fashioncopiusA Peek At Pirelli Calendar 2011
In fact, the usual cast of supermodels and celebrities (in this issue, Isabeli Fontana, Heidi Mount, Natasha Poly, Magdalena Frackowiak, Bianca Balti, Lara Stone and Julianne Moore) will surround the male French model Baptiste Giabiconi, favourite face of the 77 year old artist. The young (21 year old) Marseillais will interpret Jove, the Roman king of the gods, as a sort of magnetic sun adored by brightening stars (to be right, a Giabiconi’s male colleague will appear; but as a supporting god, Bacchus, the god of wine, similar to the Greek Dionysus).
MAN IN MOTION: Karl Lagerfeld sure gets around. Over the weekend, he was spotted in Ravenna, Italy, snapping photos of its spectacular mosaics from the 5th and 6th centuries. Turns out they’re for a book the designer is compiling for Chanel’s Metier D’Arts fashion show on Dec. 7 in Paris. “I had no time to make a movie,” he shrugged, explaining the Paris-Byzantium theme of the collection, which links to the Chanel founder’s penchant for Byzantine-style jewelry — a link rich enough to set Lagerfeld’s imagination racing. Lagerfeld also recently shot the Dior Homme campaign and cast his favorite male model and frequent sidekick, Baptiste Giabiconi. The forthcoming spots, which he described as graphic and modern, telegraph a move away from the edgy youths long associated with the brand. “There’s a move back to handsomeness,” Lagerfeld declared.
wwd.comIN THE FRAME: Gerhard Steidl and Karl Lagerfeld are birds of a feather: Both German, both obsessed with beautiful images printed on beautiful paper. On Monday night in Paris, the two sat side-by-side in a small room at the Monnaie de Paris, watching an 80-minute documentary in which Steidl visits famous snappers and waxes poetic about the smell of new books. The occasion was the opening of the exhibition, "Steidl: When Photography Becomes a Book, From Robert Frank to Karl Lagerfeld," which runs through Dec. 19 and in tandem with a month of photography events in the French capital. Lagerfeld unveiled a new series of nudes titled "Body Freedom" and starring model-of-the-moment Baptiste Giabiconi. Francois-Marie Banier, caught in the maelstrom of the Bettencourt affair, also attracted lots of attention, but he kept the conversation focused on pictures, including a series he took of Frank in Mabou, Nova Scotia. Banier just spent Halloween in New York City, wearing a red crystal mask and a big fur hat to snap the crowds along 125th Street in Harlem. "I stayed there for hours," he enthused. "They are very open to be photographed, and to strangers." The Monnaie showcase also features images by David Bailey, Koto Bolofo, Raymond Depardon, Saul Leitner and Henri-Cartier Bresson.