Pretty by Elizabeth Arden Commercial starring Shannan Click

Shannan Click's Pretty Elizabeth Arden TV Commercial and Behind the Scenes Video can now be seen at style.com.

Pretty is a spirited floral fragrance of exceptional charm. The floral heart is surrounded by a mélange of fruits, wrapped in a well-rounded background of serene woods. At its core is a premiere ingredient, Petalia.

Top Notes – Italian Mandarin Orpur, Orange Blossom, Peach Nectar

Middle Notes – Star Jasmine, Petalia, Pink Iris, White Peony

Dry Down – Fluffy Musk, Jacaranda Wood, Creamy Amber

The Pretty Elizabeth Arden commercial shoot was produced by husband and wife team, Tom Dey and Coliena Rentmeester.

Tom Dey, born in New England, graduated from Brown University in 1987, and then went to study film in Paris at the Centre des Etudes Critiques. In 1990 he moved to Los Angeles and began attending the American Film Institute (AFI). He became a writer for American Cinematographer magazine. He graduated from AFI in 1993, and made commercials for Ridley Scott Associates. He made his feature film directing debut on Touchstone Pictures' Shanghai Noon (2000). He has also directed Failure to Launch (2006) & Showtime (2002).



The Elizabeth Arden Pretty print & television campaign was shot July 28 & 29, 2008 at Hudson Studios in NYC.

Pretty Elizabeth Arden Campaign
Model: Shannan Click
Photo: Coliena Rentmeester.
Stylist: April Hughes
Hair: David Cruz
Producer: Bobby Kopp
Location: Hudson Studios, 601 West 26th Street, 13th Floor, Studio #1 & 2.

W Magazine March 2009 - Daisy Lowe, Ph: Steven Meisel, Stylist: Alex White

W Magazine March 2009
Model: Daisy Lowe
Photographer: Steven Meisel
Stylist: Alex White
Makeup: Pat McGrath
Hair: Guido Palau
Production: Prod N

Steven Klein Selected Works

Steven Klein: Selected Works

Wayne Sterling interviewed Steven Klein exclusively for The Imagist:

Wayne Sterling: How common is it for mainstream magazines to find the images in an editorial too strong?

Steven Klein: 'I FIND MOST MAGAZINE EDITORIALS WEAK IN COMPARISON TO THE VISUAL FIELD OF CINEMA AND ART.'

WS: Do you think today's audience wants pushed images or do they want to sit in a comfort zone given the recession fears of today?

SK:'PEOPLE CRAVE TO SEE IMAGES THAT WILL COMPEL THEM OUT OF THEIR BOREDOM.'

WS: Do you think your images lose something when they're seen on the Internet as opposed to print?

SK: 'I AM FINDING MANY IMAGES TO BE STRONGER ON THE INTERNET. IN FACT WHEN THE NY POST PUBLISHES AN IMAGE FROM MY SHOOT OR I SEE MY EDITORIAL FEATURED ON A BLOG AND MIXED IN WITH ITS GRAPHICS AND TEXT, THE IMAGES TAKE ON A NEW LIFE, NOT SO PRECIOUS BUT VITAL.'

WS: What do you see as the future of print magazines and lavish fashion editorials?

SK: 'THEY NEED TO CATCH UP TO THE MODERN LOOK OF MANY OF THE BLOGS I SEE.'

WS: Your images are certainly cinematic. Do you think we'll be watching fashion ads+ editorials that are mini- videos or mini-films in the near future?

SK: 'I AM ALREADY CREATING MINI FILMS ON MY WEBSITE THAT ARE DERIVED FROM MY SHOOTS,'

TO SEE THE MOVIES ON THE STEVEN KLEIN SITE :
stevenkleinstudio.com
enter site
go to: Moving Image
proceed to Film Projects

One of Steven Klein's fans, Robster16, edited a tribute video to Steven Klein:

Ralph Lauren Fall 2009 Show

Ralph Lauren Fall 2009 Show
Time: February 20, at 9:00 am, 10:00 am & 11:00 am
Location: Skylight Studios, 275 Hudson Street, Ground Floor
Stylist: Michel Botbol
Casting Director: Jennifer Starr
Makeup: Tom Pecheux
Hair: Guido Palau

Valentina Zelyaeva



Natasha Poly


Bruna Tenorio


Toni Garrn


Natasha Poly

Bruna Tenorio

Toni Garrn

Bruna Tenorio

Valentina Zelyaeva

Jourdan Dunn

Natasha Poly

Toni Garrn

March 2009 US Vogue - Isabeli Fontana & Natasha Poly, Ph: David Sims, Stylist: Grace Coddington

David Sims photographed Natasha Poly & Isabeli Fontana for American Vogue on November 23 & 24 at Pier 59 Studios, Studio #4, with stylist Grace Coddington.

American Vogue March 2009
Models: Isabeli Fontana & Natasha Poly
Photographer: David Sims
Stylist: Grace Coddington
Makeup: Diane Kendal
Hair: Guido Palau

Isabeli Fontana

Natasha Poly

Tommy Hilfiger Fall 2009 Show

Tommy Hilfiger Fall 2009 Show
Time: February 19, at 10:00 am
Location: Bryant Park, The Tent, West 40th Street
Stylist: George Cortina
Casting Director: Jessica Weinstein
Makeup: Lisa Butler
Hair: Luigi Murenu

Toni Garrn (opened)


Kasia Struss


Snejana Onopka


Natasha Poly


Vlada Roslyakova


Shannan Click


Jourdan Dunn

Alexander Wang: American Designer

The complete Alexander Wang Fall 2009 show video can be seen here, on Swarovski's web site.

The New York Times had a conversation with fashion designer, Alexander Wang, about how fashion is changing and the pressures now facing his industry:

Frank Tell Fall 2009 Show

Frank Tell Fall 2009 Show
Time: February 14, at 6:00pm
Location: The Tribeca Grand Hotel, 2 6th Avenue
Stylist: Tom Van Dorpe
Casting Director: Tom Van Dorpe

Valeria Sokolova:

Karen Walker Fall 2009 Show

Karen Walker Fall 2009 Show
Time: February 14, at 12:00pm
Location: The Altman Building, 135 West 18th Street
Stylist: Heathermary Jackson
Casting Director: Barbara Pfister

Anna Kuchkina


Anna Kuchkina

Christian Lacroix Absynthe perfume - Vlada

Solve Sundsbo photographed Vlada for the Christian Lacroix Absynthe perfume campaign on May 21 & 22, 2008.

Christian Lacroix Absynthe perfume campaign
Model: Vlada Roslyakova
Photographer: Solve Sundsbo
Stylist: Melissa Klitzke
Makeup: Diane Kendal
Hair: Jimmy Paul
Location: Milk Studios, 450 West 15th Street, Studio #3

BCBG Fall 2009 Show

BCBG Fall 2009 Show
Time: 3pm
Location: Bryant Park, The Tent
Casting Director: Russell Marsh
Stylist: Camilla Nickerson

Louise Pedersen - DKNY Be Delicious Fresh Blossom fragrance

DKNY Be Delicious Fresh Blossom fragrance
Model: Louise Pedersen

Anna Sui Fall 2009 preview

Vika Kuropyatnikova/Supreme wearing Anna Sui Fall 2009:

Photo: Paul Park
Testing Her Strong Suit

By GUY TREBAY
Published: February 11, 2009

“IT’S survival of the fittest at this point,” the designer Anna Sui said cheerily last week, as she glided around her Garment Center workroom, a space crammed with vintage mannequin heads, clothes racks, books and trimmings. She was referring, of course, to the nine days of fall collections that begin on Friday in lofts around the city and at the Bryant Park tents.

It has been many seasons since Ms. Sui first showed clothes on a runway, starting in 1991 when she unveiled a feminine style that evokes an addled ingénue unafraid of a drink or of letting her knickers show: Lily Allen almost before the British singer and It Girl was born.

The clothes in Ms. Sui’s first show were modeled by pals, among them Linda Evangelista and Naomi Campbell. That those professional beauties were then at the height of their fame helped stoke the reception the designer got from buyers and the news media, and it also insured industry embrace of a talented designer who had, until then, been working quietly and anonymously on other people’s lines.

Encouraged by other friends who included the makeup artist Pat McGrath and the photographer Steven Meisel, Ms. Sui hacked out a niche, to which two decades later, she is holding tight.

Unlike Marc Jacobs, Ms. Sui is not the designer the press looks to for cues to the immediate future of style. Compared to the $13 billion juggernaut Ralph Lauren forged, her business is relatively mom-and-pop. Critics have carped about the sameness of Ms. Sui’s designs, calling them overly thematic, too whimsical and — design death — cute. Yet her fan base remains loyal, and that is partly why Sui’s career seems to represent the kind ardently sought by design school students and “Project Runway” aspirants.

It is a career that, it almost goes without saying, is now buffeted by the deepest consumer retrenchment in a generation, the kind of economic wind shear that has already driven some designers into involuntary retirement and caused others to abandon the idea of earning any profits at all this year. Ms. Sui — neither household name nor dewy upstart — is part of the broad middle of the 200-designer Fashion Week spectrum, an emblem of the many creative talents facing a new runway season with a mixture of cautious optimism and outright dread.

Born in Detroit and educated at Parsons School of Design, Ms. Sui made all the journeyman stations of the cross before achieving overnight success when she was close to 40. Her company is privately held and remains profitable, she says. (Dun & Bradstreet estimates annual sales of $20 million.) Her clothing label is substantially underwritten by earnings from the 14 global fragrance and cosmetics licenses she operates in partnership with Procter & Gamble and her 42 store franchises in China, Japan, Taiwan and Kuwait.

Unlike many designers faced with imminent catastrophe, Ms. Sui is able to ride out a bad season and perhaps a bad year. Yet, like everyone in the trade, she feels the Darwinian chill that recession has cast on businesses of all kinds. “It’s never a sure thing,” she said. “I have a big responsibility to my licenses. All my licenses draw from and take ideas from the runway.” Thus, a show that will spotlight cardigans and dresses will also provide the pattern for a handkerchief sold in Tokyo.

“It’s not just designers who are affected,” by the impact of the economy on fashion, she said. As a longtime advocate for preserving the Garment Center, Ms. Sui is attuned to the perils to the industry over all when any designer or collection fails. Long before the recession hit, high rents had driven businesses out of the area. Employment in the apparel trade has shrunk drastically from its 1950s peak of 250,000 jobs to fewer than 20,000 today.

Without a production core, it becomes increasingly difficult for young designers to set up shop in the city, Ms. Sui said. “When I was starting, there were wool mills in the U.S. that could make you anything,” Ms. Sui said. “The U.S. used to produce the most beautiful cotton denim in the world. Now all that is gone.”

A person walking down Seventh Avenue runs little risk anymore of being mowed down by a pushcart. Just a handful of workrooms remain that can whip up custom trimmings, and there are few skilled workers capable of operating the bulky machinery required to make gossamer fripperies like Schiffli lace. Come 2010, when the runway shows move from Bryant Park to Lincoln Center, the last symbolic link between Seventh Avenue and Fashion Week will also be lost.

Fashion was a radically different business when she was starting out in the 1980s, Ms. Sui said — less corporate, more subject to the whims and intuitions of gifted merchants and also influenced by the fact that department stores could still afford to showcase unknowns thanks to open-to-buy budgets.

“Every decision is harder for everyone to make now because things are so expensive,” Ms. Sui said, referring both to the steep cost of retail goods and the expenses designers incur to produce and mount collections two times a year.

“You have to ask yourself, ‘Is it worth the investment’ ” of paying $50,000 to rent space in the tents at Bryant Park, an additional $100,000 on production elements that include hair and makeup and dressers and sets and lighting and music, and even the food backstage.

A budget for models can run to hundreds of thousands of dollars per show, although it is an open secret in the business that there is no such thing as a fixed rate for a model’s services. These line items are all separate, of course, from the outlay required to create and produce the elements of a collection — the trims, shoes, boots, bags, accessories and hosiery.

“It’s all scary when all you hear is that nothing is selling,” Ms. Sui said. Yet, “no on has ever found a solution for not doing a fashion show,” she added.

And so late in 2008, she began building up mood boards, the inspiration flashcards created from tear sheets, postcards and scraps of cloth, and abstracting from a visit to the Fortuny Museum in Venice the germ of a collection based on beauties of the Belle Epoque.

She devised a striped floral jacquard print reminiscent of a Vuillard interior. She began conjuring “a Proustian feeling, although I knew nothing about Proust,” she said, by reading “Swann’s Way” and scouring Netflix for Max Ophüls films.

At the Linea Pelle leather fair in Bologna last October, Ms. Sui began making the first of countless small decisions that go into each designer collection, shoes always preceding clothes because they require a long lead time to produce.

“You have to try to predict where things might go,” Ms. Sui said. Because designers have to calculate for shifts of taste within a season, she has also staggered the colors of her new collection to jibe with a shipping cycle that alters every six weeks, the hues becoming brighter as winter turns into spring. “I don’t have the luxury of making clothes just to make an effect,” Ms. Sui said. “It can’t be something totally frivolous, because my distributors have to have a successful season, too.”

THE task facing Ms. Sui, and all designers, in the current climate is “how to shake it up and make it different” without going too far, she said. “More than ever, you’re mindful of things that didn’t work in the past. You’re mindful of fabrics costing $5 more a yard. Once you start putting in markups on things like that, it turns into two or three times that at retail. And you are not going to sell something that is out of a reachable range.”

It is safe to say that what captures the attention of the 1,200 or so people who will pack the space known as the Tent — one of two runway spaces under the big top in Bryant Park — for Ms. Sui’s show next Wednesday, will be the lace-trimmed frocks, the piled on leggings, the sexy girls loping down the runway to the quirky rock soundtrack that is a Sui signature.

Backstage, waiting to take her usual modest bow, the designer will be focused on the question of whether this show will find a sweet spot and if it can stimulate enough interest to generate the $6 million in wholesale orders called for in her business plan.

“All you can really do at this point,” she said, “is hope for a collection that will send you to the moon.”

Fall 2009 Shows

Show season has started.

The important lesson for the day is: We must all strive to come from a place of humility.

When angry, its better to stop, take a breath and think.

Always act like a professional, never react to others.

A wise person, who I respect immensely, taught me to stop, and put myself in someone else's place.

Looking at a situation though another persons perspective is sometimes the best education.

Women Fall 2009 Show Package on Models.Com

The Women Fall 2009 show package is online at Models.com. The package and cards were designed for the 2nd season in a row by Jason Duzansky.