McQueen McCool

I was wandering aimlessly through the Marais in Paris a few weeks ago and stumbled upon this wonderful photography exhibition of Steve McQueen at La Galerie de L'Instant. It's an amazing photographic gallery that just finished showing an exhibition on Kate Moss.

I think I have only ever seen one of McQueen's movies - The Great Escape - and I know he was hot and all that, but he was never one of my pin up boys. I was more into David Bowie androgyny than the muscular and rugged American acting hero. But I have to say these photos literally stopped me in my afternoon reverie and coaxed me into the galerie for a closer look.

Taken by John Dominis in 1963 for Life Magazine at McQueen's home in Palm Springs, these photos truly capture McQueen's sexy-sure cool even before he was the icon he became. Apparently this is the first time the photographs have been shown in a galerie. If you are in Paris before December 11th, it is worth taking a look.

If you can't get to Paris, try and find the book "Action" that has been published in conjunction with this exhibition. Nothing like going to bed with Mr McCool on your bedside table!

All images: John Dominis from galerie de l'instant

Where's Gemma?

According to Fashionologie, Aussie model Gemma Ward "has not done with modeling yet". I must say I have been wondering where she disappeared to for the past two years. The last time I saw her was standing in the loo line at the Gramercy Park Hotel. I was wedged between Gemma and some other Glamazon - it was New York Fashion Week after all - and for some ungodly reason, I was wearing flat shoes. What was I thinking?! So Gemma towered over me with her sky-high Louboutins and long, long straw-blonde hair which she kept flicking over her shoulder and into my face (perhaps she was trying to connect with a fellow aussie?).
Then she was suddenly gone;  from the bathroom, the catwalk and the pages of Vogue. Her famous wide-eyed alien look morphed into Sasha Pivovavora to the point that I honestly could not tell if I was looking at Ms Russia or Ms Australia:

I thought that Gemma was perhaps devastated when she realized she had a doppelganger. But no. Apparently she has been grieving the death of her friend Heath and taking time out to star in a film and do some shakespearian acting classes (as you do when you're a top model). The good news is we will see her on the catwalk again next year! So in homage to her earlier work, I turn to this fabulously kitsch Vogue US shoot by Norman Jean Roy in the December 2007 issue:

And also by Norman Jean Roy but this time more sophisticated for Vanity Fair in 2006

Images: 1: fashionindie.com, 2/3: Corinne Day, 4-8 Norman Jean Roy at fashionologie.com, 9-11: Norman Jean Roy at vanityfair.com

Lillian Bassman

I am obsessed with fashion photography - from Avedon and Newton to Klein and Testino. New York is probably the best place to be if this is a passion, as there is always an exhibition showing somewhere. So last weekend, I was excited to find an exhibition of Lillian Bassman's work at the Staley Wise Gallery in SoHo.
Bassman was born in 1917 and began her career at Harpers Bazaar in the forties, as a protegée of the famous Art Director Alexey Brodovitch. She then took up photography based on the advice of her great friend and colleague Richard Avedon and shot fashion at Bazaar for over a decade. But her real fame came when she was in her late 70's and she found some negatives of her early work that she thought she'd destroyed when she had famously decided to dispose of her career in the 1960's. She began to manipulate these early images in the darkroom, blurring and bleaching them, before more recently moving onto digital manipulation.
The result is these wonderfully soft and feminine images which still maintain that famous silhouette of the fashion from the 40's and 50's, but now focus more prominently on the elongated neck and limbs of the models, with which Bassman was so taken by initially. She once explained her work like this: "The women who intrigued me had the most beautiful necks and the most responsive hand movements.....At one point, I found El Greco and that elongated look became part of my way of seeing".
Bassman in now in her 90's and still going strong. There is a beautiful book available called "Lillian Bassman: Women"that features these photographs.

Images: www.staleywise.com

Paper Bag Princess

I was browsing through the September issue of W today and came across this stunning shoot by Craig McDean. Can't believe I had missed it! For me, it sums up everything about New York's current attitude to fashion in this economic climate; fashionistas don't want to give up their high-end brands, but also don't want to look too overtly rich with so many unemployed. Did you know that there was a moment when Hermes shoppers were asking for their purchases to be placed in a brown paper bag?!

Images: Craig McDean for W