunt were exotic arbiters of cool and everything I wanted to be part of. Fast forward about 10 years. Pavement was gone, and 1am had arrived.

#1124 The Moscot Originals have landed

Photos: Polkadot

Glasses are the hardest item of clothing to buy. Hands down. Jeans come close, (bras maybe for girls?), but glasses are damn near impossible. I don't care who you are. They're always too small or too big or too crooked on your wonky face. And it's never the glasses' fault - it's that your eyes are too close together or your nose is too broad or one of your ears is higher than the other one. Trying to buy glasses is like looking in a mirror and coming to terms with what's wrong with your face. I could never deal with the pressure, so I've just never really done it. I am a prime example of bad glasses buying. For the past four years, I've owned one pair, just one, bought on the street in Toronto for five dollars from a shady stall holder. For all I know, they might not even have UV protecting qualities. They might have been doing more damage than good to my eyes all these years!? But that all stops today. Because today, I bought my first pair of Moscot Originals.

#1123 Is Terry Richardson the subject of a new reality TV show?

Photo: Terry Richardson's Diary

Just last week, everybody's favourite bad boy photographer, Terry Richardson, posted photographs of himself with the male members of everybody's favourite reality TV show, Jersey Shore. But now I'm wondering if Terry Richardson is the subject of a new reality TV show himself - Terry's World anybody? Last night, Terry Richardson posted the above photograph of himself on his Tumblr account, filming inside his therapist's office, accompanied by a woman and a man (production staff?). In my experience as a TV watcher, the only types of TV shows that are shot at somebody's therapist appointments are reality TV shows. Hard evidence, I know. Only one thing is certain. If this reality TV show does exist, I'll be watching every episode. Will you?

UPDATE: This has nothing to do with the actual post, but Terry Richardson has just posted a shot of himself with fallen New York Governor Eliot Spitzer.

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#1122 Why I like Yuri Pleskun

Yuri Pleskun backstage at Paul Smith - Photo: Steve Wood

First up, because he says things like this: "It was... an honor to work with Juergen Teller, especially because he chose to shoot in my apartment. And, no [Marc Jacobs wasn't there], I believe Marc Jacobs had more important things to do than getting robbed in the Bronx."

#1121 Don't fly Jetstar

Before I get started on this rant, and yes, it is going to be a rant, let me first point out that I was in the wrong. I take full responsibility for my actions. I arrived at the Jetstar counter two minutes after the check in for my flight had closed.

#1120 The hotness

Photo: Sonny Vandevelde

If I was a girl, this is what I'd be wearing right now. Knit dress, turtleneck, long socks (preferably beige though), a la Blugirl A/W 2010/2011.

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