I Want To Be Your Superhero

Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld and Giovanna Battaglia photograph courtesy of jezebel.com
Carine Roitfeld and Jean Paul Gaultier photograph courtesy of mrnewton.net

Vogue Paris Translation: Editorial, November 2009

Here is my translation from French to English of Carine Roitfeld's editorial for the November issue of Vogue Paris:

‹‹Dans le mot luxe, il y a l'idée de "think different." Ce qui vous permet d'émerger, c'est votre originalité››, dit Youcef Nabi, le nouveau président de Lancôme, étonnante personnalité au générique de ce numéro. Si le luxe et l'originalité sont deux traits de caractère de Vogue, ce mois-ci, nous allons plus loin et vivons la mode à l'extrême. Extrême dans les idées, l'inspiration et la démesure. Jungle fourrure à la ville, style ethnique et corps tagués façon Keith Haring, haute couture et ‹‹street spirit››… l'audace et la personnalité sont les armes de la saison. Deux qualités dont Leonor Scherrer ne manque pas : fille de couturier, ce prototype de la Parisienne idéale fourmille de projets, dont le lancement d'une ligne de vêtements de deuil en collaboration avec les plus grands créateurs baptisée ‹‹funeral couture››. Vous ne connaissez pas Aby Rosen ? C'est normal. Ce magnat de l'immobilier basé aux États-Unis est réputé pour sa discrétion. Pour la première fois, il ouvre les portes de sa maison de New York, véritable objet de curiosité qui renferme l'une de plus étonnantes collections d'art au monde : Bacon, Picasso, Warhol, Basquiat, Koons, Twombly, etc. Une visite privée qu'apprécierait sans doute l'artiste italien Francesco Vezzoli, invité par le MOCA de Los Angeles à imaginer un happening pour les trente ans du musée. En exclusivité pour Vogue, il dévoile les premières images d'un projet fou, espérance de vie quelques minutes, qui mélange au shaker le Bolchoï, Damien Hirst, David Hockney et Lady Gaga. Un coup de folie né d'un désir extrême. C'est on ne peut plus tendance.

"In the word luxe, there is the idea of 'think different.' What permits you to emerge, this is your originality," said Youcef Nabi, the new president of Lancôme, an astonishing personality with the credit for this issue. If luxury and originality are two character traits of Vogue this month, we go further and live fashion to the extreme. Extreme in the ideas, the inspiration and the disproportion. Jungle fur in the city, ethnic style and body tags in the fashion of Keith Haring, haute couture and "street spirit"... audacity and personality are the weapons of the season. Two qualities which Leonor Scherrer does not lack: daughter of a dressmaker, this prototype of the Parisian ideal swarms with projects, including launching a line of mourning clothes in collaboration with the greatest creators baptized "funeral couture". You do not know Aby Rosen? This is normal. This tycoon of real estate based in the United States is famous for his discretion. For the first time, he opens the doors of his house in New York, a true object of curiosity which contains one of the more astonishing collections of art in the world: Bacon, Picasso, Warhol, Basquiat, Koons, Twombly, etc. A private visit which would undoubtedly be appreciated by Italian artist Francesco Vezzoli, invited by the MOCA of Los Angeles to imagine a happening for the thirtieth anniversary of the museum. Exclusively for Vogue, he reveals the first images of an insane project, with a life expectancy of a few minutes, which mixes with the shaker Bolshoi, Damien Hirst, David Hockney and Lady Gaga. An act of madness born of an extreme desire. This could not be more in vogue.

Vogue Paris editorial image © 2009 Condé Nast. All Rights Reserved.

Indochine Now In Print

J'adore the cover of the newly published Indochine: Stories, Shaken and Stirred, a beautiful book that captures the beautiful people celebrating, merrymaking, moving, and shaking in this hallowed fashion hangout over the last quarter of a century. Notice I didn't actually say eating... Look at all the special occasions the Roitfelds have spent at Indochine as proof of its goodness: birthdays, graduations, art opening afterparties. Contributors to the book include Julianne Moore, Patrick McMullan, Moby, Tom Sachs, Salman Rushdie, Narciso Rodriguez, Patrick Demarchelier, Francesco Clemente, Helmut Lang, Julian Schnabel, Roxanne Lowit, and many other notables. T Magazine held a fascinating interview with Jean-Marc Houmard about the 25th anniversary of Indochine and the publication of the book; Houmard joined forces with Huy Chi Le and Michael Callahan to buy Indochine in 1992.

Indochine: Stories, Shaken and Stirred cover image courtesy of Amazon

Roitfeld At GQ Man Of The Year Awards

Carine Roitfeld was on hand yesterday in Munich, Germany when Tom Ford was awarded the Man of the Year by GQ in the category "Fashion". She is wearing a skirt designed by Ford for Yves Saint Laurent and her favorite Alaïa laceups. Other GQ Men of the Year include Jon Kortajarena for "Model," Gerard Butler for "International Film," Jonas Kaufmann for "Classical Music," Jan Delay for "Style" (pictured below), and Sir Bob Geldof for "Lifetime Charity."

Photographs of Carine Roitfeld, Tom Ford, and Jan Delay at GQ Man of the Year Awards © 2009 Condé Nast. All Rights Reserved.

Jeanne Moreau As Vogue Paris Guest Editor

Reprinted from Time Magazine, here is an interview with the fabulous Jeanne Moreau who served as guest editor for the December 1970 issue of Vogue Paris:

Only a standard cover with a picture of a beautiful woman identifies the magazine as the latest Vogue Paris. Inside, things are far from standard. In an effort to increase circulation and dress up its Christmas issue, Vogue Paris has twice chosen a guest editor for its year-end edition. Last year she was Françoise Sagan, who limited her tasks to writing only a couple of pages. This year the choice was actress Jeanne Moreau, who does nothing halfheartedly.

"Being a beginner, it was natural that I should lean toward something I knew," she says. That means sensuality and films. So she asked 15 couturiers to create dresses capturing the personality of 20 film makers. Some of the results are nothing short of smashing, witness Emanuel Ungaro's idea of Andy Warhol: a floor-length cape punctured by hundreds of holes with plastic spheres swinging in the openings. Or from Lanvin, the dramatic Pier Paolo Pasolini creation: a black sweater that takes a breast-baring plunge to the waist, with bold-patterned Zouave pants. For the sensual part, Moreau had Henri Cartier-Bresson photograph five of her favorite men, then ran the pictures opposite blowups of the precise segments of a woman's body that most attracts each of them. There, in all its grace and graininess, is the small of the back for actor Claude Rich; the belly, dappled with goose flesh, for dancer Jean Babilée.

Moreau hates the cold, so she decided to do a ski-fashion layout as a photographic comic book, shot in a studio. She commissioned playwright Françoise Dorin to write the scenario and got actor Jean-Louis Trintignant and actress Nathalie Delon (Alain's ex) to ham it up while modeling the necessary ski clothes. To caption 21 displays of Christmas-gift ideas, Moreau wrote poetry, which is reproduced in her own handwriting and reveals a whimsical side of the serious seductress:

In the hollow of the shoulder a pearl
Born of the breaking wave
Bathed in the Orient's gleam
I move only deliberately
I am fragile

Moreau seemed surprised by her own reaction to the female world of fashion magazines. "I loved working on the magazine," she says, "because it's full of women. Really, I mean it. I found I loved working with women because they do serious things lightly."

[Editor's note: Rumor has it that Laetitia Casta has been chosen as the special guest editor for the December/January issue of Vogue Paris. I'll give you more information as soon as this is confirmed.]

Photograph of Jeanne Moreau courtesy of 3oneseven.com