Designers Love Little Kids

Above are some fashion ads (and one editorial) starring the Fanning sisters for Marc Jacobs and actor Hailee Steinfeld for Miu Miu.

Fashion designers act as though they choose very young teens for their ad campaigns because of each girl's innate style and unique, muse-like ability to inspire them- when, clearly, the real reason designers like children is because they represent a coltish, unsullied female ideal (of course, most women can tell you that, as a very young teen, they felt neither coltish nor unsullied.)

These young ladies fit right in with the current (current meaning several years, but it's not like fashion has come up with anything new lately) fashion model, who also has a distinctly un-womenly look, and is usually put out to pasture before her teens end. Perhaps we remember Gemma Ward, whose distinctly childlike look catapulted her to fame and then disappeared once she grew into a less childlike body?

Not that all this is new; we all know models are young and it's not like you can't find equally creepy photos of young Brooke Shields. But designers act as though the young girl's agency and not her childlike looks are the reason behind her newfound modeling career. If the deisgners were really into the fact that these young women are actors, maybe they would ask them to do something in these photos instead of look scared, big-eyed, and limp.

At least the first round of Marc Jacobs photos with Dakota Fanning emphasized the fact that she was a hammy little kid playing dress-up (speaking of which, god Marc Jacobs ads are fug with their deliberately "undone" look):

Whereas, for round two, she is just your run-of-the-mill Lolita type with a perfume bottle between her legs:

The fact that these girls are supposed to be talented actresses comes in second to their position as highly styled pubescent fashion plates. Ideally, we would find young women inspiring, but not because they look so baby prostitute-like when they peer out sexily and vacantly from behind a pricey purse, but because they have other, real talents to offer. Also, girls of this age are supposed to be wearing two different-colored Converse, which they Sharpied on themselves, not getting their hair and make-up prepped for six hours by some stylist.

Shameless Post About Models! Part Two

First of all, I think it's too bad that the best word ever- fierce- has been co-opted by Tyra Banks and Christian Siriano, former Project Runway winner and current Payless Shoe Capsule Collection designer. Well, mostly Christian Siriano. Tyra did bring an authentic version of the word to the public light.

Anyway, here is my continuation of model posts. This is hot bitch Kristen McMenamy , who had of an androgynous/Sandra Bernhard thing going on. I think there is some story about her where she busted into a room without her shirt and started screaming at someone famous. She fits in with the Gen X 90's post-Supermodel era, which rejected the drag-queen-esque, big haired supermodel for quirky andogyny and an overall more weirdo look. This is when CK One commercials were, like, so hip:

Kristen really is so fierce, and wears the clothes in a way that today's batch of bashful coltish teens certainly do not, kind of like a snotty 1950's style model but with a real face and personality. It always seems like bullshit to say one person is "good" at modeling and another isn't because it mostly seems like standing there, but with her, each photo is like a direct, confrontational challenge to the viewer. Also, she was styled in a way that highlighted her butch elegance, even though she was not a "lesbian model" like Jenny Shimuzu or even a lesbian in real life. She is one of the models I liked when reading Vogue as a kid, and often had a close cropped bowl cut dyed black accented with black lipstick.

Anyway, here she is on the runway lately and she looks awesome though she was forced to wear a humiliating 2010 outfit.

Edited to add more pics, including the Nijinksy and Leigh Bowery-esque one (way more Leigh Bowery than the much debated Lady Gaga, anyway!)

PS: Poor Naomi Campbell. Not really suited to the grunge photoshoot, was she? Speaking of which, I remember that photoshoot and cover and I thought it was so cool and totally inspirational.

Shameless Post About Models! Part One

First of all, poor Brittany Murphy! There was a time when I just resented the blondification of Hollywood starlets and Britney Spears and all that, but now I can't help but think how all these young women and more are just routinely victimized by the Hollywood system- especially those who were child stars who must feel that they have to adapt or die. Anyway, I always liked the first version of Brittany Murphy, and the whole thing makes me depressed, particularly when thought about on a large scope....

But anyway, here's part one of a post about models I'm too lazy to finish!

If you read my blog, you know that I don't really post photos of models or fashion editorials and the like, because I think we get enough of these images and they rarely inspire me/are ultimately meant to make you feel bad about yourself and distance you from the high falutin- world of fashion. However, I have been reading/looking at Vogue since I was in like fourth grade, and, as a result, I have always been pretty well-versed in the Vogue version of the high fashion world. And, over the years, I have come to appreciate certain models.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the kind of model I hate the most is the type who is just an inoffensively pretty, tall and skinny blonde, because models should at the least be an opportunity to celebrate unique, strange, and commanding beauty. Obviously fashion models conform to sexist standards set by the fashion industry, but sometimes they simultaneously do make you question what is "pretty." So obviously models are bad and are supposed to make you feel bad about yourself and blah blah, but it doesn't mean model trends and which model is a babe isn't worth examining, right?

When I was a fourth grader studying Vogue, the reign of the sort of curvaceous and stompy early 90's supermodel (Cindy, Naomi, Christy, blahblahblah) was giving way to women who were less typically pretty type.

As the photo below illustrates, late 80's/early 90's models were of the mega-babe variety, not as much the pubescent waif. Look at Cindy Crawford (second from right)! She wouldn't be able to model today for sure, but she was definitely a hottie. Same goes for Stephanie Seymour (far right) and the always outrageous Naomi Campbell, pictured further below. Also, check out the Clueless style outfits!



They all look like Gina Gershon in Showgirls! Such great bitchface!

These models are the kind that a drag queen might emulate, as opposed to the models of today, who are usually younger and look it.


Perhaps I rate whether a drag queen would like something a little too much, but come on! Look at Naomi Campbell here! These ladies were women, not girls.

Anyway, onto some more models... in another post because this one is already pretty long...

Louis Vuitton-Clad Baby Elephants & More!

Normally I try to avoid posting photos of models and fashion shoots, because they tend to be a dull and typical representation of what fashionable people should aspire to, and are invariably ruined by the knock-kneed, blank faced, clearly anorexic model, even if the concept is good. But, I loved this editorial starring Elyse Sewell, who you may know as the best (okay, aside from Jay and Austin, first season of Project Runway) reality show contestant from the first "cycle" of ANTM, as well as the proprieter of a very funny and great livejournal blog detailing the adventures of being a supermodel in Asia, with lots of food pictures because obviously food is the best part of travelling.

I love this shoot not only because of the way it's shot, but because it mocks an all-too-familiar editorial cliche: the model posing ridiculously in designer gowns among various "ethnic" people. Here's a slideshow from a Vogue shoot starring Keira Knightly, entitled "Colonialism! Fun for All!" in which, notably, they dressed a baby elephant in Louis Vuitton. There are far more examples of colonialist-themed editorials than that, but it's not as easy finding stuff on the internets as it should be in this day and age.

In these shoots, the people are always shorter than the models- mere colorful, exotic props to highlight the incredible, otherworldy chicness of the couture -clad mannequin. She may be standing in front of a mud hut or posing with a starving baby, but the message is always the same: look at this study in contrasts! They are so quaint, so simple and different from the world of glamorous fashion! But, they are fashionable, sort of, in their own, simple way! Not enough to be in their own photo or have their name in the magazine, but they make for a good background, like a pretty tree! It brings to mind those photos of tribesman people used to collect in Victorian times. (Sorry, I can't find a good photo of what I'm talking about here. anyone collect those? Alex?)

Of the shoot, Elyse said:

Furthermore, in Asia, the photographer usually shows the model a "reference" picture- something he's ripped out of Italian Vogue or the like- then asks her to copy the pose. This photographer's "reference" was a bunch of pics of evangelists and faith healers from the 1920s! There was no stultifying pose copying; he just said, "OK, we've dressed you up as a bizarre extraterrestrial evangelist...go!"

Here, all the everyday people are looking at her like she is crazy, highlighting the fact that she is the one acting and looking strangely in the environment. Her swooning poses and facial expressions are intentionally over-the-top, parodying the ridiculous hunch-backed, dramatic contortions so common in fashion editorials. Even though the shots are beautiful and the clothes are kind of amazing, we can appreciate them while acknowledging that they are somewhat ridiculous thmselves. Instead of using the "third world"-esque environment to elevate her, she is the one who comes across as truly exotic.

Okay, I can also appreciate this fashion shoot. I'm not made of stone!