Estetica bra advertisement (Hot Pinups Tumblr)
I found this image on Pinterest, which led to me The Lingerie Addict and Hot Pinups (NSFW) Tumblrs. I don’t have any information on this ad (I’m not entirely positive that Estetica refers to the company), but I love it!
The bra looks similar to Madonna’s cone bra circa her “Blonde Ambition” World Tour in 1990, no? Maybe Madonna saw this ad while coming up with costume concepts.
High heels (Quora)
Happy Friday! Ladies, here’s something consider when you go out this weekend: A recent study finds that women wearing high heels had a significant effect on men. We know you’ve suspected it for awhile, but now we have hard proof (empirically speaking, of course).
French researcher Nicolas Geughan used a set of four experiments using young women. He controlled for other sartorial factors by dressing them in the same outfit: black skirt and blazer with white shirt. He also used three different heel heights: flat, medium (5 cm.) and tall (9 cm.).
First, the women were sent to ask pedestrians (both men and women) to participate in surveying and for restaurant suggestions. The higher the heel, the more willing a male pedestrian was willing to help: The women wearing the high heels garnered an 82-83% response rate, while the women wearing flats received only a 42-47% response rate.
Next, pedestrians were asked to respond to a dropped glove by women wearing various heel heights. Men responded to women wearing high heels 93% of the time, compared to responding 62% of the time to women wearing flats.
It’s interesting to note that within both these experiments, female pedestrians weren’t affected by the height of another woman’s heels. They actually responded less than the men in both situations: 30-36% for the surveys, and 43-52% for the dropped glove.
Geughan also measured the effect high heels had on men when approaching women in a bar. Women wearing high heels were approached by men eight minutes after entering. By contrast, women wearing flats got approached 14 minutes after entering the bar.
Ladies, with great power comes great responsibility. Use it wisely this weekend–and your whole lives.
Joan Didion’s Celine ad (AdWeek)
Ladies of “un certain age” (as the French say) are currently having a moment. High-fashion houses are looking to elderly women to represent their wares to a wider market.
Last week, French fashion house Céline unveiled its newest cover girl: 80-year-old acclaimed essayist Joan Didion. Didion is best known for her collections of essays, “Slouching Towards Bethlehem” (published in 1968) and “The White Album” (published in 1979). The writer, who replaced model Daria Werbowy, already has casual experience in modeling: An old photo of Didion lounging in her Corvette Stingray adorns the cover of “The White Album” paperback copy.
Two days later, Saint Laurent revealed their latest model to be 71-year-old singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. And the elderly-woman-as-fashion-model concept went from an outlier to a trend.
These are just the latest in a larger trend of older women becoming more visible within the fashion industry. Céline’s new campaign follows on the heels of Dolce & Gabbana’s spring 2015 promotions, which feature elderly ladies decked out in black dresses, red carnations and gold tiaras.
Dolce & Gabbana Spring 2015 Campaign still (Daily Mail UK)
The trend has been picking up steam over the past couple of years. In 2013, eyewear designer Karen Walker used models between the ages of 65 and 92 to model her “Forever” collection. (Within that campaign, Walker juxtaposed the elderly ladies with young girls for maximum effect.) Designer Marc Jacobs used 64-year-old actress Jessica Lange for his beauty line in 2014. Sixty-two-year-old Jacky O’Shaughnessy modeled for American Apparel in 2014, and 93-year-old Iris Apfel is modeling this year for jewelry designer Alexis Bittar.
French women seem to have this one lock: Jacobs cast a then-70-year-old Catherine Deneuve in his final campaign for Louis Vuitton in 2013, and 68-year-old French actress Charlotte Rampling modeled for Nars in 2014.
We’ve also been seeing more older women appear in street style photography. Photographer Ari Seth Cohen runs Advanced Style, where he documents the unique ensembles of elderly ladies. He’s parlayed the blog into a book and a recent documentary.
Hopefully, we’re starting to respect, and revere, the elderly population more than we’ve been worshipping at the fountain of youth. There’s certain historical precedent for young women taking sartorial cues from previous generations: Women in 17th- and 18th-century France used to powder their hair and wear white wigs to emulate their esteemed elders.
Carmen Dell’orefice for Rouge, Fall/Winter 2012
At 83 years old, Carmen Dell’orefice is the world’s oldest supermodel.
She began her career at age 15 in 1946, when she signed a modeling contract for “Vogue.” Dell’orefice posed her first solo cover the next year, becoming one of the youngest cover models in the magazine’s history. In her youth, Dell’orefice worked with Condé Nast’s stable of fashion photographers: Cecil Beaton, Irving Penn and Horst P. Horst. After befriending Surrealist painter Salvador Dali, she became his muse.
After retiring in the later 1950s, Dell’orefice returned to modeling in 1978, and has been working ever since. Within the last five years, she’s modeled in advertising campaigns for Missoni for Lindex, Rouge and Rolex. Her last magazine cover was for “Harper’s Bazaar Thailand” in September 2014.
Lupita Nyong’o, ‘Vogue’ Magazine Jul. 2014 (IB Times)
A recent “Daily Mail” article points out that (American) “Vogue” had more black cover stars during 2014 than during any previous year.
While this still isn’t ideal in terms of diversity, it seems the magazine is on the right path in including equal representation, both on the cover and within its pages. Let’s just hope things keep progressing upwards.
Here’s how the numbers break down:
Number of “Vogue” issues in 2014: 12
Number of cover stars in 2014: 15
Number of black cover stars: 4 (26%+)
– Number of black models: 1 (Joan Smalls, who shared the cover with Cara Delevingne and Karlie Kloss)
– Number of black actresses: 1 (Lupita Nyong’o)
– Number of black musicians: 2 (Rihanna and Kanye West)
Number of black cover stars in recent years:
– 2013: 2 (Michelle Obama and Beyoncé)
– 2012: 1 (Serena Williams)
– 2011: 1 (Rihanna)
Most recent time the September issue featured a black star: 2010 (Halle Berry)
Previous to 2010, the last time the September issue featured a black star: 1989, 21 years previously (Naomi Campbell)
Number of “Vogue” publications that did not use any black/people of color cover stars in 2014: 5 (“Vogue UK,” “Vogue Paris,” “Vogue Ukraine,” “Vogue Netherlands,” “Vogue Russia”)
Naomi Campbell, ‘Vogue’ Magazine Aug. 2002 (Huffington Post Canada)
Last week, model Jourdan Dunn announced via Instagram that she’d be covering the February 2015 issue of British “Vogue.”
This is significant because it’s been over 12 years since the magazine featured a sole black model. The last time was in Aug. 2002, which Naomi Campbell covered (pictured above).
Dunn has also graced the cover in 2008, appearing with Eden Clark and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.
“Vogue” was founded as a weekly publication in 1892, went bi-weekly in 1905, and began publishing monthly in 1973. The magazine has 23 different national and regional editions.
Candice Huffine, 2015 Pirelli Calendar shoot
Last month, Pirelli unveiled its long-awaited 2015 calendar, with a very notable first: Candice Huffine became the first plus-size model to grace the calendar’s legendary pages since it began in 1964. So what took so long? According to their website, the Pirelli calendar is devoted to “pioneering innovation to staying ahead of the game.” This remark was made by Pirelli Chairman and CEO Marco Tronchetti Provera, and is displayed prominently on the calendar’s history page. It’s not as if Pirelli has shied away from doing something out of the norm for its calendar before. In 1987, photographer Terence Donovan used only black models (including a young Naomi Campbell) within its pages. It’s very sad that only after approaching 500 models over the course of 52 years, we’re only beginning to see plus-size women represented in one of the most well-known calendars. Now if only she was represented on the 2015 Pirelli Calendar site itself…
Sex & Stats: Where Numbers Come to Bang 