In Vogue: Chrystal Copland

theotherfashion via TFS

Another week, another Perth model lands a magazine cover. First, Tom Bull cracks his first cover with The Australian's Wish magazine, for April. And now Chrystal Copland has landed her first international cover - no less than Vogue Italia, also for April. Copland is part of an ensemble cast posing in the magazine's 'Prom Night' cover story, shot, as always, by the inimitable Steven Meisel. There are two covers; one, complete with freakish masks. So far no good highres versions have appeared, but above is an out-take and below are both versions of the final cover in lowres. And Australia's other Vogue Italia covergirls. 

The fashion commute

steven meisel via vogue.it

In one of those amusing art-imitates-life scenarios, the ever-creative Vogue Italia released a preview of its November cover story overnight. A 26-page fashion editorial lensed, of course, by Steven Meisel, 'The A train' depicts supermodel Raquel Zimmermann commuting on the New York subway, whilst kitted out in various luxury brand finery and flanked by a cast of black-suited salarymen. Anyone familiar with Australia's annual Melbourne Cup Carnival will be reminded of very similar scenes on Melbourne's Flemington Racecourse Line at this time of year. At time of writing, the latter is in the process of delivering a hefty percentage of the 100,000 that are expected to attend today's Melbourne Cup - just with a much higher volume of women in hats. Whilst the traditional dress code for Derby Day is black and white (ignored on Saturday by, among others, Dita Von Teese), for the Melbourne Cup, the so-called 'race which stops a nation', it's more of a no-holds-barred fashion approach. 

Robyn Lawley strikes again - in Vogue Australia's first ever plus size fashion shoot

max doyle for vogue australia september 2011

On the occasion of her groundbreaking recent cover of Vogue Italia, alongside two other plus-sized models, we mentioned that Australia’s Robyn Lawley had another high fashion coup up her sleeve, just shot in Australia with Max Doyle. Frockwriter can reveal that that shoot is in fact a 10-page designer fashion editorial called 'Belle Curve' in the September edition of Vogue Australia, which is out on August 3rd. Subscriber copies landed today (thanks to our tipster who emailed the shots in). The editorial is accompanied by a double-page interview with Lawley. According to Kirstie Clements' editor's letter, this is the first time in Vogue Australia's 52-year history that the magazine has shot a plus-sized model for a fashion editorial. Hot on the heels of Lawley’s Vogue Italia cover and her Elle France cover in April, 2011 is turning out to be a banner year for Lawley, Bonner and the plus size-specialist modelling industry. 

"We need fashion to catch up to women of size" - Velvet d'Amour

steven meisel for vogue italia

Much has been written about this month’s Vogue Italia cover story of three plus sized models: Americans Tara Lynn and Candice Huffine and Australian Robyn Lawley. Frockwriter covered the story here. Above and below is the remainder of the accompanying fashion editorial. This edition has been hailed as a watershed moment in the body image debate by some, including Australian commentator Mia Freedman, the chair of Australia’s National Body Image Advisory Group, who noted: “Huzzah! An Australian size 14 is on the cover of Italian Vogue”. Others weren't quite so perky. “Topless plus size women equals empowerment?” asked womens’ advocate Melinda Tankard Reist. Some suggested the move was tokenistic. While others lamented the fact that the women had been photographed semi-nude in lingerie, which only served to reinforce, they noted, the sexualised cliché of larger women and porn. What says plus size icon Velvet d’Amour? 

LOVE in the time of dysmorphia

Frockwriter thought it seemed a little odd that Britain's Love magazine removed last Tuesday's shot of Australasian model Catherine McNeil from its Twitter feed. Originally published on the Condé Nast-owned magazine's TwitPic account (a photo hosting service connected to Twitter), together with the caption "Catherine McNeil is back!", the Tweet was nowhere to be found on Thursday. Coincidentally, earlier that day, we had published the original - apparently unretouched - series of digital shots of McNeil that were taken by McNeil's New York agency, Ford Models - and which had been supplied to Love earlier in the week. But while the shot slipped off Love's Twitter feed, the image had already been reposted by several web forums and blogs, including frockwriter and remains cached on Google images. Oh, and Love also neglected to remove it from the magazine's separate TwitPic feed. What's problematic about this shot? Could it have anything to do with the fact that a quick comparison of the two images suggests some Photoshop magic has been worked on McNeil's left arm? The version published by Love is on the left, above, with the original on the right. 

Robyn Lawley covers Vogue Italia

steven meisel for vogue italia via bella model management

When Australian Robyn Lawley recently landed the cover of ELLE France's 'curvy' issue, frockwriter mentioned that she had just been shot for the June edition of another, even more prestigious European title by one of the biggest names in fashion photography. They don't come much bigger than Vogue Italia and Steven Meisel. Congratulations to Lawley, who appears on the June 2011 cover of Vogue Italia (above, far right) with two other plus-sized models, Tara Lynn and Candice Huffine. Lawley, an Australian size 14, is also prominently featured inside the issue, in the remainder of the Meisel-lensed cover story (see another shot, below), but also in an only-girl editorial shot by Pierpaulo Ferrari (see further down for three behind-the-scenes images from that shoot, taken by Lawley). Lawley has more high fashion gigs on the horizon, having just shot with Max Doyle back home in Australia.  

The transvestite issue

brett lloyd for candy via boy lloyd

Frockwriter has little doubt that US Vogue editrix double act Anna Wintour and Grace Coddington have seen more than their fair share of homages in smoky drag dives over the years – notably since the release of R.J Cutler's 2009 frockumentary The September Issue. But thanks to Luis Venegas, editor and publisher of the world’s first so-called “transversal style magazine” Candy, their tranny doppelgängers have made it to print. In the hilarious editorial The Devil Wears Anna in Candy's second edition, Spanish natives Venegas and model/DJ/musician Andrès Borque channel Wintour and Coddington respectively. While elsewhere in the story, other female impersonators take on Vogue Italia editor Franca Sozzani, teen blogger Tavi Gevinson and others. The images are interspersed with pre-published or –broadcast quotes pulled from sources such as 60 Minutes and Venegas’ own Fanzine 137. Only 1000 copies of each issue of Candy are printed and although this edition was launched in October, the images have only just been uploaded by photographer Brett Lloyd. Thanks to Homotography for spotting them. It's not the first time Venegas and Borque have paid homage to Vogue's editor and creative director. They attended Candy's November 2009 launch party as the duo (see end).

Tom Ford recommends a head job with that boob job

tom ford for vogue paris via fashion_screen

In the much-hyped, Tom Ford-edited December 2010 edition of Vogue Paris, which is out tomorrow, Ford tackles the subject of cosmetic surgery with an eight page editorial called La Panthère ose (which translates as “the panther dares” - a play on the French version of the film title The Pink Panther). Starring the world’s most high profile plus size model Crystal Renn, the editorial was shot by Ford and styled by editor in chief Carine Roitfeld. Yes, cosmetic surgery makes an interesting editorial backdrop for any fashion magazine, considering that such magazines stand accused of only ever showcasing unrealistic – and frequently digitally enhanced – images of female “perfection” that prompt feelings of inadequacy in “normal” women and lead them to eating disorders and cosmetic surgery. But it is not the first time this has been done. The July 2005 edition of Vogue Italia featured an 80-page cover story by Steven Meisel called Makeover Madness. Shot inside a medical equipment rental facility and a suite at the St Regis, the story depicted Linda Evangelista and eight other models before, "during" and after staged procedures (complete with fake blood). It's interesting to compare the two editorials. 

Nicole Trunfio to officially replace Miranda Kerr as the face of David Jones' winter 2011 launch

vogue italia

In July, following the news that Miranda Kerr would be skipping David Jones’ Spring/Summer 2010/2011 runway showcase to enjoy her honeymoon with Orlando Bloom – amidst a deafening chorus of speculation she was three months pregnant – frockwriter predicted that Nicole Trunfio would replace Kerr as the face of the department store’s upcoming Autumn/Winter 2011 runway showcase and that Kerr would resume her official duties for the Spring/Summer launch in July 2011. So it’s official. Today’s Sunday Telegraph reports that Trunfio will “replace [Kerr] as the star of the David Jones Winter 2011 season”. Trunfio, who is also currently profiled in a video interview on the website of Vogue Italia, was flown by DJs to Sydney this week to shoot the winter catalogue. 

In Vogue (and not much else): Andrej Pejic

vogue italia/z fashion blog via TFS

After his Vogue Paris debut in August, frockwriter hinted that upwardly mobile Australian model Andrej Pejic was due to appear in an equally prestigious international title. Well that title is Vogue Italia, for which Pejic (right, above) was shot by legendary lensman Steven Meisel alongside a stellar female cast - Freja Beha Erichsen, Iselin Steiro, Iris Strubegger and Alla Kostromichova - in addition to two other male models with long hair and feminine features, Michael Tintiuc and Tomek Szczukiecki. Called Venus in Furs, the provocative editorial, which was styled by Karl Templer, depicts 19 year-old Pejic and co rolling around on a bed in a kind of androgynous Bacchanalian orgy wearing fur, leather boots and gauntlets - and not much else. A shot of Erichsen and Steiro made the cover (below). Go to the Z Fashion Blog to see the complete set. Tomorrow's launch of November Vogue Italia comes three days after the arrival of the December issue of Vogue Turkey, which also features a Pejic editorial. For the latter, Pejic was shot by Matthew Brookes alongside lookalike Czech model Jana Knauerová, who is styled as a boyish girl to Pejic’s girlish boy, in a story called, you guessed it, Androjen. 

Gail Sorronda gets the Dolce e Gabbana treatment

Who needs Roberto Cavalli when you’re being mentored by Dolce e Gabbana? Overnight, Brisbane native Gail Reid popped up in this video interview on Dolce e Gabbana’s Swide website. Reid's five year-old Gail Sorronda label is one of 21 labels that were hand-picked by the Italian luxury titans for their brand new fashion incubator retail concept in Milan, Spiga2. “I love Gail Sorronda. It’s my taste” Stefano Gabbana told The Wall Street Journal last month. It has been a very big year for Reid. In March, she told frockwriter that she was being considered for a freelance consulting gig at Roberto Cavalli’s studio. By July, that had yet to transpire, but that month Reid was one of seven finalists in the 2010 edition of Who Is On Next, an emerging talent showcase in Italy that is jointly organised by Alta Roma and Vogue Italia. Great to see major fashion names supporting newbies although that said, it’s a little odd to see included in the Spiga2 lineup Paris-based Australian expat Martin Grant, who has been showing on schedule in Paris for a number of years. Grant established his label in Melbourne in 1982, when he was just 15.

Smoking hot mama Miranda Kerr

steven meisel via mayfrayn/tfs

She has yet to grace the cover of her home country edition, but September is shaping up as the month in which Miranda Kerr hit the big time in the international Vogue stakes, with three editorials inside the September edition of US Vogue and the September covers of both Vogue España and now Vogue Italia. Shot by Steven Meisel in 3D, even Kerr’s pooch Frankie gets a lookin on the Italian cover. It wasn’t the Yorkshire terrier that grabbed frockwriter’s attention in two images in the accompanying 12-page editorial, however, but a cigarette (above, below). And it's not the first time Kerr has been photographed smoking this year. In June, she appeared topless, cigarette in hand, in issue 114 of French magazine Numéro. 

In Vogue (Italia): Gail Sorronda

The last time we caught up with Gail Reid – the designer behind the Gail Sorronda label – was at the launch of the L’Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival in March. She told us her agent had scored her a freelance gig with the Roberto Cavalli design studio in Florence. Four months later that’s yet to transpire, but Reid is at least en route to Rome on Monday for her first Italian fashion show and Cavalli is, she claims, on her guest list. On July 10, Reid will take part in the sixth edition of Who Is On Next, an emerging talent competition organised by Alta Roma and Vogue Italia. Reid is one of seven finalists in the running for the prize booty: 5,000 euros, a solo show at Milan Fashion Week and a standalone feature in Vogue Italia. All finalists get to show 13 outfits in the event's group show and take part in a special WION supplement in Vogue Italia’s September edition, so it’s pretty good exposure either way.