Some Black Models To Watch

By Jenna Sauers  |  July 13, 2011 | 5:30pm
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Modeling agency Ford did a promotional shoot featuring all of its black models — including women from all of its various divisions, straight- and plus-size — and some behind-the-scenes snapshots have leaked. (The photos are obviously not top quality, but we’ve reached out to Ford and hope to publish the final shots.) Jean Paul Gaultier favorite and Levi’s face Marquita Pring and Sports Illustrated star Damaris Lewis are among those featured. Highlighting models by race might seem like a weird thing to do, but models are judged on innate physical characteristics all the time (that’s kind of the point of the modeling industry), and given plenty of designers still apparently think it’s okay to show their collections on all-white casts, we’re on board with almost anything that draws attention to the beauty of models of color. Ford previously did a promotional shoot highlighting the blondes on its plus-size board. [Fashionista]

Someone uploaded a video of Marc Jacobs president Robert Duffy undressing to his underwear to the official brand YouTube account. The clip, which apparently featured a body double, was swiftly removed. Duffy (and the company) are being sued by a former executive who claims that Duffy fostered a hostile, sexually-charged work environment by watching porn on company time and making employees pole-dance for him. Duffy and Marc Jacobs International are fighting the lawsuit, and have accused the ex-employee of perpetrating a $20 million fraud against the company. Previously, Duffy TwitPic’d photos of a naked man at the brand’s employees-only fashion week party. He then removed the shots. [Fashionologie, HuffPo]
Marc Jacobs International has yet to comment on the video. [WWD]

Here’s more of Helena Bonham Carter pulling faces in the fall Marc Jacobs campaign. [ONTD]

Sarah Jessica Parker is on the new cover of American Vogue. This is the actress’s sixth Vogue cover, and her second “Age Issue” cover. [Vogue]
Women’s Wear Daily says Sarah Jessica Parker is no longer working for Halston Heritage: “the actress and fashion brand are working on terminating the agreement, according to sources.” [WWD]
Yeah, super-top-secret “sources” like, uh, Vogue magazine, which broke that news with a throwaway line in its profile of Parker. Wrote reporter Eve MacSweeney, “When Sex and the City, to her own surprise, made her a fashion star, she launched her own design label and perfumes, as well as signing on to run the Halston Heritage label, a relationship that recently came to an end.” Obviously, Vogue didn’t ask for details; that might be unseemly. Parker was the president and creative director of Halston Heritage, a sub-brand which focussed on reissuing lightly tweaked versions of archival Halston pieces at slightly-less-than-outrageous prices. Parker, a good soldier, wore plenty of Halston Heritage while promoting SATC2. [Vogue]

Lara Stone is on the cover of Vogue Paris. It is her sixth cover of the magazine, and her second this year alone. [Fashion Copious]

Freida Pinto is on the cover of the new Interview. Interestingly, this issue features Maria Shriver interviewing Gloria Steinem. [TFS]

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley very nakedly stars in the campaign for Burberry’s latest perfume, Body. [Telegraph]

Alice Temperley designed this scarf for Twinings. It tells the story of Earl Gray. This is as good a time as any to fire up your kettle. [Daily Mail]

We kind of wish we hadn’t seen this new six-piece suit collection from Rag & Bone because now we want every item. [Racked]

Alexander Wang hired these trucks which, for the next three nights, will project a video of Raquel Zimmerman in a “Blair Witch-type setting” onto the sides of buildings around Manhattan. [WWD]

All the kolors in the new Kardashian/OPI nail polish kollection are kalled things like “Kim-pletely in Love,” and “Kourt is Red-dy for a Pedi.” [NYDN]

Some parents will pay 13 cents more per diaper so their babies can shit in trompe l’oeil denim. [WSJ]

Here is a dress with Steve Buscemi’s face on it. It costs $100. [Black Milk Clothing]

  • Ice-cream millionaire Michael Serruya and his investment group pumped another $1.6 million into American Apparel. Serruya saved the troubled hipster-friendly clothier from bankruptcy earlier this year with a $14.2 million investment in April; as per the terms of that deal, Serruya has warrants for the purchase of more company stock that he must exercise by September. Dov Charney — who currently has a razor-thin majority stake in the company he founded — also pumped another $700,000 of his own money into the company, presumably to maintain that majority. American Apparel is also looking to expand, but not by opening new stores. (The company’s financial problems largely stem from the period in 2005-2008 when it spread like kudzu, heedlessly opening hundreds of new standalone boutiques around the world and taking on over $100 million in debt to do so, at what proved to be the height of a real-estate bubble.) Instead, American Apparel is negotiating with department stores Bloomingdale’s and Lane Crawford to lease space. It just announced such an agreement with the Australian department store chain Myer. [WWD]
  • “She is not a style icon,” says Diane von Furstenberg of Kate Middleton. “She is so much more. She is so sure of who she is, and should never let go of that.” [P6]
  • Helena Christensen: “It’s really intimidating to go on the beach in a bikini. If someone is painting neon circles around parts of your body, like those pathetic tabloid magazines, it makes me so angry. I can’t believe that humans have sunk to this level…It’s not like [I] wake up in the morning going, ‘Oh I’m so perfect, I don’t need to do anything’. Every [model] I know in this business has the same issues as every other woman, maybe more so. You can easily be made to feel self-conscious in this job.” [Telegraph]
  • Kate Moss‘s honeymoon is over. [Telegraph]
  • Daisy Lowe is posing for Playboy, according to reports. [NYDN]
  • And now, a moment with Errol Morris: “We’re all unreliable narrators. I don’t think there’s any other kind.” [WWD]
  • Those tote bags emblazoned with the slogan “You Can’t Fake Fashion” that the Council of Fashion Designers of America were looking to sell on eBay to raise awareness of counterfeiting and design piracy? Well, a computer glitch meant that the sale started several hours earlier than planned, so that by the official start time of 11 a.m., all the bags were gone. [P6]
  • Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, the world’s largest luxury conglomerate, has signed a voluntary pledge to increase the proportion of women on its board of directors. Sixty per cent of European university graduates are women, but only 12% of board members at European companies and 3% of C.E.O.’s are women. Presently, LVMH says women make up 17% of the company’s board and 30% of the executive committees at the group’s brands. Women run eight LVMH divisions, including Pucci, Fendi and Pucci Perfumes, Christian Dior Watches, Kenzo Perfumes, and Givenchy Couture. Under the terms of the pledge, LVMH will increase the proportion of women on its board to 30% by 2015 and to 40% by 2020; meanwhile, in France a law was passed this January that will obligate large companies to have 40% female boards by 2017. [WWD]
  • Domenico Dolce, on the Internet and its unfortunate lack of nice smells: “People ask me ‘Are you afraid of it?’ It isn’t that at all. Living in front of just a computer is an error. You need the personal touches, like flowers, a cake for your mother, nice smells.” [Vogue UK]
  • If you live in New York City, Sephora will now deliver to your door. $15 delivery fee, $50 minimum order. [StyleList]
  • Hanes is moving beyond white t-shirts and underwear: it’s launching a fashion line that will include, wait for it, colored t-shirts and t-shirts printed with slogans. Sense-making slogans, like “Hanes Garage.” [WSJ]
  • Levi’s is back in the black. In the quarter just ended, the chain reported net income of $21 million, compared with a $14.4 million loss in the same quarter one year ago. [WWD]
  • Burberry’s revenues hit £367 million during the three months to June 30th. Sales rose by 60% on last year in the Asia-Pacific region. [BBC]
  • Once again, say it with me: Toning shoes are bullshit. [NYTimes]
  • Not really fashion, but let this be a public service reminder: there are no winners in any fight between critic and author. [WWD]

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