EDIT #1: coco rocha shot by craig mcdean. this is an oddly brief & slight opening edit. mcdean is one of the very best 21st century photogs & he's usually flawless but this is strangely derivative & also aimless styling-wise. the main visual conceit is coco draped in coloured plastic theatrical lighting gels. As I recall this was a well-known approach from a 70s french edit or campaign, was it YSL and /or guy bourdin? anyway nothing against great allusions [the mert/marcus bourdin-edit in w a few months back with gemma/traffic stripes/swimsuit was awesome] but mcdean is usually more novel and kate white's styling, also usually brill, is very floppy & sloppy here- i wld say the kamali red swimsuit is best look but dont really like much clothes-wise here. what i do like is coco- the best pics here are simply beauty close-ups on her face, and she's definitely exploded as one of 2006's best new faces. since shes in the sept us vogue & now here, hopefully coco now has a slot as a monthly conde nast girl, and we can await more & better edits than this. coco tries to work the colour gel concept but the more of her face we see & less disguise the better. this is just an aberrational edit cos mcdean & white are usually worldclass, but its a bit odd that W leads with this 6 pic edit for what is otherwise an amazing Oct ish. rating 6.8 of 10 mainly for coco - shes great!!
EDIT#2 raquel z shot by inez & vinoodh. Now THIS is hot!! a studio edit with raquel showing why she is still top 10 after several years of awesome edits & every top show. gisele might have got all the press but raquel's blonde-euro brasilian appeal is so much more edgy & versatile & high fashion to me. the concept here is something we've seen endlessly- distressed denim bottoms paired with luxe or brief tops- but alex white's styling is so fab here, raquel is so hot, and inez & vinoodh have a special gift in the studio, that it works great and then some!! some hot looks that raquel works hardcore: marc top, varvatos striped top, stella cool buffalo plaid shirt, great white jackets by versace, armani, ysl, burberry awesome b&w striped sweater. the washed denim looks arent even that superior on the face of them - prada, superfine, D&G, deisel- but raquel thoroughly enervates them & white's combos with the more chic tops strike just the right balance. this might appear at first like a vogue studio edit but then you look harder & realize that inez/vinoodh bring more heat to the studio look than us vogue does, raquel works here better than her typical us vogue, and white's styling beats almost anyone in us vogue save coddington. dynamite studio shoot & bonuses to raquel, white & inez/vinoodh. rating 8+ of 10.
EDIT #3 freja, irina, sasha & milana bogolegova shot by michael thompson in czech republic. thompson is of course w's resident celeb photographer- he did this month's janet jackson & nearly every W celeb edit i can recall for years. in his celeb capacity he's excellent, usually delivering more than you'd expect from celebs, whom, lets be honest, just arent as interesting in W or any fashion magazine as models are. thompson's fashion work can be great, but more commonly its just ok, good but nothing amazing. well this month his edit is the best in the mag, and his best fashion shoot I can recall in quite awhile. some of that is due to his supporting cast. you really can't ask for a better trio of high fashion 2006 girls right now than irina, freja & sasha. they are posed & shot like a group of students, at the cafe, at the dance studio, travelling on buses & cars in the streets of prague. that is a great concept to begin with & it works wonderfully in these pics. you know how us vogue studio shoots, even with 3 or 4 girls, look fake, like they're just hamming it up to music in the studio? well thompson goes 180 degrees from that here. this is seriously like hanging out with 4 gorgeous students in Prague, in real life environs, and also some cute boy models. the 4th model here, milana, is a really cool discovery. her most immediate comparison is karolina kurkova, but Ive always hated KK except when posed properly in the right bikini by the right photog. milena is already a better high fashion beauty than karolina, after what, like 3 months as a model? bye KK!! milena also recalls tanya dziahileva and a bit raquel z, so those are pretty lofty comparisons but milena totally holds her own next to 3 of the tip top girls in the world here, and her gamine blonde student look is really hot, and fresh. the other secret weapon here is karl templer's styling. perhaps even more than fab alex white, karl templer, like joe zee before him, seems, at his best, to style as well or better than anyone working. I mentioned the uncanny naturalism of the girls here, thompson's settings & images, and karl's clothes work as another key component. on both the boys & girls! all these pics are black & white, often a slightly fuzzy/grainy surface which adds to the naturalism & also impresses technically from thompson- I know he is a technician of amazing skill even if not all of his edits are this conceptually evolved. all of templer's clothes are great, and real looking. freja has a bare-aass shot which is the single best image in this edit & the hottest in the magazine in total. freja is also topless in the opening image with irina's arm around her shoulder. its friendly & cute & sisterly. all the groupings here are fab but the one above all is a ballerina-leotard image with all 4 girls at the peak of their youthful femininity, and excepting freja's hot bare aass shot its the best in the book. freja is so amazing. arguably the best girl at this week's ny fashion week, remember the very first time you saw freja's face? it was interesting, but difficult. well no more freja is an absolute 5 star beauty now from the highest fashion shows to debased mass market jobs like the Gap. and sasha is just as great here, as usual, and irina expresses superb personality here, as always. and milena is really fresh & cute. there are some historical antecedents to these images I would say astrid kirchner's hamburg, germany photos from early 60s? robert doisneau from 1940s/50s in paris? not exactly sure what thompson based these on but its his best high fashion work in memory & templer & the 4 girls are also at that supreme level. rating 10 of 10 one of best fashion edits of 2006.
"At Home Special" 3 decorating edits:
EDIT #4: French antiques dealer Yves Gasteau's Parisian apartment & Biarritz country home shot by Ivan Terestchenko. W goes heavy on the interior design this month. this edit is notable not as much for Ivan's decent photos, as for the amazing design touches in Yves' paris & country homes. standouts incl. an art-deco carpet in Biarritz by Andre Arbus. in paris a phillippe hiquily 'potato chip' chair. a studded yellow cabinet by sottsass. a stunning marble bulwark Sottsass chair in biarritz. and Sottsass' stone facade for Yves' paris boutique. decorating p*rn for those so inclined, good images but not exceptional. 6.7 of 10.
EDIT #5: the Marquess of Bute's unbelieveable ancestral mansion castle in scotland shot by alexia s. these are impressive interior images by alexia, a lttle better than she usually is, but the marquess' castle will just stun you. Its been in his family for like 700+ years & the palatial & royal interiors & luxury are peerless. family portraits by reynolds & gainesborough? he's got 'em! a vaulted marble staircase with ornate astrological rosettes? no doubt! stained glass private library, family wing bedroom with medieval arabesques, the ultimate billiard room with two huge green tables & oil paintings. the marquess comes correct. a marble chapel with spire, a 13th century bedroom with friezes, really this is one of the most impressive castles Ive seen in W or any magazine in a long long time. a strong decor & arcfhitectural essay by alexia. 8 of 10.
EDIT #6. peter 'hard rock cafe' morton's malibu beach house as re-designed by richard meier & shot by simon watson. these are the best architectural & landscape images in the mag, watson did a great job with meier's sleek surfaces. particularly impressive are the plantation wood teak exteriors & shutters , and long courtyard & pool. more design p*rn for those architecturally inclined. 8 of 10, watson's compositions are very lyrical & express meier's high-tech.
EDIT #7: du juan shot by paolo roversi. like weber, lorca-dicorcia, teller and mert/marcus, roversi is one of the world class photogs whose work defines W as america's best magazine in any genre & one of the most aesthetically/visually forward publications in the world. that each month W allows these supreme artists to work their art magic in a fashion context is an absolute pleasure & joy. to some, roversi is the absolute best of this group, and i must say his ambition & singular devotion to the photographic medium in this fashion/style context is intimidating. at times, and possibly including this edit, his images are so striking - like something penn would deliver in the 40s-60s- that Im not even so sure the model or the 'fashion' is as well served as his artistic impulse! for some of you this edit will be by far the best in the magazine. roversi & stylist camilla nickerson have delivered a complete orientalist kind of peep show effect with du juan. and make no mistake, nickerson's outfits are similarly stunning, and really advanced, possibly at an aesthetic/sartorial pitch that nothing else in this issue matches. as amazing as thompson's czech b&w's in EDIT #3 are, forget it, roversi's technique is several levels above even thompson's best. and nickerson's styling & constructs are also wildly sophisticated, virtuosic, incl: LV swimsuit, LV b&w blouse + chanel black dress; armani beaded silk top; marc black/silver silk/crepe dress. stuart silver lame blouse + ck tank & skirt..and the hair is stunning by luigi mureno in allusions to louise brooks' bob, flowing china dolls, & also more theatrical japanese stage characters. there is a retro picturebook quality to these pics which definitely conjures the past maybe 20s & 30s. but for all this brilliance, I dont find du juan as satisfying a model as freja or sasha, and while shes well chosen for these set pieces, all this virtuosity in the end sort of overwhelms or intimidates. this is a textbook example of fashion photography, styling & story-telling, and yet for all its brilliance its still a bit distant, or too stagey, if purposefully. it's a great edit but thompson's story is still better & even raquel, in a much less ambitious edit, connects about as well in a visual or emotional way, even if roversi is intellectually far more evolved than inez/vinoodh in these 2 case studies. rating 9 of 10 an amazing act of fashion & art stagecraft nonetheless. camilla used to workm for anna wintour I can only imagine how much anna missed camilla when she sees peerless editing & conceptualization like this- us vogue has NOTHING anywhere near this level of art.
EDIT #8. janet jackson shot by thompson. back to reality, another thompson celeb shoot that is good for what it is, but also a total turnoff & totally unimportant in an aesthetically forward book like W. all throughout the 90s, W had models on the cover. now a decade later newhouse/conde nast exerts the celeb obsession pressure on W [which has suffocated us vogue since the late 20th century] so we get drab actors & singers monthly on our favourite fashion book. listen I love janet's music. at this point shes the only jackson worth listening to. Im going to buy her new LP, i have lots of her old ones & her singles are so good [together again. doesnt really matter. lets wait awhile. best things in life are free. when i think of you. all nite [dont stop]. just a little while. all for you]. but I have ZERO interest in seeing her in W, nor on the cover. nickerson did her usual fine fashion choices: prada, chanel, D&G + CK, dior, ralph on cover. these are pared down metallic swimsuit reductivist versions of the militaristic fascism we saw in the rhythm nation video 15 or more years ago. janet looks great in her 2006 incarnation, but for me shes all about the music. very disappointing to see W sink to this vogue/rolling stone/vanity fair level to sell mags when the rest of the oct w is at the level of america's greatest magaine in any category. adequate pics by thompson & styling by camilla but still a real downer. 4 of 10.
