The editor of Italian Vogue, Franco Sozzani, has been renowned for getting herself into hot water.
And this week has been no exception, with Sozzani giving an interview to Newsweek insisting that Dior should “hire back John Galliano”.
“I will never really believe he believed what he said,” Sozzani told the interviewer. “He was drunk and alone in a bar… He didn’t kill anybody!”
Galliano had been found guilty of anti-Semitic hate speech in Paris earlier this month, after his now-infamous outbursts in various bars around the city.
After a backlash, Sozzani clarified that she merely thought it was a pity and a waste of great talent, rather than anything more controversial.
Sozzani has just been named a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations, who might be slightly surprised by her remarks.
Image: Franco Sozzani.
Andrej Pejic On Dieting, Gender And Kate Moss
The Australian boy with the feminine good looks continues to make a splash in the modelling world.
He also now comes with the Kate Moss seal of approval.
Apparently Moss could not stop to talk, but merely brushed past him at an industry party and whispered “You’re beautiful” before being hurried away.
Pejic says that girls in the modelling game who compete with him are “not sure” about him – perhaps a reaction to his runaway success.
He also admits that to be a womenswear model, you “can’t eat much”.
“I have to be disciplined. My waist has gone from 29 to 25 inches; my hips are 35 inches,” he said, frankly.
Better he than us at RESCU.
Image: Andrej Pejic.
Hamish Bowles, Singing Star?
Having Anna Wintour as a boss seems to have more pitfalls than previously anticipated.
Wintour apparently made Hamish Bowles, the flamboyant editor of Vogue (renowned for impeccably colourful tweed suits and glasses), audition for The X-Factor.
Bowles, who called the process “Vogue hazing”, was signed up to audition by Wintour as part of a story on the inside of Simon Cowell’s show.
Wintour apparently informed him he was a beautiful singer, but also revealed that she was completely tone-deaf, and perhaps less than qualified to make the judgement.
The song Bowles chose? “Oops, I Did It Again”.
And, as a priceless final touch, he wore Louboutin gold shoes to the audition.
It seems that Wintour, far from being an ice queen, has a very musical sense of humour.
Image: Hamish Bowles with Simon Cowell.
Jean Paul Gaultier’s Inspiration: Cat Food Tins
Gaultier is one of fashion’s most creative entities, but in a new profile for the New Yorker, Susan Orlean discovers that sometimes he has very pedestrian inspirations.
For instance? Cat food tins.
He was feeding his cat one day, and found that the tin was reminiscent of a traditional African cuff bracelet.
So, like any other enterprising designer – or perhaps not – he cut the tops and bottoms off, dipped it in silver paint and featured it as jewellery in his next collection.
Other items which provided inspiration? Mesh tea balls and steel wool.
Gaultier is currently having a retrospective of his work shown in museums across the US and Europe, and recently took part in a parade in Montreal which was entirely in his honour.
Not the norm for a fashion designer – but Gaultier is hardly a normal fashion designer.
The full profile by Susan Orlean is here: https://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/09/26/110926fa_fact_orlean?currentPage=all
Image: Jean Paul Gaultier.
