A beautiful Boy George inspired piece by Jean Paul Gaultier.
I’ve been obsessing over this video for the past couple weeks to the point that my eyes have officially announced their retirement!
Never the less, Jean Paul Gaultier’s take on fashion is refreshing to the mundane industry, and that’s the way his clothes have always been. I love this Celeb/Pop Star inspired collection, and I’m patiently waiting to see what he has in store for his new fall/winter collection.
Watch this great interview with fashion legend Carmen Dell’Orefice. This is a must see for all fashionistas.
Being the man who took the most cover photos for Vogue magazine, Erwin Blumenfeld has become a legend in fashion photography. Blumenfeld’s work ranges from collages mocking Adolf Hitler to Dadaism inspired fashion images.
Born in Berlin, Germany on January 26th, 1897, Blumenfeld’s love for photography would eventually lead to his professional career as a photographer in 1934.
By 1936, Blumenfeld moved to Paris, France and within a year his photos were being published in Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar. An accomplishment to say the least!
When Nazi’s began to occupy France during World War II, Blumenfeld was taken to a concentration camp. Luckily he escaped, taking him on a journey to New York in 1941. After gaining American citizenship, Blumenfeld continued his amazing and nostalgic work as a fashion visionary until his death in Rome on July 4th, 1969.
His legacy has been celebrated by his wife Lena Citroen, whom he married in 1921, and his three children: Henry, Lisette, and Yorick.
Here is a great source for some of his best photos: http://www.photographyoffice.com/2011/06/25-fashion-photographs-by-master-of-photography-erwin-blumenfeld/
Below is a video showing some of Blumenfeld’s Fashion Film Experiments:
Blumenfeld’s influence has a tremendous impact on modern day fashion photography and film. Check out this CHANEL tribute to Erwin Blumenfeld:
I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes from this brilliant photographer:
“Day and night I try, in my studio with its six two-thousand watt suns, balancing between the extremes of the impossible, to shake loose the real from the unreal, to give visions body, to penetrate into unknown transparencies.” -Erwin Blumenfeld
Lagerfeld is THE MAN!
I was watching a runway video on youtube and I came across this comment that was very honest:
“im a designer and a model coach – the secret behind all of this bullshit is:
CONFIDENCE!!
you have to bring from the inside before you can bring it from the outside.”
As I was reading this I was thinking about all the models that pay top-dollar and invest loads of time to learn how to walk for the runway, when really the secret to runway success is one’s own confidence. Such a simple answer that can be found within yourself, and no where else. It’s true a model may have to understand how to walk properly, but this still does not make up for any lack of confidence or uniqueness in one’s walk.
When you think about some of the best runway models from the 70’s and prior, many of them didn’t have models to look up to or didn’t bother taking modeling classes. In fact, some have said their classes were watching actresses in classic films and mimicking these actresses movements. Maybe that’s why those women had such a charismatic aura about themselves when they hit the catwalk, a charisma I feel has disappeared today. Why? This isn’t easy to answer, but it may be partly due to the systemization of the modeling industry. You take classes that you pay for, you think they will provide you with everything you need to know about modeling or runway, and when you finish you go on your merry way to get the best jobs in the industry. But of course this isn’t the case in the real world, not with any profession. This A-B-C way of thinking is very linear, and we forget about the space below and above the line. It is here in this space where you will find that extra something to not only make you a great model, but one of the best in the business. So don’t be afraid to step into that unknown space.
If you’re an aspiring model or model in the making I suggest that you take the time to work on improving any characteristics you feel are making you emotionally weak or unsure about yourself. Only when you have become comfortable with your body image and emotions can you be fully confident on the runway or in any modeling gig. Finally, and I am saying this with all seriousness, watch and study classic films. Take note of how the actors express themselves through exaggerated body language. On the one hand, exaggerated acting makes a film seem less realistic and almost corny, but it’s acting…it’s not meant to be realistic. Remember that any form of entertainment is escapism that helps people relax from the stress of the real world.
If you can incorporate this strong, expressive emotion in your body while walking, it almost takes your viewers to a whole new world where they imagine that they are “you” wearing that gorgeous piece of clothing. Confident, unique expression is what turns a Model into a “Best Super Model.”
-MANÉ
I was watching this video and thought “Wow!” Pat Cleveland was in my opinion the greatest runway model. Her presence was ferocious and she wasn’t afraid to express herself. She did everything out of the norm, and that was what made her so fantastic. I’d like to see more models do this today.
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