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.

Review: CR Men’s Book Issue 1

I am pleased to be in possession of CR Fashion Book Issue 7 as well as CR Men’s Book Issue 1 and my first thought is to salute Carine Roitfeld: C’est fantastique, brava ! My second thought is to clarify information previously published here: CR Men’s Book will be packaged as an annual supplement to CR Fashion Book and will not be sold separately. This is according to Carine’s letter introducing the publication, I find it charming so I am reprinting it here:

Fashion doesn’t look good on men. It’s very difficult to strike a balance between trendy and traditional. Go too far and you look like a victim. Play too safe and you seem like a bore. In between, though, there’s an ambiguity that is seductive — a vagueness of style, of sexuality, of gender, of generation. I love this look on a man.

For the first issue of this annual supplement to CR, I thought to create a cinematic tribute to five legendary men who’ve inspired me with their subtle masculinity and quintessential looks. Over the years, their style — a bit offbeat in each one’s heyday — has evolved to simply be men’s style. Who can forget Kurt Cobain’s distressed cardigans or Christopher Walken’s polished camel coats? What about Robert Mapplethorpe’s penchant for sensual, low-riding black leather and not much else? Or the way River Phoenix made any old white t-shirt look like the coolest white t-shirt in the world? Bob Marley wore his tracksuit like a tuxedo — always cool and together.

Obviously most of these stars have passed. So I selected modern personalities to channel their spirits. Boys like Lucky Blue and Jaden Smith can’t be compared to Christopher or Bob, of course. They’re all such strong individuals. But in their personal freedom, their striking faces, and their embrace of ambiguity, they are one and the same.

— Carine

I love that Carine chose to focus her first issue of CRMB on five of her male style icons: Robert Mapplethorpe by Oliver Greenall, River Phoenix by Love Rönnlund, Kurt Cobain by Logan Flatte, Christopher Walken by Lucky Blue Smith, and Bob Marley by Jaden Smith, all photographed by Sebastian Faena. Also notable is the appearance of Kate Upton in each editorial, adeptly portraying the muse to each of these men: Patti Smith, Winona Ryder, Courtney Love, Natalie Wood, and Cindy Breakspeare, respectively. The Smiths make the issue: Lucky Blue as Walken and Jaden as Marley are exceptional and I found both of their interviews intriguing. It is painful to think that we must wait a year for the next issue of CR Men’s Book but I am certainly looking forward to more of Carine Roitfeld’s way with menswear.

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CR Men’s Book images courtesy of crfashionbook.com.

CR Men’s Book Issue 1: Lucky Blue Smith

CR Men’s Book, Carine Roitfeld’s new publication devoted entirely to menswear, debuts on 3 September and she has selected Lucky Blue Smith as her cover model for her premiere issue. Photographed by Sebastian Faena, the image focuses on Lucky’s famous blue eye as he gazes into the looking glass. Among the other models sharing the pages of CRMB Issue 1 are Kate Upton, Fetty Wap, Gabriel Day-Lewis, Kaia Gerber, Presley Gerber, and Jaden Smith. The initial issue of CR Men’s Book will be wrapped with CR Fashion Book Issue 7 with subsequent issues sold separately; however, I cannot find a way to order either a subscription or a single issue of CRMB, please let me know if you have any information.

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CR Men’s Book images courtesy of crfashionbook.com.

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.

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.