Mario Testino

Christina Kruse for American Vogue - ph: Mario Testino


Christina Kruse for Allure, ph: Mario Testino


Today is Mario Testino's birthday! He was born in Lima, Peru.The eldest of seven children born to an Italian father and an Irish mother, Testino attended at the Universidad del Pacifico, the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru and the University of San Diego. In 1976, Testino moved permanently to London.

Mario Testino makes anyone he photographs look the best they ever will. That's part of his magic. The rest is in making the taking of the photo as much fun as possible.

Viktoriya Sasonkina - Spur December Cover

Toni Garrn - Chinese Vogue November 2008 - ph: Corinne Day

Nona Hendryx

Happy Birthday Nona Hendryx!


Nona Hendryx (born October 9, 1944 in Trenton, New Jersey) is an American vocalist, record producer, songwriter, musician, author, and actress. Hendryx is known for her work as a solo artist as well as for being one-third of the trio Labelle, who had a hit with "Lady Marmalade." Her music has ranged from soul, funk, dance, and rhythm and blues to hard rock, art rock, and World Music.

Nona & Labelle perform " Creole Lady Marmalade"


Nona Hendryx performs "Why Should I Cry"

Rouben Mamoulian

Today is film director Rouben Mamoulian's birthday. Rouben Mamoulian was the director of Queen Christina.

Queen Christina is a 1933 American pre-code historical drama. The film was written by Viertel LeVino and Margaret "Peg" LeVino, with dialogue by S. N. Behrman, based on a story by Salka Vierted and Margaret P. Levino. It stars Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Ian Keith and Lewis Stone.

The movie is very loosely based on the life of the 17th century Queen Christina of Sweden, who, in the film, falls in love during her reign but has to deal with the political realities of her society. It was billed as Greta Garbo's return to cinema after an eighteen-month hiatus.

In the film Garbo wears mens clothing and kisses another woman on the lips:

Mamoulian's directions to garbo make clear his perfect understanding of her mystique: "I want your face to be a blank sheet of paper. I want the writing to be done by every member of the audience. I'd like it if you could avoid blinking your eyes, so that you're nothing but a beautiful mask."

The symmetry of Garbo's face in incredible:

Jourdan Dunn on Kanye West Blog

Kanye West wrote a very thorough biographical timeline on Jourdan Dunn on his blog: Jourdan Dunn on Kanye West blog.

Sophia Kokosalaki spring 2009

Natasha Poly


Bruna Tenorio


Kasia Struss


Vlada Roslyakova

Heloise Guerin

Bruna Tenorio

Jourdan Dunn

Kasia Struss

Heloise Guerin

Vlada Roslyakova

Natasha Poly

Yohji Yamamoto spring 2009

Vlada Roslyakova


Heloise Guerin


Vlada Roslyakova


Heloise Guerin

Balenciaga Spring 2009

Paris: At Balenciaga, Light Play
By Cathy Horyn
A super-thoughtful and technically interesting Balenciaga show this morning from Nicolas Ghesquière: very light, luminous and leaning again toward the futuristic. He opened with beige-pink jersey stretched and gathered over a kind of heart-shaped form on the bodices of mini dresses, followed by a more complex use of second-skin tops and matching tights for under many of the looks. Slim pants and tunic tops — in pink shades of beige and light gray — had quilting, almost like a moto-cross detail but more polished and delicate like couture.
Metallic fabrics that looked like leather were in fact silk, and silver and gold finale dresses — some with fringe and the beige-pink leotard idea — were made of tiny pieces of ribbon. The tights pulled over the shoes, with apparently an opening for the sole. Very interesting effect: it blanked out the shoes, or the talk of shoes. Ghesquière said the show was about absorbing and reflecting light. It was certainly absorbing and, at the same time, difficult to describe. By the way, he had a passage of male models in the show, in stiff dark suits without lapels and flicker of gold at the nearly closed neckline.

BALENCIAGA SS 09: CONSISTENCY OF LINE WITH COMPLEXITY
Submitted by Wayne

A thousand opinions will bubble up around Balenciaga SS09. Whether you found it good or bad it retained all the codes that makes Ghesquiere's Balenciaga such a compelling proposal. At the precise time he could have chosen to feed the machine the familiar, Ghesquiere distorted the familiar into something uncomfortable. Which is great. The cake and the cake eaten too. The collection looked like a past Balenciaga collection thrown up against a fun house mirror, rippling and warping before your very eyes. The torqued fabric, an idea reflected in the extended gloves and the stockings over the shoes...a familiar styling trick yes, (see mid 90's Margiela) ...the shimmering palette the odd conjunction of textures...it was a intelligent way to mirror your expected themes.As for the menswear...I'd get into it, literally because it is so cult. "Not for everybody"...from a brand the scale of Balenciaga can seem like such an unfriendly position to take but you have to admire the honesty of that.

Natasha Poly



Shannan Click


Kasia Struss


Iselin Steiro


Laragh McCann

Isabel Marant Spring 2009

Natasha Poly


Isabeli Fontana


Shannan Click


Natasha Poly

Isabeli Fontana

Shannan Click

Natasha Poly

Isabeli Fontana

Natasha Poly

Rick Owens Spring 2009

Paris: Rock of Ages

By Cathy Horyn

Rick Owens was quite interesting: much more stripped down, nearly all in black and gray, with these flappy, floppy boots ....The key look was a kind of jumpsuit that suggested a tank dress with openings at the side and back. There were also black cotton jackets that were fitted and closed at the front with a knot of fabric.

Mariacarla Boscono


Kasia Struss


Kasia Struss


Mariacarla Boscono

Balmain Spring 2009

Paris: Rock of Ages

By Cathy Horyn

Balmain was this afternoon. Christophe Decarnin did Sgt. Pepper jackets with peaked shoulders (sort of like Margiela’s) with ripped, acid-washed jeans and sparkly high heels. Dresses made you think of early bondage Versace, mixed with a bit of Alaia. I liked the cut of the jackets — the way they fell at the front — and I suppose there is a certain similarity to McQueen, but Decarnin has a way of identifying all the most interesting bits in the fashion cosmos and putting them together at the right moment. A London retailer told me her store recently sold two of his party dresses, for about $14,000 each, online.

Natasha Poly


Mariacarla Boscono


Isabeli Fontana


Natasha Poly


Isabeli Fontana


Mariacarla Boscono


Natasha Poly