CR Fashion Book Issue 8: Made In America

In her own words, Carine Roitfeld describes her vision for the eighth issue of CR Fashion Book, which takes as its theme “Made In America”:

"In the '80s, fashion created a fantasy around the American girl—athletic, toned, smiling, happy, gracious, and perfect. For me, no model was more iconic than Christie Brinkley—with her white teeth and blonde hair—and her image was so compelling that it set a new beauty standard. Now, suddenly, in 2016, we see the comeback of the American model, and I find myself so excited by the new generation of stars. From young icon Gigi Hadid and new muse Staz Lindes to fresh face Bentley Mescall and intense beauty Kayla Scott, a class of U.S.A.-born girls is seducing fashion with striking yet uncomplicated looks…

Each of them brings something very special to fashion: Gigi with her beauty and personality; Staz with her bohemian spirit and talent as an actress and musician; Kayla with her fierce, confident attitude, and Bentley with her innocence… Social media has changed the way girls become discovered and build on their success, but the DNA of the American supermodel hasn’t changed at all: she is still healthy, smart, hard-working, independent and always arrives with a smile… Our readers love fashion and follow models as closely as we do. Of course Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, and Kim Kardashian have created huge buzz for us in the past, but I always like to balance the celebrity covers with model covers that speak to the dedicated lovers of fashion — such as myself…

My dream for this issue was to play with pop cultural ideas of the American woman to create something brand-new: a 21st century vision of Baywatch-era Pamela Anderson on Camila Morrone, a contemporary Miss U.S.A. on Olympic Gold Medalist Sanya Richards-Ross, and a modern expression of native beauty on Alice Metza. I chose as muses some of the most inspiring American 'girls' of all time, who fascinated the world (and continue to do so) with not only their beauty and style but their wit, grit, courage, and intellect. From Sacagawea, who helped open a path to the American West, to Emily Dickinson, who rewrote the conventions of poetry, to Jackie O, who served as a global symbol of endurance and grace. There's something about these women that is unshakably inspiring. I hope you think so too."

—Carine

Mademoiselle C chose to grace the “Made in America” covers with Gigi Hadid photographed by Sebastien Faena, Staz Lindes by Bjorn Iooss, Bentley Mescall by Felix Cooper, and Kayla Scott by Rory van Millingen. Which of the four covers is your favorite?

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CR Fashion Book images courtesy of crfashionbook.com.

Carine Roitfeld: Cinema Against AIDS Gala

Carine Roitfeld: Cinema Against AIDS Gala
By Jessica Eritou

For the fourth year running, Carine Roitfeld curated yet another successful star-studded runway show at the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes in partnership to benefit the 22nd amfAR Cinema Against Aids Gala which raised nearly $30 million dollars.

The event included top models Gigi Hadid and Karolina Kurkova who were part of a show featuring nearly fifty looks. Among the designers featured were Tom Ford and Alexander Wang with shoes by Gianvito Rossi and jewels by Harry Winston. Since the dresses auctioned off were mostly sample sizes, the prizes were not aimed to be physically worn by each of the top bidders, measurements and sizes vary.

Gigi Hadid in Tom Ford

“What is amazing about the amfAR event in Cannes is that it is not only an incredible red carpet but people are very relaxed. It’s the South of France, it’s the Riviera, and there is a kind of freedom,” Carine Roitfeld told WWD in early May before the event. “The people who attend really enjoy themselves, and that’s why all the models want to be there.”

Hanaa Ben Abdesslem in Giorgio Armani

The Sixties theme drew inspiration from Audrey Hepburn, Jackie Kennedy, Jean Shrimpton, and Veruschka. “I didn’t want to have a show with only princess dresses,” Carine said to WWD. “I think a collection needs a bit of both — day and night.” Charli XCX also performed as part of the show. Roitfeld hoped to have nearly raised $5 million to match the previous year's amount for the fashion runway portion of the fundraiser.

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Carine Roitfeld et al photos courtesy of amfAR, style.com, wwd.com, instagram.com, and Getty Images.

Carine Roitfeld: Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills

As you may know, Carine Roitfeld has been instrumental in the rapid ascent of Gigi Hadid, daughter of Real Housewife Yolanda Foster, to Top Model of 2014. I was delighted to see the work of Carine and Gigi featured prominently in two recent episodes of the fifth season of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

In the third episode, "Pay Attention To Me!," we see Gigi Hadid's first look at her cover for the fourth issue of CR Fashion Book. At 4:27, while visiting her mother's house Gigi spots CRFB on display, "Oh, that's my cover!" Gigi's friend comments, "I haven't seen any of these." Gigi replies, "That's why I love my friends from back home, because they don't care about what I do."

Then at 8:20 in the tenth episode, "House of Cards," Gigi Hadid is surprised to come home and find her mother, Yolanda, holding a copy of the September Harper's Bazaar, the issue in which Carine Roitfeld wisely picked Gigi as one of her icons. The exchange between mother and daughter is so charming that I decided to share it here…

Yolanda: "Gigi… I gotta admit two crazy things."

Gigi (spying the magazine): "You have that?"

Y: "Yeah, I just found it last night."

G: "How? I was just at the agency today and Luiz said that Harper's Bazaar hadn't even sent it to him yet."

Y: "I found it at the hairdresser last night. I went to get my hair done. And I have to say, it was very embarrassing, I said to the woman, 'That's my daughter.'"

G: "Oh my God."

Y: "It was so embarrassing."

Yolanda: "Look, it's Carine's icons."

Gigi: "No, I know what it is. Obviously I'm not an icon of fashion… but why she put me in it as an icon is that I'm the icon of my generation, that's what she told me."

Brava to Carine Roitfeld for providing these major stepping stones to help launch the career of Gigi Hadid. Remember also that Carine chose Gigi as one of the dozen models to grace this year's Pirelli Calendar. Here's hoping the Bravo cameras are rolling the day the calendar arrives at the Foster estate…

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Gigi Hadid and Yolanda Foster images © 2015 Bravo. All Rights Reserved.

Carine Roitfeld: Rare Gems

Carine Roitfeld picks up the hippie chic thread running through the recent couture collections and ties it together in "Rare Gems" for fashion that is both flashback and futuristic. Shot by Michael Avedon for the December issue of Harper's Bazaar, "Rare Gems" stars Gigi Hadid and Gus Drake romping in Central Park in a colorful mixture of the season's best haute couture and jewelry selected by Carine from Saint Laurent, Chanel, Schiaparelli, Dior, Valentino, Maison Martin Margiela, Azzedine Alaïa, and Vionnet among others. Stephen Gan served as creative director for the whimsical editorial. 

View behind-the-scenes footage from "Rare Gems"

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Carine Roitfeld images and text © 2014 Hearst Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Carine Roitfeld: Pirelli 2015 Calendar

Carine Roitfeld declared fetish the theme for Pirelli's Calendar Girls 2015 and Steven Meisel and twelve of the world's most beautiful women submitted to her wishes… As one might anticipate, the result is sexy, fun, and loaded with latex.

When asked about her vision for the 2015 Pirelli Calendar, Carine Roitfeld shared: "We decided to abandon the idea of the seasons and ended up taking the photos just for the pleasure of taking them. We tried to convey an idea of fashion in the pictures by focusing on details that would make the models look even sexier than their bodies alone could do. We would not be content just to show naked girls… As a material, latex is a recurrent element in the shots: it’s beautiful, it's versatile, and it has a sheen that makes it alluring… All of them [the models] knew that Steven would be able to transform them, to make them stunningly beautiful, to portray nudity with no trace of vulgarity… Sometimes, to show a bit of fashion is even more sexy than to be totally naked. I think that is the point of this calendar."

To celebrate the launch of Pirelli's Calendar Girls 2015, an exhibit titled "Form and Desire — The Pirelli Calendar Collection" opened at the Palazzo Reale in Milan, a retrospective of more than 200 photographs culled from the Pirelli archives on display through 19 February 2015.

Here are the twelve lovelies that made Carine Roitfeld's list for 2015:

Miss January: Adriana Lima
Miss February: Natalia Vodianova
Miss March: Joan Smalls
Miss April: Candice Huffine
Miss May: Carolyn Murphy
Miss June: Anna Ewers
Miss July: Cameron Russell
Miss August: Sasha Luss
Miss September: Karen Elson
Miss October: Isabeli Fontana
Miss November: Gigi Hadid
Miss December: Raquel Zimmerman

See Carine Roitfeld discuss her experience directing the Pirelli 2015 Calendar in this behind-the-scenes video and also enjoy a brief promotional video.

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Pirelli Calendar images © 2014 Pirelli. All Rights Reserved.