YStyle Picks

Winona forever

MANILA, Philippines - Speaking of the autumn/winter ‘14 campaigns, global brands are serving maximal hype and star power in spades for this season’s ad offerings. Artistic director Alexander Wang tapped Gisele Bündchen for Balenciaga. Shot by Steven Klein, the Brazilian supermodel features in a mirrored set with her typically long blonde locks shorn into a slicked-up undercut. Accessories mega-brand Jimmy Choo taps Game of Thrones star Kit Harington, shot by Peter Lindbergh. But in a spotlight-stealing move, New York-based design house Rag & Bone (helmed by Marcus Wainwright and Peter Neville) casts the eternal Winona Ryder as the face of their new campaign. Is this real life, Heather? Eff me gently with a chainsaw.

We haven’t seen the Girl, Interrupted actress front an ad campaign since 2003, a veritable lifetime in fashion years. She last starred in the cheeky Marc Jacobs campaign that parodied her Saks Fifth-fueled brush with the law. Ten years later, shot in black and white by legendary photographer Glen Luchford, the Rag & Bone ads star the iconic Ryder in a menswear-inspired top coat and cropped haircut. Managing partner Wainwright quotes to WomensWearDaily, “To us, Winona Ryder is a bona-fide icon. One of the things that makes her so cool is that although she has this incredible career, she isn’t interested in being a movie star.”

The designers chose Ryder for her “beautiful, timeless quality” and to star alongside her for the men’s campaign, Rag & Bone taps Boardwalk Empire and Hannibal star Michael Pitt.

American Apparel: Hot basics, hot mess

In the grand tradition of hot mess CEOs, questionable hiring practices and the storied legacy of Abercrombie & Fitch, brand and retailer American Apparel is slowly dovetailing out of the sky. Into the ground? Not just yet. After a decade of sexual harassment lawsuits, lurid depositions and reports of unfair employee treatment, it wasn’t until two weeks ago that founder and CEO Dov Charney was fired by the board of directors due to an “ongoing investigation into alleged misconduct.”  A curious question — “Why just now?” — bubbles up to the surface.

American Apparel built its signature on sexually suggestive ad campaigns — creatively directed (and some, starring the CEO) by Charney himself. The brand is known for its made-in-California quality basics, but years of reported workplace sexual misconduct and looks-based hiring practices gnawed at the company, among a host of issues that — surprise surprise — all center around Charney. What is American Apparel without sex, after all? The 44-year-old founder is known for personally choosing the amateur models and lensing the campaigns himself. Terry Richardson, is that you? Totally creepy.

Interestingly enough, the events took place right around the same time famed fashion photographer Richardson came under fresh scrutiny for similar tales of sexually-charged predation. Is this the result of a butterfly effect in fashion? A rejection of art when the artist and fuel behind it become inexcusable? Questions to be considered for another time, but we think this is a step in the right direction. But right now, reports are coming in that newly ousted Dov Charney is fighting back — to the tune of buying out $20 million worth of American Apparel stock, he is reclaiming land from the company he created 16 years ago. Fated for uncertainty and shambles, the players are picking over the pieces. What happens now? Stay tuned for further developments.

#CastMeMarc revealed

If you follow @kegrand on Instagram (editor in chief of Love magazine, stylist, and the Carine Roitfeld to Marc Jacobs’ Tom Ford) she recently released snaps of the much-awaited Marc by Marc Jacobs Fall campaign. The fruits of the #CastMeMarc crowd-sourced casting initiative laid bare — the first campaign to emerge from the partnership of newly-minted creative directors Katie Hillier and Luella Bartley.

Backed by a casting of real people, or “nodels” (read: non-models), culled from 70,000 entries from around the world, including South Korea, Russia and Australia. A healthy number of 30 finalists were flown to New York and coursed through the wringer by casting director Anita Bitton. In the end, nine made the final cut, starring in photographs lensed by David Sims.  “The credibility of the cast and the approach to casting the ads transmit a current social lifestyle that doesn’t play into other clichés...and totally feels like our company — a cast of colorful and dynamic characters,” Jacobs said.

As robust and colorful as Hillier and Bartley’s debut collection, the campaign brings a youthful imagination and deviant energy to the fore — David Sims portraits, Peter Miles lays out. “It seemed like a great idea to me, as casting through Instagram seemed cool, current and strong,” Jacobs quotes on WomensWearDaily, “We wanted the ads to shout with youth and energy...to be fresh and reclaim the spirit that the collection had when we first conceived of it — to be another collection, not a second line.” The campaign will break in the August issue of Teen Vogue magazine, stay tuned to marcjacobs.com for a behind-the-scenes look on #CastMeMarc.

The Olivia Palermo Guide to Life

From her New York debut to subsequent effacement on Socialite Rank, from dreams of MTV to building an empire as an e-tailing entrepreneurial blogger, from up-and-climbing socialite to fashion’s It-girl supreme, the Olivia Palermo is capable of no wrong. An inflated claim to some but for most, she is a paragon of effortless personal style and sartorial quirk — a master of high-low dressing, possessing enviable command of the evening-appropriate flat, the doyenne of spring layering, adept at implementing highlights versus lowlights, the champion of the center-parted pony, and without gilding the lily and much further ado, she is the The City’s well-clad villainous OG, Olivia P.   

The 28-year-old former reality star adds another feather to her enviable cap by marrying German model and photographer fiancé Johannes Huebl. The genetically-gifted pair sealed the deal in an intimate ceremony in Bedford, New York. Quoted from Olivia’s own blog, “We really wanted to keep this beautiful day very private and special to us and enjoyed the whole day with our family and two friends.” Really, Olivia? You invited just the two? Johannes wasn’t comped tickets? Sounds like somebody still doesn’t play well with others.  But with a husband who sports pecs like Michelangelo’s “David” (trust us — we’ve done the legwork), who needs  to maintain girlfriends? They never did say she was nice.

True to Olivia’s personal style, she wore something very much unexpected. The bride wore a sweater, shorts and a detachable skirt — a three-piece ensemble by New York designer Carolina Herrera. We covet. The look was composed of a cream cashmere sweater with scattered ostrich feathers, white shorts worn underneath a full satin and silk tulle skirt, slit to the side and embellished with floral details. And of course, the fashion guru was caught in something blue — an exquisite pair of Manolo Blahnik pumps.  Huebl was Mr. Porter-approved in a Marc Anthony Hamburg suit. Truly, the couple was Instagram perfect.

We say congratulations to the Palermo-Huebl family and wish them well-dressed toddlers to rival North West and Kaius Jagger Berman.