Claudia Schiffer pays homage to the 1989 Guess shot that kick-started her career in the Guess 30th Anniversary campaign, distinguished British brand Joseph will make its London Fashion Week show debut in September and Manolo Blahnik loves what he does so much that retirement is not on his agenda.
The 1989 photo of the supermodel – wearing nothing but a bustier, gold hoop earrings and with her blonde locks blowing across her face – boosted the brand enormously and her new shoot saw her reunited with its photographer, Ellen von Unwerth.
Paul Marciano, chief executive officer and creative director of Guess told WWD, ”She was a turning point of Guess, she was a turning point of Ellen’s career, Guess was a turning point of a life for Claudia.”
Although the shot didn’t feature a pair of the denim jeans the company is most famous for, Paul added it, ”Made her career in my view, and that made Guess a different company. Everybody talked about the Guess Girl.”
Claudia featured in six campaigns for the company from 1989 to 1991, and is still very fond of the brand.
She said, ”Guess will always have a soft spot in my heart, and I’m excited that 23 years later we can still work together so successfully. Shooting the Guess 30th anniversary campaign was like going back in time. It brought back so many great memories.”
Along with the new shots of Claudia, the company is releasing the 30th Anniversary Collection, inspired by her and other models who have appeared as Guess Girls, including Line Gost, Anna Nicole Smith, Adriana Lima and Eva Herzigova.
The 30th Anniversary Collection will hit Guess’ flagships worldwide and department stores on April 24.
Joseph, the British brand founded by Joseph Ettedgui in 1983, has previously shown its new collections through a presentation format but has decided to stage a full show this year and although details are being kept under wraps, a spokesperson said it will be ”very special”.
The spokesperson added, ”We felt we were ready for the next thing, hence the show. Shows make such a strong impact, and showing at London Fashion Week was a natural choice as obviously we are such a London-centric brand.”
Former Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger designer Louise Trotter is Creative Director at the company which is renowned for its masculine, understated appeal.
Joseph has a host of celebrity fans including Angelina Jolie who walked the red carpet at the New York premiere of her directorial debut ‘In The Land of Blood and Honey’ wearing an elegant black satin cold-shoulder blouse from the brand.
Meanwhile, Duchess Catherine also stepped out in Joseph’s sleeveless cream dress with nude pumps during her tour of Canada with Prince William.
The iconic cobbler says he doesn’t regard his work as a job as he loves creating shoes and is fortunate he can get paid for it.
He told the Telegraph newspaper, ”Designing makes me feel ‘up’. We used to say ‘high’ in the 1970s. I don’t consider myself a fashion designer. I just do shoes that I love. It’s selfish. But this is what I love to do!”
Manolo also says he has no plans to retire, despite him nearly being 70, but says he is now designing shoes more slowly.
He said, ”In a year’s time I’ll be 70. And it makes me happy that Armani is 80 because I’m not going to be retiring!
”I do and re-do things that I used to do in a flash, because I want to be more perfectionist about these things. Maybe it sounds pompous and pretentious, but that’s the way I feel.”
While he takes time and pride in his designs, Manolo admits he was horrified when he saw two women wearing counterfeits of his shoes when he was in Milan.
He said, ”They were unmistakably my design but in a wonderful colour I had never seen before. So I asked, ‘Where did you get your shoes?’ ‘Manolo Blahnik.’ I said, ‘No, my dear, these are not Manolo, these are plastic! With a horrid little plastic buckle!”’
