Carine On The Collections: The Animal Nursery
lundi 13 mai 2013 
Carine On The Collections: The Animal Nursery
By Kristin Sekora
During her decade as editor-in-chief of Vogue Paris, Carine Roitfeld didn’t so much report fashion as blow it out of a gun at the reader, flashing crotches and breasts and famously having a model deep-throat a squid while holding a side of beef between her legs. Where then is she to land on the much tamer shores of Harper’s Bazaar? Even the GLOBAL Harper’s Bazaar? This remains to be seen.
In “The Animal Nursery” in the May issue, Carine emerges not with anything deep down a model’s throat but with her tongue deeply in her cheek, and very good and cheeky it is. The editorial is a funny “Models Without Borders: ‘We’ve got to save these baby animals even though we’re wearing million dollar clothes and we’re famous!’"
It is not a coincidence that the models are Ethiopian, Swedish, Korean, Russian, and American, just like a real group of Médecins Sans Frontières. The 17-page spread, lushly photographed by Sebastian Faena and edited by Michaela Dosamantes, both of whom work with Carine on CR Fashion Book, takes place in an ersatz tropical locale where the five beauties, all wonderfully coifed and made-up and manicured, hold delightful baby tigers, monkeys, and one tiny, adorable ocelot. They sit in director’s chairs surrounded by white canvas tents with large red crosses on them. In one scene (and, as is always the case with Carine Roitfeld, it is a “scene,” not a photo), Soo Joo Park, in a face mask and a nurse’s cap with a “V” (for “Louis Vuitton”?) on it, looks down in worry as Senait Gidey, also in a face mask, marches with determination as if to say, “Make way, we must get this baby ocelot to surgery immediately or she will die!”
There are other telling details that make it all the more funny, like the “waders” that Kate, Senait, and Soo Joo wear, almost like hazmat suits, but if you follow the credits you will find they are fishing gear. Or the Birkenstocks, which are not exactly jungle wear. And the animals! They play with the stethoscopes, climb into the wagons, or cuddle together just like, well, just like baby monkeys!
Carine Roitfeld knows how to make drama out of fashion but we start to notice that our girl is playing a game with us here, too, maybe not as in-our-faces as with her Vogue Paris, but something is going on while we are enjoying the sport… The tiger is being held in the arms of a woman wearing a tiger-printed shirt and the baby monkeys are wearing tiger- and zebra-striped diapers! A model wears a giraffe-printed coat by Burberry and a python-printed blouse.
Carine is famous for the pro-fur editorial “Reality Show” that she styled herself for Vogue Paris in August 2008, but she certainly is not in favor of using baby tiger or ocelot fur, which is illegal. And she would not have had the backing of the various wildlife preserves where the editorial was shot if she were insensitive to endangered species. It appears that all the “fur” fashion here is faux. I think Carine Roitfeld may be playing with the PETA crowd again, a kind of subterranean message, a repeat “gotcha,” only this time showing them, “Look, I get to play with all the tiger fur I want!” But here she is in tandem with the groups that preserve endangered species.
The clothes are extraordinary, particularly one dress by Dolce & Gabbana, you could picture Carine in this, it is the epitome of the pair’s combination of femininity with an edge: tweed with figure-skimming lace down the front, accessorized of course by the exquisite baby ocelot. Another dream item is a tawny faux-fur blouson and skirt by Reed Krakoff, a designer whose work I just discovered and who I really love, worn by Irina Shayk, whose rubber boot is being attacked by a playful baby tiger. A further hit is a wonderful outfit from Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci, which looks like appliquéd lace and cotton. (Carine Roitfeld wore a Bambi Givenchy top with “Pop-Pois” net pants to the Met Gala.)
“The Animal Nursery” is a move on Carine’s part to bring her dramatic element to the Harper’s Bazaar fashion scene. As a first step it is refreshing and delightful but still tentative. It definitely made me want to buy Harper’s Bazaar. With such an iconic member of their editorial staff, I cannot resist. I await further work on the editorial front. And the day when Carine Roitfeld once again comes out guns blazing!
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"Carine Roitfeld on the Collections: The Animal Nursery" images © 2013 Hearst Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
