Yo Yo Johansson

I am the universal doppelganger; I've been told more times than I can count that I look like this person or that person. One of the most common celebrity comparisons I get is Scarlett Johansson, which is a real stretch, but a real compliment nonetheless. Especially flattering when you see editorials of her where she looks like this:

What a babe. If I suddenly decide to hack off a foot of hair, you can blame Arizona Muse and these Vogue China shots.

Images from Vogue China April 2011 via

Crystal Renn for J. Crew

Crystal Renn has been the subject of constant scrutiny throughout the past few years as she's risen to modeling stardom.  Her fluctuating weight and past eating disorder have been constantly discussed by the fashion media, but that kind of attention seems to be dying down as she continues to book work for major clients and esteemed magazines.  Though some may view Renn's latest job for J. Crew as a ploy for publicity by the brand, I actually think that she is a perfect fit for the preppy company.  Her all-American good looks and commercial appeal make her look right at home in the spring catalogue.

Food for Thought: The Rise of Andrej Pejic

In case you haven't heard, Andrej Pejic is a 19 year-old Serbian boy who is taking the women's modeling world by storm.  Yes, you read that right.  The women's modeling world.  His biggest coup has been closing the Jean Paul Gaultier spring 2011 couture collection in a show-stopping "wedding gown" (later worn by Rihanna to the Grammys).  He also walked this month in NYFW for Jen Kao, has been featured in Italian Vogue and French Vogue, and currently stars in the ad campaigns of Marc by Marc Jacobs and Jean Paul Gaultier.  Pejic isn't the first male to model women's high fashion, although he is the first to do so on such a broad level.  This summer Katie mentioned transgender model Lea T., whom has modeled for Givenchy, among other things.  I never really gave either model much thought.  The fashion industry is known for being edgy and making statements, or whatever, and these two models both just seemed pretty gimmicky to me.  But this morning I came across an article on the Daily Mail that really examined what they see as the issue at hand.  With designers, editors, and stylists clamoring to work with the thinnest of the thin girls, essentially pushing them to choose between starvation or early retirement, isn't it only a natural progression for them to start working with men instead?  If they want flat-chested, surfboard-skinny models (because this is supposedly "just what their clothing looks best on"), why even bother with women?  Why not just go straight to hiring pretty guys?  I had never really examined the issue, but Amanda Platell's piece certainly puts it in a thought-provoking light.  If you're interested, it's a worthwhile read, and will probably take up about three minutes of your time.  In case you missed the link above, you can read the article here.

Above: Pejic walking the runways for Kao and Gaultier

first image via models.com, others via style.com

Jeremy Scott Fall 2011 RTW

Jeremy Scott stuck with the general 90's trend for fall, but took it in a completely different direction from grunge: 90's pop culture. While I love, love, LOVE grunge, I missed being old enough to dress myself in plaids and safety pins by only a few years. I did not, however, miss the period of the Spice Girls, Tomagotchi, Zenon Girl of the 21st Century, Powerpuff Girls, etc.. The late 90's semi-Japanese inspired semi-out-of-control style of dress was much more a part of my life than grunge ever was until it's recent resurgence. Maybe that's why Scott's Fall collection struck such a cord with me. 90's references in fashion have gotten so serious and dark, that it feels refreshing to see a fun, kitsch, sarcastic take on the trend. As a college student, I can still afford to Manic Panic my pigtails and wear hot pink leather (or pleather) pleated skirts for another year or two without looked absolutely out of my mind, so you can bet yourself that I'll be delving into the fun 90's asap.

P.S.

If the clothes didn't do enough to convince me, this shot of Charlotte Free's hair and makeup definitely did:

(Images from style.com and The Cut)

Wixson

 I used to be kind of afraid of Lindsey Wixson. That's right, I felt fear for little 16-year old Lindsey from Wichita, Kansas. It's just not very often you come across such immaculately doll-like features on a real live person. And that mouth? Let's not get started on how astronomically out of this world it is (two intergalactic references in one sentence; look at me go). To this day I think that Ms. Wixson looks a little creepy in her fame-making Miu Miu ads, but as her career has grown, so has her versatility. Wixson shines in the more naturally themed editorials she's done and even more so on the runway. Jax has posted about her in the past, but somehow I haven't ever gotten around to it. So I figured I'd jump in now, while Wixson is still in the semi-early stages of her modeling career, and do a fist pump or two in support of her awesome work.

Get it, girl

The Return of Gemma Ward?

When I read on the Cut that Gemma Ward had shot an editorial for the first time in years after being rejected by the fashion industry for gaining weight, I was thrilled.  Ward has been a long time favorite model of both Katie's and mine, and we had kind of given up on her ever returning to her modeling career.  Especially now that she seems to have moved up in the world, what with a title role in the new Pirates movie and all.  And alas, we may be right.  Because this isn't editorial as I usually think of it, like high fashion editorials, it's just an editorial to go along with an interview with Australia's Sunday Telegraph Magazine.  So thanks for getting us all excited, Cut writers.  She still looks insanely gorgeous, though.

images Fashionista via the Cut

Head Case

We all know that Anna Dello Russo has a penchant for statement-making hats.  And so, it's come as no surprise that the infamous editor has styled Karmen Pedaru in a variety of bold head pieces along with some of springs hottest looks for Vogue Nippon's March 2011 issue.  It's hard to draw attention away from that butterfly McQueen dress, but if anyone can do it, it's ADR.

Into the Woods with Remy Ryan

She's got gorgeous hair and jealousy-inducing lipstick, but skip to the last image if you want to see why I really decided to post these shots by Lauren Withrow.  (Pictures via)

New York, New York

Exciting news from Les Deux: we're going to NYC during fashion week.

After receiving an email from Independent Fashion Bloggers about their NYFW Evolving Influence conference featuring Lazaro and Jack of Proenza Schouler (!), Jax and I decided that it was about time we got ourselves up to New York to at least see what fashion week is like in the city that never sleeps. While we won't necessarily be attending any shows, I can guarantee that we will do our best to sneak into them. Even taking away the possibility of conning our way into a show or two, both of us are thrilled by the prospect of seeing our most influential role models live, in person (think Freja Beha, Tavi, Crystal Renn, ADR, etc.). We officially bought plane and conference tickets yesterday, and I'm personally still giddy with excitement. You've still got about a week and a half before we're up in New York, but start getting excited for some fashion week coverage (hopefully with pictures).

Rag & Bone Spring 2011 Campaign

Rag & Bone's Marcus Wainwright and David Neville have taken an unconventional approach for their advertising this season.  Rather than paying to rent out a high-end studio and hiring expensive photographers, the boys handed out digital cameras to some of their favorite models and asked them to take pictures of themselves in Rag & Bone clothing however they'd like.  Once Abbey, Sasha, Edita, and Lily had taken their pictures, Wainwright and Neville blew up over 1,000 copies and plastered them all over lower-Manhattan as a guerrilla marketing platform.  The end result, I have to say, is one of the best advertising campaigns that I've seen in a while.

Calvin Klein Spring 2011 Commercial

Calvin Klein Collection Spring/Summer 2011 tvc from Patty Huntington on Vimeo.
via fashion gone rogue

Forget all these new ad campaigns; this is what the world's top model gets.  A television spot.  God, Lara Stone is perfect.

Jil Sander Spring 2011 Campaign

This is another one of those instances where I know that these photos have been out for a day or so, but I like them so much that I'm posting them anyways.  My favorite advertising campaigns (aside from those shot by Juergen Teller) are the ones that are innovative without being overly conceptual.  These Willy Vanderperre shot images perfectly embody that.  The use of lighting is beautiful and unexpected, plus, Daria Strokous's pink hair goes perfectly with the upbeat collection.  

(images via fashion gone rogue)

Jax

Brimming

I haven't come across an editorial in quite a while that really stood out to me, but I loved this one of Tao Okamato for Numéro China. I love the styling (those HATS!), the "purple panda eye makeup", the camerawork, etc. It's all really nice, even Tao's awkward nudist friend.

(Images from Fashion Gone Rogue; Quote from The Cut)


Katie

Plus-Size, Straight-Size, What About Healthy-Size?

Crystal Renn is everywhere these days.  On top of walking some spring 2011 shows, modeling for Zac Posen's look book, and booking a million editorials, among other things, she now stars in DSquared2's spring 2011 campaign alongside some straight-size models.  Renn has seemed to have lost some weight within the past few months and has been the source of some controversy, but honestly, I think that she looks better than ever.

If you want my personal opinion, the vast majority of girls in the modeling industry are not healthy.  There are the straight-size, who are generally much too frail.  Then there are the plus-size, who have to be at least size 12 to 14 to even qualify as such in the first place.  I know everyone wants to be all, "Curves are sexy," blah blah blah, and maybe this is an uneducated statement, but I don't think that being that large at age 20 is any healthier than being overly thin.

That's why I'm glad that Renn (who has had an incredible journey, starting straight-size, going through an eating disorder, going to plus-size...) is getting so much work now.  Even though she came to fame as a plus size model, she is actually too small to be considered one now.  Whereas Renn was around a size 12 before, she's about a size 8 now.  I think that, ultimately, this is the most healthy image to project to the public.  Not plus, not straight, just healthy in general.  It's unfortunate that aside from Renn, "healthy" is a class of people that seems to be ignored by the industry entirely.

image via the cut

Jax

Ghostly Goes Commercial

Here we have the recently released campaign for Valentino's Spring 2011 RTW collection, which I loved and thought to be a little ghostly. Well, clearly the fine people at Valentino agreed. 

Freja above; Julia Saner below

The filmy monochrome shots feature Freja Beha Erichsen with new faces Julia Saner and Caroline Brasch-Nielsen wandering around an 18th century palace in exquisitely styled looks. Freja clearly stole the show, and more or less rendered the other two girls her supporting actresses. That said, if the campaign were a movie, Julia Saner would be up for Best Supporting Actress in my book. I'm really liking her work so far, and she's a perfect fit for this mysterious campaign. Brasch-Nielsen, on the other hand, fell kind of short. She just wasn't very memorable for me. Then again, I should take it easier on her; it can't be all that easy to stand out when you're up against one of the industry's all stars and one of their new favorite faces. 

I'm glad the advertising team went with this eerie campaign because now I feel way ahead of the fashion curb when I re-read my review of the runway show. Woo!

(Images from Fashion Gone Rogue)


Katie

The Power of Glamour

Spring 2011 Adverts

The other day the Cut ran a feature of all of the spring campaigns that have been released thus far.  These are just my favorites, for various reasons.  Dior because Karlie Kloss looks so grown up, and the background is perfect for the Honolulu themed collection without being overly obvious.  Prada because I'm just glad that they kept the hair and makeup exactly the same as the show; it goes perfectly with the clothes.  Bally because it's a step up from when they used to just shoot bags with a blue sky background, and I'm liking the crayon colors.  Gucci because, God, how fantastic was that collection?  The looks exemplify it perfectly.  Bottega Veneta because I have to appreciate the arthouse vibes.  Chloe because Iselin Steiro so adorable and smiley.  And Burberry because it adequately disguises how, ahem, not fantastic the collection was.  That is all.

Jax

Choo Choo

Crystal Renn, the no-longer-plus-size model, is still on top of the world. After being featured on models.com's Top 10 models of the year, Renn has now replaced Amber Valletta in the newest Jimmy Choo campaign. Renn looks sexy as can be; super slim, but definitely fit. Even though the girl has lost a lot of weight in the last year, she's still got enough meat on her bones to look real (and hot).

As good as she looks though, Renn should watch her weight. People love her for her curves, and if she gets much smaller there won't be any left.

Katie

(Images from The Fashion Spot)

Erin Wasson's Place by The Selby

Tom Ford Womenswear

Yes! Finally, the most buzzed about collection of the year is here in motion. Tom Ford has finally released his Spring 2011 RTW collection video, and it's stunning. Take a look below, and be sure to watch the HD version for full effect.

While the pictures have been out for quite a while now, they don't do the designer's work justice. The colors, the textures, the patterns all jump out while in motion. When I first saw the images of the collection, I really didn't like the fringed pieces, but on the runway, they were by far my favorites. I could speak similarly for the sequined looks or the leopard print that was so frequent throughout the collection.

I would write more on how I feel about Tom Ford's womenswear label (all good things), however I am currently very sick with what I am sure of is the flu, and I feel like I'm going to pass out any second now. But good or bad health, it's always important to keep up with fantastic fashion.

Katie