Julia Restoin Roitfeld: L’Officiel Türkiye February 2015

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Julia Restoin Roitfeld cover and editorial images for L’Officiel Türkiye © 2015 Ommedya & Les Editions Jalou.

Carine Roitfeld: What Is A Good Cover Anyway?

In writing the foreword to Vogue Paris Covers: 1920-2009 by Sonia Rachline, Carine Roitfeld poses a fascinating question: What is a good cover anyway? She then proceeds to answer her own question with her typical aplomb. I loved reading about Carine's thought process as she decides on a cover so I thought I would share her words with you along with a selection of my favorite covers she has created. Which are your favorite covers by Carine Roitfeld?

Foreword to Vogue Paris Covers: 1920-2009

Creating a cover is at once exciting and stressful. How can you be sure of your work — certain that you got it right? And what is a good cover anyway? Is it one that encourages people to buy the magazine? Or where the quality of the image has lasting interest? One or two things you learn from experience: the visual immediacy of the graphics, a clearly defined goal, a model who looks straight at the camera and holds the reader's gaze, a touch of luxury — all of these work to one's advantage. Gold, silver, red and pink lettering work well, whereas green does not. Humor is appealing, nudity less so. And yet those guidelines alone are no guarantee of commercial or artistic success, as we see if we look back through the magazine's archives, trawling through ninety years of graphic design. This is particularly true of Vogue, which has traditionally relied on a bold, even iconoclastic approach. So, what does that mean? For a visually attuned person like myself, a good cover is a pleasure to look at, and has an impact that one can return to without getting tired of it, but it is also underpinned by an idea, a way of looking at things that is entirely subjective. At the end of the day, there is only one recipe for success as I see it: a cover must be true to itself.

Carine Roitfeld
Editor-in-Chief, Vogue Paris

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Cover images © 2014 CR Fashion Book and Condé Nast. 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: Intercontinental Chic

In a piece titled "Intercontinental Chic" for the August issue of Harper's Bazaar, "the world's most fashionable women, handpicked by the editors of Bazaar's international editions, share their secrets," and of course Carine Roitfeld tops the list of the très chic. In case you have not seen it, here are a few of Carine's personal preferences in culture, beauty, and fashion.

Carine Roitfeld on the essence of France's irreverent cool

CULTURE

Escape: The Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes is pure luxury.

Design: Any furniture by Knoll.

Film: E.T. — a classic!

Book: Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment.

Restaurant: Shang Palace at the Shangri-La Hotel, in Paris. It reminds me of the Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong.

Extras: I'm very fond of white tulips, particularly the way they continue to grow even after they've been cut. It's strange and beautiful.

BEAUTY

Routine: I'm quite unfaithful to skin-care products, but I do like La Prairie.

Eyes: Serge Lutens eyeliner comes in an old-fashioned lacquered box — you feel like a geisha when you use it.

FASHION

Philosophy: I'm always inspired by Helmut Newton's photographs of Yves Saint Laurent and by the work of Bob Richardson.

Key Pieces: For fall, I'm excited to wear Prada's long, thin scarves, as well as Givenchy's butterfly dress — butterflies are a big trend this season. And I love Tom Ford's long black skirt and jacket, to me this look is the new Le Smoking.

Shoes: I adore Miu Miu's translucent boots.

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

CR Fashion Book Issue 4: Fairy Tales

CR Fashion Book Issue 4: Fairy Tales
By Sarra Salib

The theme for Issue 4 of the bi-annual CR Fashion Book is "Fairy Tales" in which Carine Roitfeld takes as her subject some of our most children's beloved stories, tales that we revisit again and again even as adults to relive our favorite childhood memories, or perhaps to escape from the harsh reality even if only for a short while. The stories featured included "Beauty and the Beast," "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," "The Empress’s New Clothes," "Fairy Tale Theater," and Carine’s favorite, "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," which makes her cry. 

As we know by now, the work of Carine Roitfeld is enduring and iconic because it shies away from anything that celebrates the mundane or the status quo. In CR Fashion Book Issue 4 there was a twist added to every editorial, and these innocent stories we know so well were transformed and punctuated by Carine’s French accent mark, if you will. And that is actually one of Carine’s many talents: taking something innocent and revamping it into something provocative and politically incorrect. What else do we expect from the queen of porno chic?

In "Fairy Tales," we see a stark juxtaposition of brightness, hope, love, and smiles against loss, darkness, and ominousness. The cover stories convey those themes of brightness, lightness, and love. Lindsey Wixson’s E.T. cover photographed by Carine’s crony Sebastian Faena could not be more spot on. Gracing the reverse cover are Gigi Hadid (who could easily be mistaken for Kate Upton’s twin sister) with Shayne Cureton as shot by the legendary Bruce Weber. With perpetual smiles on their faces, Cureton and Hadid represent the ultimate fairy tale love of Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix in their ultra-hippie rock ‘n’ roll Sixties prime. 

Contrary to these lights and smiles, we see "Ferocious," a dark and sinister take on the classic "Beauty and the Beast," starring the now Carine regular Kate Upton as photographed by Karl Lagerfeld. "Ferocious" is captioned “Once Upon a Time Beauty Met Beastly and Liked It.” The photographs are eerily reminiscent of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, with Upton being Estella and the table setting being something that you would expect to find in the humble abode of Miss Havisham. Adding to this element of darkness is the apparent tragedy that Beauty did not end up living happily ever after with the object of her affection.

Another noteworthy editorial in Issue 4 of CR Fashion Book is “The Seven,” Carine Roitfeld's witty, modern, tongue-in-cheek take on "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." The story features Ashleigh Good and a diverse cast of smiling children playing their appropriate role as the seven dwarfs, and is shot by Carine’s longtime friend Pamela Hanson. The description to "The Seven" sets the vision for the editorial: “Ashleigh Good stars as part workaday mom, part contemporary Snow White. She makes for a magical, magnetic vision of motherhood.” Perhaps this is Carine's homage to her daughter Julia — granted Julia has only one child and not seven... I think yes!

Although this is a rather belated review of CR Fashion Book Issue 4, it is still appropriate because it proves how Carine’s work remains relevant and will remain relevant even down the line. Moreover, she proves that you may pick any theme you wish, use fashion and creative talent, and turn it into your own story for others to enjoy. In her "Fairy Tales," Carine combines and juxtaposes ideas of happiness and light with darkness and gloom to create memorable images with an array of established and new talents. Rounding off "Fairy Tales" was a fun task, and we cannot wait to see what theme Carine Roitfeld explores for the hotly anticipated Issue 5 of CR Fashion Book.

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Editorial images and illustration by Illustration by Donald “Drawbertson” Robertson © 2014 CR Fashion Book.