Photo Diary: Côte D'Azur

The men shirt and the red lips

Liu Wen by Hans Feurer for Vogue China April

 

I wanna run in the beach with red lips and just a shirt too.

Crystal Renn for StyleCaster

Crystal Renn has become one of the most talked about models of our times. Unfortunately, it has not been because of her job or her tremendous talent but because of the fact that she has lost weight when she started as a plus size model. Quite hypocritic from the industry, but stereotypes are hard to defy in the fashion world. Once you're labeled it's hard to step out of it. Mrs. Renn said she lost weight because of her healthier lifestyle. Either skinny or plus size,  she is quite talented and undeniably beautiful.

A very good example of this talent are these fashion films, product of a collaboration between Renn and StyleCaster, for a 3 part cover series titled "Crystal Renn: Identity". The first one, "Stand By" portrays a 60's mad version of Renn; directed by Jason Last, the film explores the crazyness that lays underneath apparent elegance. Inspired by Angelina's Girl Interrupted and the Sex and the City scene where Carrie is stood up, Renn goes from tranquility to a disturbing paranoia in just a few seconds. 
The second film was directed by Dusan Reljin and Hilde Pettersen Reljin, called "Surfer", where Renn is an all Marni flapper / surfer. It reminded me of the Prada SS11 ad with the Ratatat song.

Both films show exactly Renn's talent to portray different characters and to model different styles. She's one of my favorite models, and not because she's consider one of the first plus size models, but because she's defying the stereotypes and doing what she knows best, model.

The Queen and her Court (Alexander McQueen FW11)

& The Night Porter (Louis Vuitton FW11)

The lovely voice of Alexander Furry + Sergio Rossi

Alexander Furry for Showstudio; brit accent + Sergio Rossi shoes = complete delight

Dreaming of another world

Dreaming of another world

Guinevere van Seenus by Tim Walker

styled by Jacob K.

 Vogue Italia March 2011

Surrealistic poses, ethereal gowns, a blurry treatment and Guinevere ghost face made of this editorial one of my favorites so far. I really really liked it, the whole concept is creepy and surrealistic at the same time, the art direction is lovely, but most of all it reminds me one of my favorite photographers in the world, Brooke Shaden. The style is very similar and both Brooke and Walker like to play with gravity, repetition and a certain obscure dramatism. I'll have to get this issue :).

Ashes and smoke: Chanel FW11

Chanel FW11

The Grand Palais has turned into many worlds for the sake of Chanel. We've been in the Arctic, a farm, Shanghai, Last year in Marienbad, and so on. This time we were in a remote land of volcanic rock, with coal, ashes and smoke everywhere. A very somber stage compared to the past ones but that reflected exactly the essence of this collection, dark, tough & strong. There was even this manly feeling throughout the whole collection, reflected in baggy trousers and work boots. 

Nevertheless the Chanel factor couldn't be missed with the pressence of tweed jackets in different versions such as a simple model with herringbone pattern or the more traditional model with the embellished buttons in contrast to the industrial workwear. The long coats and capes were a personal favorite along with the evening wear, a combination between sheer organza, fur and leather gloves. It is hard to say what Chanel reminded me the most, maybe a phoenix emerging from the ashes, an industrial factory or volcanic traces, but it was undoubtedly strong, a tough attempt to be closer to sportswear, even though that's not Chanel's puissance.