SupermodelCentral

Parsons Can’t Handle John Galliano’s Brillance

SupermodelCentral — Thu, 09 May 2013 02:36:36 +0000

John Galliano was meant to teach a 3 day course entitled “Show Me Emotion” This master class was in part going to include a student conversation with John. In an email that went out to the students regarding the cancellation, Parsons President Daid E.Van Zandt wrote: “a critical element of a New School education is the connection between creative and intellection invention and an individual’s actions in the world at large. While we understand the pressures that Mr. Galliano faces, we expected to invite students, faculty and staff to ask Mr. Galliano how is trajectory as a designer was changed by his offensive remarks and to learn from that example. We continue to believe there is room at Parsons to explore Mr. Galliano’s efforts to make amends for his actions…it is certain this would not have been an easy or comfortable conversation but our mission is to provide uncommon learning opportunities…”

After the course was announced an anonymous petition was filed on Change.org asking for the course to be removed.

Shortly following the filing of the petition Mr. Van Zandt wrote, “Over the last several weeks, many members of the university community wrote to express their views about this visit. Regardless of your opinion, you remind us all that it is our commitment to debate, and our willingness to support the possibility of change, that makes Parsons and The New School such an extraordinary place to learn.”

What that means is Parsons has funds they cannot afford to lose and are willing to silence a creative voice to protect its cash flow. What a waste. Can’t believe that one of the most progressive art schools is not only removing the course, they’re statement regarding the decisions puts the blame on John and attempts to sway perspective towards him not wanting to speak about how he’s moved on.

I hate being lied to.

Basically some of Parsons’ patrons have Daid E. Van Zandt pussy-whipped. We understand needing to run a business but to stop this conversation informs me that Parsons has taken one step closer to wearing cotton-candy pink Marchesa when the moment calls for classy. as. fuck.

Get with the program Parsons.

PMT: A New Way For Models To Give Back

SupermodelCentral — Wed, 08 May 2013 16:19:49 +0000

Edythe Hughes is the chair for Project Model Tee. It’s a non-profit organization that turns model’s art work into funds to charity.

Find out more at Projectmodeltee.org

Same Love

SupermodelCentral — Sat, 04 May 2013 04:22:59 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlVBg7_08n0

On hiatus

SupermodelCentral — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:19:57 +0000

SupermodelBlogger is taking a break. It’s time to focus on a very special project. I can’t wait to share it with all of you!

I hope you’ll like it. If you don’t, send complaints to: SupermodelBlogger@gmail.com

Bye for now.

Dove Does It Again: Reminds Women That They Are Already Beautiful

SupermodelCentral — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 16:34:13 +0000

Dove’s latest campaign entitled Real Beauty Sketches show us exactly how poorly women view themselves. A statistic on Dove’s site states the only 4% of women consider themselves to be beautiful. That’s a shocking number and says to me that we need to do better.

In this exercise Dove chose 7 women to describe themselves to an FBI sketch artist while sitting behind a curtain and then they had a complete stranger describe the same woman. The results are astonishing. Women view themselves in a much harsher light than the rest of the world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il0nz0LHbcM

Photos: realbeautysketches.dove.us

Oh Hell No! Former Australian Vogue Editor, Kirstie Clements Tells Us Things We NEVER Suspected!

SupermodelCentral — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 03:06:28 +0000

So much attention is being placed on Kirstie Clements right now about a book she wrote and a lot of the attention is being focused on her getting fired last May from her 25 year position at editor-in-chief of Australian Vogue. Which I understand because the short bio of Kristie on the cover says “From front desk to Editor” So, yeah, I can see why we’re focused on her getting fired but really, I can’t imagine that buying editorial spreads from US Vogue could be inspiring after a certain number of years, say 1 or 2. Pretty much, I would say that while at times it was probably fun to say you were the editor-in-chief at Australian Vogue, it probably also became annoying to be the head of the “Vogue from down-under.”

Now, we don’t hear much about Australian Vogue but apparently there were some sick things going on behind closed doors that no one suspected. As a matter of fact, Kristie tell us that this is an industry problem. Her tell-all book is called The Vogue Factor. In it she describes the horrendous methods models use to keep their weight down. Like feeding tubes and eating tissue. What the hell.

Nobody in their right mind watches girls eat tissues and be put on feeding tubes and continues to turn a blind eye while making money buying spreads for their magazine featuring these girls. Who would do that? In any other business, I’m pretty sure you would get fired. Oh, um, nevermind.

At any rate, big surprise, models starve themselves. They don’t eat for days at a time. In order to make this brief I thought I’d share with you some of the methods used by models to stay thin and also some of the ones not used.

TYPICALLY USED TO LOSE WEIGHT

1. Juice fast

2. Exercise

3. Diets

4. Supplements: vitamins, minerals, metabolism

5. Bulimia (never a good idea and it doesn’t really work anyways)

6. Rehabs for eating disorders

7. Moving around from country to country (stress burns calories)

8. Boot camps

9. Illicit drugs

10. Plastic surgery or fasting spas

WAYS TO LOSE WEIGHT THAT ARE NOT USED:

1. Feeding tubes

2. Eating tissue

3. Eating cotton balls (I don’t care which model said it happened, it was probably a joke an intern made)

4. Starving to the point of passing out. (Ok, I did see that once. But it was rare and her agents got her help)

Trust me, the girls that you don’t see eating on set were going home to eat. The pressure to stay thin becomes a strange set of unspoken rules of when it’s ok to eat and when it’s not ok. At any rate, WHY DIDN’T KRISTIE SAY SOMETHING WHILE IT WAS HAPPENING????

Now, for another reality check. The agents I worked with sent girls to get help when they were having a difficult time losing weight, developing unhealthy habits, hurting themselves with substances and having breakdowns. It’s a tough business and some do slip through the cracks but for the most part, agents are supportive and do everything they can to help girls with legit eating disorders or substance abuse problems. It’s not something that goes unnoticed.

Also I’m also confused about the title: THE VOGUE FACTOR. What does that mean? It should be made clear that Anna Wintour herself sent a model to rehab for eating disorders and then had her write an article about it to bring awareness about the problem. And she did that while she was in office. She also started the yearly body issue and age issue. Anna has also stepped up as a huge supported of the health initiative and has begun conversations with leading experts in the field of nutrition to help solve this epidemic in the industry. So, my question is what Vogue factor is Kristie referring to? Her own?

Everyone in the industry is aware that it isn’t perfect so why this book needed to be written is unclear to me. Of course, it is salacious and intriguing but really, who cares how big models are or how they stay so slender? I’m personally interested in the topic because I was one of those models that had a very difficult time staying thin. But forget my personal interest in the size of a mode, isn’t the real issue here about the messaging we’re sending out? Shouldn’t it be based on fact?

The main thing that Kristie Clements’ book tells me is that she saw a problem going on and for a quarter of a century and turned a blind eye to it. Why? If it’s even true that girls were hooked into feeding tubes and eating tissue, why wait 25 years before you speak up? The industry need solutions not spankings.

Patrik Andersson: Project 61

SupermodelCentral — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 15:05:33 +0000

Sweet Spring

Soft Landing

This Lunar-tic Is Selling His Dream For $24

SupermodelCentral — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 04:23:47 +0000

Honestly, this just warms my heart. I’m going to go buy property now on the moon. I love how Denis didn’t ask for permission, he did it and asked them to let him know if they had a legal problem with it. I’m gonna go ahead and say that every single successful person on Earth has at one time, perhaps numerous times, have just gotten the job done and looked around later to make sure everyone was legally cool with them.

I’m calling this Denis Hope a success. He’s selling the moon acre by acre because he can. And there’s billions to purchase. That’s not crazy, that’s great business sense.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs6rCxU_IHY

Jamie Bochert Fronts For Zadig & Voltaire

SupermodelCentral — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 04:51:01 +0000

Jamie Bochert. The lovely kick ass mysterious Jamie Bochert is fronting the SS13 campaign for Zadig & Voltaire. Here’s a peek behind the scenes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21KVSP2Vw6g

Hair and Makeup backstage at Zadig & Voltaire

Jamie Bochert backstage at Zadig & Voltaire

Jamie Bochert exiting the Zadig & Voltaire show with goodie bag in tow

Girl Model: Director Ashley Sabin’s Interview With Craig Palmer

SupermodelCentral — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 04:32:38 +0000

Craig Palmer founder of The Cultural Omnivore spoke with Ashley Sabin, one of the directors from Girl Model, the documentary that is causing quite a stir in fashion at the moment. I’ll be having a live conversation on Matters of Today with Ashley on April 17 at 1 pm EST to go over the current controversies being discussed in regards to this film.

Craig’s interview gives us a lay of the land and why the topics of modeling, prostitution, scouting and isolation all came together for one film.

Photo: Girl Model

INTERVIEW WITH CRAIG
I recently spoke with filmmaker Ashley Sabin about her latest documentary Girl Model, a film that documents the fashion industries supply-chain between Siberia, Japan and the United States as told through the experiences of scouts, agencies and 13-year-old model Nadya Vall. The film contrasts the innocence of Russian model Nadya against jaded model cum scout Ashley Abraugh in a film that is equally disturbing as it is engaging.

What motivated you to make the film Girl Model?

In 2007 Ashley Arbaugh the scout in the documentary approached us with the idea of making a film. Her idea was to make a film about modeling and prostitution and the foggy line between the two. After a year of discussion and trying to figure out what story we wanted to tell, we decided to make the film largely in part because of her.

What challenges did you face when making Girl Model?

I think the biggest challenge we faced was dealing with Nadya and the other young model. The film is framed in such a way that we were behind the camera and it was difficult to know when to step in and when not to. We stepped in a lot and that isn’t shown in the film. It was important to us not to make their situations any more difficult than they needed to be, but at the same time we were documenting and we wanted the situation to be as authentic as possible. It was tricky to have them not rely on us too much but at the same time knowing when to help them.

What biases, if any, did you discover you had about the industry during the process of making the film?

I didn’t come from the fashion world and neither did David (Redmon). I knew very little about the industry. What I knew is what most people probably know like walking down the street and seeing a billboard or looking at magazines in line at the grocery store. I hadn’t engaged with it in such a personal and intimate way and I had no real understanding of it. These images look back at us and the question for both myself and my partner David became to ask what is going on behind the image. The labor and age of the models are things we now question when we look at fashion advertisements. Continue Reading…