Franco’s first of his “Episodes of an Untitled Film” will debut on February 15 on Seven’s YouTube channel with a new episode premiering every week. The aforementioned “Untitled Film” is actually titled The Death of Natalie Wood, an extended three-hour version of which will be played as part of “Rebel,” an art installation at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. Inspired by Rebel without a Cause starring Wood and James Dean, “Rebel” also features work from Ed Ruscha, Paul McCarthy, Damon McCarthy, Aaron Young and Harmony Korine.

Franco’s interest cum obsession with James Dean is akin to Linday Lohan‘s obsession cum super-obsession with Marilyn Monroe, only to a more successful — and a more clothed — degree. You may remember that post-Freaks and Geeks Franco played Dean in a made-for-TV movie and later directed a biographical movie on Sal Mineo, Dean’s tragic sidekick in the 1955 classic. “Part of me wanted to fill it out and do a tribute to Natalie Wood, as well,” Franco said in reference to the untitled film’s title.

As for his collaboration with Seven, Franco had this to say about it: “The videos have a vintage feel to them. They feel like they are from a different era, which I think really fits with the new line that Seven had in the shoot — a lot of cool denim tops and jeans…The look of the film and the clothes feels very Seventies. We shot right on the beach and drove up the PCH [Pacific Coast Highway], so I guess you could say it’s a vintage 1970’s California dreamy feel. The movies that I cut together have a lot of weird double exposures and super- imposed images over other images, so it’s a real, I guess you could say, trip.”

The film features a cast of models/actors/artists/musicians I’ve never heard of — as well as a cameo by Franco himself — while Lily Donaldson takes center stage in the print campaign (above). And while he’s no stranger to modeling as the broodingly handsome face of Gucci for the past few seasons, Jimmy Francs is also in talks to move behind the camera to direct something for the Italian house. [WWD]

Check out a behind-the-scenes look at James Franco’s Seven for All Mankind film below:

Why do you love this photo? 

I love Paul Newman—he’s my favorite actor—and for this shot, I got to portray him. He’s just the coolest guy ever and I’ve been told that I look like him. In fact, when they were casting for this shoot, mine was the only photo they submitted.  I also got to ride around on a motorcycle all day, which didn’t hurt.

How long was the shoot?

It was four or five hours. It was shot in a Brooklyn studio on a rainy Sunday at 7 a.m., so it’s kind of ironic that it’s my favorite photo. I had a great time, though. I loved the props and ended up stealing a lot of shots—not on purpose, but just because I was really excited. But I do it a lot. [Laughs].

What were you thinking when it was taken? What direction did the photographer give you?

In addition to Paul, I had to portray all these 50s actors and re-enact their films. So for this picture, he wanted me to pretend I was Paul Newman, the second James Dean, the third Marlon Brando and the fourth Steve McQueen. I was just trying to be as cool as possible and relax. But I was still laughing, though trying to be serious, you know, have a furrowed brow and all…

What were you wearing?

Lots of really awesome leather jackets, too-tight Harley Davidson T-shirts, suspenders, these really cool vintage goggles and grease. I was covered in a lot of grease.

For more Model Musings visit LOOKBOOKS.com! 

Sam‘s Faves

Prabal/Style.com

- Ralph Lauren: “For the ostrich feather boas.”

- Diane von Furstenberg: For handing out little American flags in honor of 9/11 and for making an outfit that anyone could wear.

- Prabal Gurung: “For using one print 100 ways, and also for clever cutouts.”

- 3.1 Phillip Lim: ”For his tasty sherbert color palette.”

- The Row: “For dressing the old ladies that the Olsen twins were born to be.”

- James Franco, the poor man’s Renaissance man, shot Agyness Deyn, Natalia Bonifacci and Imogen Poots as eternal rebel, James Dean for Elle. [Elle]

- Jessica Simpson‘s come a long way from moderately successful/talented pop tart to…respected (?) businesswoman. Next step towards legitimacy? Mentoring aspiring designers on NBC‘s Fashion Star hosted by Elle MacPherson. Keep on trotting, lady. [Fashionista]

- Alber Elbaz debuted Lanvin‘s new kid’s line and it’s haute cute-ure. [Styleite]

- Mariah Carey may have — allegedly — given birth to twins recently, but Mimi is already back to work.  After all she now has three mouths to feed — though I think it’s cute that Nick Cannon pretends to work. Mariah’s “remixing” a trio of scents under the name Lollipop Splash Remix. A cameo by Puff Daddy and Ma$e is sure to follow. [WWD]

Elizabeth Taylor’s style can probably be summed up with a trio of B’s: Big, Bold and Bling. From her bodacious figure to the epic Taylor-Burton Diamond (a little trinket from husband #5/6, Richard Burton — a pear-shaped 69.42 carat diamond bought for a paltry $1,050,000 in 1969), Liz Taylor was what a movie star should be: glamorous and larger than life.

Best known as a child star from films such as National Velvet (1944) and Lassie Come Home (1943), Liz forever shed that image in the 1951 classic, A Place in the Sun co-starring soon-to-be best friend and confidante, Montgomery Clift. Monty pines away for the unattainable Liz only to have his dream life and love sidetracked by insistent plain Jane, Shelly Winters. The story ends tragically, but not before Liz emerges as a beautiful young thing in an elegant white ball gown that takes not only Monty’s breath away, but the audience’s.

In Giant (1956), Liz shared the screen with two other closet cases, thus ensuring her claim as the world’s foremost fag hag, Rock Hudson and James Dean. She formed lifelong friendships with both men, though they reportedly hated each other. Rock’s old Hollywood studio professionalism clashed with Dean’s reckless Method actor rebelliousness and Liz was often called on to act as mediator. Dean died in a car crash during the production in 1955, but one can see that in their short time together they formed a bond.

In 1956, Taylor would experience another tragedywith one of her friends when Monty Clift crashed his car in the middle of filming Raintree Country. Clift would have died had Liz not dislodged his two front teeth from his throat. Production was halted while Clift underwent surgery and though he continued to act, Clift was visibly and mentally altered, and died in 1966 after a long battle with drug and alcohol addiction.

With 1958′s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Liz set pulses racing as Maggie the Cat, the sexually-frustrated wife of bitter and repressed Paul Newman, who’s too busy mourning his recently deceased friend to pay any heed to Maggie or his ailing family. Though Tennessee Williams‘ play was toned down for film audiences, the most memorable image is that of Liz writhing around in nothing but a white silk slip.

Taylor earned Best Actress Oscar nominations for Raintree and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, but she won her first statuette for 1960′s BUtterfield 8. She wore a stunning Christian Dior gown to accept the prize, though she felt she only won out of sympathy — she had recently lost husband Mike Todd and had nearly died from an illness during filming.

In 1963, Elizabeth Taylor became the first actress to earn $1 million for a movie for Cleopatra and during filming she fell in love with her co-star, the dashing Richard Burton. The costumes in Cleopatra were some of the most opulent ever put to film, but what else would one expect of the most famous woman in the world playing the most famous woman in history. Taylor had 65 costumes in total, including a dress made from 24-carat gold thread and cost a total $194,800 — the most expensive wardrobe for any individual screen actor ever.

Liz would win her second Best Actress Oscar for 1966′s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, as the volatile and alcoholic Martha alongside then-husband Dick Burton’s George. Undeniably her greatest performance, Taylor eschewed her glamorous image to play the aging, plump and slovenly Martha.

The dynamic on screen was similar to real life and the Battling Burtons divorced in 1974, only to give it one more shot a year later. They were divorced for the second and final time in 1976, though their turbulent relationship led Vanity Fair to label theirs the Romance of the Century.

Though film roles dried up later in life, Elizabeth Taylor still dressed every inch the part and her impact on film, fashion, pop culture, as well as her tireless humanitarian efforts will keep her legend shining brighter than any white diamond ever could.

These Have Always Brought Me Luck:

National Velvet (1944)

Father of the Bride (1950)

A Place in the Sun (1951)

Giant (1956)

Raintree Country (1957)

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)

Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)

Cleopatra (1963)

The V.I.P.s (1963)

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

The Taming of the Shrew (1967)

At an age when many of us can’t even afford a couture gown let alone make one, Maxime Simoëns has joined the official Couture calendar. What’s even more impressive, he’s the first designer to do so without ever having staged a runway.  But before sending out his first painfully constructed garment down the Parisian runway this week, the young couturier shared his inspirations and insights with Style.com.

Your first interest was film. Why did you abandon it for fashion?

Starting from the age of five or six I was totally taken by James Dean, Charlie Chaplin, and Marilyn Monroe. Then I got to film school and found it too technical and scientific—all physics, math, chemistry. I wanted to express myself more concretely; I was thinking less about science and more about the narration of a heroine. Then came Madonna’s “Drowned” World Tour and I took one look at the costumes and silhouettes—and of course the corsets—by Jean Paul Gaultier, and I knew. I went home and started to draw. It totally threw my parents off because after ten years of talking about film I turned around and told them it was going to be fashion.

What happened once you arrived in Paris?

I attended the Chambre Syndicale, and I figured that since Gaultier was my inspiration my first internship should be there. It’s very complicated to get an internship there, so I knocked on all the doors I could, and then I hand-embroidered a letter on a corset that I made out of python and painted. It took my whole summer vacation—the corset, the packaging, everything. Mr. Gaultier never saw it, but his assistants did. It made the rounds in-house and that’s how I got my internship in the accessories department.

You also interned at Christian Dior and Balenciaga. What were the takeaways there?

I was an assistant stylist in the embroidery atelier at Dior. So much happens at the last minute that it was a lesson in working on a tight deadline. As an assistant stylist at Balenciaga I worked on inspirations and embroidery, especially prints. Once, two weeks before the show, we changed everything. It was sort of a liturgical theme, and then it was flowers. Working with Nicolas [Ghesquière] is great because he pushes everything to the limit.

How did the annual fashion and photography festival at Hyères become your launching pad?

Hyères is usually about a concept, but some journalists told me that my mini-collection of seven pieces had commercial potential. We presented at Hyères and found ourselves with orders for 600 pieces, which was enormous. I couldn’t work out of my apartment anymore; we had to really set up a house. Then, unexpectedly, the numbers doubled with the second collection. At the same time, Gossip Girl stylist Eric Daman was scouting for the Paris shoot and he liked the collection. It gave us great exposure, and we [Gossip Girl stars Blake Lively and Leighton Meester] hit it off.

Is that how the couture connection came about?

Didier Grumbach [president of the Fédération Française de la Couture] had encouraged me to participate in Couture week, but I wasn’t sure at first because couture seemed to me a bit old-fashioned. In the end I decided to do it because it wasn’t about aligning with an old image, it was about a new vision of couture. The timing is perfect because ready-to-wear arrives in stores a week later.

What is your take on couture?

For me it’s not about made-to-measure. It’s more about normalized sizing with French creativity and quality. There’s a whole French generation emerging that’s interested in preserving that tradition. Since we took over Lacroix’s old atelier, we have artisanal know-how to back us up and the capacity to deliver quickly. Those two factors make [creating couture] feasible. The idea with our atelier is to support the young coalition and help consolidate the new generation of French couture.

Who are this season’s heroines?

There’s a Sofia Coppola inspiration for both parts of the collection. The first, which I call “Cherry Blossom Girl,” is dedicated to sacrificial heroines like the teenage ones in Virgin Suicides, but with glamour, geometry, and elegance. The second part is called “This, Madame, Is Paris,” which is inspired by Marie Antoinette. For my first Couture show I wanted a theme that was very French, so I chose the absolute icon.

How do you render an icon of excess in neo-minimalist times?

Instead of panniers and frills I worked a lot on fabric, in mille-feuilles and prints. One print is black marble; another is lace transformed into jacquard that is slightly industrial; and another is a pixelated version of a painting the Queen commissioned for the Petit Trianon. Then you get to a heavier jacquard that I created from droplets of blood Photoshopped and reworked in color, thread by thread. But even if her end was somber, we focused on the lighter, iconic side of things—handmade flowers in leather, white gowns embroidered with stones. And there’s a chain theme to invoke the idea of being chained to one’s destiny.

Has Sofia Coppola seen the collection?

No, but she’s invited!

Link Love: Style.com

Do you think being dead for like 100 years will prevent James Dean from shelling out Lee Jeans? Hell to the fuck no!!! The original Rebel is in a new campaign for Lee Jeans in Japan. More images after the jump.

LINK LOVE: VGL

]]> http://fashionindie.com/addict-james-dean-for-lee-jeans/feed/ 4 http://fashionindie.com/street-heroes-the-modern-james-dean/ http://fashionindie.com/street-heroes-the-modern-james-dean/#comments Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:05:40 +0000 Saynt http://fashionindie.com/?p=75103

James dean is alive and well. And he shops at Dean & Deluca?

Growing up in the 90′s, travelling the world, I witnessed the great influence of American Pop Culture wherever I go, Tom Cruise’s 1986 TOP GUN poster stapled on a barber shop in Boystown, Pattaya-Thailand, Brad Pitt’s 1994 Legends of the Fall poster in a “mostly censored” movie rentals in Al Khobar-Saudi Arabia, Leonardo Dicaprio’s life-size cardboard cutout in the streets of Lan Kwai Fong-Hong Kong, Jason Priestley and Luke Perry’s of Beverly Hills 90210 in the 1990′s all over the notebook covers of teenage girls (and boys) in my highschool in Manila, I have to confess I bought my first Tiger Beat with River Phoenix cover to wrap my Calculus Textbook (to get me through my most boring class ever).

James Dean
(February 1931 – September 1955)

In an “fun experiment” by Irina Aleksander on her article “The New Male Beauty” (June 23, 2009) for The New York Observer. She suggested that the latest “It boys”sort of look alike– High School Musical’s Zac Efron, Twilight’s Robert Pattinson, Gossip Girl’s Chace Crawford, Star Trek’s Chris Pine, Hairspray’s James Marsden, Fantastic Four’s Chris Evans and the list goes on, and she calls it the NEW MALE BEAUTY: those wide-set eyes, the narrow nose that flares up at the tip just so, the childish puffy cheeks and the not-too-rugged jaw lines, topped with carefully placed strands of layered hair. (http://www.observer.com/2009/style/new-male-beauty)

Although I agree with her that this twenty-something James Dean doppelgänger’s has been dominating the box office and prime time tv this decade, whats new? Since James Dean starred in Rebel Without a Cause (1955), he’s reincarnation’s in the “Male Beauties” of the 60′s (Warren Beatty), 80′s (Tom Cruise), 90′s (Leonardo Dicaprio) has always been prominent. The 2000′s Young Hollywood cannot deny the fact that “another swoopy-haired, pretty-faced actor dominating the box office” has started in the 50′s. Although I was born in the 80′s and Tom Cruise was the king, I acknowledge the fact that on my list of top 10 Male beauties of all time, it’s a not a Mr. Pattinson or a Mr. Efron topping my list- its the original, Mr. Dean.

River Phoenix
(August 1970 – October 1993)

The American film actor who starred in Gus Van Sant’s 1991 Semi-documentary footage of Seattle street hustling “My Own Private Idaho” is one of the reason I fell in love with american filmmaking, not only its sexiest Homosexual road movie ever made, its casted perfectly with beautiful talented stars all at the top of their respective games. The film’s success solidified Phoenix’s image as an edgy actor with leading man potential, without even trying, he is the most authentic reincarnation of James Dean’s beauty and talent in the 90′s.

Brad Pitt
(December 1963)

Yes, its not a surprise Mr. Pitt’s in the list, has been cited as one of the world’s most sexiest men over and over again in some top 10 list all over the world. But I can’t help but put him in this one, because am only human. Most of my favorite movies of all time are starred by Brad Pitt, and three of the sexiest and most beautiful characters that the silverscreen ever produced he had played – J.D., the cowboy hitchhiker who seduces Geena Davis’s character in the 1991 road movie “Thelma & Louise”, as Louis de Pointe du Lac in “Interview with the Vampire” (1994) – the most referenced vampire of this decades’ teen vampires and Tristan Ludlow in the 1994 drama “Legends of the Fall”, how can I resist?

Johnny Depp
(June 1963)

There is something so mysterious about this American actor that I find so mesmerizing and beautiful, after 50 films and running, from “A Nightmare on Elm Street” to “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” from “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” to “Pirates of the Caribbean”, he just makes me ask for more.

Joe Dallesandro
(December 1948)

Aesthetically speaking if the Greek philosophers will have a perfect mold for the male beauty, it will be “Little Joe”s face. Thanks to Andy Warhol, the 70′s underground films will always have their nude James Dean. Although he never become a mainstream film star like Mr. Dean, Mr. Phoenix, Mr. Depp and Mr. Pitt –Mr. Dallesandro is a sex symbol of the 20th century in his own right, and an iconic beauty on my list. Like Mr. Phoenix he starred as as a beautiful teenage street hustler in the 1970′s film Flesh and hailed as one of the 10 most beautiful men Scavullo had ever photographed. As a photographer how can i disagree?

Gabriel Aubry
(January 1976)

“Quick, name one male model.” asked by Lauren Streib on her article “The World’s Most Successful Male Models”(May, 07 2008) for Forbes Magazine. Gabriel Aubry, Mark Fisher, Marlon Teixeira, Jon Kortajarena, and Greg Knudson and yes, Fabio doesn’t count. In my personal list of Top 10 Male Beauties of all time, it only make sense that half of them are models and three out of five are signed with Wilhelmina Models in New York City. All five of them have the moviestar goodlooks minus the Zoolander ego that plagued most male models this decade.

Signed to Wilhelmina Models in New York City, the only male model to ever appear on the cover of Uomo Vogue while appearing in 4 different campaigns at the same time, in the same magazine. Aubry is a Canadian male model, that has been the face (and body) of blue chip clients like Gianni Versace, Calvin Klein, DKNY, and Valentino, achieved supermodel status after modeling for Hugo Boss.

Mark Fisher
(January 1976)

One source of male beauties for me back in college are the men’s fashion magazines, I have converted my room in a mini-magazine library and nobody can avoid all the muses for more than four decades of the legendary photographer Bruce Weber, Mark Fisher is my favorite. Mr. Fisher is an American model best known for his campaigns for Abercrombie & Fitch, Polo, Versace and Ralph Lauren. In my book he is one of the original male models that carries the James Dean charm without even knowing it.

Fisher was born in Detroit, but grew up in Atlanta and considers himself a little boy from the South.

Marlon Teixeira
(September 1993)

Signed to Wilhelmina Models in New York City, Teixeira appeared on Dior Homme Campaign, the provocative Diesel Ad shot by Terry Richardson, the face of the 2009 Christian Dior Summer/Spring collection to name a few. The brazillian beauty is half Portuguese and has Indian and Japanese origins and at the very young age and early of his career he is becoming one of the top working male model right now.

Jon Kortajarena
(May 1985)

Those chiseled cheekbones, full pout and sexy stare has placed Spanish male model on my top 10 male beauties, signed to Wilhelmina Models in New York City,
Kortajarena has been the face of Just Cavalli, Tom Ford, Bally, Etro, Trussardi and now on his film debut on the upcoming directorial debut of designer TOM FORD “A Single Man (2009)” alongside Colin Firth, & Julianne Moore.

Greg Knudson
(November 1978)

Whenever people ask me who’s my favorite model I ever photographed, this American male model, native of california always come to mind,
I never thought I’ll ever meet a real life James Dean in my lifetime, but I did, and his body covered by Oriental tattoes of his gang memebrship on his teen years,
a troubled teen like the characters that James Dean, River Phoenix, Johnny Depp would ussually play in their films and his striking resemblance to Brad Pitt is uncanny.

Excerpt from my book Acknowledgement “STARK”: I remember buying my first photo book, Just Between Us by LA photographer Greg Gorman, when I was in Fine Arts college majoring painting. I will never forget that, because I had never before spent so much money on a book; but that day and from this day on I knew it was all worth it. The moment I saw Greg Knudson on the book cover in the display, I considered him the most beautiful person on the planet, and I still feel he is.

When I shot him in LA last year—8 years after I bought the book—Greg told me I might be the last photographer he would ever work with since he is thinking of retiring; he has worked with most of the top photographers in the 1990’s. Now he is gracing my photo book, and I am elated.

Corey and I just got back from Capsule, and while we were incredibly impressed with the majority of the collections present, we both had a little soft spot for S***R Shoes. S***R has provided kicks for Thom Yorke of Radiohead to Orlando Bloom and even Matthew Williamson! Gathering inspiration from the iconic James Dean, S***R shoes have a recognizable look with the modern convenience of a rubber sole. But S***R  Shoes are anything but sneakers. Made from the finest suede and leather, S***R has a variety of amazing boots, oxfords, lace-ups and saddles totally worth getting your feet on! 

GALLERY: S***R Shoes Spring 2010 Collection 

Check out S***R here!