Posts filed under 'General'
Nicole Trunfio is playing with my emotions. We’re due to meet for an after-work drink and, at the 10-minutes-late mark, I call her. “Oh,” she gasps down the line, “I haven’t been told about that. I’m in the city.”
As if it proves anything, I start reading what’s written in my diary, but she interrupts before I get too pompous: “I’m joking, darl,” she giggles. “I’m just around the corner. I’ll be there in five.”
True to her word, five minutes later, the Aussie model strides in wearing a buttock-skimming black dress, still visibly amused at her gag. While I trot to keep up with her super-long stride, she makes a beeline for a table in the centre of the room, clearly not feeling the need to hide from any possible attention.
Trunfio became a well-known face when she won series three of Network Ten’s Search for a Supermodel in 2002, her star rising higher still when she took third place in the international version of the show. Five years ago, she moved to New York to fully embrace her career.
When we meet, Trunfio (who turns 24 this week) has returned to Australia for the relaunch of Chadstone, in Melbourne’s south east, which recently emerged from its chrysalis as the largest shopping centre in the southern hemisphere. “It’s really impressive,” she says, as if she’s never seen anything like it. “Karl Lagerfeld designed a bag especially, and they flew in the original Gucci bag made for Jackie Onassis. It was spectacular.”
It’s clear that, though it’s a work trip and only a week long, she’s had a ball. “It feels like a breath of health, as soon as I get here,” she sighs theatrically. “Like my body comes alive again.”
Trunfio grew up in Merredin, near Perth, one of four siblings in an extended Italian family. “We used to make salami, and tomato sauce for pasta,” she recalls. “My dad has six brothers and a sister, and they have huge families. It was always more about that than friends.”
It’s an idyllic image, but scrape a little deeper and it turns out things weren’t all rose-tinted. As a kid, her gangly frame, pretty face and good grades made her a target for bullies. “Kids can be really mean,” she says, quietly. “I used to come home crying a lot. It’s hard going through that.”
With her looks more a curse than a blessing, it never occurred to Trunfio that she might one day be a model.
“Mum was a hairdresser, Dad was a mechanic, and we grew up with not a lot of money, so all I knew was that I’d like to have more,” she says. “The highest earning job I knew was a lawyer, so I thought I’d do that. If not, I’d be a pro dirt bike rider or work in a video store. I’d love to be around movies all day, telling people which ones to watch, and eating popcorn.”
However, while on a shopping trip with her elder sister, Louise, Trunfio was approached by a model scout and asked to enter a competition. “I was laughing – I had no interest,” she says. “I’d experienced enough bitchiness at school, without going into an industry that’s all about beauty.”
But, convinced by her family, she entered and duly won the competition. Following Search for a Supermodel, Trunfio moved to Sydney, then headed Stateside. She loves the hustle and bustle of the Big Apple, but says there’s no place like home. “I miss the food here, it’s incredible. I miss Milo, the bread, the accents, the smell of the air…”
Off the runway, she’s realised a better way to immerse herself in film than at a video store. “Acting’s my passion,” she says, explaining that she’s just completed a four-week stint at NIDA, and has been studying in the US with Susan Batson, coach of Nicole Kidman. “I know that, as I’m a model, people might be like, ‘Yeah, right,’ but that’s what I love.
“I love the realness of Cate Blanchett and Toni Collette, who play broken down characters without a facade. That’s something I’m interested in because I see [so much artificiality] in my job.”
She had a small part in Two Fists, One Heart last year and will start filming a vampire movie this year, but Trunfio’s focus now is on learning the craft and working on a script with a friend.
“I want to make sure everything I do is right, that I’m true to myself,” she says. “Anyway, I’m still enjoying modelling, so I’m in no rush.”
source: dailytelegraph.com.au
March 14th, 2010
Supermodel Rie Rasmussen slammed fashion photographer Terry Richardson in front of the Paris fashion crowd earlier this week, calling his work “completely degrading to women,” Page Six reports. Richardson, who recently shot the Pirelli 2010 calendar (NSFW pics at the link), upset Rasmussen by using photos of her in his “Terryworld” book that featured compromising images of underage girls.
Rasmussen said, “He takes girls who are young, manipulates them to take their clothes off and takes pictures of them they will be ashamed of. They are too afraid to say no because their agency booked them on the job and are too young to stand up for themselves.”
According to Rasmussen, Richardson didn’t respond to her remarks made at the fashion week party, but instead ran out of the bar and called her modeling agency the next day to complain. She called his actions “the most cowardly thing I have ever seen.”
Richardson’s reps said they didn’t know anything about the situation.
source: huffingtonpost.com
March 13th, 2010
The vodka flowed at a Dazed & Confused party at Paris’ Pavillon Ledoyen on Wednesday night, feting Spike Jonze’s short film collaboration with Absolut, dubbed “I’m Here.” Revelers including Lanvin’s Lucas Ossendrijver, Kris Van Assche, Haider Ackermann, André Saraiva and Olympia Le-Tan played arcade games and scrawled doodles on the walls and people’s outfits using black and glow-in-the-dark markers. Admiring a scrawl by Jonze, Lily Cole, who was still sporting her “Avengers”-style bowler hat from her turn in the Herm?s show earlier, said she’s signed up to star in the “The Moth Diaries” and will possibly play a vampire. So how does she plan to research her role? “Don’t ask dangerous questions,” she mock hissed. Mingling with the smokers in the courtyard, jewelry designer Waris Ahluwalia, of House of Waris, revealed he has a line of cashmere scarves and pashminas in the works. “They’ll all be hand-woven and embroidered in India,” he said. Tricky said he’s been busy working on his next album, due out in June, with singer Francesca Belmonte. “She used to work as a sales girl in Topshop, you know, just trying to pay her bills. She’s 23 and she sounds like she could be 63,” he said.
source: wwd.com
March 13th, 2010
It looked more like an audition for a revival of The Avengers than a fashion show.
Dressed in an all-leather black catsuit, supermodel Lily Cole appeared to take inspiration from the character Mrs Peel in the cult 1960s TV show.
She wore the outfit while strutting the Paris catwalk yesterday to showcase the latest collection from Jean Paul Gaultier for the giant French fashion house Hermes.
The same look was the trademark of the actress Diana Rigg when she played the character of spy Emma Peel in the long-running TV show.
The role was reprised by Uma Thurman in a 1998 Hollywood film remake.
The character was always known as ‘Mrs Peel’ to her partner in espionage, John Steed – played by actor Patrick Macnee in the TV show.
And indeed, the top hat and umbrella sported by Lily Cole yesterday at the Paris Fashion Week show could also be a nod to the accessories carried by Mr Steed in The Avengers.
But designer Mr Gaultier claimed the inspiration for the look was a series of other British icons, including James Bond.
He said the collection was ‘very English, inspired by The City, bankers clothes revamped for the women who work there’, adding: ‘It’s a kind of Mrs. Bond, a Bond-ette.’
Miss Cole, 21, was taking a break from her studies at Cambridge University, where she is reading History of Art.
She began the show standing inside a black-and-white striped tunnel, which was apparently modelled on the look of Stanley Kubrick’s film A Clockwork Orange.
Read more: dailymail.co.uk
March 12th, 2010
Jewish militants have ordered supermodel Bar Refaeli not to marry her U.S. actor lover Leonardo Dicaprio, The Sun reported on Friday.
The 24-year-old Israeli has been warned that wedding the Titanic actor will dilute the Jewish race.
In a letter to the beauty, nationalist group Lehava wrote: “It is not by chance you were born Jewish.
“Your grandmother and her grandmother did not dream one of their descendants would remove future generations from the Jewish people.”
He added: “Come to your senses. Don’t marry Leonardo DiCaprio.”
Dicaprio, 35, and Refaeli, who began dating in 2005, are an item again after splitting late last year.
source: heraldsun.com.au
March 12th, 2010
Celebrity agent Max Markson has the Australian media leaping from the water like unfed sharks.
The slow build-up of Australia’s own WAG scandal starring leggy blonde model-celeb Lara Bingle and the vice-captain of Australia’s cricket team has left the media wired beyond wired. The slick Markson is reported demanding $1million for an interview with Bingle, who is yet to confirm she and Michael ‘Pup’ Clarke are kaput.
Bingle, 22, got herself in a spot of bother over a nude photo scandal involving a married football star with whom she had an affair before she got together with Clarke. She hired Markson just before Clarke made the controversial decision to leave the New Zealand cricket tour to fly home this week and deal with the crisis enfolding Bingle.
The news that the couple, who were engaged for two years, has split is all but official but the protagonists – which now include Markson – are all staying mum. The pair both spent last night away from their $6million penthouse in Bondi in Sydney’s Eastern suburbs, staying at the homes of friends instead.
Now Markson has likened Bingle – who made her name in a tourism ad – to Kate Moss as a shy celebrity who rarely gives interviews. He reportedly today denied the $1million price tag, saying it was tied to an earlier pitch.
‘Lara Bingle will not be commenting on her personal life,’ he said. A Current Affair reporter Ben Fordham who broke the story of the break-up last night – and has waited 24 hours for a confirmation – meanwhile said Markson was demanding the $1million and his network was not paying a single, bingle dollar.
Read more: monstersandcritics.com
March 12th, 2010
It looks like Glamour is making good on its word — made last year — to feature women of diverse sizes in the magazine.
According to WWD, the June cover of Glamour will star a delectable threesome of Victoria’s Secret stunner Alessandra Ambrosio, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition cover girl Brooklyn Decker and “plus-size” model Crystal Renn, whose career has been soaring of late.
Renn recently appeared in back-to-back issues of V Magazine, including the provocative “Size Issue,” which was inclusive of some super-curvy women including performer Miss Dirty Martini, shot by Karl Lagerfeld.
Perfect for a summer-themed issue, WWD reports that the three luscious ladies were photographed in St. Barths by Matthias Vriens-McGrath this past weekend. And, judging by pictures posted on Ambrosio’s Twitter, it looks like bathing suits were involved, as was star hairstylist Ted Gibson.
The June cover not only sets a benchmark for featuring women of varying body types, but it also marks a return of using models (instead of celebrities). Ironically, the last time a model was featured (in May 2006), it was Ambrosio.
Renn’s relationship with Glamour started with a fashion story in May 2009, then continued last fall when she appeared naked with a bevy of other “plus-sized” models in the November issue, also shot by Vriens-McGrath.
Most recently Renn ditched the runway for a front row seat at the shows in New York, working as a guest blogger for Glamour.com. Then she returned to the catwalk for the London and Milan shows, strutting her stuff for Mark Fast and Elena Miro, respectively.
When StyleList spoke with Renn last month, the model had some very exciting upcoming projects that she had to stay mum about. We’re guessing this Glamour cover shoot might have been one of them.
Can a major ad campaign be far behind? We think not!
March 11th, 2010
He banned celebrities from his own label show in New York last month, but for his Louis Vuitton catwalk show yesterday, Marc Jacobs welcomed stars with open arms.
And there were familiar faces both on and off the catwalk, as bright young Brits Alexa Chung, Daisy Lowe and Pixie Geldof watched supermodels Laetitia Casta and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley walk the runway.
David Walliams’ fiancée Lara Stone was also on the catwalk, but it was 46-year-old Elle Macpherson who made a rare appearance by way of finale, stealing the show in a rose-coloured crinoline gown.
She joined some of the industry’s biggest names including Leonardo Dicaprio’s on-off girlfriend Bar Refaeli, M&S face Noemie Lenoir, Coco Rocha, Jessica Stam and Lily Donaldson.
The setting was no less impressive: Models strode around the 16-jet fountain in the courtyard of The Louvre, to the theme music from the Fifties French film And God Created Woman.
And Bardot-esque curves were the order of the day. While there was nary a skirt above the knee, corsets and nip-waisted jackets gave way to womanly hips and breasts for a refined sexiness.
All ladylike elegance, models with hair pulled back in girlish ponytails wore elbow-length leather gloves, and kitten heels adorned with bows.
And while the full-length gowns might be more appropriate for an A-list awards ceremony than your average party, next season’s accessories promise to fill Louis Vuitton’s coffers nicely, as almost every model carried a piece from the latest range of handbags – most notably the Speedy, a Thirties design that had been reinvented in myriad ways.
The designer explained how his aim had been to create a collection that appealed to a wider market.
‘Designers are always saying they’re going to do a collection for women, but then every girl on the runway is under twenty,’ he said.
‘I wanted a variety of ages and sizes. We set out to cast gorgeous women – women who feel happy to put their make-up on, get dressed up, get all their accessories.
‘It’s a bit old-fashioned, I know, but I think it’s nice for a change.’
Indeed the halterneck and strapless bustier shapes that he showed would be flattering on any woman, as would his palette of dusty pinks and greys – a feature that was not missed by the critics in the front row.
Vogue’s Dolly Jones called the show ‘ravishing’. She said: ‘Truly a celebration of womanhood, the full skirts were caught into a triple pleat over the back to make even [model Karolina] Kurkova look buxom, while breasts were spilling over the top of dresses that, but for that unmissable detail, were demure, with high beribboned waists.’
Avril Mair at Elle UK added: ‘Miuccia Prada embraced the curve back in Milan, but this was a more French affair: the girls walking round the Louvre’s dancing fountains, ponytails bouncing, each decorated with bows and velvet ribbon belts… It was a seductive performance.’
source: dailymail.co.uk
March 11th, 2010
Liya Kebede has become an expert in Somalian regional dialects.
During filming on her new movie, “Desert Flower,” which opened Wednesday in France, the Ethiopian actress and model spent hours working with coaches on her lines, but quickly discovered each area had a different take on the language.
“Depending on which city we were in, we had different people coaching me and every time there was a different person, they were telling me different things,” she recounts. “In the end, I was so confused!”
No matter: to foreign ears, Kebede comes across as utterly credible in the role of Waris Dirie, the goatherd from Somalia who rose to fame as an international model and activist in the fight against female genital mutilation.
The movie, an adaptation of Dirie’s autobiography, is directed by Sherry Hormann and co-stars British actors Timothy Spall and Juliet Stevenson. It is Kebede’s first leading role, following small parts in “Lord of War” and “The Good Shepherd.”
“When I found out that I had the role, I felt excitement mixed with ‘Oh my God, what am I going to do?’” Kebede recounts between nibbles on a macaroon in a Paris hotel suite. But she rapidly settled into the part. “It was intimate and we all really connected, especially around a story like this, that was so precious to all of us.”
Kebede only met Dirie on the last day of shooting. “Even though there is this huge responsibility when you’re playing someone who’s alive, it was nice of her to give us the freedom to interpret the story,” she says.
From neighboring countries, the two women share similar cultures, although female circumcision was something Kebede had only heard about. “I grew up in the city, so it’s something that I knew happened, but I guess it never really touched me that much,” she confesses.
Female genital mutilation is only one of the issues that she tackles as World Health Organization (WHO) goodwill ambassador for maternal, newborn and child health. “Maternal mortality is really second only to HIV as a killer of women in Third World countries, which I don’t think anybody knows,” she says. “Women who are circumcised actually also have a higher risk of death in childbirth.”
Kebede campaigns for health care through her own foundation, while the film is being supported by PPR’s Foundation for Women’s Dignity and Rights, which hosted a screening of the movie during Paris Fashion Week to raise money for charity projects in Mali. Kebede is working on a number of new film projects, and says she was even ready to learn another foreign language, if required.
“I would love to spend six months learning martial arts, flying through the sky — in Chinese!” she says with a laugh.
source: wwd.com
March 11th, 2010
Supermodel Elle Macpherson proved she is the queen of curves during her surprise return to the catwalk in Paris.
The 46-year-old was joined by fellow Aussie beauties Catherine McNeil and rising star Julia Nobis in the Louis Vuitton autumn 2010 show on Wednesday night.
With Macpherson and McNeil’s curves on full display in retro inspired garments, their appearances cemented the return of the body beautiful after years of androgynous looks.
By jettisoning Macpherson – famously dubbed The Body since her megastar modelling days of the 1980s – into the closing day of Paris Fashion Week, Vuitton has scored a major coup for a season of runway surprises.
Suddenly, iconic designers, including Marc Jacobs for Vuitton and Miuccia Prada, have turned to casting Australian models to emphasise the point that womanly curves are the new height of fashion.
“Physically, Australia really is an incredible place and I find the women here very gutsy, strong and athletic,” Jillian Davidson, the fashion director of Australian Harper’s Bazaar magazine, told AAP about why Australian supermodels are all the rage.
“I think there’s a very strong, athletic and very confident woman here and the rest of the world wants our lifestyle.”
And it seems they want Australians’ curves too.
Only two weeks earlier, Miranda Kerr made a surprise appearance at the Prada winter collection with Abbey Lee Kershaw and McNeil.
Oozing 1950s femininity but with all the sex appeal of a Victoria’s Secret angel, Kerr’s shock inclusion in the show highlighted a new sexual style revolution was occurring before the world’s most powerful fashion media.
Not to be trumped, Jacobs turned to the ultimate womanly body, Macpherson, to prove Vuitton could also create a few runway shocks of its own.
The fact that at close to 50 Macpherson is fashion’s newest muse shows that luxury labels are reaching out to a bigger and older consumer base with more spending power than the under-20s market the industry has traditionally courted.
“Designers are always talking about how they design for women, and then you look at our runways and there are no girls over 20,” Jacobs, the American designer of Louis Vuitton, said backstage after his blockbuster catwalk show in Paris.
“This time, I set out to cast a variety of sexy women – younger, older, thin, voluptuous, from every ethnic background.”
In previous advertising campaigns the powerful luxury brand has cast 40-plus celebrities famous for their sex appeal, including Madonna and Jennifer Lopez.
Industry rumours are now flying that Macpherson, who is a business woman in her own right with the successful lingerie line Elle Macpherson Intimates and a global brand ambassador for Revlon cosmetics, may continue her runway success by starring in Vuitton’s next campaign.
source: news.ninemsn.com.au
March 11th, 2010
Previous Posts
