The looks in “Haute Mess” certainly make a statement and that statement is hot tranny mess realness. Literally. In her always entertaining blog, Sozzani wrote that the spread might take its inspiration from “messy drags: untidy, dishevelled, counter-intuitive cross-dressers.” And that’s inspiration you can take to the bank. The Cut caught up with Sozzani, who by this point is more than accustomed to courting controversy, to discuss the editorial.

In typical frank Franca fashion, she utterly dismissed it as a bit of hubub over nothing.

“We wanted to make something quite extravagant,” the editrix explained. “It’s more to push people to be creative and extravagant…we just thought it was the concept of extravagance, of creativity, even something over-the-top, something that is not usual. If you want, you don’t dress like that, you don’t put on this kind of makeup, but it’s just to make a fake, to go over-the-top, it makes you happy in a way, more alive, more colorful — sometimes fashion looks sad.”

As for the backlash, Sozzani openly doesn’t give a damn: “I think it’s good that everyone sees what they wanted to see. As you know, I don’t care as much what people think, because I think that every time that you try to change something, people [say something else]. I respect everybody’s opinion.”

Well, maybe not everyone’s opinion. When asked about people who found the images classist and offensive, Sozzani shut that down real quick: ”There are so many sick people around the world that you cannot — I don’t care about them. I care about normal people. They want to read and see the normal way as we did. If they are sick, it’s not my problem. I am not a psychologist. They should find somebody who could help them.”

While Sozzani doesn’t rank “Haute Mess”as one of her most controversial spreads, she insists that wasn’t what she was going for to begin with: “It’s not that I want it to be controversial all the time, it’s happened. … You can just take pictures like in a catalog so you will never be controversial, but that’s not my choice of life.”

You certainly can’t fault Franca Sozzani for sticking to her guns, but what do you think? Is “Haute Mess” offensive — whether intentional or not — or just over-the-top fun? Click through for the entire editorial and sound off in the comments below.

Photos: Design Scene

- Perhaps anticipating a forthcoming lull in her career, Rihanna has signed on to host and produce her first reality show. [Huff Po]

- Diane von Furstenberg still does not care for any jailbait on her goddamn runway, thanks. [The Cut]

- IMG threw it way back to the Renaissance for its show package, featuring star models Joan Smalls, Candice Swanepoel, Jessica Stam, Karolina Kurkova, Lily Donaldson et al photoshopped into classic works of art. [Modelinia]

- Noted wheeler and occasional dealer Pat Sajak claims he’s hosted Wheel of Fortune drunk on many an occasion. In fact, he and Vanna White used to knock back “two or three or six” maggy ritas during lunch. Or what I like to call a Wednesday. [The Hollywood Reporter]

-Here’s a preview of Adriana Lima‘s Super Bowl commercial for Kia. Mid-sized economy cars just got a whole lotta sexy:

North America : Canada

Jessica Stam

Coco Rocha

Shalom Harlow

Linda Evangelista

Alek Wek

Jessica Stam

yann

Links: Harper’s Bazaar and Models.com

When Stam isn't getting pampered by colorist Christopher John at Garren New York, she's hydrating her golden locks with Leonor Greyl Masque Quintessence hair mask.

Wen wouldn't think of coloring her natural, jet black hair, but she does keep it soft, shiny and frizz-free with Bumble and bumble. Creme de Coco Shampoo.

Organic fruit and vegetable juices give Kershaw a glow from the inside-out. But her radiant skin gets a boost from Lush Gorgeous moisturizer, infused with six organic oils and butters.

Linchuk does yoga and works with a trainer to stay in shape, but she buffs her body with Jo Malone Vitamin E Body Treatment Scrub to get that youthful glow.

If models want to preserve their youthful looks, it's crucial they stay out of the sun. Rubik knows and prefers Burberry Beauty Warm Glow bronzer to get a warm, healthy glow.

When Chanel Iman is feeling stressed, she hits the spa for some major pampering. But her luminous complexion never fades with the help of Rodin Olio Lusso face oil.

Aila Wang, Photo via The Cut

“When I was 15 and first got scouted to be a model, I didn’t know anything about fashion. I started paying attention to fashion by collecting magazines and tearing out pictures of models and putting them on my walls.” – Jessica Stam

“When I walked in the Marc Jacobs show in 2006.” – Chanel Iman

“I sneaked into the Valentino show when I was 17.” – Ronen Jehezkel, Parke & Ronen

“I’m 100 years old now, but when I graduated, I didn’t know what I wanted to do.  It was the early 60s, and I wasn’t fitting in with the Mad Men style of the times. But then I went to London where things we’re really beginning and fit in with the movement there. I started designing and six months later had full pages in Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar and thought ‘this is what I need to be doing.’ – Norma Kamali

“In about 1993 was the first fashion show I ever attended. It was in an old theater in Paris and it was so amazing, so exciting.”  – Terry Richardson

“My first fashion event was probably when I was 10 and at the YMCA. It was a ‘fashion show’ but really it was kids walking on the stage waving to their parents.” – Erin Wasson

“My first fashion event was probably in 2005. I was in New York and I couldn’t tell you the name of the designer, but there were a lot of very pretty women there.” – Amare Stoudemire, NY Knicks

“Two years ago at SoHo House in New York, a friend of mine was putting on these weekly fashion shows for different designers. There were models, synchronized swimmers, acrobats – the works. It was really cool and we went every week that summer.”- Carrie Preston, True Blood

“I went to Central Saint Martins and the first fashion show I ever went to was the graduate end-of -year show. Antonio Berardi was graduating that year, and I remember how great that show was. It can be a very emotive, incredible experience – it sort of speaks to something in your soul. It reinforced to me that this is right, that I loved what I was doing”. – Annabel Tollman

Vogue Italia‘s “Day and Night,” left; W‘s “Transformers,” right

The two shoots are not completely alike; after all W used 10 models including Linda Evangelista, Karen Elson and Jessica Stam, while Vogue Italia only used Zimmermann. And Karl Templer styled for Vogue Italia while Edward Enninful styled for W.

Still, the theme, and even some of the poses, of the two spreads are remarkably similar and they’re both in black and white, thus making the similarities even more apparent.

Sure this doesn’t seem like that big of a deal — fashion continually recycles itself, even if after only a month — but WWD, at least, thinks there might be repercussions:

“The fallout will be worth watching. If it damages W’s relationship with Meisel, [Stefano] Tonchi will lose out on a big-name photographer he’s craved for the magazine. If Tonchi doesn’t act, it will demonstrate the lengths a fashion magazine editor will go to appease a photographer who holds considerable influence in the industry.”

What’s Tonchi going to do, go to Condé Nast and issue a recall of all August Italian Vogues? Mesiel’s a brilliant photog — he just got a little lazy. It happens to the best of us. I got lazy when it came to the conclusion of this post…The End. [WWD]

There are faces and there’s Linda Fucking Evangelista.

- Noted girly mag aficionado, Simon Doonan, along with a smattering of other fashion people, pick their favorite photos from Playboy‘s storied history to celebrate the launch of their new iPlayboy app, The Playboy Commission. [Nowness]

- Kate Moss had to cut her globetrotting honeymoon short — no thanks to inconsiderate natural disasters — but at least she has a pair of fuck me — and you! — pumps to console her soles. [Fashionologie]

- If you’re walking by Houston and McDougal, 14th and University or 14th and 8th Avenue tonight around 9 p.m., you might catch Raquel Zimmermann being gritty for Alexander Wang. [Fashionista]

- Modelina, doing god’s work, has assembled a “dedicated model Twitter list,” so now you can #follow @Jess_Stam and @itsmeChanelIman to the ends of the Twitterverse. [Modelina]

A buffy Duffy body double?

- Speaking of altruistic endeavors, Styleite has delved balls-deep into the “Robert Duffy YouTube Stock Room Strip Down Incident” — Duffy’s-Undiesgate, if you will —  to reveal that it was all probably just a joke that no one got. Their smoking gun: Duffy’s allegedly buff guns. Styleite‘s not calling him fat, or anything, but…okay, they kind of are. [Styleite]

Stephanie Seymour (July 23, 1968) As a muse for the late Richard Avedon, Stephanie Seymour created some of the best fashion photographs of the 90s, then upped the iconic ante when she strolled down the aisle as Axl Rose‘s bride (the two were dating at the time) in Guns and Roses‘ classic “November Rain” video. Though supermodels appearing in music videos was nothing new in 1992, very few looked as perfect as Seymour in that epic wedding dress. Perhaps a little too rock & roll for a royal wedding, but I would at least consider it, Kate Middleton.

Claudia Schiffer (Aug. 25, 1970) Reminiscent of a young Bridget Bardot, Claudia Schiffer’s sultry good looks catapulted her to supermodeldom in the early 90s. Though she made a comeback in a series of gorgeous ads for Salvatore Ferragamo in 2007, don’t expect to see Schiffer on a runway anytime soon; the German stunner maintains that she’s “very shy.” I’m the same way until I get a little liquor in me, hence, we just need to booze up Claudia and throw her — heels first — onto that catwalk. ASAP.

Heidi Klum (June 1, 1973) The ultimate Victoria’s Secret Angel, Klum hung up her wings for good in 2010 to focus on her thriving businesses: in addition to producing the Peabody Award-winning Project Runway (yeah, Heidi Klum has a Peabody), Klum has tried her hand at design, acting, painting not to mention re-populating the world with the help of her virile husband Seal…seriously, Heidi’s been pregnant nonstop for like the past ten years. I’m just going to say it, someone needs to separate those two.

Kate Moss (Jan. 16 1974) The kittenish face of “Heroin Chic,” Kate Moss’ arrival in 1990 sparked a sweeping change in the world of modeling. The glamazons of the 80s and early 90s now seemed outdated compared to the 5’7 Moss when she appeared in The Face magazine, shot by the late Corrine Day. Notoriously private — she rarely gives interviews — Kate Moss is still the most ubiquitous face in modeling of the past twenty years. As a regular in ad campaigns and a favorite muse for many photographers, Moss also practically owns the cover of British Vogue. Despite her amazing career, Kate has had her share of ups and downs…both fueled heavily by cocaine.

Photo: Harper's Bazaar

Tyra Banks (Dec. 4, 1973) Tyra Banks started off a rail-thin high fashion model before morphing into a voluptuous swimsuit cover girl, then a Victoria’s Secret Angel, then a fat-ass Emmy-winning talk show host and the professional smizer/creator of the now international Top Model series; in short, she is the ultimate model as mogul. And while I and a generation of other girls have learned everything we know about modeling from Ms. Banks (admittedly it took me a while to figure out how to find my light), she still has a few tricks up her sleeve (or in this case, turban), such as this shot from Vogue Italia’s iconic “Black Issue.”

Gisele (July 20, 1980) The last of the true supermodels, Gisele came along during the wave of Brazilian bombshells in the late 90s. With her athletic body and distinctive horse trot, she’s stayed at the top of the model heap for the past ten years, earning the one-name recognition to which all supers are entitled. Though there are several heirs to the throne (Karlie Kloss, Chanel Iman, Coco Rocha, Hilary Rhoda, Agyness Deyn, Anja Rubik, Jessica Stam, the list goes on and on…), the queen is not abdicating anytime soon.

Photo: Models.com

And thank heavens for it, because we’re LOVING her psychedelic-future-punk makeup in this Craig McDean spread.

The frizz-mohawk hairdo is to die for.

See the rest of Stam’s electrifying editorial on LOOKBOOKS.

WHO:  Express Spring 2011 Runway show/ Campaign Shoot

WHERE: Flatiron, NYC- Broadway at 23 st.

WHEN: Thursday, October 21, 2010 at 5:15PM

If you like what you see check out the ENVY video!

Just a few weeks away from the reveal of her recent capsule collection for Rachel Roy, model Jessica Stam appears in the September issue of Marie Claire US sporting rocker chic looks. Shot by David Roemer
and styled by Isabel Dupre, Jessica has never looked better as she dons
garments from Yves Saint Laurent, Roberto Cavalli and more.

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Become a FashionIndie.com contributor. Subscribe to Envy.

LINK LOVE:Photos: Jessica Stam, Harper's Bazaar August 2010

Become a FashionIndie.com contributor. Subscribe to Envy.

Loving this vintage Jessica Stam spread, shot by famed photog Solve Sundsbo for Vogue Italia November 2008.

Check out the rest of the spread here.

Last week was so crazy I can’t believe I’m not still hungover. First, one of my homegirls and I went to see Iggy Pop and The Virgins perform at the Ray Ban party, very appropriately held in Williamsburg. One of our models, Jacob, got this great close up of Iggs. Keep reading…

Unfortunately my photography skills were not as good. Case in point, exhibit B.

Nonetheless the show was pretty bad ass, (duh), although I was puzzled as to why the lead singer of The Virgins was dressed like a mime. Kind of hard to take him seriously singing about chicks when he’s dressed like the French version of a clown.

Of course the requisite celebs/chronic partiers showed up, Kate Bosworth, Waris, Chloe Sevigny, Kelly Osbourne, Juliette Lewis, Jessica Stam, Charlotte Ronson, and my bff famed rock photog Mick Rock (photo of me and Mick).

What’s interesting is that this season Ray Ban is using not models but musicians for its latest campaign. And not just any musicians, but specifically indie rockers such as like The Plastiscines, Free Energy, and We Are Scientists. If the previews they had displayed are any indication of what’s to come, Ray Ban has totally just upped it’s cool factor.

Obviously this is not a surprise…Heidi Klum, along with Brooklyn Decker, Selita Ebanks, Jessica Stam, and Jessica White all made People Magazine’s Annual Most Beautiful People list. LINK LOVE: Modelinia

Jessica Stam models the latest Aldo shoes for their S/S 2010 campaign. Loving the giant red heart!

More images on Flying Saucer

Victoria’s Secret models Rosie Huntington-Whitely, Karolina Kurkova and Alessandra Ambrosio, who all walked for Prada last week,  strutted down the runway with Carmen Kass and Jessica Stam.

LINK LOVE: Elle UK

Jessica Stam is one of my favorite models, because I love her unique presence and personal style.  Now the high-fashion favorite is lending her skills to Aldo for their Spring 2010 ad campaign.

Is it just me, or do these playful shots remind you of a Jeurgen Teller/ Marc Jacobs ad? It all makes me want to run out and buy a new pair of shoes…but then again, lots of things do.

Jessica Stam is on the cover of the March issue of Canadian Fashion photographed by Derek Kettela and styled by Tammy Eckenswiller.

LINK LOVE: Fashion Gone Rogue

Fashion Gone Rogue

Canadian model Jessica Stam is the poster girl for H&M’s Fall 2009 ad-campaign. Photographed by Andreas Sjödin, Stam embodies nearly every look of the basics label.

Find more photos like this on CULT

Thanks Fashion Gone Rogue!

Jessica Stam looks great in the October’s issue of Numero Korea.

LINK LOVE

Thanks Style File!

Those shoes are so killer. I must own them. See the rest of the shoot on Cult

SOURCE: Fashion Gone Rogue

Before realizing how adorable photographer Arthur Elgort’s spread, “The Wedding Party,” for Vogue’s June 2009 issue is, I prematurely threw up in my mouth at the fact that Sasha Pivovarova was actually married and that her husband, artist Igor Vishnyakov, looks like he could be her father. Rebecca, a native Russian herself, thoughtfully pointed out that no, Vishnyakov wasn’t old, he was just Russian (hmm, i guess Russian men just look older?). Ok, Vishnyakov isn’t exactly a spring chicken at 41 years old, but that’s besides the point…sort of…since he actually is old enough to be the model’s father. But hey, a man that flexible is a youngin’ in my books! 

“The Wedding Party” is a charming reenactment of Pivovarova and Vishnyakov’s wedding, complete with a gorgeous Lanvin wedding dress and fellow models, Jessica Stam, Irina Kulikova and Hana Soukupova as the bridesmaids. Though the spread hits a soft-spot in my heart, I’m a little resentful that Sasha is just another thief, stealing my socks and stilettos look. Grr.

Thanks IMG! 

Just like Marc Jacobs’ infatuation with Jessica Stam and Louis Vuitton’s love for Eva Herzigova, Coach has fallen in love with model muse, Ali Micheal, enough to name a bag after her. The Ali bag, which is now available on Coach.com, is a hobo-style purse that ranges from a $150 signature pouch to a $650 large metallic hobo. The bags might not be anything terribly special (maybe this is saying something about Micheal’s personality), but at the end of the day, I’d love to have a purse inspired by me!

Thanks Modelinia Blog!

GALLERY: Models At The Met 

Thanks NY Mag!

I love Giorgio Armani Cosmetics ads, they are so simple yet beautiful. I also adore the pale skin look with a softer smokey eye, the girls look gorgeous.

LINKAGE: the fashion spot

I love Merlin. He’s always at the right spots and always gets the right people. Here’s a quicky of Jessica Stam at some spot he frequented, um, Last Night.

Source LastNightsParty.com

Sorry boys, she’s taken.

LINKAGE: Who is supermodel Jessica Stam caught kissing at Sacremento Kings vs New York Knicks game?

Jessica Stam is on a beach for the March issue of Numéro Tokyo, with lots of brightly colored tie dye and fun jewels. So jealous…

LINKAGE: Fab Sugar

Miguel Reveriego shot Jessica Stam in black and white for Numero 99.

The editorial is called “Magie Noir,” or “black magic.”

GALLERY: Jessica Stam for Numero 99.

Sorry, Patrick Robinson — I’m not really feeling the color schemes in the S/S 2009 GAP ad campaign.

Good job on the ethnic diversity, but the ads are a little busy — and it’s traditional GAP spring, with the colors, khakis, and denim.

The Mikael Jansson-shot ads feature familiar faces like Sasha Pivovarova and Jessica Stam.

GALLERY: GAP S/S 2009

So totally didn’t notice it before but is there something truly disproportionate about Jessie Stam’s noggin. I mean seriously, it’s GINORMOUS. Yeah, that’s my contribution for the day.

By  Solve Sundsbø.  Images from Models.com.