Plus-size model Candice Huffine made the cover of Spain's S Moda magazine — naked, as we see so often with plus-size models. In the 50s-themed editorial spread, Huffine wears mostly lingerie and accessories. Seeing a wider variety of body types in fashion is good, obviously, but associating larger women with sexual availability is problematic (and a total cop-out on the part of the stylist). The magazine cover line "Reales Y Rotundas" ("Real and Round") is written in a screaming font size, just in case you missed it. [FGR]
Yayoi Kusama's Louis Vuitton collection — timed to coincide with the Kusama retrospective opening at the Whitney in July — has plenty of the artist's trademark dots. Louis Vuitton C.E.O. Yves Carcelle says that Kusama will also design installations for store windows later this year. [WWD]
Sustainable beauty
Caprea’s Essential Organic PH Cleanser is just $10 with promo code TEN. Normally $19, this foaming face wash is crafted with organic Monoi oil. It’s meant to target the production of oil secretion while protecting your skin against air pollution. Normally $19, you can save big on this richly-lathering face wash while supporting a brand that keeps the environment top of mind.
Versace's fall (yes, already) ad campaign features model Elza Luijendijk. It was shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott. [WWD]
Anja Rubik and her husband and fellow model Sasha Knezevic are, after two years, finally ready to relaunch the magazine 25 as an erotic fashion mag focusing on women. "The magazine has the erotic touch but it's all very sensual and within good taste," says Rubik. Contributors include Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, Camilla Akrans, Annie Leibovitz, Roxanne Lowit, Ellen von Unwerth, Alex Prager, Helena Christensen, and Melanie Ward. And, naturally, they had a deep bench of model-talent to cast from: Iman, Elettra Wiedemann, Coco Rocha, Petra Nemcova, Liya Kebede, Zuzanna Bijoch, Karlie Kloss, Carmen Kass, Arizona Muse, Aline Weber, Crystal Renn, Eniko Mihalik, Natasa Vojnovic, and Jessica Miller are all featured. Abbey Lee Kershaw stars in this video teaser. [Models.com, Style.com]
In honor of Naomi Campbell's 42nd birthday, Fashionista Photoshopped together 42 of the supermodel's covers. We'd have added a bedazzled BlackBerry, for authenticity. [Fashionista]
CNBC is airing an hour-long show about J. Crew's Mickey Drexler this Thursday. It's called The Man Who Dressed America. [YouTube]
Do you know your ikat from your Dutch wax? Refinery29 has a handy guide to the real names of various of the prints that ladymags all-too-often lump together under the catch-all terms "ethnic prints" or "tribal prints" or "African prints." [Refinery29]
Looking to up its fashion quotient, J Brand hired Karl Templer and Craig McDean to style and shoot fall ads for its newly launched non-jeans clothing line. Former Calvin Klein model Shaun DeWet and Suvi Koponen star. [WWD]
This trove of old, often inexplicable, images from the notorious Abercrombie & Fitch catalogue is cracking our shit up this morning. [VFILES]
In other important news of Pictures Of Really Hot People On The Internet, there was some kind of a 1920s cosplay group bike-ride in Paris this weekend. The street-style photos are the best. Look at how those plaids match across major seams! [WWD]
Gisele Bündchen might be pregnant. The rumor has been reported in the Brazilian press, with "sources" claiming the supermodel is two months along (and has already told Givenchy designer Riccardo Tisci). [BH]
Designer Claire Pettibone has been "besieged" with calls and Web traffic from people interested in Priscilla Chan's $4,700 wedding dress. [WWD]
Iris Apfel will donate 600 items from her wardrobe to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. The gift will include clothing by Karl Lagerfeld, Christian Dior, and Alexander McQueen. Apfel and her husband are also giving the museum money to build a brand new wing for its costume collection, slated to open in 2017. [Boston Globe]
Now that Gucci won its trademark lawsuit against Guess in the U.S., the company is pursuing a range of other, similar lawsuits against Guess in countries including China, Italy, and France. Judge Shira Scheindlin ruled in favor of Gucci and issued injunctions barring Guess from using certain jacquard prints, logos, and colors of ribbon trim that the court found infringed upon Gucci's trademarks. But Scheindlin awarded Gucci just $4.7 million of the $221 million it had been seeking in damages, and had this to say about the lawsuit in her written decision:
Over the past three years, the parties have put in countless hours and spent untold sums of money, all in the service of fashion — what Oscar Wilde aptly called "a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months." With the instant [i.e., immediate] disputes now resolved, and with Gucci's entitlement to the relief noted above, it is my hope that this ugliness will be limited to the runway and shopping floor, rather than spilling over into the courts.
Yeah, how strange that a multi-billion-dollar company would want to protect its intellectual property. Where does Gucci, a mere trifle of a fashion brand, get off thinking it should have access to the court's protection? Eyeroll. [WWD]
Peter Dundas drinks the juice of two lemons with water and sugar every morning. He believes it keeps colds at bay. In other news of the Pucci designer's eating habits, he often has steak for lunch and says, "I probably eat ice cream 330 days a year." Dundas lives in Paris but commutes to Florence daily — the flight is 90 minutes — for work. [HB]
Georgia May Jagger is the latest face of Material Girl, Madonna's tween-focused clothing line. Jagger replaces Kelly Osbourne. [WWD]
It's May, which means in Fashion Time it's the season for fall ad campaign reveals and resort shows. Oscar de la Renta unveiled a hot summer accessory at his resort show: sunscreen. His version is SPF 30, oil-free, and lightly scented. $42 for 5 ounces is a little rich for our blood, but this is a handy reminder to always, always, always wear your sunscreen. There's a hole in the ozone layer, folks. [Teen Vogue]
Who gave Jane Lynch, the celebrity host of the Fragrance Foundation Awards, groaners to read like, "Why is it that singers always come out with fragrances, but Marc Jacobs has yet to drop an album?" And "Because I play Sue Sylvester on Glee, I think people must think I smell like a boys' locker room. I would have loved to have made that fragrance, but unfortunately Kim Kardashian owns the copyright." Really, who? Because in a just world, that person would be publicly named and shamed. [WWD]
Top Democratic fundraiser Anna Wintour is heading to Chicago for a Runway to Win Obama event. Tickets cost $2500. [Fashionista]
Karlie Kloss and Jason Wu participated in the AIDS Walk New York this weekend. Their team raised $58,025 of the total $6 million that went to Gay Men's Health Crisis. [WWD]
Uniqlo is launching its children's and teen lines in the U.S. [WWD]
The Japanese fast-fashion chain is also taking a second stab at New Jersey, where it had three mall stores in 2007. It later shuttered those locations to direct its energies in New York City. It's now opening a 43,000 square foot store in Garden State Plaza, which it says will be the model for all U.S. mall stores. [Racked]
In collaboration with Merdedes Benz Fashion Week, Dazed & Confused magazine is launching a series of short films highlighting emerging designers in countries including Australia, Germany, South Africa, Mexico, Russia and China. [WWD]
Burberry made 24.9% more money in fiscal 2011 than it did in 2010. Total net profit jumped to $424.6 million. [WWD]
Carolina Herrera's global retail sales hit $1.3 billion last year, an increase of 21% over 2010. [WWD]