- Victoria Beckham is planning her first brick and mortar store, “probably” in London. [Fashionista]

- Tilda Swinton looks absolutely transtastic on the cover of Candy #4. [Fucking Young!]

- Stalin, Hitler and Kim Jong-il have never looked so FAAAAAABULOUS. [Telegraph]

- Here’s something you can shake a Poke at: Facebook went public today, raising an estimated $16 billion with shares starting at $38. [WWD]

- Queen Elizabeth II helped ring in her Diamond Jubilee with a few royal friends from around the world. [Styleite]

- WHOA! Joey Lawrence will be giving the full monty for Chippendales in a limited three-week engagement, proving that childhood fantasies some times do come true. [NYDN]

- Kanye West is debuting a short film, Cruel Summer, at the Cannes Film Festival, after which it will have several screenings on several simultaneous screens. Seven to be exact. [Highsnobiety]

Featuring Amanda Lear

Featuring Twiggy

Featuring Jerry Hall

Photographed by Herb Ritts

Photographed by Annie Leibovitz

Photographed by Helmut Newton

Photographed by Herb Ritts

Photographed by Bruce Weber

Photographed by Richard Avedon

Photographed by Jean Baptiste Mondino

Photographed by Juergen Teller

Photographed by Jean Baptiste Mondino

Photographed by Patrick Demarchelier

Photographed by Herb Ritts

Photographed by Ellen Von Unwerth

Photographed by Steven Meisel

Photographed by Mario Testino

Photographe by Steven Klein

Photographed by David Lachapelle

Photographed by Inez & Vinoodh

Photographed by Patrick Demarchelier

Photographed by Nick Knight

Photographed by Ellen Von Unwerth

Photographed by Terry Richardson

Photographed by Mario Sorrenti

Photographed by Peter Lindbergh

Photographed by Hedi Slimane

Featuring Kate Moss

Designed by Givenchy's Riccardo Tisci

Photographed by Mert & Marcus

Twiggy in Anna Sui, shot by Steven Meisel. Vogue Italia, 1993

Did Nirvana have an influence on your designs?

Yeah, I did a grunge collection. Same season as Marc Jacobs. I had gone to see Nirvana a bunch of times, and it was such a strong movement, that period.  Because there was finally great music again, different music. It was different than all that stadium stuff going on. It was fun going to concerts. It was exciting because you would see lots of interesting people there, and festivals were starting. It was good.

Did the grunge movement influence the way you dress as well?

I never wore a plaid shirt, I’m not that type of girl. There was a shift, I always liked that hippie look, but it wasn’t about hippie anymore.  It was more pared down and the colors were more somber. Everything was more quiet and somber.

 ©Jesse Frohman/courtesy of The Morrison Hotel Gallery

Then how might you explain his leopard print jacket?

It was vintage. The collection I did after the grunge collection was because I went to a festival and I could see people were wearing a combination of vintage, sports and a lot of Tibetan influence because there were a lot of Tibetans refugees coming here, so you could buy lots of handicrafts. Kind of uniform, army stuff too. That kind of became a trend through the 90s, for alternative music, alternative look.

Now, onto a different movement that’s influencing designers right now: The Green Movement. What advice would you give a designer to get into in the eco-friendly movement?

I don’t know, that’s a dual edge sword, because I’m not sure that eco-friendly is really eco-friendly. There are pros and cons to it. So I think the best thing we can do is support local workers, local craftsmen, and that’s what we can do. But I’m not a big one on the other.

I also asked this question of Nanette Lepore [both are highly involved with Save The Garment Center]: If you were in an elevator with a young designer who was about to send her collection overseas to be produced, what would you tell her?

I think it’s more and more difficult because they want bigger and bigger quantities. The prices are getting higher. But if you have that kind of a collection, that’s great! That’s great if you can sell that much, but most new designers don’t have that kind of volume, unless you’re working for an established company.

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

Digging the tune selection? We’ve got the track list for you:

Funnel of Love by Duck and Cover

Dirt by Tobacco

Musaphonic by Tom Recchion

Kids by Sleigh Bells

Written All Over Your Face by Ariel Pink

- The bro-ing of America continues as men become more and more in touch with their inner lady. The latest development,
“Brotox.” Women are even getting in on the action, gifting their dudes with the gift of immobile foreheads. [HuffPo]

- Dolce & Gabbana caused outrage — and protests — among Hong Kong citizens after passing a ban on photos of the store’s window displays. The ban, however, was not enforced for foreign shoppers or Chinese nationals. [WSJ]

- The Vatican continues sweet-talking the gays with Pope Benedict claiming gay marriage basically signals the downfall of humanity. Joke’s on him, that happened after season one of the Jersey Shore. [Towleroad]

- It may be time for Barbie to start picking better friends. Doll versions of Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian – called Dash dolls after their miniature Kardashian-inspired clothing — will befriend Mattel’s golden girl this year. In addition to wearing the trashy leopard print jumpsuits synonymous with the family’s Dash Boutiques, the dolls will “reflect the girls’ measurements.” Meaning the Khloe doll will be played by Ken. [MTV]

Photos: Vogue Italia

 Steven Meisel has once again taken on the job of beautifully creating another Prada’s campaigns.

The diverse casting of models with distinct characters such as the blonde bombshell or the noir heroine creates a utopian celluloid narrative. A virtual collage of feminine film iconography unfolds in this hyper-real gas station fantasy.

[Fashion Gone Rogue]

1. The photos were not Photoshopped.

2. People don’t understand the different angles at which the body can be shot.

3. Karlie is not anorexic but actually quite muscular. Franca then goes off on a tangent about Kloss’ “buttocks” and supports Kloss’ healthy body with her status as a Victoria’s Secret model.

4. Sozzani, ironically, wanted to avoid a senseless debate because she is “aware of the fact that people can easily attach labels without thinking.” She then goes on to admit: “I made a mistake. I had to do what I thought was right, that is leave the picture and let everybody express their opinion freely. The picture is beautiful and that’s all.”

5.  The editrix is a staunch advocate against pro-anorexia websites but instead of giving up on “experimental” photos such as this, she’d rather offer a course educating people about the history of photography.

6.  Next time, just say it to her goddamn face: “Before talking, why not just ask? I would have answered your doubts before, without causing so many pointless remarks.”

Karlie, for her part, didn’t understand the controversy at all. She thought the photos were beautiful and was very proud and happy with the way the shoot turned out.

Well, what do you think, readers? Was Franca Sozzani right to take down the photo or are people just being a bunch of Negative Nancies? [Vogue Italia]

To be perfectly honest, the female body frightens and discomforts me. But even I must marvel at the amazing work of art that is a naked Karlie Kloss — emaciated yet at the same time muscular (no doubt from all those years of ballet) with bafflingly long limbs, her body defies the laws of physics and perhaps even Photoshop. In between moments of undress, fashion editor Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele tries to cover the teen up in looks by Michael Kors, Louis Vuitton, Max Mara and Roberto Cavalli.

But really, who’s looking at the clothes?

Photos: Fashion Gone Rogue

The chameleonic Evangelista has never been more gorgeous as snapped by Steven Meisel while Uncle Karl wanders through a forest of bare legs and buttocks, camera in hand. As for Naomi, she does what she does best — give face. A lot of it, courtesy of Guido Mocafico.

Photos: Fashion Gone Rogue

The deluxe 5×7  edition runs a cool $1500 but if you don’t feel like breaking the bank, the standard edition — at 3 ft x 5 ft — is only a measly $375. The historic issue features work from Bruce Weber, the Stevens (Klein and Meisel), Mario Sorrenti, Karl Lagerfeld and a cadre of other artists and photographers given, as Visionaire puts it, “the forum to take their visions to a massive scale.”

So who wants to go halfsies on the deluxe edition? The standard edition is nice and all, but since the theme of the issue is “Larger than Life,” you might as well go big or go home. [Visionaire]

ZImms goes about her daily commute which includes hunching and posing elaborately — much like my daily commute — but with the added factor of hunky police offers stuffing passengers into already crowded cars like it’s modern day Japan or something. It’s times like those when you just throw your hands up, call in sick and head to whatever bar’s open. But Raquel is a pro — and is wearing head-to-toe designer — so she could probably just call a cab and bypass the MTA, or as I affectionately refer to it, the bane of my existence.

Photos: Vogue Italia

Gareth Pugh

Prada

Numêro / Models.com

W's "Transformers" by Steven Meisel

Pop Magazine Fall/Winter 2011 by Gillian Wearing / Models.com

Versace x H&M

Versace spring 2011

cK One spring 2011

Balenciaga spring 2011 runway

Barney

Harper's Bazaar Australia November 2011 / Models.com

Models.com

Vogue September 2011 / Fashion Gone Rogue

Photos: W

Karen Elson for Tantrum Intimates.

Linda Evangelista for Lavez-Les Bien

Rupaul's Drag Race's Carmen Carrera for La Femme eau du toilette

Joel Schumacher's Made to Measure

Anna Dello Russo et al for Visage

Joan Rivers and Dennis Basso for Bruce Hockschmidt Furs

Toddlers & Tiaras' Eden Wood for Pizzazz clothing

Karen Elson, Guinevere van Seenus, and Coco Rocha for Vainglorious fragrance

Petra Ecclestone for Petra perfume

She may not always be plus size, but Crystal Renn's weight fluctuates often enough to still be part of this category. We love her huge hair, pin-up lips and busty cleavage under that stunning collarbone. We all agree, Crystal looks better with some meat on her bones.

Beautiful both with and without makeup, Candice Huffine isn't afraid to show a little boob or attitude. Her stunning face is blessed with high cheekbones and a sharply arched brow. Gorgeous.

With a super chic 70s vibe, Robyn Lawley's voluptuous curves and sexy red hair are enough to bring traffic to a screeching halt. Reminiscent of Jessica Rabbit in the spread Belle Curve, Lawley looks flawless.

With that beautiful girl-next-door look, Marquita Pring has taken the ad world by storm with two big campaigns for Levi's. If that doesn't impress you, she also made an appearance in the spread Sogno Di Donna for Vogue Italia.

Ford model Tara Lynn caused a positive stir when she landed the March 2010 cover of Elle France. Her latest cover and spread for Vogue Italia shows off the elegance of sensuality of her curves through the lens of Steven Meisel.

The granddaughter of one of the pillars of Italian couture, Elsa Schiaparelli, Marisa was “invented” by legendary Vogue editor Diana Vreeland at the age of sixteen, and became one of the most prolific models of the 60s and 70s. She graced every cover from Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar to Newsweek and Time and worked with the greatest photographers of the 20th century including Irving Penn, Richard Avedon and Helmut Newton. Then in the 70s, she embarked on a successful film career, along the way becoming, as Yves Saint Laurent dubbed her, “the girl of the seventies.” Featuring an introduction by aspiring popstar Hamish Bowles and a conversation with BFF for the last four decades or so, Diane von Furstenberg, Marisa Berenson: A Life in Pictures, gives insight into one of the most fabulous women to step in front of a camera lens.

What owning this book says about you: “I like my ‘It’ girls the way I like my drugs: pure, uncut and from the 70s.” Marisa Berenson’s rise to “It” status was pre-destined — glamour is literally in her blood — and she did it so effortlessly and so well that any girls aspiring to “It” today are but pale imitations. I’m looking at you, every socialite/DJ with a fashion fixation.

What will people say?!: “Someone loves them some artistic nudes and/or just loves a good boob shot.” True, Marisa Berenson had no problem flaunting what her mother, The Countess Maria Luisa Yvonne Radha de Wendt de Kerlor — a.k.a. Gogo — gave her, though her grandmother certainly did. After seeing a nipple-bearing photo by Arnaud de Rosnay, Schiap, according to Berenson, “was so furious that she practically threw me out of the house and disowned me.” But as DVF so astutely pointed out, “to show your tits was not a big deal at the time. To be young in the seventies was quite different.” Different i.e. awesome.

How this book will make your fashion brain grow: Berenson’s dynamic and daring photos offer a master class in brilliant fashion photography and moreover, in brilliant fashion photographers.

If you like this, you’ll love: Death in Venice (1971), Cabaret (1972), Barry Lyndon (1975) and I Am Love (2009) – Marisa’s work as an actress is almost as impressive as her modeling, particularly her first few films from the 70s. And 2009′s I Am Love proved that, even well into her 60s, she’s still an electrifying and stunning presence.

Marisa Berenson wearing copper-colored sequin dress by Gayle Kirkpatrick for Atelier.

Marisa Berenson with many shell headdress is worn to complement the warm Mediterranean make-up up colors, like the different shades of blue circling the eyes. She is also wearing a light blue sheer dress

Model Marisa Berenson wearing strapless green and red chiffon dress from Bill Blass. Circa January 1966.

Scorcese invited Paul McCartney and fiancé Nancy Shevell, Yoko Ono, Olivia Harrison, Ringo and his wife Barbara to come together to celebrate the life of George Harrison and relive a bit of it through this epic documentary. He invites you to watch Living in the Material World on HBO in two parts on October 5th and 6th. All three and a half hours will be worth the watch.

See who else turned it out last night out of love for George.

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]

11. University of Delaware Newark, DE

Campus Tour: The smallest state also has a small design program that is focused on quality garment making from every angle. The program follows a garment through its entire lifecycle, from the creative design and tailoring, to a focus on sustainably producing goods on both small and large scale in a socially and environmentally minded manner. An entirely student run fashion magazine, UDress, and fashion shows exist outside of class, working to show and pull fashion out of this college driven town.

Programs: Apparel Design, Merchandising, Sustainability

Student Body: 16,500

Tuition:  $27,000

Star Alumni: Well, me. And a fierce force that is the backbone of the garment industry.

Alexander McQueen

BEVERLY HILLS, CA - JANUARY 16: Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones arrives at the 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards held at The Beverly Hilton hotel on January 16, 2011 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images)

attends the "Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty" Costume Institute Gala at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 2, 2011 in New York City.

Rick Owens

Alber Elbaz

- Gemma Ward will step into some literary loafers when she co-stars in Baz Lurhman‘s Great Gatsby alongside Carey Mulligan, Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire. [Refinery29]

- Emmanuelle Alt and Kate Moss love to do karaoke to Barbra Streisand‘s and Donna Summer‘s “No More Tears (Enough Is Enough).” The best part is I’m not even making that up. [Fashionologie]

For instance, Coco Rocha and Sean O’Pry dancing all over Venice for Americana Manhasset is 10 times more interesting than the ad itself.

There are faces and there’s Linda Fucking Evangelista.

Call of the wild

Raquel Zimmermann and Karen Elson seriously get their dance on for photographer Steven Meisel in Lanvin’s Fall 2011 campaign. It’s almost silly how well this duo manages to show off Lanvin‘s new jewel-toned collection and keep straight faces the entire time, and we’re loving these new looks.

Ghesquière will also release behind the scenes footage of the shoot for the first time, which will feature Steven Meisel snapping away at working girls Julia Nobis and Liisa Winkler, among others, in a studio in New York and a church in Harlem.   [WWD]

Steven Meisel was brought on again to shoot this campaign. Prada has seemed to take a more colorful and youthful appearance in their latest ads. If you remember their last fall they used darker tones and  bigger names. (See here)

This campaign exemplifies an anything goes attitude to fashion maximalism, and ultimate luxury. The brand really wanted to focus on the youthfulness and innocence that these images radiate while keeping their image of absolute refinement.

What do you guys think of the campaign?

- Forever 21, seriously WTF? [NY Daily News]

- High fashion girl fight! Iselin Steiro and Kinga Rajzak throw down for Steven Meisel in this Lanvin video. [Fashionista]

- In another video, Daphne Guinness gets Undressed for director Brennan Stasiewicz, who created a short film around her Barneys window experience. [Racked]

- For Haider Ackermann — and, you know, everyone else — the streetstyle blogger craze is getting a little on the “absurd” side. [The Cut]

-Though he will be standing trial as she stands at the altar, Kate Moss reportedly still wants a John Galliano gown. So much so that the designer’s boyfriend Alexis Roche has stepped in to complete the couture while Galliano goes to court. [Daily Mail]

- Kate might not want to do without John, but Christian Dior is somehow managing, staging their first cruise collection without him. [WWD]

- After photos of a nude brick house purported to be Blake Lively leaked online, the actress and Chanel ambassador’s publicist denied her client’s invovlement, claiming, “Blake has never taken nude photos of herself.” Okay, I can believe that that isn’t Blake in those pics, but never took  a nude photo of herself? Bitch, please. [Yahoo! News]

- And what does a Chanel ambassador do, exactly? According to fellow ambassador, Vanessa Traina: “I basically just formulated a relationship with them, and they introduced me to their line of products and they send things to me before the collections come out. It’s up to me whether or not I like them, or whether or not I wear them.” Um, that’s one of the sweetest deals I’ve ever heard. [Into the Gloss]

- Is Gisele the Oprah of the modeling world? Mrs. Brady may be on track to be the world’s first billionaire supermodel and first female self-made Brazilian billionaire. She’ll be hauling around  a wagon of her old fat in no time. [The Cut]

- Money doesn’t mean much to Lady Gaga which explains why she kinda OD’d on the sets and costumes for her Monster’s Ball tour: “I called everybody and said, ‘Why is every­one saying I have no money? This is ridiculous, I have five number one singles’ – and they said, ‘Well, you’re $3m in debt.’” Those McQueen armadillo heels don’t come cheap. [Refinery29]

Out of dozens of hopefuls, only seven pedigree pooches made the final cut, along with Zuzanna Bijoch, Daphne Groeneveld, Gertrud Hegelund, Nyasha Matonhodze, Anaïs Pouliot and Fei Fei Sun.

Karl Templer did the styling, Pat McGrath did the make-up and Guido Palau did the hair…at least the human hair. But considering how classy these canines are, they probably had their own glam squad. [WWD]

LINK LOVE: Fashion Copious

I could not express more love for this campaign. And this apartment, EXCUSE ME? I need the decorator to come and save my mostly street and Ikea furniture life.

LINK LOVE: The Cut

Steven Meisel brings a model dream team to the January edition of Vogue Italia with his tantalizing cover shoot starring Freja Beha Erichsen, Arizona Muse, Kinga Rajzak, Sessilee Lopez, Fei Fei Sun, Herieth Paul and Anais Mali. Outfitted by Karl Templer, the girls wear the spring collections with looks from Chanel, Dior, and Marc Jacobs.

Here are 5 good songs to get you more in the glamour spirit!

Freja Beha Erichsen and Arizona Muse cover the January 2011 issue, shot by  Steven Meisel and styled by Karl Templer. Inside, Anais Mali, Fei Fei Sun, Herieth Paul and Kinga Rajzak join Freja and Arizona as they traipse around in Lanvin, Chanel and Louis Vuitton.

See the rest of these beautiful images at Lookbooks!

Link Love: MDC

Yuri Plesken joins in on the action adorned by Pat McGrath‘s dramatic face paint…and little else. How do we feel about this? And is it me or does the image on the right look a bit Marc Jacobs/Juergen Teller-y?

Still I love to see Gisele as Tom Brady sees her: wearing the pants.

Photo: MDC

Absurd girl-crush on Freja Beha Erichsen aside, this is every hedonist’s dream. Hopefully nothing’s too NSFW, as we couldn’t quite tell the difference between the emaciated boy chests and the girl boobs.

Get in on all the sexy action at LOOKBOOKS.

The clarity and expressions in these photos are bizarre, you need to check out the rest on FashionIndie’s ENVY.

Originally published in Vogue Italia (March 1994)
Hair – Garren
Makeup – Denise Markey

I really love the whole 50′s housewife vibe, from the hairstyles, to the fall bone-colored pumps, pastel blues, and ankle length dresses… More from ENVY.

Photographer: Steven Meisel
Stylist: Andrew Richardson

How do you make an epic environmental disaster into a fashion spread? Is that tacky or brave?

LINK LOVE:Italian Vogue – Oil Spill Chic?

Become a FashionIndie.com contributor. Subscribe to Envy.

LINK LOVE:ADDICT: Lara Stone for Prada Infusion d'Iris

When you need a stylish lady to wear highly sophisticated clothes, you really can’t go past Christy Turlington, who channels Audrey Hepburn at her most classic in this shoot for Vogue Italia.

Wearing Nina Ricci, Louis Vuitton, Prada and Yves Saint Laurent (as well as a rather large Snooki-pouf), Turlington looks gorgeous – proving that beauty like hers never goes out of fashion.

… Christy Turlington For Vogue Italia By Steven Meisel at 2threads

LINK LOVE:Fashion News: Christy Turlington For Vogue Italia By Steven Meisel by CallmeKBro