Anna Wintour Says Irving Penn "Seductive," Catherine McNeil Engaged To Girlfriend

By Jenna Sauers  |  April 20, 2010 | 3:30pm
Latest
  • Last night at Pratt, during a lecture from which many members of the media were banned, Vogue‘s Anna Wintour discussed fashion bloggers and her “intellectual crush” on photographer Irving Penn:
  • “Irving Penn and I developed our own ritual that involved meeting every so often for lunch, either at Il Cantinori or the Union Square Café. Over lunch, he would talk about how Vogue had become so commercial, how everything had titles over it … ‘Anna, I don’t understand how you can do this,’ and that was just the first course … I would throw out an idea and he would turn me down. It took me a long time to realize that with Irving, no meant no. Now, I don’t take no very easily, but I learned that with Irving, there was no revisiting. But then, miraculously, we would hit a home run.” [The Cut]
  • At the end of the talk, after taking some pre-screened soft-ball questions, Anna Wintour‘s exit music was Bob Marley‘s “One Love.” We can only interpret this as the gesture of a sound man with the sense of humor, and the balls, to make a reference to the editor’s brief affair with the reggae star in the 70s. [@Cut_Blog]
  • Twilight clothing: It’s coming back! Wouldn’t want those marketing opportunities to be Eclipse‘d by anything. [WWD]
  • A café where patrons can sew has opened in Paris. Which is either genius, or a recipe for the most frustrating home-ec-flashback-over-coffee, ever. [Guardian]
  • Eva Longoria and Victoria Beckham are both promoting some new LG phone, and they are doing it in a most entertainingly meaningless and Photoshopped way. [SB]
  • In Fergie‘s campaign for her perfume, “Outspoken,” the singer poses with a megaphone. Get it, ha, ha? [NST]
  • Is there anything Isaac Mizrahi can’t do? The one-man-play-writing/acting, designing, cooking, baking, television-selling, talk-show-hosting dynamo went on celebrity Jeopardy. And made it to the semi-finals, which will air on May 3, 4, and 5. Mazel tov, Ike. [DFR]
  • Model Catherine McNeil is now engaged to her girlfriend, Australian MTV VJ Ruby Rose. It isn’t mentioned in this story, but they originally met in 2002, when Rose came in second to McNeil in a magazine model search. [Herald Sun]
  • Benetton flew the 20 finalists in its worldwide model search to New York to shoot its next campaign last Friday. Winners, who were determined by a public vote on the brand’s website, include people from Iran, Belgium, and Kazakhstan. [The Moment]
  • Dolce & Gabanna‘s Stefano and Domenico are in New York, shooting their men’s fall campaign at a bar downtown. Rumor has it that Madonna may make a return as the face of the women’s line. [Fashionologie]
  • Tavi Gevinson, who turns 14 in a day, is a contributor to a one-off zine put together by Elizabeth Spiridakis and Marisa Meltzer. It’s about first kisses. [The Cut]
  • Diane von Furstenberg has received a permit for up to 20 burial plots to be dug on her land in Connecticut, when the time comes. She also expressed a desire to be buried in the backyard of her farm in a 1993 New York Times profile. [NYTimes]
  • The fact that Lara Stone used to have a drinking problem is not news, Sun. UK Vogue broke that in its cover story on the supermodel last November; at this point, rehashing its reporting is just bizarre. And, far be it from us to be glib about alcoholism, but isn’t morning a perfectly appropriate time for a Bloody Mary? The answer is yes. [Sun]
  • Michael Ball, the founder of now-bankrupt Rock & Republic jeans, stands accused of aiding a Mexican soap star and sometime model for the brand in entering into a sham marriage with a U.S. musician, for the purposes of gaining residency. The model was dobbed in by her ex-boyfriend, reality-TV-star photographer Markus Klinko, after the end of their relationship. Cold. [The Cut]
  • Karlie Kloss tells Derek Blasberg that she can often hear editors’ conversations from the catwalk. [Style.com]
  • Oh, dear. Austria Ulloa booked a Jean-Paul Gaultier for Target ad, and then someone scissored off and awkwardly re-attached her legs in post-production. [Photoshop Disasters]
  • “Leave Lindsay Lohan Alone,” says the woman who is making a lot of money off of the actress’s leggings line. [Vogue UK]
  • Meanwhile, Lohan‘s onetime co-designer at Ungaro, Estrella Archs, has confirmed her departure from the label “due to irreconcilable differences related to the creative direction of the brand.” [Vogue UK]
  • Do we have to add designer Tracy Feith, favored by Michelle Obama, to the whatever-happened-to list already? [Fashionista]
  • Sigh. Briton Alexa Chung has gone from puffy newcomer profiles, to the cancellation of her MTV show, and now the “Americans don’t get me” line in just over a year. [Vogue UK]
  • For the privilege of opening up that new Fifth Avenue store mentioned yesterday, Uniqlo will pay $300 million in rent over 15 years. Recession? What recession? [BW]
  • At 90,000 square feet, it’ll be Uniqlo‘s biggest store in the world. [WSJ]
  • Burberry‘s sales rose 7% in the second half of the fiscal year, and the company is planning new store openings. [WWD]
  • Coach‘s third-quarter earnings rose 37% on last year. Last year was dismal, though. [WSJ]