Stunning late 90s editorial from Vogue Italia’s couture supplement, shot by Steven Meisel and styled by Nicoletta Santoro. Looking at these photos I think again about appearance and power – how we could add power to our image through body language, glance, clothes, make-up and accessories and how often we use our wardrobe/style in order to look more powerful than we are.
I continue to observe and admire 90s fashion editorials such as this one from Vogue Italia shot by Peter Lindbergh and styled by Nicoletta Santoro. I like that it’s so minimalist – nothing distracts you from the beauty of the clothes and models. It features looks from Yohji Yamamoto (that famous spring/summer’99 collection), Helmut Lang, Comme des Garçons, and many others.
from Mario Testino book ‘Alive’
military is ‘in’ again) – ‘Theatre of fashion’ shot by Steven Meisel and styled by Brana Wolf, Vogue Italia October 1998
way too much:
‘there are days when a needle, a piece of cloth, a book, a man are all the same thing’
The Group – shot by Steven Meisel for Vogue Italia, July 1999
Now working closely with professional retouchers I realize just how much photoshop-polishing goes into production of every image we see. I mean of course I knew it before but to know and to see with your own eyes is a different thing. Knowing to what extent images are edited there is no wonder that in the magazines now everybody is slim and sexy, with glowing skin, pretty faces and shiny hair. All beautiful and all boring. For me it feels like there is something wrong with the way what models are now being picked for the shoots and how they are being depicted in the editorials. It’s not a matter of size or prevailing of the exact type of beauty – anorexic or plus-size, eastern european or asian, there’s something missing from all these girls and boys.
Despite of the the triumph of prettiness it has nothing to do with over the top glamour of the mid 00s which had in itself a sort of joie de vivre quality. What I’m talking about is just depersonalisation of some kind. When all the little things that make one unique are wiped out in order to create an ideal face/body. Thinking of it I could probably link it to, for example, ancient Greek’s sculptures. There were very strict rules according to which every statue had to be made. The ancient Greek’s pantheon consisted of ideal beings – ageless and flawless, with perfect bodies and faces. Often you couldn’t tell apart one god or goddess from another judging only by their looks unless there are their ‘key accessories’ like Heracle’s lion pelt, Athena’s helmet or Hermes’s sandals. Ancient sculptors used real people as their models and turned them into gods because of the demands of their religion. Today photographers and retouchers turn models into otherworldly ideal creatures because of the demands of fashion. Also adds to the similarity recent popularity of the androgynous look which is also a quite familiar concept for the ancient Greek’s culture.
All in all I find such images to be quite dull, they fail to make an impression on me and even in those ‘provocative’ editorials there are all these languid poses and blank expressions. Speaking about the faces. Maybe that’s the point – ‘standard’ faces don’t distract from the clothes which is good for advertising.
Blame it on magazines, casting agencies, advertisers or ourselves (because maybe we want fashion to be projection of our dreams, not the reflection of reality) but I feel the lack of ‘realness’ in modern editorials.
Truth be told all I wanted to say is how refreshing for me was to see this photos made more than ten years ago by Steven Meisel for Vogue Italia. Amazing colour palette and texture combinations – styling was done by Brana Wolf, and notice the furniture used, it’s also a perfect match for this ed. And what a faces – I can’t stop watching them. I certainly miss photoshoots like this – in fashion there should be a place for imperfect, diverse, real and random)
One of the reasons to love Olivier Theyskens – ‘dead birds shoes’, early 00s
insanely beautiful photoset from Another mag fall10
styling – Alister Mackie, art – LucyandBart, photography – Nick Knight
Black antique chantilly lace shawl
For quite a while now I’m very into ethnic jewelry – heavy, intricate and meaningful. I want to be clad head to toe in these chains, pendants, necklaces, headpieces, bracelets etc. like an ancient statue from a hindu temple. Also I’m thinking a lot about that Balenciaga fw0708 collection. Seems to me that it’s time for cyber-ethno to be back again sending a new fashion tribes along the runways (sounds so cliche – maybe I read too much runway reviews)). On a side-note: silver and piercing is also very 90s which adds to their cool factor because right now this fashion decade gets a lot of attention from the designers and stylists.
A few more of Gres gowns. I’m glad she’s now getting all the attention she deserves but at the same time I couldn’t help but think ‘where all of you have been before?’. I mean as the saying goes the history is written by the victors and in fashion this means that the history of fashion is written by the most powerful and famous brands. Using their influence they could create whatever story they want. That’s why now we have such myths as the one about Coco Chanel ‘who invented the little black dress’.
Although today it seems that we know everything about fashion it’s mostly about the big names. There are tens of books about Dior or YSL and only 3 about Gres (at least as far as I know) and one of them is dedicated to the recent exhibition in Paris. Actually it’s quite logical that the fashion biggies support their status by publishing books and sponsoring museum exhibitions, not to mention all this usual pr routine with the campaigns, videos etc. However I feel that through this activity the brands not only try to keep their clientele in the loop and attract the new ones but they also try to exaggerate their roles in the history of fashion. Though all of it is understandable I still wish more people knew about the likes of Charles James, Mariano Fortuny, Boue sisters and other great talents that remain largely unknown because their Houses didn’t last until now becoming the world renowned megabrands.
Pictures scanned by me from the book ‘Madame Grès, la couture à l’oeuvre’.
Antique chantilly lace.
the Unexplained, photo: Lee Jenkins for the Face, 1999
Alpha Industries MA-1 distressed bomber jacket.
love everything about it: crinkled surface, wrinkled seams, bleached colors, damaged zip and tiny holes in the knitted hem, cuffs and collar. also I like the color palette of these photos – hues of greyish green/khaki, silver zip, dark blue of some t-shirt (?) underneath the jacket and even the bright orange silky lining (and usually I hate orange), plus this strangely tender powder pink background. and textures … well, I could go on and on). all I wanted to say is that it’s just another one great example of ‘the beauty of imperfections’ theme which so fascinates me.
p/s still under the spell of re-read Gibson, guess it’s again resonated with my current state of mind/lifestyle
Olivier Theyskens, neck jewel with corset in jet pearls, ss98
Vogue Paris June 2006, photo patrick Demarchelier, style Marie Amelie Sauve
one of my all-time favourite editorials: set, photo, model, styling – everything is just
P-E-R-F-E-C-T
Silk petal top, Alexandre Herchcovitch, spring-summer 1999
such title could be dedicated only to Helmut of course, I’ve literally combed the internet and the lcf library for the images of his works building my own little visual archive. so here is a bit of it – Helmut Lang ss04 mens accessories.
p/s I’m typing this sitting in the HL skirt. yes, I own a few things and they are amazing)
