The Divine Mrs. Vreeland

"Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel" movie poster

The story of a truly remarkable and inventive woman that was the venerable Diana Vreeland, who changed the look, the feel, and ideals of the (fashion) magazine industry and the art world itself was told brilliantly and poignantly in the remarkable fashion documentary, "Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel".

The film takes a candid approach of telling Vreeland's story through archival recorded sittings with author George Plimpton during the writing of her autobiography "D.V" and through the myriad images of her extensive work as fashion editor of Harper's Bazaar and Editor-in-chief of Vogue Magazines. She was known as the 'Empress of Fashion', a fitting title. She was a true visionary; the fashion magazine as we know it today would not be what it is without Diana Vreeland. Her forward-thinking take on the magazine format as a life-of-style features compendium brought readers an unparalleled access to popular and art culture and iconographic imagery through her extraordinary work in fashion editorial storytelling and the discovery of the first generation of fashion supermodels (even before the term was coined) and the celebrity fashion feature. Vreeland took the magazine, which was once a vehicle of idle passing for the women of the time and turned it into something that the masses would read. Her approach aimed to paint the world in a different light of understanding and urged your view of it in an entirely different perspective and made you question what was "style", how it defined and what it meant to you.
She did the same thing for the art world, practically inventing the fashion exhibition with her work that she did with the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute. Spinning the idea in everyone's mind that going to an art museum wasn't just a tour of historical relics but something that was alive, that it was living and breathing. Diana knew that art was meant to be an experience for the viewer and something real and visceral and that you the viewer, were a part of.  She created the fashion exhibition into a point a reference into the fantasy/reality world of fashion, educating the Institute's patrons and, in her style, making it into the biggest and most spectacular event ever.  Her aim was to present fashion as art, not just fashion as craft. She created wonderful exhibits that showed us that fashion isn't something that is utilitarian or something we mime through every single day, but something that is crafted with creative thought and with creation of beauty at its very core. Imagine what today's plethora of fashion exhibitions would be like without the spark that Vreeland created with her tenure at the Met, let alone that she was responsible in creating the Costume Institute's Met Ball, the "Oscars" of the fashion industry which is the premiere event of the Art and Fashion worlds.

All in all, this delightful film brings Diana Vreeland back to life for a generation of people who knew her and introduces her to a new generation. Honestly, she was a delightfully eccentric coo coo bird of a woman who in all (sense of the word) fashion really was herself a work of art and an inspiration of so many people.
I will never forget how Vreeland inspired me when I first encountered her through the pages of vintage Vogue and Harper's Bazaar's on quiet afternoons in the public library. I would gawk and gasp at the images in front of my eyes and be transported to places beyond my young imagination, longing to reach out and be there for real. Or how I'd look at the unusual beauty of Anjelica Huston or Penelope Tree, or the timeless perfection of Marisa Berenson or Lauren Hutton, and see myself reflected back in fragments and parts and come to know that I too, in my unique way, were just as beautiful (if not more). And, the first time I ever visited a museum (outside of my hometown, on a family trip to New York) and saw a world of history presented through clothes was at the Met, where art came to life and fashion became art for me. These very fond memories are because of Diana Vreeland, who taught me to always cultivate the eye and let it travel and that you most definitely have got to have...style.

"Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel" in select theaters now. Please see your local listings.

-fggofstyle

Master of Iconography, Herb Ritts: L.A. Style

"Herb Ritts: L.A. Style" book cover 

In this modern age of image, how you look and present yourself has become the crux of importance. This focus on image became crafted throughout our post modern age via television, music, film, and advertising. This lens became the way we "see" ourselves. Yet in the world of contemporary art, it is the photographer who hones and perfects this craft and brings it in its presentation to us, the viewer (or subject sometimes) with an interesting outcome. No other modern photographer has done it in such a way as Herb Ritts, who use of natural light, simple composition, and emotional resonance has captivated us and brought to the most iconic and prolific images of celebrity, fashion, commerce, music, and art. At the apex of sensuality, nature, individuality, shadow, celebrity, and style stood Ritts, who became its master and brought a truly unique and starkly simple view of the end of the 20th century.

I became a huge Herb Ritts fan in the mid 80s when I became familiar with his work through the images he produced for celebrities like Richard Gere and Madonna, in ad campaigns for Revlon and Calvin Klein, and the countless fashion magazine pictorials found in the pages of "Vanity Fair", "Interview", "Vogue", and "Harpers Bazaar" Magazines. His use of the uber-models of the day (Cindy, Christy, Naomi, Stephanie, Helena, Tony, Djimon, et al) not only made them recognizable but made them into stars in their own right and catapulated anything they were involved in into fashion spectaculars. Yet Ritts utilized them in traditional ways befitting a model: as a chameleon of pose, light, and shape sculpted in the forms through the hands/lens of the artist. The same thing can be said when he created memorable portraits for celebrities: using their personality and individuality to elevate the portrait to a personal moment fluid with freedom and expression of his subject. And these models and stars regularly worked with Ritts and enjoyed the artistically natural and collaborative process he imbued on his projects and it shows throughout his body of work.

On view at the Getty Center is the fantastic photographic retrospective "Herb Ritts: L.A. Style". It is a broad mix of well-known and lesser seen works by Ritts, who in the late 70s began his ouevre and left us too soon. It is an interesting show: sectioned off in group areas such as "Nudes" (his most striking work), "Celebrity Portraits" (where his signature evolves and shines and elevates the genre of celebrity itself), "Music Videos and Commercials" (his work in movement form and where he changed the entire scope of music videos for the best), and "Fashion" (at the ultimate top of the fashion chain, Ritts creates indelibly wonderful imagery and editorial work). One of my favorite items is the Britney Spears Vogue Magazine cover (Novemeber 2001) and its original two composite shots with art direction touch up notes on the Britney photo itself alongside the finished magazine cover because, as great as Ritts' portrait is by itself, we get to glimpse what it takes to show "perfection" (those edit notes made me chuckle a bit) so that an image becomes branded as "Vogue". I also enjoyed re-viewing the award winning music video he shot for Janet Jackson's "Love will Never Do (Without You)", shown in its entirety as his signature video work (although Madonna's "Cherish" was his premiere foray into the genre); it still is a great 5 minutes of artistic magic to this day. I did wish the Getty included the Ritts directed video for Michael Jackson's "In The Closet" featuring model Naomi Campbell but it was absent perhaps because of its similarities to Janet's video or some situation having to do with Michael's estate, perhaps (in its place there is the Rolling Stones Magazine cover of MJ, a still from that video shoot)...? I'm sure there are some hidden gems that the Herb Ritts Foundation has tucked away somewhere and perhaps in future retrospectives we may get the chance to see them but the Getty has put together a good show and it is definitely one to go and experience for yourself and enjoy the scope and breadth of this wonderful artist's contribution to the world.

The Getty Center presents the retrospective until September 2, 2012 before it moves next to the Cincinnati Art Museum.
Don't miss it!

-fggofstyle
(photo via Getty and the companion book can be purchased by clicking on the highlighted link)





RELATED LINKS

The Herb Ritts Foundation 

The Getty Center--"Herb Ritts: L.A. Style" 

Model Muggle: Emma Covers US Vogue

Vogue July 2011 cover
(photo via popoholic.com)

Emma Watson, in Vogue Italia 2008
(photo via vogueitalia.com)

Emma Watson puts us all under her spell again on the cover of Vogue's July issue. This is the first time she makes the coveted magazine's cover, but not her first time to cover a Vogue magazine, having donned both Vogue Italia and Vogue UK and doing two great editorials in each of them. This month's editorial shows a decidedly grown-up version of Emma, wearing key pieces from the Fall collections. I'm sure this is just the first of many major covers we'll see her on, as she closes out her run in the Harry Potter film series this summer and begins her new journeys in her young adult life. Enjoy!




-fggofstyle

Related articles

• Emma Watson's Complete Vogue Editorial Is Here (thegloss.com)

Tweet The Word Out: ADR's "Save Japan" Project

Anna dello Russo
(photo via thevine.co.au)

Fashionista extraordinaire Anna dello Russo has her own project for disaster relief for Japan. Click here to learn more about her efforts (in conjunction with SIMONE, Inc.) to organize current information and ways to help the relief efforts across the Twitterverse.
Feel, Look, and Do Good.

-fggofstyle

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• A Day In The Life Of Anna Dello Russo From Tory Burch's Blog (huffingtonpost.com)

The Annointed Seven

I came across this interesting article/mention at Fashionista.com: http://fashionista.com/2009/12/vogue_annoints_seven_bloggers.php

It left an impression on me and I had to comment; please indulge me for just a moment--

The time has come when old media starts to close the gap and begins to embrace new media, and its bright stars. Vogue takes a leap and will feature seven fashion bloggers in an upcoming issue. The chosen seven bloggers are still being speculated as to who they are and bandied about why they are the first to be given the fashion anointment from Vogue. I really don't think it matters who the final choices are nor does it matter that they are being featured for various (supposedly opinionated) reasons. What matters is this embrace by the venerated glossy print magazine to online content and the (countless) creators of fashion.

New media is inescapable and it is how most everyone is getting their information. Fashion bloggers take their point of view and apply it to the internet. They take their personal view of the world of fashion and report on that. They take the view of the fashion world and report it to the masses of the internet world. They expand their world a thousand fold in a matter of seconds. Its reach is vast and instant and indelible. Is it permanent? Yes, in a way. Is it collectible? Perhaps not in the same sense as saving back issues of Vogue for future reference and inspiration. It is collectible for its immediacy. That is the child of new media and our modern world: instant gratification and constantly evolved news and ideas.

I follow a very eclectic group of fashion bloggers. Some of them are of the speculated Anointed Seven. Many of them are not. I follow them for the simple fact that I enjoy looking at their world with their eyes and seeing what they see. I love how my favorite bloggers color the world and help me paint mine in a more individual way. I like how I have been able to open up to ideas that I might have been countered against because I've seen it thru someone else. It is this expansion of ideas that keeps me coming back. It is this conversation that keeps me engaged. I have become an ardent fan and want to be a part of my bloggers worlds. I simply want to participate.

I began blogging to just put my thoughts out into the stratosphere, to openly discuss the events, ideas, and situations that would arise in my professional and personal life. Like the ever-changing shifts in my life, my blog does the same. Rooted in fashion and style, it really is a lifestyle blog, a discussion on how I see the beautifully fashionable world I truly live in, that we all live in, no matter where in the world it is.

Blogging, at its heart, is simply about the writer/bloggers world around them. The blog a living journal, an outlet that has its own life teeming with experience, thought, folly, happiness, individuality, and style. As long as this individual touch exists in blogging, the new media form will continue to thrive. The human content, this element, is the life that breathes through blogging. And this new media has a life that is going to continue for a very long time. It is at the innovation stage and all media outlets are following. From television, music, and film, all the way to business, sports and news, web bloggers are on the cusp of the newest new. With “establishment” media like Vogue taking notice and giving recognition, it is not long before the bridge between old and new media becomes a permanent and ever-lasting one.

And that’s good.

Thanks 4 the fashion inspiration:

http://www.gretaguide.com  http://www.dluxelist.com/ http://www.bryanboy.com/  http://www.stylegourmand.blogspot.com/ http://www.garancedore.fr/en/ http://www.hintmag.com/  

http://seaofshoes.typepad.com/  http://theglamourai.com/ http://stylebubble.typepad.com/
http://fashionispoison.com/  http://www.ferohhhsh.com/  http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com
http://fashion-train.blogspot.com/  http://tavi-thenewgirlintown.blogspot.com/  http://www.fashionista.com
http://jakandjil.com/blog/ http://www.ecouterre.com/  http://natalieoffduty.blogspot.com/
and the countless others! Keep posting!!

-feelgoodguru

My Top 5 Fashion Films of 2009

As its major form of social entertainment and as its product of manufacture, movies are to Los Angeles what theater is to London or New York. Movies here dictate the currency of our pop culture and of the world right outside of our doors. I view a lot of films, it is no question. Going to see the latest film is very de rigueur here, and really is the most prominent topic of conversation all over town. There has been so many films released this past year that one can easily forget about many of them (so many are unforgettable anyway), or miss them entirely. A movie about fashion or a movie that has fashion at its center point, I am sure to make the effort to see, and hope that it will be memorable. Here are my choice picks of the top five fashion films of 2009, in no particular order:

The September Issue

To be privileged to get not just a sneak but a full tilt boogie peek into the hallowed halls of Vogue Magazine and to see Anna Wintour at work, was such a treat. The undeniable star of this film was and will always be Grace Coddington. Her keen and sharp eye and attention is unsurpassed, and I am so glad to have been able to witness it and to cheer her on!

Valentino: The Last Emperor

Valentino is truly the last of the famous international designers. What a great treat to see how this genius rules (and creates) his kingdom. The best part of it all: the endearing love and partnership between Valentino and Giancarlo Giametti. It is the most touching part of the whole film.

Nine

Another hit musical for our time, this time about Italian style, Italian life, Italian fashion! There’s even a costume designer (Dame Judy Dench) who easily whips up costume confections right in front of us (sequins, feathers, and mesh oh my!) a Vogue journalist (Kate Hudson, in mirrored glass mini skirt!) and all the rest of the gorgeous female stars in their distinct looks/costumes. We get to be treated to the fabulous Colleen Atwood’s fine costume work here and it does not disappoint!!

A Single Man

In Tom Ford’s world, everyone is gorgeous and everyone has style in everything on and around them. This film just dripped with true classic style, everywhere. From George’s fantastically dreamy Santa Monica home, to his sleek Mercedes Benz, to his sharp, tailored clothing he leads the pack when it came to men’s style in the movies (or out in the real world).  Everything was visually lush and it drew you in with wishes that the world was simple and stylish and classic like it was back in 1963.

(500) Days of Summer

Aside from all of the charm that this non-traditional romantic comedy gives us, it reflected back to us how we really dressed in our everyday lives. Zoë Deschanel’s “Summer” couldn’t have been styled more real: I see women dressing with the same indie flair every day in my favorite LA neighborhoods of Los Feliz and Silverlake, and young professional hipster guys wearing classic and modern clothing like Joseph Gordon-Leavitt’s “Tom”. The style was simple and realistic, and it reflected that face back to the audience who, in their indie-hipster garb, could easily see themselves in the characters. And as each of the characters grew, so did their clothing, also reflected in a real-time and concise way. And when “Tom” puts on his grown up suit, I swear the four times I saw this film I spotted guys in the audience mentally check how neat, presentable, and fashionable he looked, and took notice.

It is a New Year, and a new slate of films are yet to come out. I’m looking forward to seeing what comes up on the silver screen and hope to see some great fashion notes reflected back at me.

So far, “Sherlock Holmes” doesn’t miss a beat with its presentation on Victorian England style with a very subtle modern flair (Adler in pants and waistcoat!) and of course, “SATC 2” in the Spring, a bona fide fashion film if there is to be at least one for the year!

-feelgoodguru