Author: Gabriel Ruas Santos Rocha

organizes for fun, writes for passion, eats for pleasure, travels for wonder.

From Tunisia, with Love.

This week find out more about the Tunisian model who is planning on turning the tables for some Tunisian artists in the New York art scene.

Follow the link or read below.

Model Musing: Kenza Fourati

A product of the world famous Elite Model Look competition, Kenza Fourati was the first Tunisian to enter the competition. Even though she comes from a very progressive family, Kenza’s parents had a hard time understanding how modeling could be an actual job and were afraid of what the future of her daughter could turn out like being in such a different cultural environment. After long hours of discussion it was finally agreed that Kenza would go to Paris to give it a try. 
From fashion publications like Vogue, L’Officiel, Elle and GQ to the top selling pages of Sports Illustrated, Kenza has climbed to the top echelons of the industry and has embraced the world with an open mind.
Currently living in New York city, Kenza is working on launching her own fashion label while working on her most bold and heartwarming project; an online community to bridge the cultural gap between the Middle East and the Western world through art.
Was modeling a dream for you or did it just happened by chance?
Well, it was so uncommon (in Tunisia) that I really never thought of it for half a second, it was all a happy accident.
What were your most remarkable experiences as a model?
All my “first times”; my first show, my first fashion week, my first casting, my first time in front of the camera, with the responsibility of a crew working around you. Then you understand it’s more than fun, it’s a job and you have to be the best you can.
Is there anything that bothers you in this business?
The lack of control; I’m a control freak, but this job is really like George Berkeley’s quote, “To be is to be perceived”, and that s very frustrating!
What have you learned from your career that you consider truly valuable?
At a young age I understood you have to be your very own knight in shining armor. I can be in an alien place alone and I can handle it with no fear. Thanks to modeling, I know now that I am a capable person.
What advice would you give to aspiring models?
Don’t loose sight of who you are. You will meet tons of people who will judge you and project all kinds of fantasies on you but at the end, you are the only one who truly knows who you are.
What were your biggest challenges as a model?
Coming from an Arab Muslim country with no real visibility of the future and as a model to keep it true to who I am.
What is you favorite modeling image?
A portrait taken by Cedric Buchet for Vogue Paris, I find it to be very powerful.
Were you excited to work with him?
I have always loved his work and I loved how he perceived me. Not only is he an awesome photographer but he is also a great guy.
Where was it taken?
We shot in the middle of the road in Chinatown in New York. I’m 5’11 and was wearing sky-high heels and a see-through top; let me tell you, there was a lot of staring happening!
Who was the stylist?
Julia Von Boehm. I work very often with her, she has the most incredible energy and speaks (what seems to be) two thousands languages.
Any wardrobe malfunctions in that shoot?
I was freezing, so that’s a malfunction to me!!
What was the theme of the shoot?
The diversity of faces in France: Black, White, Beur (North African origins), …

Illustrated Legacy

A Great Voyeur of 20th-Century Fashion: Illustrator Antonio Lopez Celebrated in Posthumous Monograph and Retrospective

Written by Gabriel Ruas Santos Rocha

Throughout the history of art and style, countless extraordinary fashion illustrators have left an indelible mark, though many have faded from public memory over time. Puerto Rican-born Antonio Lopez is undoubtedly among the most vital of these figures. After years of lingering in the background of mainstream fashion history, his legacy is being brought back into the spotlight. In a major tribute, publisher Rizzoli is releasing Antonio: Fashion, Art, Sex & Disco, inviting readers into the glamorous, kinetic world of the supreme chronicler of fashion’s golden era between the 1960s and 1980s.

Across his drawings and photographs, Lopez captured the most magnetic personalities and sharpest minds of his era—from designer Halston and Pop Art icon Andy Warhol to supermodel Pat Cleveland. All were framed through the visionary lens of an artistic partnership: behind Antonio’s signature was his lifelong creative collaborator, Juan Ramos. It was Ramos who anchored their creative output, steered art direction, and ensured their work commanded maximum cultural resonance.

That enduring cultural footprint forms the core of this 304-page volume, curated by brothers Mauricio and Roger Padilha—the creators behind the 2009 best-seller The Stephen Sprouse Book. “Both of us were deeply inspired by Antonio’s work, and we hope future generations can experience the magic of his vision,” Mauricio notes.

Lopez, who passed away in 1987, saw his illustrations grace the covers of leading magazines, define major advertising campaigns, shape editorial layouts, and influence runway concepts. His visual language inspired designers ranging from Anna Sui and Norma Kamali to his close friend Karl Lagerfeld. In fact, it was through Lopez that Lagerfeld found the creative momentum to emerge from the shadow of contemporary Yves Saint Laurent and solidify his reputation in Paris.

Antonio: Fashion, Art, Sex & Disco does more than chronicle Lopez’s life; it places the reader directly inside the duo’s creative epicenter. Lopez and Ramos were constantly surrounded by a dynamic circle of muses and confidants—including Jerry Hall, Jessica Lange, and Grace Jones—turning everyday life into an ongoing artistic salon.

Over three decades, their work transcended static page spreads, embedding itself in the collective visual culture of the era. “I don’t believe anyone else has surpassed his ability to capture and translate the social climate of his time through illustration,” Roger Padilha observes.

Lopez’s influence on menswear was equally transformative. The integration of bold color palettes, luxurious textures, and flamboyant silhouettes into men’s fashion owes a significant debt to his daring personal style. Flamboyant and uncompromising, his peacocking drew constant press attention and helped spur the rise of men’s lifestyle and fashion publications tailored to an audience eager to emulate his look.

“He continues to influence the fashion industry today—and he certainly influences us,” say the Padilha brothers, founders of New York creative agency MAO. “Antonio lived his work; to him, there was no division between art and life. We strive to operate with that same philosophy.”

New York audiences will also have the chance to experience Lopez’s legacy in person. Through October 6, the exhibition Antonio’s World is on view at The Suzanne Geiss Company in SoHo. Spanning three decades of illustration, photography, and mixed media, the show presents an immersive installation as bold and dynamic as the artist himself.

Article originally featured in Harper’s Bazaar Brazil, September 2012.

The Best There Ever Was

Here is my latest article for Look Books, on the superb book Antonio – Fashion, Art, Sex & Disco. The book was edited by Mauricio and Roger Padilha, of MAO PR, for Rizzoli and is a must read. Read below or view the original by clicking here.

Antonio Lopez

Antonio Lopez’s name may sound foreign to you, or it may ring a bell or two, but you still won’t be able to place it. Maybe you won’t have heard of it at all. The brothers Mauricio and Roger Padilha hope to set the record straight with their book, Antonio – Fashion, Art, Sex & Disco (Rizzoli, 2012).
Antonio Lopez is one of, if not the most, famous and influential fashion illustrator to ever cross the earth. His world was inhabited by some of the world’s most brilliant and seductive creatures; from Halston, Karl Lagerfeld and Andy Warhol to Pat Cleveland, Jessica Lange and Jerry Hall. They were all struck by the innovative eye of Antonio Lopez. Alongside his lifelong creative partner, Juan Ramos, Antonio was able to give flight to his dreams and visions of beauty. Juan made it all possible, he put order to Antonio’s passion and gave it direction.
The importance and influence of this creative duo in the fashion and the art worlds, lives on and cannot be denied. For over three decades the work of Lopez and Ramos had transcended medias and hadn’t lived only on paper but in the collective conscience and daily life of fashionistas throughout the globe. Antonio and Juan put art and fashion side by side for the first time through the innovative and bold approach in their work, and soon enough there wouldn’t be a single living being who wasn’t touched by the end result of their creative efforts.
Antonio’s illustrations were featured on magazine covers, fashion editorials, advertising campaigns and even came to life on the runway, as clothes. Their visionary influence touched the likes of Anna Sui, Norma Kamali and Karl Lagerfeld. Those who crossed their paths would not leave their side and every day was treated as if it was an opening night at the most seductive club in town; life for these beautiful children of the world was a cabaret.
After creating the best selling art book of 2009, The Stephen Sprouse Book, the brothers Padilha took time to work in this remarkable book, that will transport you to a place in which everything that is beautiful, is possible. Here is what they have to say about their book.
How do you choose your subjects among so many interesting and enticing things to write about in fashion? 
Mauricio: Our motivation for the book, as with our previous tome on Stephen Sprouse, was to acknowledge and credit the work of an influential artist who seems to have been forgotten over the years. Antonio Lopez was one of the most famous and influential artists in the fashion world during the 60s, 70s, and 80s but it seemed that while his influence is still around, knowledge of him or his life was not prevalent.
Is this book also an homage to Juan Ramos, seeing as he was so present in Antonio’s life and work?
Roger: Absolutely. In the first chapter of the book, we very clearly state that “Antonio” was actually the work of two men working side by side. Antonio Lopez and Juan Ramos met at F.I.T and worked together for 25 years. While Antonio was the genius illustrator, Juan was the one who directed the drawings and worked on the business end of things. Juan Ramos was integral to Antonio’s success and they both made a decision early on to just publicize Antonio solely, but everything really was a collaboration between the two of them.
What do you hope to achieve with this book?
Mauricio: Growing up, we were both so inspired and awed by Antonio’s work and we hope that future generations will get to experience the magic of his art. 
Roger: We also wanted to showcase Antonio as an artist and not just as a commercial illustrator. Aside from the illustrations, Antonio was a master photographer, a stylist, and also responsible for discovering many of the world’s most famous faces such as Jerry Hall, Grace Jones, and Jessica Lange. He influenced many designers such  as Karl Lagerfeld and Norma Kamali and his influence is still being felt today.
Were there ever any difficulties when doing research for this book? I can imagine there was pretty vast material available…
Roger: Not too many. We were lucky to befriend Paul Caranicas who holds the rights to the Antonio Archives many years ago and he trusted us and knew that we were going to be respectful of the truth. Also, Juan Ramos outlived Antonio for 8 years and during this time he (among other things) organized the archives so we didn’t have too much trouble identifying subjects or finding the most iconic images. The one difficulty was the vast amount of materials available to us. Everything Antonio did from a finished work to a doodle on a napkin was exquisite so it was difficult to edit down what we wanted to put in a book. We had 304 pages which we jam-packed with images but honestly we could do 10 books with the amazing work that is in the archives!
Does Antonio have any influence in your daily work?
Mauricio: Yes. Antonio lived his work. There was no real separation between his social life, personal life, and work life–it was all one and the same. And we to a certain extent behave the same; when you love what you do, you don’t want it to end after you leave the office!
There was a fearless and daring quality to Antonio’s work, who in your opinion has been doing the same thing over the past fifteen years?
Roger: There are so many talented people such as Marc Jacobs, Karl Lagerfeld, Rick Owens, the women behind Rodarte, Carine Roitfeld, Steven Klein; but they are all very specific and working within one field. There doesn’t seem to be so many people who work in various medias doing the same thing. Maybe Madonna…
By breaking boundaries and pushing the envelope with his work, do you believe that Antonio was also a strong influencer in fashion and a trend setter?
Both: Absolutely! You tell us after seeing the book!

Biologic Clock

Who could ever imagine that the same model who was once featured on more than 40 covers of Cosmopolitan magazine would turn into a biologist? I certainly couldn’t, but in this week’s Model Musing I had the opportunity to chat with the stunning Fabiana Tambosi to find out what’s so attractive about genes and cells.

Follow the link for the original post or simply read below.

Model Musing: Fabiana Tambosi

Born and raised in a small town in the countryside of Brazil, Fabiana Tambosi wanted to go to school to study biology. While going to etiquette classes when she was fourteen, Fabiana was spotted by the same scouter who discovered Gisele Bundchen and Alessandra Ambrosio, so the outcome could only be one.
With a modeling career that spans more than 12 years, she has become one of the most sought after beauty models in the industry, signing contracts with every major brand in the world: L’Oreal Paris, Elizabeth Arden, Clarins, Garnier, Revlon, Almay and Clairol, to name a few.
Her Brazilian beauty caught the eye of great photography masters like Mario Testino Raphael Mazucco and Ellen Von Unwerth who have shot her for prestigious jobs such as the Victoria’s Secret catalog and campaigns for Tommy Hilfiger, Guess by Marciano and Alfred Dunhill Fragrance. Tambosi has graced the covers of top selling magazines such as Vogue, Elle and Marie Claire in several different countries, but probably one of her most remarkable achievements is having appeared on more Cosmopolitan magazine covers than any other model.
Today, Fabiana pursues her dream of becoming a biologist and proves through very hard work, that it is possible to hold the highest grades in her class and still maintain a successful and fruitful career as one of the world’s top models.
So modeling wasn’t really in your radar?
Not at all, I wanted to be a biologist, but my sisters kept telling me that it would be a great opportunity to travel the world and get to know other cultures and learn other languages as well as making money and becoming a more responsible and independent person, because I was very over protected at home.
How did your parents react when you told them about the opportunity to model?
They didn’t want me to do it at all, but my older sisters reminded them that if I were to go to school for biology I would have to leave home anyway. They gave me a year to try modeling and I started working from the moment I stepped into Sao Paulo.
What have you learned since you embraced your modeling career?
I’ve learned that I have to be in charge of my own life. You have to pick goals and work very hard towards achieving them without ever losing sight of what you want. I love the person I have become, I had financial freedom from a young age and became very responsible early on. Traveling the world has taught me a lot, but above all, it has taught me to be disciplined  because without discipline things don’t always work out. 
Is there a job you absolutely would not do?
I would not be photographed naked, I would feel weird about my family seeing it.
What advice would you give to aspiring models?
I would tell them they should know what they want, they need to be disciplined and have a lot of patience to achieve it.
What is your favorite image from your modeling career?
The cover of Vogue Greece, shot in Rio de Janeiro in 2001.
Why do you love it?
Because it was shot in Rio, with beautiful natural light and no retouching.
Who took it?
Thanassis Kaloyannis 
What were you thinking when the picture was taken? 
I was thinking I wanted to look gorgeous for the magazine to sell a lot! (laughs)

Fabiana is represented by Elite Model Management in the United States and Ten Model Management in Brazil.

Full Frontal

This week, Model Musing would be giving full frontal if the website wasn’t G-rated. I took the liberty of posting the actual picture which Samuel de Cubber was talking about, here in my blog. He is really proud of it and I didn’t want to keep any of you from seeing why.

Follow the link for the original interview on Look Books or read below.

Model Musing: Samuel de Cubber

Nudity in the modeling industry has always been a big topic for discussion, but for Samuel de Cubber, it is nothing but his proudest moment. His big career break came in the form of a campaign for an Yves Saint Laurent fragrance, in which he was asked to pose wearing nothing but fragrance. 

Samuel knows the ins and outs of the modeling career and believes it’s a blessed one; “If you are a very successful male model you work three to four times a week at the most, so there’s plenty of time to enjoy life!” says de Cubber.
The top male model, who has traveled the world shooting with some of the most beautiful girls in paradisiac locations now takes from all the experience and networking he gathered through the years  and is applying it to another end of the industry.  Today Samuel works as a model scout for one of France’s leading modeling agencies, New Madison. Looking ahead, Samuel contemplates the possibility of working in the health and fitness industry: “I want to open up gyms, promoting boxing and Taekwondo as the best way to lead a healthy and happy life.” – And if he continues to take advantage of his body like he did in his modeling career, we don’t see any reason why his gyms wouldn’t be packed.
Once you were discovered, did you have support from your family?
I didn’t need anyone’ s approval or support, growing up in Marseille you take every opportunity  you get to improve your life.
Was modeling a dream for you or did it just happened by chance?
I had no idea  guys could be models, I got lucky. 
What have you learned from your career that you consider truly valuable?
I learned that I am my own business, therefore I became the greatest sales person ever! (laughs) In that respect I am the product and this not only can be applied to modeling but also to my every day life. I have also  learned a great deal about myself, I  learned to recognize my good and bad sides, and that ability, I owe to the modeling business.
What advice would you give to aspiring models?
Don’t believe everything people say, learn to listen and make your own opinion, be patient and organized  and also, save money when you are lucky enough to make some!
Do you love fashion?
Not really, I wear T-shirts and jeans all the time, nothing else. 
What was your biggest challenge as a model? 
Not much of a challenge there, I always get very upset when I hear models complaining about their job; no one is forcing them to do this and if they had any other job in their life before modeling they would realize how easy they got it compared to anyone else.  
Why do you love that fragrance campaign?
Because I’m naked on it, and there’s nothing better than being naked (laughs)! No, seriously, it profoundly changed my life, I don’t know of many pictures that were able to change someone’s life so much, I had no idea what I was stepping into when I took that job. 
Who took it? Were you excited to work with that photographer?
Solve Sundsbo took it, but I had no idea who he was.
Who else was in the crew?
From what I recall it was Tom Ford , Solve and his assistants, Sam McKnight and Thomas Lenthal on the set. 
What direction did the photographer give you?
Solve is really cool, we spoke a lot the day before the shoot and he showed me pictures of Greek statues and similar references, so once we were on the shoot we just went with the flow and tried a few different things, until Tom, Solve and Thomas where happy with it. 
What was it for?
The fragrance M7 by Yves Saint Laurent.

A Love Affair in Tiffany Blue

I have once again interviewed the artist Danny Roberts. This time we talked about his collaboration with the iconic jewelry brand Tiffany & Co. Have a look at the original after the jump or below.

Tiffany & Co.’s Love Affair with Art

When Tiffany & Co. decided to settle in a new location in the heart of SoHo, they also came with a set of fresh ideas, in a concept that attracts attention to their upcoming store without advertising it, in low key and elegant manner, like the brand itself. Tiffany commissioned  four artists to paint their massive store front on 97 Greene street: Danielle Dimston, Ellis Gallagher, Danny Roberts and Natasha Law; each creating something in their own vision and style. The first three artists showed between July 16th and August 17th; and Natasha Law, is showing between August 18th and 27th. On Fashion’s Night Out the artists  will mix with the usual hurly-burly of fashion when videos and photos of all of the artistic productions will be displayed at the store.
The only requirement for the artists was that they showed their interpretation of what love is and that the iconic color “Tiffany Blue” should be incorporated in their work. Love is not a theme that is foreign to the company, which is probably the brand that is more associated with romance than any other in its field.  As for the color requirement; well, ask any woman how they’d feel if they got a box in Tiffany Blue as a gift and there will be your answer. For the moment though, see what Danny Roberts has to say about his collaboration.
How did you come up with the concept for this mural?
Since the theme of Love is an essential part of the Tiffany and Co. brand, they wanted the theme to be my interpretation of love. My first thought was of a guy and a girl in love, and the girl wearing a dress in Tiffany Blue. From there, the picture began to center around things I love. Since I love painting, couture and high fashion collections, I thought to incorporate that into the composition. The guys clothes were inspired by 1837 which was the year Tiffany’s was founded. Also, I love castles and old architecture, so I decided to set the picture in a palace.  
Were you nervous about producing something in such a large scale?
Yes, definitely, but it’s something that I am a little used to. Whenever I try something different, there is a nervous excitement that comes with it, but it’s a feeling I actually love.
Are any of the characters in your painting inspired by people in your life?
Yes, not all of them, but a few. The guys, for the most part, were referenced off of me, just because it was the most convenient. Some of the girls were inspired by Lily Cole, Ali Michael, and Sophie and Gemma Ward. I chose them because they are girls I am used to drawing, and I really enjoy drawing them.
Anything curious happened while you were working on it?
Not really, except that the brand had asked me to sign my name in the mural in the back of the store, where the two other artists had already signed too and the whole wall was tagged by graffiti artists, so I had to climb all the way to the top to sign. I think they saw Ellis’s signature (which resembles a tag) and felt inspired. (laughs)
You can also follow Danny Roberts and Igor & Andre on Twitter.

Light Blue

The Model Musing column this week features Daniela Lopes and her memorable ad for Dolce & Gabbana’s fragrance Light Blue, shot by none other than Mario Testino.

Have a read after the jump or below.

Model Musing: Daniela Lopes

Daniela Lopes had never imagined she could be a model. In fact, Daniela wasn’t even aware of what models did or who they were so, naturally, when she was approached on the street by the mother of a model and invited to join a modeling agency she set out to do some research on the subject. As a fourteen year old she was taken by a teenage magazine and immediately swept away by the images in those pages. That was it, a love affair of more than fifteen years with fashion had begun.
With campaigns such as Roberto Cavalli, Alberta Ferretti, D&G and L’Oreal under her belt as well as covers for the top selling magazines like Vogue, W and Elle, Daniela continues to work steadily in an industry that can be ruthless about age. With an appetite for the new, Daniela has also explored possibilities in the fields of interior design and acting, while she works on making time to fully dedicate herself to her true dream: journalism.
Here we explore some of Daniela’s modeling memories and have a look at her favorite image from a long and successful career.
Did you have support from you family?
All the way, my mother especially, she was always there, even when I was miles away, oceans apart, she was there, and the entire family celebrated every new job, a new magazine editorial or an ad.
What about this profession makes you the happiest?
The opportunities I have had so far,  I learned new languages, traveled all over the world, met different people; great people! It has been great to understand and live with different cultures and keep an open mind. It’s a huge opportunity for a girl from Brazil. I also learned a lot about taking care of myself physically and mentally; being away from home for so long can be really hard on us. The financial  side of this profession is also great as it allows me to help my family. But at the end of the day what makes me the happiest is a job well done. 
And the most disappointed?
That even though we travel to the most amazing places in the world, we are always on our own. I wish I could have a loved one with me to share the beauty and experience of those places.
What were your most remarkable experiences as a model?
I can’t pin point a specific job or anything like that, but what the modeling career has provided me. I have to say living in New York and enjoying the practical, fast paced lifestyle that I adore has been fantastic. I have also lived in Paris several years ago, and that was just remarkable, I will always have those years in my heart, forever.
What have you learned from your career that you consider truly valuable?
A sense of fashion? (laughing) Just kidding, but yes that too! But truly, I’ve learned to be humble, always.
What advice would you give to aspiring models?
Do your homework when searching for a modeling agency. Plus, really look into the business you’re getting into in order to find out what it really is like, as it is not for everyone. Can you picture yourself wearing a heavy winter coat on the most hot and humid day of the summer for a shoot? Or being away from your family for months? Being a model is not only what you see in the magazines, there is a lot of hard work behind it, and if you do want to be a model, be yourself, believe in yourself, and always remember where you came from. The world is waiting for you.
What’s your biggest challenge as a model? 
To make time for myself.
So tell me, why do you love this picture?
Because even though it was for a fragrance campaign, it doesn’t look like a fragrance ad. Also, there is just me, my face nude and clean, nothing else to embellish.
Who was the photographer?
Mario Testino was the photographer, and even though I had previously worked with him for V magazine, I was as excited and nervous as the first time.
How long did this shoot last?
The shoot was done in less then  three  hours!
What direction did the photographer give you?
“Think of your boyfriend, think that you are seducing him…”  Or something like that… (laughs)
What was it for?
A new fragrance from Dolce & Gabbana that was coming out, called “Light Blue”
What were you wearing?
My jeans and a bra from D&G. I also had a lot of Vaseline on my face and upper body and my hair kept getting caught on it all the time.
What was the theme of the shoot?
I don’t think there was a theme, I can’t remember, but even if there was one I wouldn’t have known, my English was so limited back then and Mario’s Portuguese too…
Daniela Lopes is represented by Elite Model Management.

The Pig and the Muse

This week’s Model Musing involves a pig and a lot of laughter. Have a look at what the model-photographer Zuzana Lettrichova has to say after the jump, or below.

Model Musing: Zuzana Lettrichova
Being tall and skinny can be a torture for many teenagers, as Zuzana Lettrichova puts it, “it wasn’t exactly one of the beauty standards when growing up”; so modeling was definitely not in her radar. When she was approached by a model scout while roaming the streets of her home town in Slovakia she was surprised, but the support of her family played a big role in making the final decision to embrace this opportunity.
As Zuzana took off to explore the world, the only thing she absolutely could not forget to do every day was to call her mother, “to make sure her little daughter was ok and alive” as she reminisces.
Currently, Zuzana spends most of her time between Paris and Manhattan, where she calls home and explores more of her artistic side by taking photographs and making collages, a craft that she has grown to love.
Here we have an opportunity to find what Zuzana’s favorite modeling image is and why.
Why do you love this picture?
Because it’s a photo of a spontaneous and real moment; even now when I look at it, it makes me smile.
Who took it? Were you excited to work with this photographer?
Danish photographer Torkil Gudnason and some of the photos from this shoot ended up in his book “Torkil Gudnason – Selected Photographs 2005-2010”
What was so curious about this shoot in particular?
The presence of a 3 weeks old baby pig! It was a really fun job, it doesn’t happen so often that I shoot with animals, it brings a different vibe to the whole shoot and you never know what will happen because you can’t really control them.
Who else was in the crew?
Muriel VanCauwen for hair and Anne-Caroline Ayotfor make up.
What were you thinking when it was taken?
“Do not  drop him!”;  he was moving a lot and every time he was uncomfortable he started squealing super loud.
What direction did the photographer give you?
He said I should bring lots of energy and expressions, but he also gave me freedom to do my thing. I don’t think too much direction is necessarily a good thing.
What was it for?
French Marie Claire
Who was the stylist?
Laurence Alexandre
What were you wearing?
Victor & Rolf dress
What has modeling taught you about the fashion world that you didn’t know?
That as fun and glamorous as this industry looks like, it’s still a business!
What have you learned from your career that you consider truly valuable?
Being independent, confident and open minded.
What advice would you give to aspiring models?
Always have something else going on,  it is a very up and down kind of business so its important to have other activities and do something valuable with your spare time.
What would be your ultimate modeling job?
A big cosmetic contract or perfume campaign.
Is there a job that you absolutely would not do?
I can’t say what I would never do because it all depends on the situation and circumstances of  the job…
To see Zuzana’s photography and art work check out her blog. Zuzana is represented by Trump Models.

Comb

How many people can say they had their pubic hair combed by Tom Ford? Not many, but the subject of this week’s Model Musing column certainly can. Have a read after the jump or below to find out more about Christopher Camplin.

Model Musing: Christopher Camplin

Christopher Camplin is your regular handsome English bloke, a web developer who lives in London, he is also the perfect tale of the accidental model. Approached by identical twins at an after hours club one night, he was asked whether he would like to be presented as an option for a shoot with Tom Ford. At the time it didn’t seem like a bad idea, and it turns out he was in fact chosen for the part. Being naked in GQ was not what he was thinking when he signed up for this gig, but after a few shots of vodka he was ready to have Tom Ford combing his body hair, and as Norma Desmond would say, he was ready for his close up.
With a modeling career that was kicked off with one of the biggest blessings in a very  exclusive industry, Christopher’s path was set. A collection of selective and high end bookings have followed since then, always in parallel with his work as a web developer, as well as stints as a DJ here and there. Here he picks his favorite picture as a model and tells us a little bit more about his thoughts on the industry.
Do you think modeling is perceived by society in a different way for men than it is for women?
Not specifically, I don’t think society’s perception of female and male models is particularly different, models often seem to be regarded as unintelligent regardless of their sex.
Was modeling ever a dream of yours?
It was never something I’d really considered, I was scouted purely by chance and it gradually snow balled from there. I never expected to get more work after each job in the beginning. I still wonder now!
What were your most remarkable experiences as a model?
I would have to say Tom Ford combing my pubic hair or walking down on an elevated travelator for Walter Van Beirendonck’s “Dream The World Awake” video for a retrospective of his work.
So why is this image your favorite?
This was a recent shoot I did , for Lee Paton’s latest collection. I mostly love it because I got to work with the Huskies, they were beautiful and really well behaved.
Who took it?
The photographer was Lee Roberts, always a pleasure to work with – a lovely man.
What were you thinking when this picture was being taken?
“I want to own some Huskies.”
Was there a theme for the shoot?
The theme of the collection was an arctic exhibition.
Is there any advice you would like to share with aspiring models?
I didn’t really make any effort to become a model so I can’t advise on that, but… learn to be comfortable in your own skin and accept yourself is the advice I would give.
Christopher is represented by Models 1.

In The Raw

When news broke that Supermodel Carol Alt was about to launch another of her raw dieting books, “Easy Sexy Raw” I remember thinking – “oh no,  here we go, yet another diet book from a celebrity!”. I also remember thinking that Carol looked pretty fabulous  in our last encounter a couple of weeks prior to that. I was left curious by the premise of her book and the fact that this was one of many in a line of best selling books about the same subject: living a lifestyle that incorporates raw foods to improve the quality of life.

It’s only natural to pay attention when you hear a certain book is a best-seller, but after three hits in a series, you must look closely. And so I did. Carol Alt’s books are not simply diets, like the Atkins or the South Beach, they truly are a way of living that has worked for hundreds of thousands around the globe and has found in Alt their biggest supporter and spokesperson. Adept of this intriguing principle of only eating raw foods for nearly twenty years, Carol’s excitement when talking about her books and her health is not for nothing. After being sent back home by a director in the midst of shooting her TV special “Carol Alt & Friends” at the age of 34, because her body wasn’t in swimsuit condition, this Sports Illustrated supermodel, known internationally for her beauty and sculptural body was shocked. How could the star of the show have let go of herself like that?

Supermodel of the World

This week’s Model Musing column on Look Books features the Brazilian stunner Liliane Ferrarezi.

Check it out by clicking here.

Model Musing: Liliane Ferrarezi

At the young age of fourteen, Liliane was instantly catapulted to fame in her native Brazil when she won (over 350,000 other contestants) her country’s round of the Ford Supermodel of the World contest in a televised event that aired on MTV. A position as the second runner up, out of 45 finalists, in the world’s final in Punta Cana followed, as well as an immediate contract with Ford Models worldwide. Talk about starting off with a bang. 
In the Big Apple, Liliane’s career rocketed to the top. Campaigns for Hermes, Calvin Klein, Burberry, Miu Miu and Michael Kors, among others followed; along with covers and editorials for some of the world’s most celebrated magazines like Vogue, W, L’Officiel, Allure, Elle, I-D and V – all shot by the industry’s top photographers. Liliane reached a top position in models.com’s coveted top 50 – place in which she stayed for more than three years in a row. 
Now married and back to the arms of her native Brazil, Liliane only comes out of her beach front home in Florianópolis for very special bookings. Macy’s was the most recent, in which she is the leading lady in an all things Brazil commercial that is an homage to the beauty of her native country. For this one, she didn’t have to go too far; the location was an iconic house designed by Brazil’s most renowned architect, Oscar Niemeyer, in Rio de Janeiro.
Here Liliane picks one among so many memorable images from her career and tells us why this one is particularly important to her.
Why do you love this picture?
This was one of my first bookings, I had to make different faces and poses and that was all new and challenging at the same time. I didn’t know how to model and I was surrounded by so many influential people in the fashion industry.
Who took it?
It was David Sims, he always asks us to make so many different poses and faces. (laughs)
What was it for?
W Magazine
Was this a long shoot given your level of experience?
I’m not sure how long, but it was a long, long shoot. I didn’t know how to model properly and having to pose in so many different ways was a little complicated at the time 
Was anyone else with you?
My mom; I was so embarrassed to shoot in front of her! (laughs) But she was always with me in the beginning, she gave me so much support in my career, and I was so young.
Was modeling always a dream of yours?
I wanted to be a model, but I wasn’t desperate about it.
What was your most remarkable experience as a model?
Winning the Supermodel of the World contest in Brazil, because in my head I never thought I would win, it really was a surprise!
What are some of the most valuable lessons you learned from being a model?
Giving value to my family, my country and learning different cultures from different countries are some important ones. I also learned to be more patient, because one of the qualities we have to exercise the most in this profession is patience 
What about this profession makes you happy?
Getting to know different people from different parts of the world. It made me grow up really fast, faster than all the other girls my age.
What’s your biggest challenge as a model?
I really wish a could live in Brazil full time and still get to work in the US and in Europe as much as I always did. This is my current challenge. I suppose this is what makes life fun and interesting, always having new challenges to conquer; I am sure pretty soon I will have a brand new one!
Can you give an advice to the young girls out there who dream of becoming models?
Trust your dream and pursue it. Never think it will be easy, because it really isn’t, but don’t give up, because it’s all worth it.
Liliane Ferrarezi is represented by IMG Models.

Legendary Johnson

Beverly Johnson is not a fearful woman, she knows what she wants out of life, and she takes it. From a very young age she decided she needed to help in her family’s income and so she went on to become a model. In her early career, Beverly was given the honor of having her face stamped in the cover of Vogue, the most prestigious magazine in the world. That alone would be an accomplishment for any model, but the year was 1974 and Ms. Johnson was the first woman of color to ever be featured in the cover of Vogue.

From that moment on, Beverly Johnson would never again be just a model, she had become legendary. A part of the newly formed division entitled Legends, at New York’s Trump Models, her placement there could not be more suited. At a time in which everyone is a supermodel, to be recognized as a legend is quite distinguishing, even more so, because Ms. Johnson is from an era in which the term “Supermodel” wasn’t even invented.

Legendary Beverly Johnson remains. In 2012 she has launched a reality TV show in Oprah Winfrey’s network, OWN, and the rise to success of her newborn endeavor in the world of cosmetics in a partnership with Target. The first ever “Modelpreneur” continues to amaze us.

After more than 40 years actively working in the entertainment industry, Beverly’s career has produced more than 500 magazine covers, advertising campaigns, beauty contracts, runway shows, two books, movies, tv shows and an extensive list of charity work. 

Ms. Johnson’s most important accomplishment however was not in front of any sort of cameras, but in the privacy of her home: her daughter Anansa, with whom she now shares a home alongside her granddaughter and son in law. Beverly’s Full House is not just the title of her television series, but a description of what her life has become; a life full of great accomplishments and happiness. Here Beverly tells us a little more about her full life. 

Published on Peninsula Magazine.

Proud Legend

Out today on Look Books is an interview I did with the legendary supermodel Beverly Johnson.

Have a read by clicking here.

Beverly Johnson: Proud to be a Legend

Many people are iconic but only a few are legendary and not many of these legends are alive to tell their stories. Today, Beverly Johnson is more active in her professional and personal life than ever. With a career that spans more than 40 years of history, Mrs. Johnson is a shining beacon of the modeling industry.
Being the first African American woman to be featured on the cover of Vogue, Beverly was given an opportunity to make a difference in the world not only for women of color, but to women in general. Proving that a successful modeling career goes beyond good looks, Beverly became the first “modelpreneur” launching books and a hair care and beauty line in partnership with Target. 
Most recently Beverly added to her credits her very own reality TV show, entitled “Beverly’s Full House”, in which the development of her company and the relationship with her daughter Anansa are open for public viewing in what has become OWN’s second most watched show of the season.
What drove you to do this docu-series on OWN?
It was the perfect opportunity to have my daughter around me. I knew that my daughter would never consent to going into therapy or any of the other things I had been involved with all these years, and she loves reality shows, she got me into reality TV, so she was thrilled with the whole idea, and that’s why I pitched  Oprah , it was a great way to get closer to my daughter and work in our relationship. 
So, now you are working on this docu-series on your life and company, but looking back on your career you have been in film, now you are on TV, you’ve done runway, you’ve done advertising and more. What are the mediums that you worked with throughout your career that excite you the most?
Today digital media is something that really excites me, I love the podcasts, I read several blogs, I tweet, I Facebook; it’s really about sharing your feelings with people and there is a connection there. I believe that the internet has really made us able to connect with each other like we never have before.
Can you point out a moment in your career in which you look back and you say “this is it, now I have everything I could have asked for and I am happy!”?
I knew that being the first woman of color in the cover of Vogue was something that nobody would ever be able to take away from me because I was the first and Vogue was and still is such an important media, not only in fashion but in the culture of America. So I always said that if I never get to do anything else, I have achieved a huge accomplishment! And that was in the beginning of my career, so it was all uphill from there.
How did it make you feel; were you blown away? Because when you went to shoot the editorial, did you know it was going to be a cover? 
No, in those days you never knew you would be the cover until you saw yourself in the stand. But I knew it was a big deal, it still is a big deal to be on the cover of Vogue, but I didn’t know what it meant to be the first woman of color on that cover, and what it meant for people of color around the world. I wasn’t prepared for that kind of responsibility to be thrust upon me at such a young age, but it gave me a purpose and kind of a road map of where I should go and how I should honor that achievement.
How do you feel about being called a legend, are you proud of the title?
What’s not to like!? It’s an honor to be acknowledged for your passion and work in life.
Beverly Johnson is represented by Trump Legends. 
Follow Beverly Johnson on twitter at @BeverlyJohnson1 and check out her website by clicking here

Influencer Of A Generation

The year was 1983, and the collaboration between Maripol and Madonna would go down in history as one of the era’s most iconic fashion partnerships. The punk-influenced look—composed mainly of rubber jewelry and crucifixes created by Maripol for Madonna’s Like a Virgin album cover and music video—became a global phenomenon. However, that was just one among many projects Maripol brought to life.

With a sharp eye for style and innovation, Maripol was not only styling looks but also generating original art and concepts. Working as the creative director for Fiorucci, she drove the buzz surrounding the brand’s legendary New York store, catapulting their designer jeans into the mainstream. “We brought in lamé jeans on Monday, and by Wednesday, we had none left. Even Calvin Klein said he was inspired by Fiorucci to design jeans,” the artist notes.

The innovative rubber jewelry worn by cultural icons like Madonna and Grace Jones was designed entirely by Maripol in the NoHo apartment where she still lives today. The pieces became a sensation: Maripol opened her own boutique and developed custom merchandise for Madonna’s tour. However, rising to prominence before robust copyright and patent protections existed ultimately led to the closure of her company.

“How can you survive when millions of people start making terrible knockoffs out of cheap plastic? Mine was genuine rubber. I had a factory in Hong Kong and wanted to support the rubber industry in Malaysia by creating ethical jobs. Nobody else cared about that—it was pure greed. Now I understand what it feels like for brands like Prada when their designs are copied everywhere.”

Though closing the business was a setback, it did not slow Maripol down. Positioned at the very heart of the downtown New York art scene alongside Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, and Debbie Harry, she and her peers created whatever felt urgent and authentic.

She went on to produce and direct documentaries like Crack Is Wack and music videos for artists such as Elton John and Cher, continuing to experiment across different media. With the feature film Downtown 81—which she produced alongside Glenn O’Brien and Edo Bertoglio—she captured a definitive cultural artifact. Depicting a day in the life of a then-emerging Basquiat, the film stands as a vivid, honest portrait of their era.

Two constants have anchored Maripol’s career: relentless curiosity and a Polaroid camera. Widely recognized for her instant photography, her work has been exhibited in international museums and featured across leading art and fashion publications. In 2005, she released the monograph Maripolarama, followed in 2010 by Little Red Riding Hood(published by Damiani), which offered a comprehensive look into her extensive body of work.

Her journey with Polaroid photography and design remains ongoing. In 2010, inspired by an ’80s revival while compiling Little Red Riding Hood, Maripol partnered with Marc Jacobs on a capsule collection for Marc by Marc Jacobs, drawn to how his Bleecker Street boutique echoed the energy of Fiorucci. The 17-piece collection of jewelry and apparel introduced her distinct aesthetic to an entirely new generation.

Now focused on independently relaunching her namesake line, Maripol shows no signs of slowing down. Few artists can genuinely claim to have shaped the visual identity of a generation, but Maripol did exactly that.

  • Originally published on Lookbooks.

Model Designer

Last week I sat for a talk with Inga Savits, an accomplished model who recently started her own shoe brand out of Milan. Her love affair with designing for fashion dates from long before her modeling years and it’s interesting to see how she took advantage of her work as a model to pursue her dream of becoming a shoe designer; and a great one too.

Already in her third collection, Inga’s designs have been spotted in red carpets across the globe and in collaborations with emerging french designer Alexis Mabille.

Have a look at the full article here or read below.

Model Designer: Inga Savits

After a successful career in front of the camera, some models open up night clubs and restaurants, others launch their own fragrances and skincare lines and many of them work in collaboration with large brands to launch fashion collections with their names attached to it. When it comes to Inga Savits however, it goes the other way around.
At the age of 19, Inga was attending fashion school in Estonia, her home country, when she was approached by a model scout while shopping. Puzzled by the idea of having an opportunity to see how fashion was done from behind the scenes, the student took that chance and went to Paris. Inga’s first job was with Mr. Yves Saint Laurent, in 1998. Inga spent a few days with Mr. Saint Laurent in his atelier, hair coiffed and red lipstick on, while he worked on his collection. “My eyes were open to see how he was making his dresses, what kind of accessories he was pairing with them, pretty much everything!”. After walking YSL’s famous catwalk, Inga was thrown into the arms of the fashion industry, which embraced and still holds her dearly.
During the time spent as a model in Milan, Inga met the shoe designer Brian Atwood, who then lived there. In observing his passion for shoes, Inga realized that shoe making was what she wanted to pursue in fashion. With more than a decade of experience as a model, it was time to dive into her long time passion and for that, she moved permanently to the Italian city. She was delighted to be closer to the shoe factories she worked closely with as well as old friends who constantly inspire her to create her own namesake line, Inga Savits.
Still unsure of whether she should go back to school to study the craft of shoemaking or not, Inga took some time to research the industry. “I went to a friend of mine who works at Versace and asked his opinion. He said I had the best teachers in the world, from Mr. Yves Saint Laurent to Galliano and Donatella Versace, teachers that most students would never have a chance to meet in their lives. In his opinion I was better off with the experience I had gathered as a model. He said if I went to school for shoe design I would not allow my creativity to take flight and could be restrained by the practicalities.”
Inga’s designs are a reflection of her years on and off of the catwalk, and are inspired by her life. The main goal is to create designs that are stylish and feminine without having to compromise in comfort and versatility. “Unfortunately in fashion when you say comfortable people think about medical shoes, or ugly shoes, and my goal is to show that it is possible to create very feminine shoes that can be comfortable at the same time. I had to learn to walk in very uncomfortable shoes, so now I want to make the type of shoe you can feel good about and wear anywhere at any time of day, I don’t want women to be fashion victims when I can combine both things.” explains the designer.
Production costs may be a little steep, but Italy is where she brings her designs to life; her goal is to really establish her brand at the top, so she only works with the best factories. Entirely self-funded, Savits explains that her business is the size it was meant to be, her goal with her brand from the start was to begin small and build up from there.
Already in her third season, scheduled to debut during the September shows in Paris, the designer has gathered great compliments from her peers and has even managed to secure a collaboration between her brand and the emerging French designer Alexis Mabille for whom she is also developing a second collection for his show.
Knowing exactly what she wants for her brand, and when asked if she would ever consider going into clothing, the answer is immediate and firm: “No! I could maybe do some bags, but not clothes. I recently started looking at some bags and was really interested in them, it would be a good complement to my collection, but at the moment I am really focused in expanding my shoe collections and establishing my brand in the market.”
Inga Savits is available for sale in New York at Patron of the New in Tribeca and on line at Feminin Rascal.
You can follow the designer on twitter at @IngaSavits  and check out her website at www.ingasavits.com

Thank You Palm Springs

Dan Murphy is a bright young fella. A model, entrepreneur and hockey instructor, he is the kind of guy you can sit next to and have a chat about nothing for hours. It doesn’t hurt he’s good looking too.

I featured Dan in the latest Model Musing column for Look Books, and you can have a look at it here or read below.

Enjoy!

Model Musing: Dan Murphy

Dan Murphy is not your guy if you’re looking for a fairy tale story of the boy that was found by an agent and turned into a superstar. After a short-lived career playing hockey in Canada, Dan decided he wanted to go where the sun and the palm trees were. Palm Beach seemed to be the right choice to study business management. While in school his friends encouraged him to take a drive down to Miami and try his chances with the modeling agencies to make some extra money.  After being turned down by nearly every agency, he found a ‘yes’ in the last call he made. 
With a manager by his side, Dan started a career that led him to the four corners of the world. Working for the best magazines in the industry and designers like Abercrombie & Fitch and Armani, Dan has enough experiences to fill a book. From hanging out on a beach with Kate Moss while eating ice cream, to spending time at Bruce Weber’s home in Montauk, it all adds to the incredible journey that has taught Dan some of his most important life lessons.
With great support from his family, whether financial or emotional, Dan has successfully established himself in an industry that is fickle and looks to the future with excitement.  At the moment this male model is working on combining some of his passions, which include hockey and flying airplanes, with the knowledge from business school to put together a charity yet to be named. 
Why do you love this picture?
This was taken on a really emotional day for me not long ago – a pivotal moment in my life and career. Of course, the depth of the black and white that Tony (Duran) is known for is incredible. At the same time however, I look at this photo and I am immediately feeling what I felt that day.
Were you excited to work with this photographer?
I had been talking to Tony Duran for over two years while I was on the road; discussing everything from fashion to childhood memories of Minnesota winters. By the time I found myself in LA working with him on this shoot we were great friends, so I was extremely thrilled to be working with him.
What direction did Tony give you?
He kept making me do less: “Stop thinking, just be.”.
Was this a long shoot?
By the time we were done taking photos and discussing how to solve all of the world’s problems it was 7pm!
What do you think is the biggest challenge in the modeling career?
Becoming / staying relevant in such a high turnover industry. 
Do you think modeling is perceived by society in a different way for men than it is for women? 
For women, perhaps fashion is seen as an exclusive glamorous feminine profession and means to express their creativity and beauty. For men however it can be perceived as “un-manly”, for the lack of of physical labor or corporate structure, almost as if being a model required a zoolander-esque mental capacity. I think of what I do as an intricate part of the sales process, whether it is an advertising campaign for a fashion brand or a catalog for a department store. It has become essential to me to be conscious of the type of fabric or shape of the garment for example, and how I can show these attributes best to make the consumer understand what it is and want to purchase it.
Do you think that it is more difficult for men than it is for women in modeling?
One of the biggest differences between men and women in this industry is that there are less jobs overall for men and that we work for a much lower rate than our female colleagues. Sure, some would argue that there are more girls than boys in the industry, but proportionally, it’s hardly equal. That’s not exactly an apples to apples comparison though.
What have you learned from your experiences in the fashion industry?
I think it is clear that we all need to count our blessings and appreciate what we have in our own way, we need to give back in whatever way feels right. We weren’t doomed to go through life being stressed out.
What has made you the happiest in being a model?
You must be very clear on why you want to be a model. When I first started I thought I was going to make a ton of money immediately; it didn’t happen. Then I wanted to use modeling as a tool to travel, so I packed up and lived out of a suitcase around the world for a few years straight; but that gets mentally exhausting. So I moved back to New York, and just wanted to stay put for a while and enjoy being in my country. My reasons for why I model have changed a bunch of times, and each time I’ve been able to use modeling as vehicle to do something I really wanted and in turn bring me happiness. If my reason from day one never changed from “make money immediately”, I would have never been able to experience the world and make the friends that I have. Not to mention you kinda have to enjoy the creative process and being in front of the camera,  which I love.

Follow Dan Murphy on twitter at @DanMurphy30
Dan is represented by Ford Models and Nous.

The King of the United States

From a very young age I remember being around documentaries, both my parents watched it constantly. To me, it was white noise, I could never pay attention, it was the most boring thing in the world and yet the best way of falling asleep. Nowadays, I find myself fascinated by them, I understand their purpose and am always intrigued by which subjects will be brought up for discussion.

Like with any movie, documentaries can either be really good or really bad, it’s all in the ability of its creator to tell the story and catch the attention of its audience. In “Bully” we take a ride with Lee Hirsch as he boards school buses and walks the hallways of schools in America. For the first time, the quality of the movie is not what matters, because it’s the message that counts and here it is delivered with brilliance.

Bullying is not just a subject that takes me back to my own school years, but it’s a subject that has become more and more present in our day to day lives, as we see children hurting themselves and others and accessing a level of violence that many grown ups will never in their entire lives live to witness or experience (hopefully). It’s baffling to think we have come to this point, in which our children are now becoming the villains of the story.

Awareness is for me one of the most important tools to solve the world’s problems, and that is why I believe documentary movies are so important, because they show life as it really is, and in “Bully” if you can’t identify with the victim, you will somehow identify with the bullies and see that your attitudes need to be revised. “Bully” is a necessary movie, and it is actually quite surprising that this subject was only made into a movie this late, when this has been such a pressing matter for so long.

It is 2012, we live in times in which trips to the moon are a thing of the past, and texting is practically a dialect, yet we continue to see the same type of discrimination that we used to see 20 or 40 years ago. We have to sit and watch as a fourteen year old african american girl is sent to prison because she got to such a breaking point of desperation that she had to pull a gun on other kids to try and earn some respect. She didn’t mean to hurt anyone, she just wanted to be heard, she was desperately looking for help.

We have to watch one kid after the other being called names, punched, strangled and stabbed. It is by far the most painful and gut wrenching experience I had ever been through in the movies, yet at the same time it was the most inspiring one too. At the end we see it is our responsibility to stand up and fight for change. 

It is 2012, and we still live in a world in which the school system, politicians and the police, sit and watch these things happen from the distance. Hillary Clinton reminded us last year in a very important speech at the United Nations, that we are all created equal and should be treated with respect. At that time she was addressing marriage equality, which in our times brought up bullying amongst grown ups (which quite frankly is even more terrifying). Hillary’s point then was very simple: we need to broaden our perspectives, we need to educate ourselves and be accepting of people for who they are. This is why “Bully” is a necessary movie, this is why this movie should be shown in every school accross the globe, because it is so real, and it causes so much pain and discomfort, that you feel compelled to be a better person.

One of the kids in the movie, an eight year-old who’s best friend was bullied so badly that he took his own life, says “if I was the king of the United States there would be no popularity, everyone would be made equal.”. And there it is, without even having a notion of politics or Human rights he found the key to the solution. Deep down this boy knows that we are in fact all equal, but it’s the popularity contest and the silliness in the world that gets in the way. 

This kid didn’t need a movie to figure out the problem. No one should need a movie to figure that out, but unfortunately these are not our times. As long as there is injustice and these violent acts continue to take place, we should continue to make movies and campaign for what’s right. It’s our responsibility to improve our world as much as we can, so that one day people can look back at these times with relief and curiosity, without understanding how it was ever even imaginable that a child would consider hurting another child.

More than Followers

Who knew male models could be so smart and interesting? I did!

For many years I’ve had to defend my male model friends, as people see the profession in a very dumb and marginalized way. The same doesn’t happen with female models. But why?

In an effort to show the true beauty of men, I have now started to include them in my bi-weekly Model Musing columns on Look Books. My goal is to show the beauty that these men carry inside them, and to show that being a model is not only about looking good in the picture or having perfect abs.

Enjoy.

Model Musing: Fabio Nunes

It was when Fabio found himself in front of a camera and had the photographer ask him to “smile with the eyes” that he realized what it was like to be a model. Fabio’s career didn’t start by chance, his sister always said he would be a model. The minute the boy turned 16 years old, she took him to an agency near their small home town, in Porto Alegre, Brazil, for a test shoot. From that first shoot on, Fabio has accumulated trips around the world, jobs with renowned photographers and designers and a smoking hot girlfriend that would not have been possible if it wasn’t for his job.
The owner of his own business alongside his loved one, the model Carolina Fontaneti, Fabio took some time from his busy schedule to tell us why this picture means so much to him.
Why do you love this picture?
Because it’s me and my girlfriend, working together for Vogue Brazil. I really admire my girlfriend’s career as a model, she is a constant source of inspiration. It was a great pleasure working with her.
Who took it? Were you excited to work with this photographer?
It was Renne Castrucci, who along with Fabio Delai also created a video editorial. I really admire their work, they are great in what they do. These two do their job from their hearts, and you can see it in the images.
What was the location for this shoot?
It was a 500 year old coffee farm from Brazil’s colonial times; it was a truly beautiful and inspiring setting.
Who was the stylist?
Giovanni Frasson, the fashion director of Vogue Brazil.
What were you wearing?
Calvin Klein underwear.
What was the direction given to you by the photographer?
“Act natural! Think that you are in your honeymoon with your wife!” – and that was easy, is there anything better than that?
Do you see yourself doing anything else besides modeling?
I do;  in fact I do several different things at the same time. I know that most people who like to cook seem to think they are great at it, and I also believe I am. I believe I am a great cook and I would love to have my own restaurant when I reach my 40’s. I have also been contemplating doing something in real estate as an investment, but currently I am invested in this clothing store that I have opened with my girlfriend back home and in which I sell exclusive products with the help from my close friends who are a part of my sales team.
Do you love fashion?
I do, and I respect it a lot too.
And what have you learned from your career as a model?
I’ve learned that life is what you make of it. You can’t separate your personal life from work but you can’t also make of this connection something bad, you have to find balance so that with each moment you can become better as a person and as a professional. I love  the chance to meet new people through work and with that to see the difference between the good and the bad ones and to learn to differentiate what I  want to be from what I shouldn’t be. I learned that having a friend is more important than having a thousand followers.
Fabio Nunes is represented by Way Model and you can follow him on twitter@F1Nunes

Van Hoorn

In my Model Musing column two weeks ago, an interview with the Australian bombshell and musician Cheyenne Tozzi who is finalizing her first album to be released at the end of 2012.

Have a look and enjoy!

click here!

Model Musing: Cheyenne Tozzi

After releasing the musical collaboration with top DJ Carl Kennedy “Once Upon a Time”, Australian model Cheyenne Tozzi is excited for the next step: launching her first solo album, which she describes as a more soulful and heartfelt collection of songs she has written on her piano over the last five years. 
Cheyenne was born into a family in which modeling was just as normal as making tea; her mother and aunt were both very known faces in the modeling industry in Australia and by the time Cheyenne was fourteen years old she was already making her first moves into the same industry, when her big break came via the cover of Harper’s Bazaar Australia. 
Since then this blonde bombshell has graced the covers of publications likeCosmopolitan, Vogue and Grazia and traveled the four corners of the world a few times, but always escaping back to the loving arms of her family.
Now at the young age of 23 and more than a decade into her career, Cheyenne gives us the scoop on why this image is so special to her.
Why do you love this picture? 
It is very raw and innocent.
Who took it? 
Brook Coffey. Brooke is beautiful and so amazing to work with.
How long did this shoot last? 
20 minutes since it was really cold. 
Anything curious to report about this shoot?
It was almost snowing in Central Park and having this innocent girl with antlers like a newborn I think contrasts with the whole grown woman in a tuxedo.
What were you thinking when it was taken?
Where are my UGG boots?
What direction did the photographer give you?
It was very candid so it was almost as if she wasn’t there.
What was it for?
My album, entitled Van Hoorn
What were you wearing?
Dolce & Gabbana men’s tuxedo jacket (a tux includes pants), American Apparel suede bow-tie, vintage snake skin pants, white reindeer antlers and minimal makeup.
Do you love fashion or not necessarily?
I’m pretty simple but I appreciate how much work goes into it. 
What about this profession makes you the happiest?
Seeing the world and meeting new people puts a smile on my face.
And the most disappointed?
Being away from my loved ones, my home and missing out on my childhood.
What were your most remarkable experiences as a model?
Starting off with a Bazaar cover gave me the confidence to take on my modeling career. I love that I get to experience the greatest and most beautiful places in the world along with seeing the newest fashion before it hits the market as well as meeting wonderful people.
What advice would you give to aspiring models?
Stay in school, enjoy your childhood and let it come find you….
Do you see yourself doing something else?
Yes, I’ve performed my music all over the world with some of my favorite artists and am getting ready to release my first album this year.
What’s your biggest challenge as a model? 
Staying in shape when there is so much good food around the world.
Is there anything about the modeling career that you would change if you could? 
I wish everyone could see the beauty that is inside everyone.
You can follow Cheyenne on twitter at @CheyCheyTozzi
Cheyenne is represented by Priscilla’s 

In Bloom

This week I spoke with the Dutch model Lisanne De Jong for my Model Musing column at Look Books.
Have a look at the full story here or read below.
:)

Model Musing: Lisanne de Jong

Lisanne de Jong is one of those girls that is almost too smart to be a model, but in her career she has taken her smarts and put it to good use. Lisanne recognizes how helpful this career was in turning her from a local girl into an international woman and appreciates every second of it.
From the moment when she was discovered in Amsterdam when she was fourteen, Lisanne was very interested in the adventurous side of the business, roaming the world and meeting people were extremely appealing to her. She finished school first, and only then took a second look at that modeling opportunity.
The offer was still standing and the modeling world took her with open arms. It all started with a Prada exclusive booking in the summer of 2010 that then led to a series of blue chip bookings that included campaigns for the biggest fashion houses in the world, including Balenciaga, Celine, Missoni and Burberry; and editorials for W, V, Vogue Russia, Interview and Vogue Japan.
Here Lisanne picks her favorite image from her career so far and looks back on her four years in the business. 
Why did you pick this image?
This is a picture I did for Dazed and Confused, the editorial was called “In Bloom” and I love this picture because of the power behind it; the colors and the shape make this picture incredible to me.
Who took it? Were you excited to work with this photographer?
Viviane Sassen took it. I was very excited to work with her, she is very talented,  She is also Dutch, it is  always fun to work with people from my own country.
What direction did the photographer give you?
I was allowed to do anything I wanted which was great. I was running and jumping around. It was a lot of fun, because there were no limits. Sometimes I would jump and fall over in the fields, but anything for an amazing picture! 
You seemed to be in a stunning environment; was there anything curious about this shoot?
This is what I also love about this picture, it was shot in Holland, in the tulip fields. We have these flower fields only once a year, for two weeks during spring and they are amazing. There are loads of different colored fields that can go for miles, it is one of the things that Holland is famous for. We went to the farmers houses and asked if we could shoot between the tulips, and he was happy to agree. They told us they don’t even use the flowers, just the bulbs in the ground, to sell. Also, it was extremely good weather, the sun was shining constantly for those two  shoot days.
What were you thinking when it was taken?
I was just having a lot of fun, and wanted to create this effect of being a flower in the fields.
 Who was in the crew?
Styled by Katie Shillingford, make up by Irena Ruben and the casting director was Noah Shelley for AM casting.
What were you wearing?
I was wearing a lot of layers, which made it look very cool when I was air bound. Also in every picture I’m wearing tutu’s which make the shape almost look like a flower.
Do you love fashion or not necessarily?
I’ve always been quite interested in fashion, when growing up I used to read magazines, and cut out clothes that I liked and make a poster out of it. Or I would cut out nice advertisements and hang them in my room.  I love wearing nice clothes. When I see brands like Celine, Prada or Balenciaga (my favorites), I’m always amazed by the designs. So beautiful and inspiring. 
What have you learned from your career that you consider truly valuable?
I have learned a lot over these four  years. When I look back on when I just started modeling, I was a completely different person. I was still a child when I started, and I’ve grown up so much psychically and emotionally. This industry made me a stronger person. I’m happy that I did it, because when I started out I was quite shy, it made me more open and I feel much more comfortable about myself.
What advice would you give to aspiring models?
Don’t take things personally, don’t take everything too serious and enjoy every moment.
You can follow Lisanne on twitter at  . 
Lisanne is represented by New York Models.

American Beauty

The more you gaze at Claiborne Swanson Frank’s portraits of women, the more your mind wanders: Who are these women? Where do they come from, and what were they trying to convey when they sat for these photographs? An image that might initially appear simple begins to unfold stories—some drawn from what you may know about the subject, and others sparked purely by imagination, as many of the women remain unfamiliar to the viewer. It feels akin to studying the Mona Lisa, wondering about the sitter’s era, what prompted her to pose, and what her world was truly like.

In American Beauty, Swanson Frank shares stories of accomplishment—of women who excel in their fields, pursued their visions, and embody a sense of authentic beauty that the photographer sees in women everywhere. Across the more than one hundred portraits collected in this volume, readers gain insight into the lives of these subjects and understand why they inspired the photographer. Along the way, the portraits also reveal much about the artist herself, whose passions and sensibilities are mirrored in the people she documents.

Here, Claiborne shares her thoughts on her landmark monograph, American Beauty.

In your book, there is a quote by Carrie Latet about never waking up from the American dream. Do you feel you are living the American dream—or at least what that dream represents today?

I feel very fortunate and honored. I am definitely living my dream, but I believe the American dream is fundamentally about striving for your greatest potential. Each of the women in this book, for instance, is the product of her own version of that dream, and that is the central message. I have never met two women with the exact same aspiration; they come from diverse backgrounds and have distinct stories to tell. I tell those stories through portraiture.

What were your criteria when choosing your subjects?

As an artist, I need to feel inspired. All of these women contribute to society in meaningful ways, but ultimately it came down to intuition and the creative spark I felt when learning about them.

Through the process of documenting these women, did you discover things about yourself that you were previously unaware of?

Definitely! This project began as a personal portfolio, which grew into an exhibition and eventually evolved into this book. Because I wanted it to be a genuine collaboration that captured who these women truly are, the process also helped me discover my own artistic identity—I truly became an artist through it. It has been a wonderful gift to follow my intuition and realize how much I had yet to learn about myself.

Did you anticipate from the beginning that the project would feature such a diverse group of women?

I was very intentional about celebrating diversity. The country is in a dynamic place, and over the past decade, the role and representation of women in society have evolved significantly. Looking at my own heritage, I am American with a blend of Cuban, Swedish, German, and French roots. That is why I enjoy asking people about their backgrounds—our unique mix is what makes us distinctive.

What about the men in your life? Will they have the opportunity to sit before your lens?

Probably not. I have an amazing husband and great respect for men, but my creative focus and passion lie in capturing the beauty of women. To me, women are the ultimate expression of that elegance, and that is what drives my work. Furthermore, I find that many men today are hesitant in front of the camera. That feels like a missed opportunity, as portraiture was once widely embraced by men, and I do believe every remarkable man deserves a timeless portrait.

American Beauty is published by Assouline and is available at Assouline boutiques worldwide and online.

*Originally published on Lookbooks.

The Simple Life

This morning as I woke up and stared out of the window a great feeling of peace washed over me. It’s a feeling I notice that I only get when I am close to nature, when I am in a different environment other than my own. To walk outside of my comfort zone and into uncharted territory is one of the most exciting yet peaceful things to experience. To look outside and see nothing but the green fields and trees changing their colors is a big change of scenery for a person who usually wakes up staring at other buildings and pavement. Not to mention the sounds; in the country, nothing but the crisp breeze of the morning rustling through the trees and the birds; blue birds, woodpeckers and so many others that will go unnamed, because that’s as far as my knowledge takes me. In the city, I would have been awakened about five or six times by cars, delivery trucks, sirens and drunks. Nothing wrong with that, however.  It’s the life I chose to live. But for me, to be in the country is to be able to unwind, and it is the best feeling in the world.

Usually with a lot in my head, I find myself taking the time to stare at the squirrels playing in the trees, the rabbits hopping from one side to the other of the lawn, which turns into 40 acres of land covered by trees, creeks and peace of mind. Here, and pretty much anywhere else I go that is similar to this, I am driven to reflect upon life and the choices I made (and am yet to make) and look at what a life in the country would be like. I am a man of the city – always have been – born and raised.  Life in the country is a foreign concept to me. What do you do out here all day? What do you do here all year?

In this village where I am staying there is only a restaurant, a pub and a post office. That’s it.   The church is thirty minutes away, in the other village. If you don’t know your way around here, your GPS navigation system will definitely not be of much help and, instead of the church, you will probably end up in Michelle’s Hair Parlor – which is, around here, just as sacred.

Being in the country is like adjusting the focus in a camera:  everything is blurry and then all of a sudden things begin to clear up. All those ideas and projects that didn’t seem possible, or perhaps terribly difficult, are now only a couple of tasks away from completion.  Nothing seems impossible out here, because the most unattainable idea right now would be to spend an entire year in the country.
I drive around making up stories for every house I see:  the one with the dog and the nicer car is probably the family that only comes here on the weekends to visit.  The one with the barn and the hay probably has the family that never left, as so many around here do. I try to imagine  what they think about, what kind of shops they go to, what would be a night out in the “town”?  Do they date? Who do they date?  I mean, the population is minus fifteen. I wonder if they are entertained by all the visitors who come and go? Or,  perhaps they are deeply bothered and would much rather be left alone? I wonder if they lock their doors or if a neighbor just stops by for a visit. In the city, showing up unannounced is as close as you can get to a crime.  And yet, I would love nothing more than for someone to show up unannounced.  It would make me feel more like a small town, apple pie kind of guy, if you know what I mean.

But this is not my life. This is part of my life.  This is part of the comings and goings that my life has become, and the thrills that are brought from exploring new places and possibilities. As much as I would love to join the simple life of the country, I don’t think I would ever be able to let go of my life in the city, because that is when I am truly in my element.


Everything in life has a purpose, and we all have our tuning methods. For me, tuning is going back to the peace an quiet of the country or the beach; for others, it’s therapy; and for some, it’s shopping; go figure. I know people who have never been to the country and aren’t curious at all about it. For me, it’s a fascinating and mind expanding experience that i cannot live without. For me, to be in the country is to be with myself.

A Ride with the Dolphins

Another week, another Model Musing, this time with Carolina Fontaneti.

Have a look at it here or read below.

Model Musing: Carolina Fontaneti

From a very young age Carolina Fontaneti knew she wanted to be a model, with support from her parents she signed up for the Elite Model Look contest back in her native Brazil; but it wasn’t until three years later, after she concluded her studies in high school, that Carolina really took on modeling as a full time job. Carolina’s mother used to tell her that  she raised her kids to embrace the world, and this one certainly listened. 
Since then her mileage card has been filled a few times while traveling around the globe  for jobs that include editorials for Vogue, L’Officiel, Elle and Marie Claire and campaigns for L’Oreal Paris, H. Stern, Elle by Yves Saint Laurent and a Dunhill Fresh Fragrance commercial that put her in a James Bond inspired setting as the sexy counterpart of the secret agent in question.
Carolina looks back in her career and tells us why she likes this picture so much.
Why do you love this picture?
Because it had always been a dream of mine to swim with the dolphins, and this picture not only allowed me to make a dream come true but it also gave me a very unique moment, a moment of profound intimacy with nature in an environment that is so unusual for humans. The feeling is indescribable.
Who shot this?
It was a photographer called Lothar Schmidt; I had never worked with him before and that is something that always excites me, because in that lies the opportunity to meeting another great person, and Lothar was definitely all that.
Was this a long and difficult shoot, considering it involved Dolphins and an underwater setting?
This particular shot was very quick because the dolphins can get stressed after a while, so we shot this very quickly and moved on to something else. The entire shoot was done in a couple of days. The whole experience was wonderful, because we were in a heavenly setting; on a Tahitian island, it couldn’t be better, the weather was perfect, the food was delicious and the hotel was stunning. The experience of shooting in the open ocean among sharks and stingrays is unforgettable.
What were you thinking as they were taking this picture?
All i could think was how rubbery the dolphin’s skin was and how unbelievable that I was “riding” him!
What was it for?
Madame Figaro
Who was the stylist and what were you wearing?
The stylist was a sweet French girl, her name is Julie, i can’t quite remember her last name, but she used to call me “little mouse” for some reason… I was wearing a Louis Vuitton swimsuit.
Do you love fashion?
I like fashion, I like that it is another way of artistically expressing your feelings, I believe that many designers create their work like that. 
Do you see yourself doing something else?
Definitely! In my veins there is artistic blood. I love to create, to express myself with words, I am constantly creating something, it keeps me moving forward. I want to play the piano, I want to dance, sing, paint, write; I am inspired by my feelings by the restlessness of the soul in expressing itself in different ways.
What advice do you wish was shared with you in your early days as a model?
To be patient, to study myself and the market, to know where my place is in it and to always try to bring out the best in myself and to share that with the ones around me.
You can follow Carolina Fontaneti on twitter at @CarolFontaneti 
Carolina Fontaneti is represented by Elite Model Management

Dreaming Awake

Danny Roberts is a a very inspiring young man. At the age of 13 he was already creating his own t-shirt line and by the time he was 23 he was already making collaborations with brands like Lancome and Harajuku Lovers. Not many with twice his age have.

I was fortunate enough to interview him for Look Books and you can read the result right HERE.

Enjoy,
x

Dreaming Awake: An Interview with Danny Roberts

Hailed by magazines like Elle, Teen Vogue, Vogue Italia and Vogue Spain as “the one to watch” in fashion illustration, Danny Roberts is very humble about his accomplishments. To him, being recognized by something he does purely out of love is surreal and a blessing, but to the fashion world, it is seen as well deserved.
A talented artist from a very young age, Danny always had an interest for fashion and art, which he put to use for a small line of t-shirts he created when he was only thirteen. The t-shirt line continued to exist for another seven years, paralleled with Danny’s incursion in fashion design school and his production of drawings and paintings that were inspired by his favorite muses: the models in the fashion campaigns and magazines.
Fueled by the likes of Gemma Ward, Ali Michael, Tanya D. and Polina Kuklina, the artist produced hundreds of portraits which were then sent by him to his subjects as a way of thanking them for the inspiration. By word of mouth his work spread through the internet via his blog Igor and Andre and became a sensation. Collaborations with designers like Rachel Antonoff and brands like Lancome, Forever 21 and Harajuku Lovers (owned by the pop star Gwen Stefani) have been added to the long list of accomplishments that this young man has accumulated. 
Here, Danny Roberts shares with us his thoughts on art, the future in fashion and the things that make his life more like a dream.
Your work is very romantic and ethereal; would you say that your inspiration comes from a “dream world” or perhaps a vision of what you would like things to be like?
Yes, my inspiration comes most definitely from places outside of this world, or by images or models that look other worldly. I’ve always been a bit of a dreamer, and as far as I can remember, throughout the days I daydream about the imaginary world. I am really drawn to images or pictures, and I try to create images that remind me of that world.
In your work I see a little bit of Francesco Clemente, as well as Egon Schiele. Are you familiar with their work?
I am not familiar with Francesco Clemente, but I am familiar with Egon Schiele’s work. I actually first found out about Schiele in my first drawing class at The Academy of Art. It was a figure drawing class and my teacher told me she thought my drawing looked like his. So I looked him up that night and fell in love with his work, I am a big fan.
Your work as an artist has brought you closer to an industry which you admittedly admire and want to be a bigger part of. Was that your intention when you started drawing and painting?
No, actually I went to school for fashion design, and I was planning on being a fashion designer. It just so happened that my first few classes were fashion illustration, and my teachers told me that I should pursue Fashion Art & Illustration for a career, so I took their advice figuring I could always do fashion design at a later time.
How was your reaction when you were approached by Harajuku Lovers for a collaboration?
I remember it was early in the morning when I read the email, and I read it over like three or four times before it sunk in that Gwen Stefani had seen my artwork before. Then I spent the rest of the day with a big childish grin on my face. It was an awesome feeling.
What do you consider to be your most significant collaboration thus far?
The cover for The Sunday Times Magazine from London was definitely the most special collaboration. It was the biggest honor to have my tribute portrait of Alexander McQueen in the cover of a magazine in his home town. He was by far my favorite fashion designer.
Do you see fashion as a form of art?
Yes, most definitely, because it takes imagination to design fashion.
How do you see the future of the fashion industry with so many technological advances?
I think the technological advances are going to make the fashion industry more open to its consumers. Already, I’ve seen a few brands launching ways for their customers to customize their clothes to fit the individual. I also feel new technological advances will allow a next level of access and interaction with every area of the industry.
Vogue Italia on-line said “One may get lost in wonder observing as He proceeds to give shape to his illustrations – and I believe artist Danny Roberts is perfectly aware of that, considering the countless videos on YouTube showing the artist in the act of painting.” – now, are you aware of that? And how did the idea for the videos come to be?
(laughing) Well, the whole idea of time-lapse videos of me drawing came to me one day when I was thinking that if my favorite artists were alive today, what would I like to see more than anything from them? I thought it would be amazing to see them painting and drawing, and it would be great to see their process from start to finish. So I thought it could be something that my blog readers would enjoy.
What is your ultimate dream as an artist?
To be able to create the things I dream of without any limitation.
Follow Danny Roberts on twitter at @danny_roberts
You can also follow his blog, Igor and Andre at @igorandandre

The Horse as a Muse

Born into a family led by an artistic matriarch and raised by parents who shared an artistic sensibility, Nick Turner grew up surrounded by creativity and visual expression—influences that fundamentally shaped his identity. Born in Boston, Nick was raised in Maine and homeschooled until age fifteen. His next chapter took him to France, where he completed his International Baccalaureate at the International School of Toulouse.

Nick went on to study at Parsons Paris, packing his bags for the City of Light. During his time at Parsons, he navigated a debilitating period of depression, finding solace and direction through his artwork. It was during this period that he met photographer François Rousseau, who was working on the monograph Atelier, inspired by Patrick Grainville’s novel L’Atelier du peintre. Rousseau cast Nick as one of the central figures in the book, portraying the archetype of the tortured artist—a natural role for Turner at the time. Their connection developed into a close mentorship that solidified Nick’s commitment to pursuing art as a serious lifelong path.

Shortly after, Nick relocated to New York to finish his degree at Parsons. Arriving in Manhattan was a sensory shock; having never visited before, he was struck by the city’s relentless pace, flashing lights, crowds, and ambient noise. He recalled “walking in the shadow of so many tall buildings and places I’d only seen in films”—life suddenly felt cinematic.

In New York, Turner’s career quickly gained momentum. He began photographing models in his preferred aesthetic: raw, candid, and often set within untouched natural landscapes. His evolving body of work soon caught the eye of prominent figures in the art scene, including Clic Gallery, which began showcasing his prints in both Manhattan and East Hampton.

Now preparing for his second solo exhibition alongside his debut book project—both centered on his signature raw, organic visual language—Turner shares insights into his creative vision.

Who are some of the artists who influence your work, and why?

I grew up around artists. My grandmother was a painter, and I spent a great deal of time watching her work; as I get older, I can distinctly feel her presence in how I create and think. Naturally, there are several well-known artists I deeply admire. Jenny Saville is by far one of my favorite painters; I recently saw her work at Gagosian in New York and was blown away by her portraits in person. I am also very inspired by Peter Lindbergh’s photography—it feels grounded, often with a documentary sensibility that I love. Russell James is another photographer I respect; there is something remarkably clean and elegant about the way he captures women.

Your work reveals an intimate relationship with horses. Why horses?

I grew up riding competitively in Maine. I’ve always felt grounded around horses and share an instinctual bond with them. I am deeply affected by the people and energy around me, and horses are similarly perceptive creatures that respond directly to emotional nuance. Growing up, I rode with a formal saddle and traditional attire. Today, I ride bareback most of the time. There is nothing more invigorating than sensing the power of a horse moving beneath you. To me, they embody purity, truth, strength, and beauty all at once. A quote often attributed to Winston Churchill always resonates with me: “There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.”

What is the connection between the women you portray and horses?

Humans are not as detached from nature as we often like to believe; we are still animals at our core. Women and horses share striking parallels: grace, resilience, power, and sensitivity. I continually look for those qualities when photographing either subject, whether together or independently. Capturing that visceral dialogue between a horse and a woman has been a driving concept for me, even if the exact emotion can be difficult to articulate in words.

You are primarily known for painting and photography. Are there other mediums you wish to explore?

Definitely. My formal training is in drawing and painting; photography evolved naturally along the way. Film is the medium I want to pursue next—starting with short films and gradually moving toward larger cinematic projects. When working on location, I tend to visualize scenes through a cinematic lens rather than as static frames.

You have traveled to remote coastlines in Iceland and Scotland. What draws you to these environments?

I am instinctively drawn to desolate, stark, empty landscapes. The energy in those places is quiet and inspiring; it makes me feel alive to experience nature in its raw, unmediated state. Whether looking at a scene through an artistic or aesthetic lens, that elemental beauty in both humans and nature is the most compelling thing to capture. In the black sand beaches of Iceland, the ocean, and the volcanic peaks, you feel the weight of the landscape rather than merely seeing it. Art requires that kind of depth. Spending too much uninterrupted time in studios or cities tends to make me feel claustrophobic.

What qualities do you look for when directing your subjects?

Sincerity and unforced moments. I avoid overly theatrical poses or having models simply act out a generic concept. I want to photograph the authentic person. A shoot becomes difficult if there isn’t genuine trust and openness between us. Through the camera, you register whatever the subject is feeling, so establishing an honest rapport is essential. I prefer an organic process where the session unfolds naturally, very much like building a painting without forcing the outcome.

If you could collaborate with any woman as the subject of your photography and painting, who would it be?

Lara Stone. Her presence and features have an elemental, magnetic quality unlike anyone else. Given my current work exploring strength and raw beauty through women and horses, she stands out as an exceptional muse.

What is your primary ambition as an artist?

To bring the concepts in my head to fruition with complete creative freedom, and ultimately to create work that connects with people on an emotional level.

Do you believe there are limits to creative ambition?

Not inherently—only the boundaries you place on yourself. However, realizing long-term goals requires immense patience, which is something I am continually learning. Every shoot and project is an opportunity to refine the process and push past previous benchmarks. That drive to improve is what constantly expands the scope of what I want to create.

Visit Nick Turner’s website to explore more of his portfolio, and follow him on X and Instagram: @nickodt.

  • Originally published on Lookbooks.

Reading the Signs

Jeff, who lives at home, is a stoner, a lazy ass, a failure in many different senses of the word, a sci-fi geek and also a grown up. Jeff, however, is also passionate, kind-hearted, a dreamer and a believer. Jeff believes in destiny, he believes life has something special in store for him. He just doesn’t know what it is yet.

Driven by his ideals and beliefs, Jeff picks up a random sign given to him by “destiny” and chooses to follow it. He knows in his heart that the clue he was given will lead him to his purpose in life. There are no half measures with Jeff, he will not stop until he has achieved his goal.

From the less than average life that our anti-hero lives, in a household in which his mom (played by the ever so brilliant Susan Sarandon) could not be less supportive and understanding, Jeff finds himself in a less than fortunate situation. To make matters worse, Jeff’s path crosses with his prick of a brother, here embodied to perfection by none other than Ed Helms. From here on, the two brothers embark upon an unexpected adventure filled with inexplicable accidents and coincidences, each searching for his own unique goal. Their mother, oblivious to her boys’ shenanigans, sits at work dealing with her own mystery: a secret admirer that appears in her instant messaging service in the midst of a terrible personal crisis.

And so our characters go on their search for something; something that is not yet immediately clear to them, or the audience, but one that certainly becomes more and more intriguing, like in a good mystery that yearns to be solved.

I had the opportunity – via the kind invitation of Gen Art, to meet with one half of the Duplass brothers, Mark Duplass, who brilliantly co-wrote and co-directed the screenplay with his brother Jay.

Mark displayed nothing but fascination for Jeff’s unique way of embracing destiny and awe for the actors with which he and his brother were working. Mark explains: “This movie is more heavily plotted than our previous ones, it has many ins and outs, like a good detective story, but it still maintains a sense of improvisation, because the way the actors say their lines is totally their own, they recreate the lines, the script here works merely as a guideline to what is happening in their story, but the way they say it comes from their heads, and this is what keeps the movie exciting and fresh, and this is why we needed to have the help of these guys, Ed, Jason and Susan, who are so brilliant in what they do.”. Taking from cinema verite influences, the Duplass brothers continued to create freedom even in the way their scenes were shot, allowing their actors to perform without boundaries, much like a documentary, where a camera follows the subject and not the subject following the camera.

But the movie, which at times can take a few steps too far into its own charade, takes flight in its quiet metaphors for life that become more and more compelling towards the end – the metaphors that show us that there is after all a method to this whole madness, and that life has beauty in its system of working things out. The plan is often unclear, but the ability to enjoy the ride and appreciate the ups and downs is what makes the difference. To learn from our own mistakes, to grow and to graduate from them is the great accomplishment and, in some cases, the better-diploma.

Ed Helms, also at the event, had similar feelings about this movie. “At first I did not like this character, I thought he was a dick and I did not want to do it (the movie), but towards the end of the script I realized that Pat (his character) didn’t like Pat either and that he wanted to become a better person, that he saw where he needed improvement, and that made me want to be a part of this movie.”.

“Jeff, Who Lives at Home” is one of those movies that makes you feel, even at the worst of times, like there is always room for improvement, and that the possibilities in life are endless. As long as you trust fate and read the signs (whatever you think they may be), it is never too late to allow yourself to learn and pursue your own destiny. You still have, at any given time, a chance to make it in life.

Jeff, Who Lives at Home opens nationwide in the United States on March 16th, 2012

Warm Winds

On an evening when the art world had its eyes on the Armory Gala Benefit, Hauser & Wirth managed to draw a discerning crowd to the opening of Bharti Kher’s exhibition, The Hot Winds that Blow from the West, featuring five new works by the acclaimed London-born, Delhi-based artist.

Visitors are welcomed by A View of the Forest, a striking multi-toned green composition rendered in Kher’s signature bindis, before being ushered down the hallway to encounter A Line Through Space and Time. The piece—a standalone staircase leading to nowhere in an empty room—is meticulously covered in sperm-shaped bindis, offering a compelling visual meditation on fertility, time, and transition. Bindis, far more than decorative elements in Indian culture, have remained central to Kher’s practice since 1995. As the artist explains, they are “meant to represent a third eye—one that forges a link between the real and the spiritual-conceptual worlds.”

The exhibition’s heavyweight titular installation, The Hot Winds that Blow from the West, commands the rear gallery. Though it could easily occupy a larger space, the work remains astonishing in scale and intent. Over six years, Kher sourced 131 vintage cast-iron radiators from the United States (the West) and shipped them to India (the East) to be assembled into a monolithic, stacked grid.

The title references the Loo, the scorching, occasionally fatal summer winds that sweep across northern India and Pakistan. “We think of winds as harbingers of change, carrying voices of transformation,” Kher notes. “From where I sit, the winds blowing nowadays from the West—from the places that were the seats of power and authority throughout the 20th century—are no longer as strong or reliable as they were.” Stripped of their functional purpose during their journey east, these symbols of Western domestic comfort are re-contextualized: “I suppose I am sending them back to the West as messengers and, perhaps, warnings. Other voices are changing the landscape now, and political uncertainties have put the world in flux.”

On the second floor sits the exhibition’s most arresting work, Reveal the Secrets That You Seek, previously exhibited at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Composed of 27 fractured, bindi-overlaid mirrors, the installation transforms the gallery into an immersive space of reflection. While broken mirrors traditionally signify misfortune, Kher binds the fractures together, demonstrating how broken fragments can yield beauty, coherence, and reconciliation.

The final work, The Messenger, commands the gallery on its own terms. Positioned in a striking yoga posture and balanced by its own weight, the fiberglass sculpture is described by Kher as “an urban witch, a woman of both mythology and everyday life—a hybrid.” Drawing upon the iconography of the Hindu goddess Dakini—the feminine manifestation of energy—the sculpture conjoins contradictions of gender, species, and role with a haunting, animalistic presence.

An impressive achievement for Hauser & Wirth, the exhibition stands as a powerful testament to Bharti Kher’s conceptual and sculptural vision.

  • Originally published on Lookbooks.

The Multitasking Supermodel

Many years and many models have gone by, but not many remain as active and inspiring as the lovely Ms. Claudia Mason, whom I had the pleasure of representing during my time working at Elite Models.

Claudia doesn’t settle down, she writes, produces plays, directs, wins awards, shoots movies, dances and in whatever time she has left, she models. It’s breathtaking.

Allow yourself to be taken out of breath too in this week’s model musing column, just follow THIS link!

:)

Model Musing: Claudia Mason

With a passion for the arts, Claudia Mason is one of those girls that rose to stardom in the supermodel era, alongside names like Christy Turlington, Claudia Schiffer, Linda Evangelista and Naomi Campbell; Claudia had her brand established in the fashion industry right from the start. Discovered in a music store at the age of 13 she was attending New York’s prestigious School of American Ballet and was a very serious student. It wasn’t until she was 15 years old that things became really serious, and from that moment on she didn’t stop. Claudia’s first booking was for Vogue, and from there on Elle, Wand Bazaar followed, always shot by names like Bruce Weber, Mario Testino, Arthur Elgort, Patrick Demarchellier and Steven Meisel, to name a few.
Long and languid, Claudia was a queen of the runways, and soon also became a must-book for top campaigns. One of Gianni Versace’s favorite models and repeatedly used in his campaigns, she also modeled for Fendi, Valentino, Christian Lacroix and many others.
Claudia then went on to host MTV’s Fashionably Loud, starred in an Enrique Iglesias music video and caught Hollywood’s attention. The pursuit of the acting career lasted a few years in Los Angeles until fashion took her attention once more. In the same year she was receiving awards for her theater production of Tennesse Williams’s Orpheus Descending and superstar stylist Katie Grand repeatedly booked Claudia for Love Magazine and Vogue Russia.
Here, Claudia reminds us that acting, producing and writing are still the leading roles in her life nowadays. Duly noted.
Why do you love this picture?
I love this picture because it’s old school movie star glam! It is from a LoveMagazine spread last year, and it’s one of my favorite recent pictures of myself.
Who took it?
David Hughes was the photographer and Phoebe Arnold was the stylist! Great team!
How was the shoot like?
It was a one day shoot in London, and it was freezing cold and snowing outside! December 2010 I was relieved to be shooting inside, with heaters around.
What were you thinking  as you were shooting this?
I was thinking how uncomfortable I was in that position, as my neck was ‘resting’ on a concrete sharp edge. Ah fashion!
Did you receive any direction from the photographer?
The photographer wanted ‘relaxed glam’.
Were there any wardrobe malfunctions?
My nipple popped out a couple of times – nothing major.
What was the theme for this shoot?
It was a jewelry story, so it needed to have an expensive air to it. Relaxed decadence.
What was your biggest challenge as a model?
Biggest challenge as a model is to not take my career for granted, as it has been so good to me.
Are there any regrets?
I would have liked to have had more fun when I started modeling.
Was there a modeling job that was so incredible that looking back it almost feels like a dream?
I’ve had so many great modeling jobs, but one that stands out is when I shot an Anne Klein campaign with Steven Klein, and there was an elephant in the studio! 
What is your dream modeling job?
My dream modeling job would be to have a cosmetics contract. Also the Bulgari campaign. I love that they use actresses such as Rachel Weisz and Julianne Moore.
What have been your most recent dreams?
I currently have nightmares only! But, a current dream would be to work with Woody Allen or Alexander Payne. Also, to be performing my one woman show that I’m currently writing.
What was your love at first experience; modeling, acting or dancing?
I fell in love with ballet as a little girl. But then again I fell in love with being in front of the camera and on stage as well. I used to perform at home in front of the mirror as a child.
You can follow Claudia Mason on TWITTER @ClaudiaMason1

Iconography

Very rarely I come across people that are truly inspiring. It takes a lot to wow me nowadays, i don’t know if it is the kind of work I do and the amount of impressive people I meet constantly, but I find myself being inspired by little things and certain characteristics rather than the entire “body of work” of a person. Eileen Ford had that quality, that “body of work”; her life story was a true lesson. Her passion and the way she carried her life and her business alongside her husband Jerry were truly moving.

When I spoke to her for this article I wrote for Look Books I was truly moved and completely humbled, here it was, a true legend of the fashion industry, a woman that broke the standards and set brand new ones for all those who followed. Eileen Ford had a dream and a passion, she believed in them and never gave up, building a family business that is now larger than life.

Have a read at the full article in THIS link – it’s long, I warn you, but it’s totally worth it!
xx
Gabriel

Iconography: Eileen & Jerry Ford

In fashion there is much talk about the legacy left by designers, photographers and magazines, but not many people look at a vital piece of the industry that connects all the dots: the modeling agency. Eileen and Jerry Ford, as you can probably tell by their name, were pioneers, founders of the Ford Model Agency, now simply known as Ford Models. One of the most established and recognizable brands in the world with offices spread throughout the continents, Ford is also the oldest and longest running modeling agency in the world, a true landmark of the fashion industry. For many people, the names Eileen and Jerry Ford won’t mean much, but in the small world of fashion, they are synonymous with royalty.
Eileen Otte met Gerard W. Ford in 1944 outside a drugstore near Columbia University, where he attended school for midshipman as part of his service with the United States Navy. The couple fell in love and got married later in that same year in San Francisco while Gerard, also simply known as Jerry, awaited to be shipped out to sea for the World War II.
With Jerry’s departure, Eileen returned to New York where she started working as a secretary for a photographer, as well as a stylist and a fashion reporter for the Tobe Report. While working in the photography studio, Mrs. Ford would constantly meet models and from those relationships, soon enough she also started working as a secretary to some of those girls who felt their agency wasn’t efficient enough in taking care of their bookings, therefore, having their own secretary would guarantee that their clients would get the attention they needed and the girls wouldn’t lose any jobs to other models.
Upon Jerry’s return from the war, he resumed his studies at Columbia University, for Business/Administration, while Eileen continued to work for the models out of her father’s apartment. As business grew and Eileen acquired more models, she and Jerry came to the conclusion it was time to expand business and make a more serious investment towards it. Jerry saw how much passion Eileen had for her new found career but above all he saw great potential in it, as her success was increasing continuously. Jerry and Eileen then sold their car and moved their business into their own location at 949 Second Avenue, in Manhattan, above a woodwork shop. The location wasn’t the most glamorous, but it was their own and  it would give them room to grow and expand their business. At this point Eileen was about to give birth to her first daughter Jamie and would have to step out to take care of her baby, that’s when Jerry decided to step in to help, and what was supposed to be a temporary thing turned out to become a passion for him too.
With a great reputation for honesty and efficiency the Fords attracted a high volume of models and guaranteed the return of a huge clientele. There was no such thing as delayed payments and missed calls with the Fords, and even working out of a small office the couple managed to become one of the three most successful agencies in the country, grossing an average $250,000 in a year. Threatened to be put out of business by their main competitor, the agency Huntington Hartford, who said they would implement a weekly payment system through the use of vouchers, an innovation at the time, Jerry and Eileen  made yet another investment and pulled some money together to quickly implement the system in their own agency, which at the end turned out to be the best decision.
Representing talents like Jean Patchett, considered by Eileen the best model she has ever seen, the couple’s careful managing skills attracted the attention of the iconic model Dorian Leigh, who by then also owned her own agency and was dissatisfied by the management her younger sister, Suzy Parker was getting from her managers at Huntington Hartford. In a smart and excited move, Eileen and Jerry signed on a pregnant Dorian Leigh and her young sister Suzy, without having even met the girl. Suzy was the opposite of her sister, tall and red-haired, she was different from any other girl available in the industry and went on to become the most famous and recognizable fashion model of the 1950’s, breaking boundaries and becoming the first model to achieve superstar status, headlining fashion magazines and making appearances in Hollywood films; Suzy Parker was a sensation and one of Ford’s biggest triumphs.
The Ford Model Agency had become the biggest in the world, working closely with Dorian Leigh’s agency in Paris they formed a successful network that guaranteed a rewarding career to the models they represented. With a keen eye for innovation, the Fords never limited themselves or their models. Dovima, one of the most iconic models of all time and known for Richard Avedon’s image “Dovima with Elephants” went on to become the highest paid model in the industry and earned the nickname of the “Dollar a Minute Girl” making an average $60 an hour. Following her modeling success, Dovima was given a speaking role in 1957’s Paramount movie Funny Face.Dovima showed great comedic talents in that role and her part in that movie opened the doors to other models, like the then famous Suzy Parker, to develop careers in the movie industry too.
Yves Saint Laurent once said that “a good model can advance fashion ten years”, but a good modeling agency and managing skills have proven to advance an entire industry. 
By 1974, The Fords were at the top of their game and had no competition, they had invented the contract for models, in which a model would exclusively represent a specific brand, securing higher fees and better exposure. Jean Shrimpton’s contract with Yardley of London was the first one and Lauren Hutton and Evelyn Kuhn are said to be the first models to ever have exclusive contracts with Revlon, which then became and still remains one of the most sought after contracts in the industry.
With names like Candice Bergen, Ali MacGraw, Jerry Hall, Christie Brinkley and Rene Russo in their roster, they were unbeatable and were billing an average of $100k per week, as told by Mr. Ford to the The New York Times at the time. Even after the opening of the french powerhouse Elite Models’s office in New York, the Fords remained strong and ahead of the game. Always competing head to head and starting the “model wars”, in which models would switch agencies constantly according to who would make the better offer.
The Ford business remained strong and innovative, always together, Eileen and Jerry continued to pull through with passion and belief in what they were building. In the eighties the ever creative couple started the Ford Supermodel of the World contest, that remains to this day one of the largest modeling competitions in the world, moving hundreds of thousands of submissions yearly and from which talents like Victoria’s Secret model Adriana Lima have emerged.
In 1995, after 50 years in charge of the business, Eileen and Jerry stepped out into the spotlight for one last time to celebrate their agencies’ 50th anniversary and allow for its empire to then be led by their daughter Katie Ford, who at that point was already a part of the booking team and modeling industry for quite some time.
Eileen and Jerry remained married, successful in business and in their personal life,  with a family that includes four children, eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. In a recent phone conversation, Eileen told me she turns 90 years old in March of this year and is excited to celebrate this iconic date with a lunch organized by her children. Jerry however won’t be there to celebrate, as he passed away at the age of 83 on august 24, 2008 and left behind a loving wife and a legacy that will be remembered throughout the times to come.Their work together in fashion was a labor of love that broke boundaries and revolutionized an entire industry, they have established philosophies of work that are still followed by most agencies around the world and they have set the standards really high for everyone that followed them.
The Ford family brings the family into the expression “Family Business”, in aspects never before seen in the fashion industry, from housing some of their models in their own homes to making sure that their models were cared for in every aspect, they gave their talent every tool they needed to succeed, from financial to emotional support, it wasn’t just about the profit, but mostly about the relationships created within the modeling agency.
Nowadays, Ford Models is no longer in the hands of the Ford family, but it remains one of the biggest and most powerful agencies in the industry representing established names like Emma Balfour, Ana Claudia Michels, Rose Cordero, Karmen Pedaru and Sigrid Agren; as well as rising new talent like Tao, Julia Nobis and Kate King. The interesting part however, is to think that some of this young talent represented by Ford Models, walks those hallways completely unaware of the history behind them, that this multi million dollar business once started in a small office on second avenue and was solely responsible to set an entire industry in motion.
To see Ford Models’ website go to www.fordmodels.com 

Supermodel Blogger

Here is a new post in my Model Musing column at lookbooks.com – this week with supermodel blogger Emily Sandberg, you can check out her blog at www.supermodelblogger.com !

Model Musing: Emily Sandberg

What does a mime, a life guard, a minister, a mother and a blogger have in common? They are all one person: the iconic supermodel Emily Sandberg. With a long list of abilities, Emily has wowed the world with her modeling skills, which shot her to stardom.
Gracing the covers of  the Italian, French and Japanese editions of Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and Elle and having shot with some of the most renowned photographers in the industry, like Annie Leibovitz, Steven Meisel, Peter Lindbergh, Mario Testino and Craig McDean, among others for campaigns such as Versace, Fendi and DKNY, Emily has become a household name and makes use of her expertise in her now famous – and infamous – blogSupermodel Blogger in which she shares her experiences as a model, actress and mother with whoever is interested, and the following is huge.
Why do you love this picture?
It’s a portrait of me.  It’s very rare that a photographer is interested in capturing the person or personality of a model.  Most often – and it goes without saying that this is the basic job description of a model – she must project an image to be captured. It was refreshing to sit in front of a camera and just be me. 
Who took it? Were you excited to work with this photographer?
I’d never worked with Annie Leibovitz before and wasn’t sure what to expect. Knowing that they were shooting numerous portraits that day, I expected a factory atmosphere and distracted photographer just doing another job.  I was surprised at how present she was and the second I realized that she was “there” I felt thrilled to be seen and captured by her. I respect Annie and have been a fan of her images for quite some time.  
How long did this shoot last?
I was in hair and makeup for an hour and then I sat for Annie for an hour.  All in, from door to door, it took four hours out of my day. I’d say it was worth every second. 
Anything curious about location, environment, weather, etc? 
I’ve never seen such an archive. When Annie came over to shake my hand and introduce herself, she had with her a folder containing all of the strongest images from my career.  I was sort of shocked and asked her about it.  She told me she has a team who keeps a file on most models and actresses for reference materials.  Wow. 
Who else was in the crew?
Julien D’ys did hair.  Nicoletta Santoro styled. Unfortunately, I don’t remember who did makeup.  
What were you thinking when it was taken?
I cleared my mind. But in between takes, I was thinking “I hope this is going good for everyone”.
What direction did the photographer give you?
She told me to sit and be comfortable. Interestingly, the photographers I’ve worked with like Steven Meisel and Peter Lindbergh, who are able to capture the strongest images of me, simply ask me to be comfortable.  
How was working with Nicoletta Santoro?
She tends to dress me in masculine clothing with clean lines.  I love working with her, she’s always been protective of me and progressively definitive of my image with each shoot and each runway show we worked on together. 
What were you wearing?
I wore an Ann Taylor blouse and my own necklace. 
What was the theme of the shoot?
Ann Taylor was celebrating the golden 50th anniversary as a brand.  They chose to do a special campaign capturing portraits of supermodels past, present and future. 
Is there anything about the modeling career that you would change if you could?
 I would have hired a team of professionals, nutritionists, trainers, doctors, accountants and lawyers right away.  I would also have reached out to models that were ahead of me in the process for mentoring.  
 I learned a lot through trial and error.  There wasn’t any strategic planning happening in my career or in the careers of the girls around me.  Most were simply trying to survive and figure out what this crazy world was they had happened upon.  And then, it was “over”. Everyone, agents, photographers, designers, stylists, editors were all moving so fast, I don’t think anyone really has a sense of the larger picture of a model’s arc of career or how to sustain it or even what to do with a girl after her first cycle through the upper echelons of fashion.   
 If I could do it again, I wouldn’t try to keep up with the pace, I would set my own. 
You can follow Emily Sandberg on twitter (@Emmalish) and on her blog:www.supermodelblogger.com 
Emily Sandberg is represented by Trump Models.

Hot Like Fire

The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue is out and I have taken the opportunity to speak to the Brazilian bombshell Cintia Dicker for Modelinia – Have a read HERE!

One on One with Cintia Dicker
Brazilian redhead Cintia Dicker just doesn’t seem to stop, in between photo shoots, fashion shows and shoots for TV commercials she has another important task to add to her schedule this week: the launch of the Sports Illustrated 2012 Swimsuit Edition, in which she is featured for the third year in a row.
Cintia’s shoot took place in the middle of the African desert, in front of a huffing and puffing rhinoceros and on top of an elephant under the melting sun. “The rhinoceros must have been the scariest experience I have ever been through, he was grunting so loud that I could not contain my tears, we shot really quickly and moved on to the elephant, which was much nicer, the elephant was actually super cute!”
Cintia felt inspired and ended up buying a few of the pieces she wore, “I loved everything I wore, there were a lot of animal prints and those are always my top choices when it comes to bikinis; it went really well with the location, I am really excited about these pictures, I think they’ll look beautiful.”
She also had a couple of funny stories to tell us: “One of the girls in the crew left her bag unattended at the location and next thing you know there is a monkey going through her bag. The minute she saw that she thought to try and grab her bag back but was advised otherwise, so she just waited in awe, and the monkey then grabbed her cell phone and walked away. Everyone was stunned, it was really funny. On every day we would go from one location to another riding elephants. So, on the first day, (of course) I had to stop right behind the elephant and it was by nearly and inch, but the elephant kicked back, like a horse would, and nearly hit me! I started laughing, but in reality I was terrified, can you imagine getting kicked from an elephant? Ouch!

You Got the Love

It’s Valentine’s Day and I have posted this feature on cute model-couple Daniela Lopes and Diego Querzoli on Look Books for the Model Musing column of this week. Check it out HERE !
:)

Model Musing: Valentine’s Day Edition

Married for two years, Brazilian models Daniela Lopes and Diego Querzoli are one of those couples who set standards for many others, particularly in the modeling industry. It’s not rare to find models meeting and going into relationships, but the crazy routine, busy schedules and extensive traveling tend to break the relationships with time, so to find a couple like Daniela and Diego, who have been together for eight years, is a rarity.
The couple have been represented by the same agency in Brazil since the beginning of their careers, and when they started their relationship, they decided to keep things in the hush-hush until they felt they really had something strong going between them. In the first few weeks together, Diego got called in for a job inspired by the movie “Blow Up” – the model that was originally meant to shoot with him got the pink eye and couldn’t go, so the crew had to find a replacement model in a rush and Diego overheard them mentioning Daniela’s name a few times so he immediately called Daniela in secrecy so she would call the agency to check in and see if there was “anything” going on. The agency immediately confirmed her on that booking and they had to work all day together “pretending” to be a couple, when in fact that was exactly what they were. The fun and excitement of keeping the secret from friends, agents and clients made it all even more interesting and when the news broke that they were together everyone was happy and excited for the both of them.
After many experiences together Daniela and Diego tell us why they like this image so much and share some of their knowledge on being a couple in the modeling industry.
Why do you love this image?
Because it’s just the two of us relaxing and enjoying ourselves, it didn’t feel like we were working at all.
How did the two of you meet?
Daniela: We met at a dinner party that our agency had put together after the shows, but we didn’t really talk, there were many people there, we really met at a job a month later.
Diego: Yes, I remember I was crossing the street to get to the location and I saw this beautiful girl walking towards the studio and I thought: “I am so lucky, I will spend the entire weekend shooting with that beautiful girl!”.
Was it love at first sight?
Daniela: Yes it was! Love at first sight, first talk, first date!
Diego: I suppose it was, but it didn’t really hit me until later on, because I called my agent later on, after the job had passed and I asked her about Daniela, and she told me that Daniela had made a comment about me too, so I guess it was meant to be?
Is it difficult to work as models and still maintain a well rounded relationship?
Not really, it’s just a job like any other, only with a lot more traveling and no routine.
Do clients prefer to work with you because you are a real couple?
Yes, usually when the clients are working on a project that requires a couple they prefer to shoot with real life couples, there’s more synergy and connection. (Diego) well I am sure they like working with her cause she is beautiful and an amazing model!
Do you prefer to work couple jobs together or are you open to shooting with other people too?
Well, it’s definitely easier to work together, but we are open to working with other people too, I mean, it’s just a job. We used to do “couple” jobs before we were together, with other people I mean, and it was never an issue, as long as it remains very professional everything is fine!
Any advices for the young couples in the modeling industry?
Don’t try to limit your partner.
What’s the craziest thing you’ve done for each other?
The only thing we can think of is traveling for miles and miles to only be together for a very short amount of time!
Daniela Lopes and Diego Querzoli are both represented by Way Models in Brazil.

Melt your Heart

With a look reminiscent of a young Kim Basinger circa 9½ Weeks and an effortlessly warm presence, blonde beauty Hannah Holman has established herself as one of the fashion industry’s most sought-after faces. Hailing from the mountains of Utah, Hannah began modeling at just thirteen years old, but her major breakthrough arrived years later when agent Doll Wright scouted her. Wright championed Holman to top clients, securing her an exclusive booking for Miu Miu in Paris alongside a spot in their Fall/Winter campaign.

Since then, Holman has become a runway and editorial regular, gracing the pages of Vogue US, fronting covers for French, Russh, and Citizen K, and appearing in titles such as W, V, 10, and i-D. Despite standing at 5’8″—shorter than the typical runway standard—Hannah has walked for luxury powerhouses including Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and Marc Jacobs. Her portfolio also features campaigns for Marc by Marc Jacobs, See by Chloé, Moschino Cheap and Chic, and a major worldwide contract for the Marc Jacobs fragrance Daisy.

Read on to discover why Holman considers this photograph one of her favorites.

Why do you love this picture? 

I was fairly new to the industry, so I wasn’t fully aware of what I was capable of. Seeing how beautifully the shot turned out made me proud and genuinely excited for my future in modeling.

Who took it? 

The Australian photographer Andrew O’Toole.

How long did the shoot last? 

It ran longer than scheduled. We were all having such a great time that we kept going—we were greedy for more shots, I suppose!

Was there anything unique about the location or environment? 

We shot on location inside a hair salon in Australia for a Harper’s Bazaar Australia beauty feature.

Who else was on set? 

It was an intimate crew, especially toward the end when we stayed overtime. Hair was styled by Matthew Webb, the salon’s owner.

What was going through your mind when the photo was taken? 

I was probably overthinking everything!

What direction did the photographer give you? 

He gave me the freedom to move naturally, which I loved. It feels liberating and takes the pressure off.

What was the concept of the shoot? 

Back then, I didn’t even realize editorial shoots had specific themes!

What is your biggest challenge as a model? 

Balancing work with personal life. Time moves so quickly, and scheduling a vacation is nearly impossible because a major booking inevitably comes in right when you have plans. It’s Murphy’s law!

Is there anything about the modeling industry you would change if you could? 

The last-minute confirmations the night before a shoot that disrupt your personal plans. It makes scheduling anything in advance very challenging.

Follow Hannah Holman on X and Instagram: @HannahHol.

  • Originally published on Lookbooks.

An Affair with Fashion

With a sharp eye for fashion and aesthetics, Brazilian artist André Azevedo has explored diverse avenues of creative expression. From filmmaking and painting to multimedia art installations, he demonstrates consistent command over his medium, creating a body of work that resonates with both cutting-edge creatives and mainstream luxury audiences. Whether designing a boutique window display, directing a television commercial, or producing editorial illustrations for fashion magazines, Azevedo brings a bold, distinctive vision that captivates audiences worldwide.

Trained in graphic design, Azevedo treated his artwork largely as a personal pursuit during the ten years he spent working as a model manager for one of São Paulo’s top agencies. In 2007, facing burnout, he recognized the need to step back and reassess his path. He stepped away from his fast-paced career in São Paulo, packed his studio, and returned home to Curitiba—a city celebrated for its quality of life and vibrant cultural scene.

The move was initially meant as a sabbatical to discover his true focus, but it quickly catalyzed his transition from agent to full-time artist. Leveraging his industry background, Azevedo took on freelance fashion styling and production work while dedicating his evenings and weekends to canvases, digital screens, and sketchbooks. His work maintained a distinct dialogue with fashion imagery, drawing continuous inspiration from the human form: “The human being remains at the center of my vision,” he notes.

Reflecting on his departure from talent management, Azevedo explains: “In the beginning, being immersed in the fashion world and meeting fascinating people was exhilarating and deeply stimulating. Over time, however, the routine grew predictable. Leaving was necessary, though those visual references still shape my work.”

In Curitiba, Azevedo also embraced digital platforms and social media as central tools to share his portfolio globally. Through his blog, he attracted a wide following that included art directors, fashion editors, and high-profile figures such as Kanye West, who shared Azevedo’s work with his audience.

The internet quickly became an effective gallery. Azevedo began fielding collaboration requests from international peers and commercial clients like Alfa Romeo and MTV, who integrated his illustrations into creative campaigns. Editorial commissions followed from publications such as Tank and Made in Brazil. Brazilian label Forum tapped him to design a limited-edition capsule of graphic t-shirts that swiftly sold out, while Lacoste invited him to participate in a collaborative project that featured a runway presentation, an exhibition series, and a limited-edition art book launched in Paris in 2011. A large-scale panel Azevedo created for the Rio de Janeiro exhibition was later adapted for Lacoste’s flagship store windows across the city.

Art book publisher Taschen recognized his distinctive style and featured his work in Illustration Now! Vol. 4, later including him in The Big Book of Fashion Illustration.

Addressing the intersection of fine art and commercial partnerships, Azevedo takes a pragmatic, grounded approach: “Most artists dream of working uninterrupted in their studios without worrying about market viability or pricing, but that is rarely realistic. While some view commercial work critically, I don’t believe it diminishes my integrity as an artist. Being invited to collaborate with legacy brands like Lacoste or Alfa Romeo is a compliment. My creative freedom remains intact; I am typically given a general theme and allowed complete freedom to interpret it.”

Having established himself across painting, design, and illustration, what comes next? “Photography still fascinates me,” Azevedo reflects. “It demands rigorous technical discipline and is one of the few mediums that didn’t come intuitively to me like drawing and painting.”

Visit André Azevedo’s official blog to explore his latest portfolio and projects.

Not as happy as it sounds

If you haven’t yet watched Another Happy Day, then don’t be fooled by the title, it’s one of those sarcastic little things that you need to be able to pick up on. Like that movie Happiness; remember?

Well, don’t get me wrong, Another Happy Day is one damn good movie; written and directed by a very talented Mr. Sam Levinson and with a cast that will take your breath away. From Ezra Miller and Ellen Barkin, to Ellen Burstyn and Demi Moore, this is a flawless movie, hissy fits included and all. It’s not just a movie about a family falling apart, it’s a movie about real families, and how real families have all kinds of craziness but all kinds of beauty within them too. This is a movie about the woman who wants her family to get along, about the boy who wants to be a part of, about the girl who needs a father, about the ex husband who has gone so far and grown so cold that he barely knows how to communicate with his loved ones. This is a movie about what happens with a family when honesty, tenderness and understanding walk out the door, because love is still there, but it’s nothing more than an old idea or a dusty memory.

Don’t be discouraged though – this is a movie that still manages to maintain its good spirits, for the most part. There is sense of humour within all the madness, there is irony too, just like our lives. Well, raise your hand if you never experienced one of those “well ain’t this perfect!?!?” moments? As i thought, no hands went up.

Another Happy Day is a great movie because it hits the right chords for the right issues. Yes, not all families are that dysfunctional, but this is not the point. The point is, that there are people like that around us, constantly, we go through situations just as bad throughout several occasions in our lives. If we haven’t yet, we surely will soon, so why not open our eyes and minds and examine something that is given to us by fictional characters, is entertaining, causes no pain and could very well prepare us for those not so happy moments?

This movie is all about reaction, it’s an episode in the life of a family, and within that episode we are shown  a lifelong history of bad reactions. Separations, conversations, addiction, mental disorder, lies that come out and truths that are hidden, all of those bring out emotional and erratic reactions from each of the characters. Ellen Barkin‘s Lynn even tries to keep it together, but because of the way she reacted to things in the past, there is no way of fixing it anymore, she has set precedents and taken wrong decisions and now it’s too late. It’s too late for her and for all of them, this so called family hasn’t been an actual family in a long time.

See, all our lives are based on how we carry ourselves and the actions we take. Every bad action will generate a bad reaction. In theory. As human beings equipped with brains that we are, we are capable of making decisions and controlling our emotions, however, some of us forget about that and allow for our emotions to take over and react on situations that could have had a much brighter outcome had we taken the time to ponder and make the right decision.

If this movie doesn’t make you think about life and how you behave in your family and in society, than I don’t know what will, and hopefully this was the goal here, because it’s more than time for us all to pick up that long awaited wake up call. The phone is ringing, what will you do?

Walk the Walk

As New York Fashion Week approaches, hundreds of new faces fill the streets of Manhattan—models competing for their moment under the runway spotlights. For many, a single booking can be the catalyst for a long and successful career; securing the job is only the first step, and the runway performance is everything. But how do these emerging models prepare for high-pressure castings? And how do they master their walk when called to perform?

Connie Fleming is the answer for many of these young talents. Many arrive having learned to walk in their home countries or from watching runway videos online, often needing to refine their technique—or unlearn bad habits and start entirely from scratch.

Fleming emerged in the fashion world during the 1980s amid New York’s vibrant downtown fashion and performance art scene. She caught the eye of designers like Patricia Field and Andre Walker, who cast her in their runway shows. Soon after, she gained acclaim from houses like Thierry Mugler and Vivienne Westwood. Her modeling career flourished, with photographers like Steven Klein and Steven Meisel cementing her status as an industry muse.

Through her involvement in the art world and years of collaborating on production and casting with longtime friend Patricia Field, Fleming developed deep industry expertise before transitioning into runway coaching. With alumni including Arlenis Sosa, Hanne Gaby Odiele, Erin Heatherton, and Brooklyn Decker, she brings a wealth of insight to the next generation of models:

What do you enjoy most about coaching young models for the runway?

Helping them build confidence and watching them grow, evolve, and adapt to the creative vision of each designer.

To an outsider, walking a runway might seem simple—put on the clothes, maintain a strong expression, and walk. Given the demand for a coach, what else goes into mastering the walk?

It comes down to attitude, presence, pace, and making a connection with the eyes. It’s about being fully present in the moment and embodying the overall creative statement of the collection.

What is the most critical skill for these models to develop?

Understanding the client’s creative direction and brand aesthetic, mastering body alignment to complement the garment’s silhouette, and feeling entirely comfortable in their own skin.

Do model agents typically provide specific instructions or ever interfere with your process?

Every model has different needs at any given moment. An agent might ask to focus on a specific walk for an upcoming show or help a new face step out of her shell. I’ve never experienced friction with agents; ultimately, they know their talent best. They also receive direct feedback from casting directors and clients, so it becomes a collaborative effort to get the model ready.

What is the most challenging aspect of being a runway coach?

Time. There isn’t always enough time to prepare a model as thoroughly as I’d like before show week begins.

How does it feel to see models you’ve coached succeed in major campaigns, editorials, and shows?

Naturally, it’s rewarding. It is wonderful to see them apply the techniques and poise we developed during our sessions.

Do you stay in touch with the models you’ve worked with?

We cross paths at events and shows from time to time. They are busy building dynamic careers, and I couldn’t be happier for their success.

What is your most important piece of advice for aspiring models?

Do your homework on the industry—study the designers, fashion houses, key publications, and digital platforms. Most importantly, recognize that this is a demanding business that can be tough at times. You need a thick skin and the ability not to take critiques personally.

What goals are you currently focused on achieving?

There are still several creative avenues I want to explore. I am currently developing various personal projects, including a collection of fashion illustrations I have worked on for years, which I plan to exhibit soon.

  • Originally published on Lookbooks.

And the Winner Is…

In times when all we hear in the media and among our friends too is the buzz about who’s wining which award or who’s wearing what in which red carpet or what the host will say that will make people uncomfortable or how will the acceptance speech be; i can’t help but wonder, what do these awards really mean and who are these awards important to anyway?

Awards are like great compliments, given to us by people that – hopefully – know and have excelled in the same craft as those who receive it, awards are the recognition of a job well done; much like a star to the child who cleans up their bed room or the treat to the dog who sits quietly upon request. But awards don’t change us, awards don’t all of a sudden make us into something special or different, or at least they shouldn’t. Just because an actor receives an Oscar it doesn’t mean they will only do masterpieces from there on, right Charlize Theron? Of course it is expected of them to only do better from then on, but why should they only then go for those dramatic roles that make you cry for 45 minutes when they can also have some fun while working and do a high energy action movie or a laughable comedy? They are actors after all, they should be open to playing whatever character makes them happy, wether we, the Academy or the critics like it or not.

I was watching a show on Oprah Winfrey’s Network the other night called Master Class, in this show Oprah had Goldie Hawn talking about her life and career, and Ms. Hawn, a very accomplished and established actress – and and Oscar winner for that matter – had something very interesting to say. Goldie Hawn went on to say exactly what i’ve always been thinking, that it’s great to get an award, that it’s really cool to be recognized for the work you did and it’s good to know that your peers admire you enough that they would give you something like an Oscar, but this accolade is like a pat in the back, and it doesn’t make us any more special than we already were before, we need to be glad for it and move on, continue to do our jobs, carry on with our lives, because an award doesn’t define who we are, they give us confidence, even boost up our egos for a moment, but it should not be for more than a moment.

You see, this is where it gets tricky, it’s when the boosted ego lingers for more than a moment, and we believe that we in fact deserve something more than we’ve been getting, that we are in fact different. We are not. We should learn to take those little moments as a guide in our lives, maybe they exist to show us we are in the right path, that we are doing something that is good and admired, and it shows us which qualities we have, and that could be the lesson to be taken from an award or from that “job well done” we got from our boss, that we are in the right path and should continue to work hard, and that we should continue to give the best of ourselves in whatever it is that we are doing, otherwise, what’s the point of doing it anyway?

What is the point of doing something if it’s not done with love and passion? No point at all. So there you have it, regardless of getting an award or not, you should be happy you’ve done it and know in your heart, with or without the award, that you’ve done a great job. Other people’s opinion will not make it more special, they may validate your own, but your opinion will still be the same, much like yourself as a person, and all of us should learn to award ourselves for the hard work we do, we should learn to identify our strengths and weaknesses as human beings and work on them to improve ourselves, and we should be able to admit to ourselves and the world what they are; there is nothing wrong with that, it shows character.

Modesty, actually, false modesty, is a bitch; and i only say this because i used to be big in false modesty. Why would you discredit yourself of something you did that was very well done? No, you should take the credit and run with it, but keep in mind that it doesn’t change a thing about yourself. It is important to know what you’re worth and to keep that in check constantly, because by doing that you will always remember that even though you may have many qualities, you also have many flaws, and they are just as visible, and that no one depends on another person’s opinion to be happy, because by knowing your qualities and flaws you can be happy about yourself as a person and the feeling of being happy is extraordinary.

I recently lost a job, and all i heard from friends and people i know was how good i am and how i would turn this around because of these amazing talents and skills i have and so on and so forth. It wasn’t very long until i started wearing a cloak of wisdom and all you would hear was me talking about myself and how great i was and how i would turn things around because i was really great and no one else could be greater than me and that anyone would be a fool not to hire me because i would add so much value to a company and so on and so forth.

What a bore of a human being i had become. For over a week the world revolved around me and i could not see past myself. Finally one night, i was having dinner with a great friend, someone who knows me inside and out, and halfway through it i see a look in her face, and i know i had seen that look once before, and it scared me. I had to ask her what was wrong, but she would NOT say it, for the life of her, i could see how uncomfortable she was, and that was driving me crazy, because i knew right there that i must have done or said something absolutely awful. Finally, after much insistence she revealed the reason of her discontentment towards me: I was acting like a selfish prick. And there it was, the cloak of wisdom fell off my shoulders and i realized how ridiculous i was, riding on my high horse like i was worth a million bucks when in fact i was probably worth no more than a penny.

So here it is my friends, the true story of how a good person, which i admittedly am, can turn into an absolute douche bag, to say the least. This is again, proof that compliments and awards don’t change who we are. Those people saying how good i was when i lost my job were doing what they were supposed to be doing, they were pointing out my qualities so that i would have enough confidence to carry on and feel good about myself, they were being good friends, and after a while i became a ball of ego rolling down a mountain and destroying everything that crossed my path, even the ones who i loved the most.

We should always, always remember to stay true to ourselves and in our paths be kind and generous to others, because the award of today may be the doom of tomorrow.

Splashing Back

Lisa Cant Splashes Back into the Fashion Scene

Dolce & Gabbana favorite Lisa Cant recently took time off from the fashion world to attend Columbia University, but the blue-eyed beauty is back and looking better than ever! Along with wrapping up her final semester at Columbia this year, Lisa just shot an editorial for Vogue US with Steven Klein and plans to walk the runway in the upcoming Fashion Weeks.

Trump Models included Lisa in their show package for casting directors and designers. Having walked some of the top runways in the past—including Chanel and Marc Jacobs—she is sure to be one of the most booked models this season.

The Curse

Every year is the same story, as the holiday season approaches, millions, or dare i say, billions of people accross the globe enter a state of utter anxiety that culminates with the new year’s eve celebration. Oh the new year, this emblematic turn of the page of a calendar, or even the start of a brand new one, where projects will be launched, ideas will be developed, dreams will be chased, relationships will begin and promotions will be earned. Or not.

I remember from a very young age of being involved in fancy celebrations for the turn of the year and the hugs and kisses exchanged between friends and family wishing for a happy new year, followed by wishes of joy, happiness and success. What i also remember is that could not understand what difference did any of it make? I mean, was something going to dramatically change from today to tomorrow? I clearly remember not feeling any difference whatsoever, i mean, apart from the holiday everyone seemed to have, everything else remained the same. Everything.
After i gained some age and freedom, the celebration of the new year also meant being free from the shackles of the family festivities and venturing out with my friends in our own adventures through creative or exotic locations; or sometimes merely someone else’s living room, with no grown up presence to say what we should or shouldn’t do. In reality, what that was, was another opportunity to drink all night long until the morning came or someone passed out flat on the floor. Either way, that meant we were growing up, and we were in charge and independent, we didn’t need anyone to tell us what and how to do anything, we knew better. Or so we thought.
Over the years i’ve grown to dislike the new year’s eve celebrations just as much as everything else that surrounded the holiday season. That one night carried so much anxiety and expectations that at the end it seemed more like a task rather than a fun night out with friends. Most of the times it meant having some grand party plan or a very interesting travel destination combined with a mind-blowing party night. Well, needless to say that none of that EVER turned out as planned, hence the title above mentioned, and what i have been recently calling the curse of the new year’s eve.
It is always a mess, you end up stranded at some weirdo’s party in a distant location, or the party you spent a fortune on turns out to be hilariously disappointing – and i mean hilarious because you can’t help but laugh at your own foolishness – or you start the evening in love to only finish heart-broken, or – which in my case is usually what happens and is far worse – everything seems to be going smoothly and you’re heading towards a very successful evening in an incredible location with great company and then something really unexpected and fucked up happens.
Crap, don’t you just hate that? Isn’t that just a downer? Not in a simplistic perspective, but in fact in a disastrous, Donald Duck kind of proportion. I mean, you’re in the zone, working the party, everything in harmony, you are finally making all the right connections that could contribute to something in the year ahead of you and then someone taps you in the shoulder: “have you seen Daniel?” and you go blank for a second – “no, i thought he was with you?!?”. Well, dear friends, there you have it, the beginning of the end, you know that from that moment on your night will turn into hell.
Daniel, for that matter ends up resurfacing four hours later out of a ditch four blocks down the road where he went to look for “entertainment” – whatever the hell that means.
Well, the curse is very simple, because it never fails me, it always turns up at some point on my new year’s eve and ruins my night, even if i decide to lock myself at home and watch movies, something WILL happen. The good side though is that this curse is the one thing that i can solemnly count on every single year. I know that for some part of that day i will be having a blast and i know that all of that will come crashing down on me as if the skies were falling on my head like in an Asterix comic book.
The thing is, who cares anyway? New year’s eve is after all just another pointless holiday night that people use as an excuse to get sloshed and act irresponsibly, and there is nothing wrong with that, i mean i would have absolutely NOTHING against it if people didn’t put so much expectation in it and on top of that added all that cheering and fake emotions and commotion that everyone knows is bullshit. I mean, what’s the deal with all the hugging and the kissing just because a number is changing in the calendar? And why do we have a need for the year to change to only then start that long awaited diet or stop acting like a douche? Why not take action right now and get back the control of your life instead of just waiting for other people and holidays to dictate your future? I have nothing against new year`s eve, as long as it doesn’t cause me traumas.
It seems pretty odd to me that we would have the discernment to decide to change things because the year is changing digits and not do anything about it throughout the year anyway!!?! Come on people, get off those fashionable bony asses and start acting on it NOW, before it’s too late; and i know i sound a bit harsh, but it is what it is – i’d rather spend my energy on having a great birthday celebration rather then waiting for the clock to turn midnight, if you ask me where i was when the clocks turned, i will probably tell you: asleep.

Manifesto of the Broken-Hearted

“How come you never go there? How come i’m so alone there?” – with those words Leslie Feist kicks off her latest single, recently released as a part of the album “Metals” – another beautifully crafted work of art by the Canadian musician who has brought us so much joy and heart-break before, and it is in the heart break that i want to focus here, because it is so easy for us to take it for granted.

You see, a heart break can be a beautiful thing, a weapon of mass construction, it can build songs, paintings, installations, books, journeys and even careers. It is not by chance that we are put to test like that, it is not by chance that we are compelled to feel our heart ache so much that it feels like we don’t want to feel anything at all. Just like we need to fall, in order to learn to get back up, maybe it’s getting our hearts broken that will teach us how to master the art of falling in love and dealing with every heart break, minor or major.

It is so easy for us to feel like the other one is at fault, or that we did it all wrong, and then to turn ourselves in martyrs; but why, i ask? Why should we put ourselves through so much pain and misery? It is ok to feel the pain, but living through it is the best part, let’s look at it from another angle, maybe this pain that comes from a heart-break is like a rare delicacy, it’s like that flower that blossoms only once in every few years, and we need to enjoy it as much as we can instead of trying to smash it down, for there is beauty even in the ugly; didn’t someone once say that “the beauty is in the eye of the beholder”?

Well, what i would like to propose here is an exercise, it’s a new way to look at our pain, whatever that is and wherever it comes from, and to turn it into something beautiful; like songwriters compose songs that sweep our hearts away, we can transform our pain in something that will make us happy. Through our pain we may discover a new passion, we may find a new friend, we may come to terms with older issues that were put to the side, because a heart break puts us in a place of fear and unease, it also puts us in anger and frustration, and those are all feelings that are great fuel in life, especially for our creativity.

So lets look at our heart break and gracefully learn from it, let’s look at what we did that could have gone wrong and at the end did. We are only human, we are not in control of life, we can’t decide how other people think, feel or react, we can’t control other people’s actions and emotions, so what we are left with is our own stuff to deal with. Let’s look back at our previous heart breaks and think about how much of it was really just because we projected much further than we in fact were living. Let’s look at our expectations and our romantic ideas, and then try to see if the other part involved shared those same ideas and expectations,or if maybe we had allowed ourselves to interpret further and make up reasons for our actions based on our own feelings, not in facts.

Even though it sounds awfully mechanical, it is also truly reasonable, because if you put things in perspective like that, it also helps to alleviate the pain, because it’s like science, you can’t argue with it.

Now, even after much rationalization, there will still be pain, because a broken heart is a broken heart, you can mend the pieces but parts of it will never be the same, and isn’t that a great thing? Because your feelings can change, evolve and grow; you can learn to turn those amended pieces in a great friendship, or you may turn them into a work of art that will blow the world away in lovely inspiration, or it may also be the last drop you needed to really focus in that career you never pursued because your mind was too distracted with other things.

You see, a broken heart is a beautiful thing, because it changes you, because it makes you look at yourself and the world around you in a different way, it makes you reflect on yourself and your life, it makes you put things in check, and it will always be a great reminder of your capacity to love; and if you really give your broken heart all the love and attention it deserves what you may encounter at the end is even more glorious than what you started with.

Below is a video of Feist performing “How come you never go there” on David Letterman. Enjoy! ;)

In the Land of Jolie

Whenever i sit to write in this blog there is fuel that drives me. Many times the source is one particular matter that raises a certain question in my head that pushes me to sit and write and share my ideas with the world. Every now and then it’s not one, but the clash of several different matters that push me to write, in this case the clash of ideas that brought me to my knees is not an easy one.

I live in New York City, a half a block away from the United Nations, i meditate on that building constantly as a way of trying to find peace, i look to it as a source of inspiration, because i would like to think of it as a place where politics, religions, beliefs and economy are all neutral and in perfect harmony, even though i know it isn’t. Many nights on my way home I stop and stare at that building and wonder what thoughts and prayers are going on in there, what matters are being brought to the surface for discussion, and which of those matters are in fact being addressed and which ones aren’t. I always try to think of the United Nations as a place of peace, i try to look at it as a place of reflection on life in this tiny world we live in and for a second my heart gets filled with hope.

Well, last night i went to a different building in the city, the Hearst Tower, symbol of money and power of the american empire, but a place where thoughts come to life in print and websites and media in general; and also the place that houses Marie Claire magazine, which had invited me for a private screening followed by a Q&A of Angelina Jolie’s “In the Land of Blood and Honey” the movie she wrote, directed and produced, about the war in Bosnia; a very controversial movie but also a brilliantly made movie; a movie that raises all the right questions, that stirs all the right feelings, that throws you to the ground and shakes you to look for your human soul.

Angelina Jolie has always been a very mysterious woman to me, a very layered gorgeous woman; she is the bombshell, the actress, the mother, the humanitarian, whatever it is you want to label her as, she can be, i see her as a Swiss army knife, actually, i don’t, because a Swiss army knife has limitations, and Angelina doesn’t. Mrs. Jolie is a powerful woman and she uses the power she has been given very wisely.

In her directorial debut, Mrs. Jolie told a story that many people don’t want to tell, she told the story of something that the world didn’t even want to look at as it was happening, in Bosnia; ugly things done by human beings to other human beings, she told the stories of the war, she managed to brilliantly place the viewer inside the war, next to the soldiers and the victims, she made you feel all they felt, and you could not pick a side, you could not decide who the villain was, because they all had their part in it, they all came in with their beliefs and they all turned into something else as soon as the war began.

Angelina Jolie showed us what it feels like to be in war, to see horrific things on a daily basis, year after year, after year, she made us understand that there is no sense to any of it, that friends and neighbors can turn into enemies in the click of an Uzi, just because. That is frightening, and we don’t want to look at it, it is in our nature to look away, we don’t want to know what happens there, we don’t like to be put in that position, because we don’t want to question ourselves what would we do if we were put in that situation.

Before the movie started, Angelina came out with a message; “Over the next two hours, you will feel uncomfortable and you will want to stop the movie and leave, but these people, they had to live through these things for three years, they couldn’t leave, and many of the actors in this movie were there when it happened, so please don’t leave.”

Well, no one left, and we all wore those Bosnian shoes, and that is exactly what will happen to you too upon watching “In the Land of Blood and Honey”, because Angelina Jolie will not settle for less then the absolute truth, she will not settle for less than the reality, and if the film doesn’t end the way you expect it to end, well, you will have to suck it up, because in war, things don’t necessarily end the way we want them to end.

Mrs. Jolie is a serious woman who takes her job very seriously, and when given the opportunity to tell this horrific story she decided to do the best job she could to show the world how things really happened, not how we hoped for them to turn out in the end, because in war there is no romantic ending, there is just the end. And then some other war begins somewhere else.

If the story was taken from a book of a certain gentleman or not, that doesn’t mater, controversies aside, Angelina Jolie was the right person to tell this story, Mrs. Jolie has the means and expertise to make it work, she made sure that the movie reflected what really happened during the conflict in Bosnia, and because this movie has Mrs. Jolie as its creator people will pay attention to it and they will buy tickets and they will go watch it, even though the theme is tough to digest, so it doesn’t matter where the story came from, but the story was told the best way it could be told, the story reached it’s full potential for the screen and hopefully will help raise awareness of millions of people around the world, because that’s why i write and that’s why movie makers make movies, because we want to send a message, that’s how we know how to help, we inform people through our craft and hope that the message sticks.

So what i took from my encounter with Mrs. Jolie was that if more people in Hollywood were rolling up their sleeves like she is, and Mr. Sean Penn is, and Mr. Steven Spielberg is, then we would have a much better chance of changing the world, because we still live in a celebrity driven world, and if more actors and directors used their celebrity status to give us the truth then we would have a much more educated young generation.

Angelina Jolie is a much bigger person than you would think of, and i feel profoundly honored and privileged to have been able to meet with her and share thoughts and ideas on some of the most difficult world issues, issues that we both care and fight for; in different levels, but still, we are both doing the best we can in our capacities, we are both being the best human beings that we can be.

Letters to Haiti


LetterstoHaitievite.jpgLetterstoHaitievite.jpg

Culture: Letters to Haiti

In an evening of relentless rain, New York City’s most die hard charity fans  showed up for Haiti. The event led by supermodel 

Coco Rocha

 entitled “Letters to Haiti” came to show that when you mix, fashion, art and humanitarian causes you can’t go wrong. In it’s third fund raiser, the non profit organization 

Lakay Pam

, founded by Cedrick Roche and his wife,

Carolina Bittencourt-Roche 

– moved locations, leaving the grungy Opera Gallery in Chelsea and Mr. Brainwash’s colorful installations behind to inhabit a more minimalist spot.

The gallery at Milk Studios included works by Victoria’s Secret model Behati Prinsloo, Greg Kadel, Enrique Badulescu and Ben Watts, among others; all up for auction to help raise money for the charity that supports orphanages and schools in Port Au Prince

 But the main event of the evening was 

James Conran

‘s documentary screening which also gave name to the event – “Letters to Haiti” – in which Mr. Conran depicts  the efforts of Coco and Behati along with a couple of friends in bringing letters and donations from around the world to the children of Haiti. As some of you may know, James Conran is Coco Rocha’s husband, a talented designer and now also a filmmaker.

Coco’s efforts didn’t go unnoticed and she managed to bring out her buddies Karlie Kloss and Hillary Rhoda as well as long time friend Mr. Zac Posen who made sure Rocha had a fresh-off the runway look to wear for the evening. Before the film started. We heard the warm laughter of Lauren Santo-Domingo trading impressions of Ms. Prinsloo’s pictures with make up artist Joe Hubrich and Carolina Bittencourt-Roche discussing blogging with her friend Luciana Curtis.

After the screening of the documentary was finished, Coco reminded everyone that the silent auction was about to begin, but – and said, “If you can’t bid or donate, then maybe you can spread the word and help us raise awareness, Haiti still needs you”.

The message was received, and it seemed that the guests were in pretty good holiday spirits as most of the photographs were sold with no fuss; well, except for one very colorful photography by Ben Watts; generating a bidding war that culminated with the designer Ana Lerario-Geller having to outbid an unknown gentleman by a hundred dollars in the last minute before the bidding closed. Merry Christmas Robert Geller!

All in all it was a fun night out on a very boring rainy New York evening where the holiday spirit could be felt in full force.

Gabriel Ruas Santos-Rocha, to see mroe of his writing click 

here

. 

All photos courtesy of  Josh Wong Photography

Pilgrimage

West Chelsea saw a true fashion pilgrimage last night as figures like Tory Burch, Marina Muñoz, and Jamie Johnson flocked down 22nd Street, navigating around a film shoot for the TV series Damages that had brought local traffic to a standstill. Nothing deterred them from their mission: attending the opening of Annie Leibovitz’s Pilgrimage exhibition at The Pace Gallery, hosted by none other than Anna Wintour, the formidable editor-in-chief of Vogue.

Expectations for the event were high. This marks Leibovitz’s first entirely digital project, and the subjects of her photographs are not the famous faces typically seen across the pages of Vanity Fair or Vogue, but rather places and inanimate objects that hold personal resonance for the photographer and cultural significance in history.

Surrounded by images of Emily Dickinson’s last remaining dress, Elvis Presley’s television, Sigmund Freud’s couch, and Abraham Lincoln’s hat, photographer Claiborne Swanson Frank shared details about her forthcoming debut book, while “It girl” Lily Kwong laughed about sourcing an evening dress on a strict budget for an upcoming Vogue.comfeature: “Give me 200 bucks and I’ll make it work!” Coco Rocha made a brief appearance alongside husband James Conran en route to a dinner party. The couple is preparing to host a benefit next week for Lakay Pam, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting children in Haiti. Marking Rocha’s third fundraiser for the organization, the evening will feature the premiere of the documentary Letters to Haiti alongside an exhibition of photographs taken by Victoria’s Secret Angel Behati Prinsloo during their visit to the country last year.

On an evening where fine art shared the spotlight with fashion, Chuck Close’s presence served as an anchor for the night’s core purpose: celebrating art and historical memory. Close reflected on Leibovitz’s latest direction: “It’s interesting to see an artist of her caliber step out of her comfort zone to shoot inanimate objects. The result is beautiful. I’ve never been someone who takes casual photographs—I don’t think I’ve ever taken a picture on vacation. I prefer keeping those moments in memory, so seeing these personal subjects documented this way is fascinating.”

The reception unfolded seamlessly in the gallery’s warm atmosphere. Over white wine and canapés, Karen Elson, Narciso Rodriguez, and Prabal Gurung mingled alongside Catherine Newell-Hanson, Eugenia Gonzalez, and Michelle Harper. Leibovitz signed monographs for friends and guests, and right around 8:00 PM, the gallery began to empty promptly—an understated departure typical of such an exclusive crowd.

Photographs from Pilgrimage will be on view in New York at The Pace Gallery on December 1, 2, and 3, and will travel to the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., running from January 20 to May 20, 2012. The accompanying book, Pilgrimage, is published by Random House and available now.

*Originally published on Lookbooks.

On Forgiveness

“Time will tell” is a saying people use a lot, but this morning I actually saw the saying coming into life, so I will tell you what time told me about “The Descendants”, the movie brilliantly directed by Alexander Payne that is currently in theaters.
Last night when I left the theater I knew I liked the movie, I wasn’t sure what was about it I liked the most; maybe it was the perfect portrayal of what normal life is like in Hawaii, maybe it was that feeling of pain, grief and redemption that ripped the movie screen and jumped inside me, maybe it was George Clooney and Shailene Woodley’s brilliant acting, or a very well crafted and sensible screenplay; but whatever it was, something was set in motion inside me and I couldn’t put my finger on it right away.
This morning, after some time had passed, I was minding my own business and then it hit me: “Forgiveness! That’s it! Being forgiving, they were forgiving to themselves and each other above all!”. It was almost as if lightning was striking and I could see it coming down and up thru me, that was what had touched me so much in that movie, that was what the whole movie was about, or perhaps it wasn’t, but it portrayed forgiveness in a beautiful and natural way.
It starts with George Clooney’s character, he may be a flawed man, but he acknowledges it and he finally has a chance to do something about it, he knows this is the moment, the window of opportunity to make things right for himself and his entire family. Every character, one by one starts an exercise of soul searching and understanding, and they go through every tiny bit of feeling inside themselves and they forgive, even if they don’t want to, they work on forgiving, honestly forgiving, because it is the right thing to do. Alexander Payne shows us in this crafty movie that forgiveness is necessary in order to go on living.
These characters go through so much pain and destruction in their lives and yet they find a way to be together and show support for each other and give the word family a real meaning. We may not forget certain things in life, but we can definitely forgive them and move on, and grow from it, learn from it, use those things to make us better human beings, and I believe the most important message in this movie is that before being forgiving with others, we have to be forgiving on ourselves to only then be able to spread forgiveness even further.
You see, the beauty about forgiveness is that no one else needs to know about it, it’s a very internal movement we make that helps to create balance and puts everything back in order, it helps us to reconnect with other people, it enables us to live in society without judgments and hurt and so many other negative feelings that normally surround us on a daily basis. Forgiveness doesn’t have to be out loud for society to see, it’s not an award on the kindest human being on earth, but in fact it’s quite the opposite, it serves to remind us to be gentle with ourselves and others, it serves to show us that all human beings are delicate and feel just as much as we do and have pain just as much as we do.
My pain is not greater than yours, “The Descendants” showed me that too, in fact, my pain is irrelevant in most matters in my life, as long as I am aware of how my pain affects me and that I address it from time to time, then I got it covered, no one else needs to be pulled into my madness. It’s all very simple, because we all as human beings have issues going through life, and we can ask for help, we can scream for salvation, but we have to remind ourselves to not take advantage of our pain to get something out of someone else. Pity is an ugly feeling, why would anyone want anything to do with it anyway? Our pains are our own, and that’s the same with forgiveness, it’s our own and it serves to bring relief from the pain, the anger, the jealousy, the narrow-mindedness, you name it, there are so many feelings we can be forgiving about, but no matter what the issue is, we must always forgive and with time we may even forget.
We may forget the smaller things in life, the tiny feelings that come and go, we may be reminded of them from time to time too and they will serve to show us how silly we once thought of something, or someone, or as it is in most cases, ourselves.

Role Model

During the seven years in which Carrie Bradshaw inhabited the TV screen on HBO she became a part of our lives, men, like women, were also drawn to her, even if just for the sake of knowing what the hoopla was all about. We learned many things with Carrie, good and bad, she was our therapist and also the person we wanted to distance ourselves the most at certain times, but none the less, she was always there, like a good friend whose shoulder we can always rely on.
After Carrie and the “Sex and the City” gang were gone from the small screen we were left with a void, we had all of a sudden no one to look to when we turned our TV’s on, there was no shiny Park Avenue mirror for us to look into, no pink tutus or classic Manolo Blahniks to keep us comfort, we were left orphans, an entire generation or two that lived their lives inspired by Carrie Bradshaw, her loyal friends and their lavish lifestyle was all of a sudden at a loss.
Television networks were quick to look for replacements, there was Lipstick Jungle, but that was a huge fluke, poor Brooke Shields, it seems she had much bigger shoes to fill than they expected. But in fact what did they expect? It was like introducing the new wife to your children and expecting them to all of a sudden call this strange woman their “mommy” – it just doesn’t work like that! With the failure of the show that was meant to be the next step and salvation for women everywhere – or at least they marketed it to be seen that way – studios and networks had to find a solution. Sex and the City reruns on several networks were still making higher ratings than many of the brand new shows, so why not make a movie and expand the brand even further?
Sex and the City – the movie – was made, another smash hit produced and headlined by the unforgettable Sarah Jessica Parker and all of a sudden solace was found by millions of people across the globe. Since the early gossips until the premiere of the film, people felt comfort once again, but as soon as Sarah Jessica hung that pink tutu and put the Manolos to rest yet again, the void was back, and this time in full force. And so, have we ever accepted that the whole “Sex and the City” dream is in fact over? That there won’t be any more breakfasts with the girls? Will we face the fact that maybe we need to get out there and build our very own Park Avenue dream?
As I walked down the stairs from the movie theater recently, Sarah Jessica Parker’s most recent movie “I Don’t Know How She Does It” in fact, I realized how similar Sarah’s recent roles had been, how they had these carachteristics that did not distance from one another, like for instance, they were all mostly powerful or somewhat successful women, well, working women none the less, in their thirties or early forties, juggling their professional and personal lives in the big city, wherever that may be, and facing very common issues, like relationships, family, friends and work, but always in control of their own lives.
All of a sudden it dawned on me: Are we on a quest to find the next Carrie Bradshaw? And is Sarah Jessica Parker ever going to be able to step out of this gigantic persona that Carrie Bradshaw has become? Will Sarah Jessica Parker ever be able to leave her Manolo Blahnik’s behind for something more comfortable?
The answer is a little more complicated than that, Carrie Bradshaw and Sarah Jessica Parker have molded into one in the mind of the audience, they in fact do live very similar lives if you don’t look too much into the details, and the press is quick to never show too much detail. Sarah Jessica Parker will forever be remembered as Carrie Bradshaw, an independent woman in the big apple, who dreamed big and made it happen in her own terms, she is the Mary Tyler Moore of our generation, but much more, she is a style icon, both in and outside the screens, she defines what women in our era should be like. But not only women, as some issues flow in the same direction for both men and women. The approach to life for Carrie is so current and in fact timeless, that anyone can identify, all those dreams and aspirations are splattered in the screen for anyone who cares to identify with them, and we all did.
See, Sarah Jessica Parker has a family of her own, a successful career not only as an actress, but also as a producer and a business woman; she has her own fragrance, she makes endorsements and works on charity around the clock – or at least we are told so; Ms. Parker is a role model to all women, even if she isn’t, and on top of it, she embraces her age and speaks proudly of it, she shows that women shouldn’t necessarily be afraid of that ticking biological clock, they should in fact work with it and make the best of their time while roaming the sidewalks of earth – and still, do it in style.
So yes, in fact we are all looking for the next Carrie Bradshaw, we want to feel inspired, we want to see that in television, as in real life, mistakes are common and have to be dealt with, we want to know that behind the glamour there can also be sorrow and imperfection, because that makes us believe that it is all attainable to anyone, as long as we work really hard for it. 
But while we wait for our next screen-sized hero, why not keep an eye out for the real life Carrie Bradshaws out there and feel just as inspired? Because Ms. Parker for instance, has truly made it little more possible to all of us, men and women, and in her latest movie she could not be more appropriate and lovely, a woman at the top of her game, like herself; and so the question that remains is: how does she do it after all?

Naomi Preizler

HERE is a link to something I wrote on one of my favorite new models for LookBooks.com – have a read! :)

Agent Provocateur: Elite’s Gabriel Rocha on Naomi Preizler

Naomi Preizler (Elite) is much more than just a pretty face and a great runway girl. She is a true artist who paints and draws likes nobody’s business, and has a great understanding of art and fashion, which to me is an extremely important factor in a model’s career.

Unquestionably a rising talent in our industry, just the other week Naomi shot single-girl editorials for Vogue Russia and L’Officiel in different parts of the world. Her previous bookings include  a cover of Vogue Italia Gioiello; editorials for V Spain, V, Interview, Muse, Dazed & Confused, Wonderland, and Zoo; and features in i-D and Metal.

Naomi was also featured on the cover of the first issue of Harper’s Bazaar Argentina, her native country, where she is also currently working on a line of t-shirts with prints from her paintings.

Naomi has walked the runways of Givenchy, Chanel, Sonia Rykiel, Jean Paul Gaultier, Richard Chai, Rag & Bone, Missoni, Vivienne Westwood, House of Holland, among many others; and has been shot by photographers like Mario Sorrenti,Sharif Hamza and Vicky Trombetta (2DM).

For more on Naomi and Gabriel: Naomi’s Twitter | Gabriel’s Twitter — Blog

Will I end up in a Flea Market?

In my home, wherever that may be, as I change addresses and even cities and countries every so often, I have a tradition, and that is to fill it with objects that have a story to tell. Of course, like any other human being, I can’t shy from the brand new store bought objects, a nice couch is paramount to the life of any good living room, it’s that place where you can throw yourself among friends for a good talk over night or where you find the embrace of your lover to doze off in the middle of watching a movie in a rainy Saturday afternoon. But aside from the couch, the bed and maybe a bookshelf or a chair here and there, most of my belongings will come from flea markets and vintage shops.
In my home I like to incorporate to my books and art on the walls, objects that come from special places, pieces that were inherited from my family and tell part of my own background, as well as items I found while making my own story.
In one of my recent trips to London, while walking down Portobello Road amongst old door knobs, tea cups, rugs, porcelain dogs, boxes full of keys to mysterious doors, beautiful and questionable paintings and the occasional raw fish stand sided by pig ears and a man who carried his dog on his shoulders, I found a weird shaped vase, it was, as a matter of fact, a bottle, and there really wouldn’t be much use for it, especially because its lid was missing, but I fell in love with it, I saw potential in that poor orphaned object, so I bought it.
With the bottle in hand, a feeling of accomplishment washed over me, I had made that entire trip worthwhile, I had just acquired a “token” from Notting Hill, the neighborhood that was the lead character in the movie that goes by the same name and that for years inhabited my subconscious as this magical little village hidden in a corner of London.
On my walk back from the depths of that street fair I observed with less attention to the objects but more focus on the bigger picture; listening to the dialogues of the neighborhood woman complaining about her health to the newspaper man while taking a drag from her cigarette, the little kid strolling around while eating her morning croissant with the importance of a 35 year-old walking to her office, the policemen fighting with the unloading trucks that blocked the roads.
 This was part of what made that bottle so special, I pictured in which of those houses it used to live in, where it was originally bought, maybe in a street fair in Morocco or a glass store in Venice?  Was it a gift to newlyweds or maybe something passed along from mother to son, to daughter? That walk made me remember what makes my home a home to me, and that is just that, the reunion of all those moments into one place, memories that live in objects that are carefully placed in shelves and corners of my apartments.
The apartment in itself is unimportant, it’s just a box, but what I make with it is what makes all the difference. Most of the objects I add to my home will probably never leave it, they will move with me, from, address to address, adding to their own history and to theirs my own, but what happens after I die? Will I end up in a flea market?
That feeling of abandonment and loneliness came over and for once I put myself in the place of all those objects left to the roadside in London and so many of the flea markets and junk yards around the world, but I quickly had to come back, because that is not my place to be, I will be in a junk yard of my own and that won’t matter, like the objects left behind by previous owners, I will go on to seek solace elsewhere and history will continue to unfold around me, in this never ending tale that is life.
Now, that bottle, remember? The one with no lid bought in Notting Hill? For now it sits next to my television holding a beautiful dried white rose, and I was right, it made perfect sense to buy it and every time I look at it my heart fills up with joy.

Art to be Lived

I was having a conversation with a friend of mine,
a fashion editor for an Italian magazine; it was one of those conversations
that happen very unexpectedly in the middle of a hectic week of work somewhere
in Europe. We were talking about our lives, how fortunate we are to be able to
be globetrotting across the planet with our jobs and getting in touch with
different cultures and experiencing so many different lives in one lifetime, to
be seeing things that we used to see in text books in school or in our parents
art books. We spoke of our different backgrounds and the places we now live in
and the places we see ourselves living in, in the future; we decided we are in
did searching for a feeling of a well lived life, which in fact we already
have, given our young age.

But this talk was more in terms of where would we
establish ourselves, where we saw ourselves spending our old age, how our life
would be, what we would become from here on? Well, of course no precise answer
could come out of this conversation, but we do know what we are looking for.

For anyone who has seen the movie “I Am
Love” I am sure the house in which the characters lived in was in fact a
character on its own, possible the most impressive character of the movie. The
house where they lived in, in Milan, had its own character, which was a
combination of years of experience, years of traveling, years of knowledge
accumulated in those rooms. The appreciation for art and architecture that
breathes through the walls, the knowledge of fashion present in its
inhabitants, the admiration for food and the impact of its flavors and also how
they could change a mood with a single bite.

The house in that movie is a character on its own
because it has been lived in, it has felt the love, the laughter and the sorrow
of one or many families, it has seen birthdays and funerals, it has seen
engagement parties and celebrations of all sorts; it looks perfect from the
distance but from up close you can see the floorboards are scratched, the
curtains have stains and the windows may have cracks. Like a person, a house is
allowed to live and accumulate treasures, like we accumulate shoes, watches,
stamps or even a rose from a lover that we keep in secrecy. The house in “I Am
Love” is a character on its own because it is in fact a well lived house, it’s
quite possibly one of Milan’s most famous properties, called Villa Necchi
Campiglio, at Via Mozart, today a cultural institution open for visitors and
kept as it was when their owners lived there.

During this conversation with my friend it then
hit me, through something she said, that art is not meant to be hanging from
the cold walls of museums, but in houses and apartments, where it can be shared
with friends and family, where it can be admired and treated with love, like we
would a plant or animal. Art was made to live with people and witness their
lives, and be accumulated by their homes, not to be left alone in a cold room
alongside other abandoned and marketed pieces of art.

 Even though I am thankful for the museums and
galleries, for their existence and for allowing me to see some of the most
beautiful and enticing works created by men, I would adore if more of these
museums could be like Villa Necchi or The Frick Collection are, houses that
have been lived in and were left untouched for the appreciation of the people.
Every time I visit one of these stunning places I ask myself how their lives
must have been and I can’t help but wonder what it feels like to be able to
work there every day. The Pierpont Morgan Library in New York for example is to
me one of the most remarkable places I ever visited in my life, there it is,
the house and life’s work of a man completely devoted to collecting art, books
and obviously money, but that last bit is irrelevant in this case.

Really impressive, and on another side of the
spectrum, was visiting the Frida Khalo museum in Mexico City, because that’s
the place where she loved, bled, and created some of the most beautiful and
relevant works of art seen by men. In that house, Frida and Diego accumulated
art by other artists, their own art, books, animals and all sorts of memories, The
Frida Khalo Museum was to me the epitome of the museum home, every room spoke
to me, it’s almost as if she was there, walking around in her beautiful garden
or flipping through one of her many art books; to be able to see with my own
eyes how that amazing artist lived her life and which books she read and how
she kept her house was a phenomenal and unique experience.

While in Milan I had the opportunity to also visit
the Boschi Di Stefano apartment as well, and these two were very affluent Milanese
artists who acquired more than two thousand pieces of art during their life
together, and by art I mean all types; from paintings to sculpture, from
furniture to chandeliers, it’s all in there for the curious visitor to see, for
free.

It warms my heart to know that someone would leave
their entire patrimony to the city, to the memory of the world, to improve the
lives of those who follow them. To visit a place like this, that always existed
for the love of art, is a blessing, and even though museums were created and exist
to preserve art and were born precisely from the love for art, they haven’t
been lived in, they haven’t had a chance in life, they are these boxes, time
capsules, in which we keep our memories related to art and can access them
whenever possible. It doesn’t seem fair to me, but it sure is great to have
them in such an organized manner.


I have
always had this fear in life, of where I would end up, what would become of me,
then that turned into a fear of what would be done with my belongings, who, of
the people I know, would appreciate having some of the paintings I now own and
would care for it as much as I do? Well, that all is gone now, it is not
important what happens to my belongings after I pass, I will not be around to
see it, but I still definitely hope for the best and that the art I own feels
just as proud and happy for the life they were able to live while they were
living with me as I am proud to have them around me.

Why I Cry Today

I was sitting in a class of physics when someone received a text message saying that the World Trade Center had been attacked. I remember i was planning a trip to Los Angeles with one of my best friends instead of paying attention to class; we couldn’t believe it, all of us rushed down to the tv at the cafeteria in a state of shock, absolute shock, what was going on? How was that possible? What was happening in the world? Still to this day i can’t make any sense of it, i don’t think anyone ever will.

I remember the feelings i felt, i remember having a classmate whos father worked in one of the towers, i remember his despair staring at the tv screen without understanding; i remember the common feeling we all had for him and his family, we wanted them to be well. His father was there, but he survived. I have never seen that kid again, but my heart was with him then and is with him now, because to go through the agony he must have gone through is unimaginable.

It’s unimaginable for me to think that one human being is capable of willingly do a thing such as flying an airplane into a building. We are human beings, not animals; or are we? What is this desire to kill and destroy that some of us have? Where does it come from? Why is it necessary to fight over differences?

Today is the tenth anniversary of september eleven, a day that will never be forgotten, a day that will enter history books and a day that i witnessed and still can’t understand. At all. Every year my thoughts wander away into the void left by those who died, i try to piece it together and today, since the moment i woke up, i cried, because i can’t understand, because the fear is tangible, because the feeling of abandonment from reason is real. To me it feels like a wound that is constantly open and band-aided, and even though i wasn’t in that situation i witnessed with the entire world, and feelings sometimes travel faster than light and sound, and this feeling lives in my heart, there is no denying.

Every year i think of why would any person chose to kill over their beliefs? Can’t things be solved peacefuly? It’s even scarier to think that people celebrated the deaths of thousands somewhere in the world, that other human beings were gloating over something so unhuman, so animal. Just like World War II, September eleven to me is irrationality to the extreme, it’s madness, sheer brutality; and my heart aches for that, my tears roll down because i feel embarrassed as a human being, because i feel that with years and years of evolution we haven’t been able to overcome our irrationalities and act like the geniuses i know we can be, instead, some of us choose to use this genius for destruction of our own selves.

Humans have massacred millions of other humans, enslaved other humans, destroyed the very ground they live in, it’s total self-sabotaging, and that to me is uncomprehensible, because to me it’s such a simple equation, it’s as simple as 1+1=2. 

We don’t think the same, we don’t feel the same, we don’t believe in the same Gods, we don’t love the same, we don’t pray the same, but we all want to live, we all want to be able to have peace of mind, we all want to be able to have a place to come to at night, a place to call home, and we want our homes to be safe and free of fear. It baffles me to think that human beings are capable of such violent acts against each other, it disappoints me profoundly to know that we can’t live in peace, that we can’t be trusted, that we have to keep looking over our shoulders or interpreting situations.

I felt the same way when i was in Berlin, that is one powerful place to be if you wanna feel floored by emotions, because the kind of prolonged pain those people had to be put through is beyond me, i have no words, and that to me is rare. We may be intelectual humans, but sometimes we act like savages.

Living in New York, a city filled and built by different cultures and beliefs, my feelings are amplified, because i know it can still work out for us all, look at this city, it’s an example of resilience and survival, it is a multi cultural epicenter, it’s a city that has all cultures, religions, languages, sounds, sexual orientations, everything and anything you can imagine is in here, and we all have learned to live together in respect, we have learned to listen to each other, we have learned to dialogue, we have learned to live in peace.

Now more than ever, my heart cries harder, because i wish the whole world could feel and experience what i feel and experience here everyday, i wish the whole world could have the kind of freedom i have living in New York city, a world of its own, a place where you are accepted for who you are, regardless of anything else. Someone did something right here at some point, and it works, because we understand each other, there is a sense of community like nowhere else, and we come together for each other and we make it work, because we believe it is possible to coexist with all our differences in one city, in peace.

New York did not cause the disaster of  9/11 but the disaster was brought upon this city, and what New York did was beautiful, because New York gathered its strength and rebuilt itself and its spirit, New York and its citizens, people from all around the globe, gathered as one and showed the world that it is possible to live together and make something better, and this is why i cry, because New York, one of the most important cities on earth is to me the clearest example of strength, freedom and peace, and that is what i cry for today.

Back in the day

I was at a deli getting something to eat and all of a sudden i heard Paula Cole’s “I don’t want to wait” playing in the radio. I swear to you, it sent me shivers, good ones; and it sent me straight back to my high school years, it sent me back to my feelings of awkwardness and discoveries, it sent me back, with some shame, to “Dawson’s Creek”. There were entire afternoons spent with my friends at handball or volleyball games, in some others we would gather at someone’s house to talk sex and smoke cigarettes hidden from this someone’s parents; it was super exciting and we were beyond cool in our silly little minds. I hadn’t thought of those days for a long time, i hadn’t reconnected to that feeling in years, and it felt so right and so good to be able to feel all of that without having to live that anxiety that i know filled all our hearts.

I don’t wish i knew then what i know now, everything happened as it should and we had a ball. We laughed and cried with the same intensity and never blinked in front of an adventure, even if it meant suspension from school, because we knew that we had each other to fake our parents signatures and would be able to get away with almost anything. I am pretty sure our parents knew that too, but we were straight A students, so i guess it didn’t matter too much. That feeling was so good, really remarkable, i couldn’t stop thinking of the shows we used to watch, the gossip that used to flow through the halls of school, the principal that we absolutely could NOT stand and the little parties, called “The Best Party for Teenagers”, which we thought was a real grown up thing to do; tens of thousands of kids would go and then come back home at midnight or so, it was a huge deal to all of us and we adored it, i guess no one was really paying ANY attention to the name of the party, really, i am positive we weren’t, because we used to call it “The Best”. Period.

I could not give up that feeling, immediately i snapped back to 2011 and turned to my Pandora Radio to create my very own “Paula Cole Radio”. Oh gosh, “Where have all the cowboys gone” started playing and i could remember a series of other things connected to around that same time. I remembered that was the year Eric Clapton wanted to “Change the World” in the soundtrack of “Phenomenon”, a not so great movie with John Travolta but a damn good song that got him a couple of Grammy’s. Along the same lines, Jewel wanted to know who was going to save your soul in one of her biggest hits and Sheryl Crow i guess made everyone happy and nailed a bunch of awards too with her then current album.

1996 was a great year, Robert Redford and Michelle Pfeiffer got together for the sappy “Up Close & Personal”, one of my all time favorite romantic movies, because it had a great love story intertwined with the career of the small town girl Tally Atwater who dreamed big and made it big as she always dreamt. Stockard Channing had a great role in that movie and the soundtrack threw Celine Dion to super stardom with the hit “Because you loved Me”, we all remember that one, even if we don’t want to. On tv we saw “Beverly Hills 90210” hit their very last season, but by that point no one really cared anymore, it was all about “Friends”, “Ally McBeal”, “That 70’s Show”, “Everybody Loves Raymond”, “Mad About You”, the ever classic “Married with Children” and the unforgettable “3rd Rock from the Sun”. Now, that was a fun year for TV  and also the year we got to know many of the kids who are now Hollywood’s biggest movie stars. Oh, let’s not forget that in 1996 the show “Suddenly Susan” was on, and i know that was quite forgettable, but come on guys, the impeccable Kathy Griffin got to enter our homes every week and crack us up; and we can never thank that show enough for pushing Kathy to stardom.

In that year we were still reminiscing over the amazing gangsta-type-movies “Bad Boys” and “Dangerous Minds” and it was the year when the amazing The Fugees took home some awards and the world fell madly in love with Lauryn Hill; “Gangsta’s Paradise” was going strong on the Billboard’s charts, Tupac Shakur had two huge hits out but also took four in the chest in Las Vegas and left this earth to entertain some dudes in heaven; and us, well, we were all left with his great music in our memories. In 1996 we were also reminded of the death of another great one: Kurt Cobain; that was the year when Nirvana’s Unplugged album won a Grammy for best alternative music and at that point that album had sold more than five million copies across the globe. It was definitely a good time for rock n’ roll; Alanis Morisette released her “Jagged Little Pill” to the sound waves and became an instant hit, who could EVER forget her hits “Ironic” or “You Oughta Know” ? I also remember going crazy over Oasis and The Cranberries; not to mention the brand new No Doubt with their colorful videoclip in the height of the Mtv era, followed by Smashing Pumpkin’s “1979”… Oh wow!

I also remember, around that same time, a very nasty and hard to forget hit song that could not stop being played anywhere, it was even in little stuffed animals when you pressed their paw, that nasty song would play, poor children, it was wherever you turned to: Macarena! What were those dance moves? And what were we thinking? We clearly had no filter. Well, obviously, that was also the year in which Shaquille O’Neal was allowed to make a movie, the stupid “Kazaam”, and also the year when Demi Moore released the bombs “The Juror” and “Striptease”, which to this day is still one of my favorite guilty pleasures. Speaking of which, remember how Ellen DeGeneres had her peak right around that time? She came out of the closet and her ratings came tumbling down while her public exposure went off the roof, the world wasn’t ready for her genius but she surely saved my life; but not before joining Bill Pullman in the disastrous “Mr. Wrong”. If Ellen wasn’t such an amazing person and comedian we would not be able to forgive her for that slip! But hey, we all make mistakes, Mr. Pullman, who had just come from a series of big hits, including “Independence Day” in 1994 and “While you were sleeping” in 1995 will tell you, and so will his former co-star Sandra Bullock, who in that year joined america’s heart throb Chris o’Donnell in the also disastrous “In Love and War”; i mean, did any of us really need such a piece of crap? I think not. We also didn’t need “Two if by Sea” Mrs. Bullock, but whatever, i guess you can’t always win right? Right! Because in that year there was enough room left in people’s attention for the brilliant movie “Fargo” which was one of that year’s favorites, alongside “The English Patient”, which I NEVER get tired of watching with a trifecta of great acting: Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche and Kristin Scott Thomas, well, Mr. Minghella, you made my year. That was also the awakening of a Hollywood icon: Leonardo DiCaprio had two huge hits, and was laureled by critics and audience in both “Romeo + Juliet” and “Marvin’s Room”, will we ever forget that? I think not.

Us teens had a great year, and so did the teen stars; Neve Campbell had her strongest year with “The Craft” and “Scream” and saw her career explode, for five minutes, but i bet it was great while it lasted, right Neve? Liv Tyler got cast in Tom Hanks’s brilliant “That thing you do!” and stole our hearts yet again. You know who else stole our hearts? Barbra Streisand and Jeff Bridges in the ever so cute “The Mirror has two faces”, that was quite the productive year for Mrs. Streisand who also had a hit song for this very movie with the also then top charter Bryan Adams. But for me, it was really Ed Burns who got all the attention, his movie “She’s the One” will remain one of the all time classics in my movie library, i mean, that was sheer perfection, from cast to soundtrack, what an impeccable movie! Us teens also had the guilty pleasure of enjoying the iconic Spice Girls, oh boy, and we did! We performed Spice Girls songs in school plays and pretty much wherever we could, boys and girls were all in love with those english chicks, i mean, obsessively in love; no joke! What we weren’t so in love though was Madonna’s “Evita”, oh gosh, what a bore! I mean, nowadays i really appreciate it, especially the outstanding costumes, but i guess it was too much controversy to our silly little brains, “Wannabe” was all we could handle!

Me on the other hand, i loved some brainiac movies, and my friends could absolutely NOT get me: “Basquiat”? what was that? “Sling Blade”? ugh, no! That was a few steps too far, and even movies like “Swingers” and “From Dusk til Dawn” were not for them, so i kept it to myself inside my darkened room in any given boring afternoon. With them i would watch “Twister” or “Daylight”, and don’t get me wrong, o LOVED those too, oh, completely and madly, i mean, i had a crush on Helen Hunt, how could i not?

We also laughed a lot, i mean a whole lot: “The First Wives Club” anyone? Another trifecta, a great punch line: “don’t get mad, get everything!” and that scene with Diane Keaton having a nervous breakdown while they try to find incriminating papers in Brenda’s ex husband’s office was flawless, and so was Hugh Wilson’s direction, oh my God, i can watch that movie over and over and over again and never get tired; in fact, i watched it last night! We also had the remake of “The Nutty Professor”, and that was Eddie Murphy at his very best, i mean, very, very best! Thank you so much for that craziness Mr. Murphy! And even though this next one was only released a year later i will dare to include it in my memoir: “My Best Friend’s Wedding” was being filmed in 1996 and then in the following year made us laugh and cry and caused quite a big scandal with its ending; we will never forget that!

Ninety six was a good year, but it’s surrounding years were really good too, it was a time of discovery and enchantment, songs made us hurt but also filled us with joy, we thought that we would never be able to get over ourselves, we thought life would not reach the year 2000, the 90’s seemed infinite, and we loved every second of it.

So, listening to “Paula Cole Radio” is like traveling in time and going back to a space where everything was possible, time went by very, very slow and we had the biggest hearts in the world, we definitely lived in the moment, in our little universe and i am pretty sure we were completely aware of it, with no regrets, at all, and now that i am able to look back and feel this happy about my teens, i can also relate to my mother and my father when they would blast the stereo listening to Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin, John Lee Hooker, Rolling Stones or Supertramp and go on and on telling stories from the years when they would ride their motorcycles carelessly and free and hang out in the neighborhood with their friends all day, having one crazy adventure after the other. I can totally relate, it used to sound so far and weird to me, but at the same time quite fascinating and also somewhat brilliant, to see my mom crying as she listened to Janis and Zeppelin, there must have been something very intense going on right there in those songs, but that’s for her to keep in her heart i guess, those stories were never shared, but i feel touched to have been able to witness moments like that and to have also had the privilege of growing up in such an eclectic environment.

This is what life is all about to me; live in the moment and make sure to store all your special times deep down in memory lane, you will never ever need a picture to go back to those places and feelings, because it all lies within yourself.