Marjan Jonkman Takes the Ride of her Life in Céline SS17 Ad

Dutch model Marjan Jonkman is having the time of her life in the Céline SS17 campaign.

 The Juergen Teller-lensed photo encourages people to take vacations.

With a nose and teeth that resemble the actress Kathleen Turner in her youth, Jonkman’s platinum-blond hair swings through the air like she’s on the Mad Tea Party Ride at Disneyland. Perhaps she’s Alice in Wonderland.

All the while, Jonkman wears a sporty backless dress that is begging for someone to rub lotion on her back. The sharp points of the tropical rainforest shrubs create a sensory sensation: pointy objects against bare skin.

Next step is to plan a trip to Disneyland or an amusement park and make sure to wear your Céline outfits when you devour hotdogs and cotton candy.

The dress at the Céline SS17 runway show.

Selena Gomez ‘Vogue’ Cover Story: Words and Pictures Inform Each Other

Selena wears Balenciaga

The Selena Gomez cover story for the April 2017 issue of American Vogue is a treat for the eyes and ears.

The cover story’s writer Rob Haskell’s words fit perfectly with Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott’s vibrant photography shot in Los Angeles.

In one photo, Selena steps out of a cherry red car, which calls to mind the story’s sentence about Selena enjoying “long drives with her girlfriends.”

The feature story opens with Selena cooking a Mexican dinner with “Mexican cheese.” Vibrant floral outfits by Balenciaga and Dolce & Gabbana, Our Lady of Guadalupe candles and large hoop earrings by Jennifer Fisher emphasize the Mexican theme.

Selena’s “humble beginnings” are visualized in one of the best photos in the spread.

In the photo, she sits suggestively on a floral mattress leaned against the wall of a building. She shows off her long legs in a floral Dolce & Gabbana dress. The photo relates perfectly to when Selena shares a memory with Rob Haskell of when she was “asked to feel between the cushions in the car for change so that they [she and her mother] could buy Styrofoam cups of ramen.”

Selena wears Dolce & Gabbana

Words in magazines are not separate from the photography and they work in harmony with the photography. The Selena Gomez American Vogue cover story is a prime example of this.

Selena wears Tommy Hilfiger

 

Selena wears Michael Kors

Cara Taylor Self-Reflects at the Mall in 'Mall Rats' Editorial

The bag lady is bored and lonely in Prada SS17

Inside the March 2017 issue of Interview Magazine, Cara Taylor, one of the hottest models in the game, portrays the mall rat of the title. She’s not a valley girl by any means, but instead she’s Holly Golightly.

Holly Golightly is the lonely call girl from the 1961 romantic comedy Breakfast at Tiffany’s who’s tries to find herself in New York City. The opening photo is clearly homage to the opening shot of Tiffany’s: Played by Audrey Hepburn, Holly wears a gown with opera gloves and sunglasses as she looks into the window of the Tiffany’s jewelry store.   

In the foreword of the “Mall Rats” fashion story, the subject of it is a “bag lady” on a “tour of the local mall.” The dictionary defines a bag lady as “a homeless woman who carries her possessions in shopping bags.” Cara is a bag lady who must have found a bunch of SS17 high fashion in a dumpster (miraculously). Then she decided to wear those clothes around the mall looking like a million bucks, but can barely afford a cup of coffee.

Cara pays homage to Breakfast at Tiffany's opening

She moves around the mall hoping to be seen. She’s dressed for her moment, but will it ever come? Cara sits on a bench—that familiar bag lady spot—wearing a Prada trench, once again nodding to Holly’s Burberry trench. She looks bored and lonely and reflective.

Within the fashion story, Cara constantly looks into reflective surfaces to see her own image. Significantly, Breakfast at Tiffany’s contains numerous scenes of people looking in reflective surfaces like mirrors and windows.

The constants of the fashion story are the pompadour hairstyle (a nod to Holly’s pompadour), opera gloves and oversized sunglasses. It’s worth noting that Cara never takes off the opera gloves, wearing them with different outfits.

The lessons that fashion editor Karl Templer wants readers to take away from this fashion story is to wear big, glamorous sunglasses, embrace silk opera gloves and get their hair fixed in a pompadour.

Dirk Bikkembergs F/W Menswear: Simple Soldier Suits

Second look of the show (CREDIT: Vogue.com)

The second look of the Dirk Bikkembergs Fall/Winter Menswear show established why the simple soldier suit was the star of the show. It was the true opening look for me.

There was dark brown hair and a dark boxy suit. There was milk-white skin and feline eyes. All those words describe Noomi Rapace’s antihero in Brian De Palma’s film Passion. Her character Isabelle wears boxy black suits as a creative genius at an advertising agency in Germany.

Isabelle in boxy suit (credit: noomi-rapace.com)

Masculinity and minimalism is the core of her look and it is the core of the Dirk Bikkenbergs show. De Palma described Isabelle as a “soldier,” and it’s the soldier style that ruled at Dirk Bikkenbergs. The choice of boots to go with the jean-like trousers is casual and rugged. There are no dainty dandies here.

The virile athleticism continues with a high-neck zip top layered under a sharkskin suit. The color contrasting lapels and welt pockets are straight out of the 1950s.  Overall, Elvis in his prime comes to mind.

Isabelle in funnel neck military coat (credit: noomi-rapace.com)

The funnel neck collar appeared often throughout the collection, and no better than it did on tan double-breasted jacket. Isabelle wore a coat with a similar collar that’s undeniably military-influenced. The collar is artfully left half-open to reveal the tangerine leather dress shirt underneath.

As the saying goes, there’s no such thing as a coincidence. That explains the fact that the second to last look of the show is a tan version of the second look of the show. It’s symmetry at its best.   

1950s-inspired suit (credit: Vogue.com)

Funnel neck coat (credit: vogue.com)

Second to last look (credit: vogue.com)