(Note: this post was previously published on my sister blog, The Photography Blog, in 2020)
The recent past has been defined by models who either share the same name as icons of the past or well-connected fashion industry-adjacent figures, or who already had a taste of fame thanks to that moster we call reality television. Georgia May Jagger falls into the former category.
Continue reading(Note: This post originally appreared on my sister blog, The Photography Blog, in 2015)
Circus girls are the best. I’ve said that before, and Ellen von Unwerth is the proof. When she was eighteen, she went to see a small circus in Munich, Germany and caught the eye of the director. In the following three months, she made a living out of dressing up in a top hat and fishnet stockings, putting perfume on people, blowing bubbles, handing knives to the knife-thrower and assisting clowns. But in spite of the inherent awesomeness of circuses and their girls, that’s not the part of von Unwerth’s entertainment career I want to focus on.
While her life in pictures began with a creatively unfulfilling decade-long stint as a model (which began after she was spotted by a modeling agent on her very first day of university), it’s her photography that stole the show, first and foremost with a 1989 shoot for Guess? featuring some young German model named Claudia Schiffer. Since then, she has immortalized numerous other subjects – from that girl formerly known as James and Academy Award winners to legacy stars and mysterious Romani models – and her work has been published on magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar, Interview, Vogue, GQ, Esquire and Vanity Fair; featured in numerous exhibitions such as 2012’s Do Not Disturb at the Michael Hoppen Gallery in London and books such as 1999’s Wicked and 2009’s Fraulein. You just want to stare at those pictures.
Continue reading(Note: This post originally appreared on my sister blog, The Photography Blog, in 2015)
These days, Jaime King is best known for her work as an actress, appearing in films and television series such as Sin City (2005), Fanboys (2007) and the CW‘s comedy-drama Hart of Dixie (2011–present), as well as for her appearances in music videos such as Robbie Williams’s “Sexed Up” (2003) and Lana Del Rey’s “Summertime Sadness” (2012). However, back in the 90s and the early 2000s, she was fairly successful in the fashion industry. Discovered at age 14 while attending Nancy Bounds’ Studios, she signed with Company Management and to avoid confusion with the then-more famous Jaime Rishar, began working under the name James King.
Regarding her first show ever, she stated: “I have fond memories of [it]: Tom Ford for Gucci. Naomi [Campbell] in front of me and Kate Moss behind; I was dying!”. Her first story was with Steven Klein for the first issue of Visionaire. She walked the runway for Chanel, Alexander McQueen – she was in every show of his since his very first – and Christian Dior; worked with top photographers like Ellen von Unwerth and Richard Avedon (no Nastassja-and-the-python-style pictures, though!); appeared in fashion magazines such as Vogue, Allure, Glamour and Harper’s Bazaar; and was a major – and tragic, due to her personal and health problems – exponent of the controversial heroin chic trend. In retrospect, she stated she believes fashion industry would be better off if “[there was] a union for the young models as [there is] for the young actors”.
Oh, I love the Academy Awards. As George C. Scott once said, they’re “a meat parade” (I wonder what he’d say about the Globes if he had the chance now!). He wasn’t wrong, but we all love our junk food, don’t we? This awards season has been extra weird because, you know, Miss Corona Virus hasn’t ended her would tour yet, but let’s focus on the positive. I’m SO HAPPY for the beautiful Maria Bakalova, pride of Bulgaria. I hope she wins and takes the world of cinema by storm in every possible country. I’m also happy for the lovely jazz singer Celeste receiving a nomination for her beautiful song for The Trial of the Chicago 7. I’m happy for Wolfwalkers (Go n-éirí leat, Ireland), Promising Young Woman, Collective (felicitări, Romania!), Minari and lots more. Congratulations to Steven Yeun and Riz Ahmed for making long overdue history as the first pair of actors of Asian descent to be nominated in the Best Actor category. Rest in Power, two-time nominee Chadwick Boseman. I’m sure you were the first performer to ever move a lot of young moviegoers.
Haven’t picked which actors I’m rooting for yet aside from Bakalova, but I’m very excited about this set of nominees.
Years ago, I wrote a piece about a bunch of unfair Oscar snubs. Well, as the title suggests, this is part deux.
Spoilers ahead
I love Heroes. I really do. All of it, for better and for worse. I have great affection for that world with its many stories and the characters that populated it, even if its quality fluctuated as time went by and a lot of the potential it had went to waste.
Today marks the tenth anniversary of Heroes going off the air. So, of course, instead of writing a celebratory piece that highlights all the good (or even great) things about it, like its finest moments, the impact it had on television at the time, its phenomenal, lighting-in-a-bottle kind of success, or the careers it launched, I’m gonna highlight all the ways it went wrong.
I know, I know. We’ve been down this road too many times before. Thing is, there are reasons our beloved Heroes went off the air ten years ago (well, the main reason was low viewership even if there was still an audience for it, as it was the most pirated TV series of that year, but still…), and there is absolutely nothing wrong with good-faith, constructive criticism of something that you love. I don’t see a more fitting occasion than this one for me to revisit everything wrong with Heroes. So, let’s go:
The daughter of one of the most infamous (to say the least) actors of his generation, Nastassja Kinski found her own place in the spotlight from the late 70s throughout the 80s thanks to roles in well-received films, that Richard Avedon poster and public attention for her personal life. Then, she just went away. In honour of her birthday, let’s talk about her fascinating career’s highs and lows.
Actress Megan Fox is, without a doubt, best known for one thing: her undeniable beauty and sex appeal. While I always recognised that part of her image, that wasn’t the main reason I was first drawn to her as a kid, and remain drawn to her to this day. While I’ve never been the type to get too interested in celebrities outside of their work, I’ve always loved reading Fox’s interviews. Even if at the height of my Fox-interviews-consuming adolescence I had never actually seen much of her acting work. The insistence on portraying her as nothing but stupid and vapid always seemed so odd for me, because all I’ve ever seen is a wickedly funny, quirky, self-aware and insightful woman who has many interesting things to say. I don’t always agree with what she says, and yes, she’s stuck her foot in her mouth a few times, but don’t we all? Not to mention that even her most controversial quotes are rather inoffensive once you take into consideration all the harmful shit other stars have said and done to little to no backlash.
Public perception towards Fox seems to have softened in the past few years, with several outlets writing articles that reevaluate her image and admit how unfair the backlash she experienced was. It was a long time coming.
Fox turns 33 years old today. How about we celebrate by revisiting some of her most iconic quotes?
It’s London, bitch. The Old Smoke. LDN. With a fella looking dapper and he’s sittin’ with a slapper. Then I see it’s a pimp and his crack whore… Well, not really. Anyway, London is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, which is also confirmed by its status as a world cultural capital. That means that a visit to the city that’s only half a day long won’t ever be enough to witness its full glory. But that doesn’t mean that said half day and its charms – be them the traditional museum everyone visits or that park that’s never mentioned in tourist guides – must go wasted. Given that, here are a few, mostly free, charming things to see in the city that fill that time span: Continue reading
Well, there I was. In Brighton. To be 100% honest, I never thought Brighton was ever going to be one of the towns of the beautiful island that is England that I would’ve liked to visit. Actually, I knew it wasn’t. The sea just really isn’t for me, and Brighton really never felt like it was really for me. But hey, it happened to be the destination, so… Why not? So, there I was. In Brighton, the Queen of Watering Places.
Let’s gear up, it’s awards season! Yeah, I know, sometimes Oscar bait backfires (2004’s All the King’s Men, anyone?), but this remains a cool period to go to the movies nonetheless. Awards season has a shameless formula, and it’s fun to follow if you don’t take it too seriously. Also, it’s nice that it happens during one of the best periods of the year itself (Christmas/New Year’s celebrations, anyone?).
May the odds be ever in your Oscar campaign favor!
Obviously, the crown jewel of film awards is the Academy Award. It’s that one thing that everyone wants. While I’d never really bet my money on which film is going to win Best Picture, there have actually been times I felt fairly struck by the absence of certain films/performances among the nominees. Especially if certain films/performances had been snubbed in favor of less charming ones. This year, the Academy Awards have also been subjected to scrutiny and controversy due to the lack of nominations for the director and the star – Ava DuVernay and David Oyelowo, two of the most appealing up-and-comers around these days – of one of the most critically acclaimed films of the past year, Selma, as well as the omission of the similarly acclaimed Wild from the Best Picture category.
So, given it’s awards season, let’s revisit twelve egregious recent Oscar snubs:
The Blog 