First Look: Victoria by Victoria Beckham Lookbook
She’s opening a new store, working on her e-commerce boutique and juggling a thousand other projects – but Victoria Beckham has still got time to produce a stunning lookbook for her diffusion line, Victoria.
And we’ve got the sneak peek.
The man behind the look? Artist Todd Hido, who shot the brand’s embellished evening wear on sulky models in a hotel room. Very Edward Hopper.
Hido isn’t a fashion photographer at all – his work normally involves urban landscapes and according to the curator of the Cleveland Museum of Art, the “isolation and anonymity in contemporary suburbia.” Not a usual fit for a fashion brand.
But Beckham insists that he was the right pick.
“His painterly quality and use of narratives felt in tune with how the collection has developed. Working with a photographer who doesn’t traditionally shoot fashion really enriched how I could portray the collection this season.”
Many designers are stepping outside the norm when it comes to collaborating with non-fashion insiders. Last week we brought you the news that Louis Vuitton was producing a series of bags designed by’The Iconoclasts’, including famous artist Cindy Sherman and iconic architect Frank Gehry.
So are the boundaries between the defined worlds of high fashion and contemporary design blurring?
Beckham certainly thinks so – and we think the lookbook is divine.
What do you think: anonymous urban alienation, or gorgeous fashion images?
Image: Todd Hido for Victoria – Victoria Beckham.
Miranda Kerr’s Son Flynn Steals The Show At Vogue
Miranda Kerr may be on the cover of the latest Australian Vogue, but insiders say it was her son Flynn who really made his mark.
Flynn, Kerr’s son with Orlando Bloom, was a delight on set – even though his mother had to approve the shots with Bloom, from whom she’s separated, before Vogue could publish them.
And the famous ex-couple deliberately picked shots where their son’s face was obscured.
But perhaps Flynn won’t remain out of the fashion limelight for too long. “He loved it,” Vogue’s editor Edwina McCann revealed to the press. “Loved being involved and working with mummy, and the crew fell in love with him. He’s such a confident little kid and they have a playful relationship.”
It’s not the first time a Vogue shoot has used a celebrity couple’s kids for fashion purposes. Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s pre-wedding photo shoot for US Vogue famously involved their baby daughter North – and, infamously, she wet herself while lying naked on Kanye.
Perhaps features by celebrity children may be a mainstay in fashion photoshoots soon. We’d love to see Victoria Beckham’s Harper or Reese Witherspoon’s look-alike daughter Ava.
What do you reckon – cute trend or privacy violation?
Image: Kerr and Flynn for Australian Vogue.
Olivia Palermo Chosen For Campaign ‘Because Of Google’
Gone are the days when a brand chooses a spokesmodel because of her face, her style or her presence.
For Oliva Palermo’s latest campaign, for sunglasses brand Westward Leaning, the deciding factor was her Google hits.
Spokesmodels aren’t just there to look pretty – they’re there to shift product. And with the internet, brands now have an invaluable resource to check just how much of their goods are being shifted because of an association with a popular face.
It’s called the sales conversion rate – a celeb or model is seen wearing the piece, people Google her name and the outfit searching for the brand, and then they buy the identical piece – or something else from the same range.
That’s the real reason models and famously pretty people are given so much free clothing – and why Lady Gaga is so far outside the mould: nobody could possibly obtain the one-of-a-kind Haus Of Gaga couture she wears most of the time, let alone be able to afford it.
Palermo was picked for Westward Leaning precisely because of her sales conversion rate.
“Keyword searches featuring Olivia or some derivative of her name are the only individual-specific keywords in the top tier of revenue-driving organic searches related to Westward Leaning,” the head of the company told the press. Basically, people want to wear what she wears – and are willing to pay for it.
They thought they’d hit a winner when Justin Bieber, bizarrely, started wearing the Westward Leaning sunglasses he’d bought for Selena Gomez after their last break-up – but nobody clicked.
Strangely, it seems that nobody wants to actually look like Justin Bieber in women’s sunglasses. Amazingly enough.
It’s massive cred to Olivia, who is still very much a fashionista identity rather than a major celeb – but she still has enough fashion pull that many people want to copy her look. And that means buying her sunglasses.
Do you think Olivia Palermo deserves to be the queen of aspirational shopping?
Image: Olivia Palermo.