Thandie Newton: Vogue ‘Is Not Interested’ In Women of Colour
British actress Thandie Newton is a darling of the high-fashion world, pulling off Calvin Klein and other designers with aplomb.
However, she’s also outspoken about the position of women of colour in fashion – or, more accurately, their lack of visibility.
The main target of her outburst? US Vogue.
Newton told a journalist it was ‘preposterous’ that so few black people were on the cover of mainstream magazines.
She’s been on the cover of InStyle and Marie Claire multiple times, but ‘not once’ on Vogue, and is upset by the slight.
‘People will say to me… What have you got against Vogue that you don’t want to be on their cover? And I just laugh. Vogue doesn’t feel the need to represent because it doesn’t make any sense to them,’ Newton said.
The issue of race among the Vogue empire is a sensitive one – Rescu. has reported scandal after scandal in that department.
Perhaps Thandie will never be on the cover now – but perhaps she’ll also touch a nerve.
Image: Thandie Newton.
Carmen Dell’Orefice, A Supermodel At 80
Rescu. celebrates beauty at all ages, and there’s nobody who embodies that philosophy more than Carmen Dell’Orefice.
The 80-year-old supermodel is the world’s oldest working model, and first appeared on the cover of Vogue at age 15. She was born in 1931, and has had affairs, professional relationships and friendships with some of the greatest 20th-century artists and designers.
Salvador Dali painted a portrait of her, and she told an interviewer recently that Marlene Dietrich ‘cleaned her kitchen’, though she gave no further details.
Dell’Orefice is now the subject of an exhibition in London focussing on her life’s work with Avedon, Downton and other great photographers. Fashion Space Gallery declares her an icon of both 20th and 21st century imagery and culture.
She’s been lionised for continuing to have a career well past the conventional use-by date for beautiful women, even with a little cosmetic help here and there.
The most famous anecdote about Dell’Orefice? In the 50s, a Vogue editor told her to grow her neck by an inch – and she did.
Do you think models past 80 are a welcome trend?
Image: Carmen Dell’Orefice.
UK Bans ‘Sexually Provocative’ Marc Jacobs Ad
It seems that not everybody is happy about the predominance of underage girls in fashion this season.
The United Kingdom has just banned an ad featuring Dakota Fanning, who was 17 at the time, for Marc Jacobs’ ‘Oh Lola!’ perfume.
The decision came because the advertisement is ‘overly sexualised’ and makes Fanning look ‘far younger’ than she really is.
The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority is notoriously strict, requiring disclosure of false eyelashes in mascara ads and keeping a tight rein on advertisements.
The ad, shot by Juergen Teller, is being defended by its agency, which told the press that it was ‘provocative but not indecent’, and said that the magazines in which the shots were placed were aimed at 25-and-up women, not children who could be negatively influenced.
However, the ban stands – largely because of the placement of the Oh, Lola! bottle between Fanning’s legs.
Do you think the ASA was in the right?
Image: Dakota Fanning for Oh, Lola! by Juergen Teller.
Amateurs Protest At Fashions In The Field
Melbourne’s Fashions In The Field is the big day for racing fashion in Australia – the day that stops the nation, if you will.
However, amateur designers are up in arms this year after professional designers were allowed to win the majority of awards.
Currently rules allow almost anybody to enter the amateur competitions, which meant that Angela Menz, this year’s top winner of the amateur prize, is actually a formally trained designer from the Canberra Institute of Technology.
The result has been a formal complaint for actual amateurs, who’ve insisted that the competition needs to be fairer.
The professional design awards are invitation only, and are far tougher.
It’s estimated that professional designers took home $95,000 worth of prizes from this year’s Fashions In The Field, much of which was meant to encourage amateur design.
Ms Menz is dismissive of the criticism, but the debacle has made headlines and may mean different rules for next year.
So if you’re going to prove yourself at amateur Fashions In The Field, wait till 2012 – you might have a better chance…
Stylishly Yours,
RESCU
