Working with Nicki Minaj Was ‘Hideous Torture’ for a Mag Editor

By Jenna Sauers | July 18, 2013 | 7:40pm

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Paper‘s Mickey Boardman has a few choice words about the celebrities he’s worked with for covers over the years. Apparently, Prince, Lindsay Lohan, and Mariah Carey were all professional and easy-going. Marisa Tomei and Ben Stiller, on the other hand, were not. And as for Nicki Minaj, who appeared on the Spring, 2012, cover of the magazine:

“Nicki Minaj was not fun. The Nicki thing turned out fine in the end, but it was two weeks of hideous torture and [her] walking off shoots. We had hired a photographer who’d shot her before. She liked the pictures, so we got him to shoot her again for the cover a year or two later. The first day of the shoot, she was locked in a room with her hair and makeup team, people whom she picked — she made them put [all her hair/makeup] on, then take it off. She would not let anyone from our team, stylists or photographers, talk to her. She came out and it was a mess. The photographer took some shots and she said, “Let me see.” He [showed her] five frames and she walked off — it was insanity. I had to sign up for AOL Instant Messenger so I could talk to her later, and she hung up on me on AIM. It was a super headache. We were going to do another shoot and then she had to cancel the day before. In the end everything was set up, but she wouldn’t use the stylist that we had. [Eventually] we got it, and the pictures looked great.”

[Buzzfeed]

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Harper’s Bazaar went to ’80s hotspot Indochine to talk to Christy Turlington about life in the 80s and 90s as an emerging model, then supermodel. “We would have a few bottles of this,” she says, gesturing to a bottle of wine on the table, “and then we would hit Palladium, or Area, or Tunnel.” Harper’s Bazaar‘s Laura Brown asks her where she clubs now. “I club at…my children’s elementary school,” laughs Turlington. [YouTube]

And here’s Christy Turlington’s new Calvin Klein underwear ad. She first modeled for the brand 25 years ago. [Fashionista]

Valentino’s fall campaign, by the photographers Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, recalls Dutch Golden Age painting. [WWD]

Alexander Wang’s fall campaign, meanwhile, features Malgosia Bela and was shot by Steven Klein. [WWD]

These Oliver Peoples sunglasses have 18k gold plated lenses, apparently. They cost $759. The 24k versions cost $830. [MyTheresa]

• Scandal costume designer Lyn Paolo says that she thought about powerful women in history when she first approached dressing the character Olivia Pope:

“I looked at images of Lauren Hutton from the ’70s and I had Kate Hepburn on the board–she always wore pants. Even silly things like I had Queen Elizabeth I. I just got a bunch of iconic images of really strong women through history and it was more fashion-based then it was based on any previous [political] administration.”

Paolo says there have been talks about a clothing line inspired by the show. [Fashionista]

• Gilt launched a points-based customer loyalty program. [WWD]

• Alessandra Ambrosio is now the face of Always pads in Brazil. [DM]

• The Garment District haven for craft nerds that is M&J Trimming is launching a mail-order DIY service. Each month, subscribers who pay $30 will receive instructions for an three original new projects (the first one includes a suede tassle keychain) and all the supplies they need to complete it them. That sounds pretty expensive, but the convenience of mail order is definitely a plus for folks who live in places without ready access to a variety of sewing and craft stores. You can sign up for more information here. [WWD]

• The New York Times pays a studio visit to Jonathan Simkhai, the 28-year-old emerging designer who is known for his blending of men’s wear and women’s wear. “I can’t get into the head of a girl,” says Simkhai, “so I spend a lot of time thinking about what I would want to wear. Naturally it gets masculine.” [NYTimes]

• During the quarter just ended, sales at Hermès rose 11.8%, to $1.18 billion. [WWD]

• Rick Owens opened a pop-up store in SoHo. [NYTimes]

• Men’s Wearhouse, which recently hired Joseph Abboud as a creative director, just acquired the Joseph Abboud brand from J.W. Childs for $97.5 million. [WWD]