Happy Birthday Kate Moss

I've loved Kate Moss ever since I saw a Mario Testino exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London and saw her face up close, slathered in turquoise paint looking straight into the camera's lens. This Christmas, my obsession continued when I was given a lovely coffee table book of beautiful Kate Moss images at Christmas. The book's published by Rizzoli and the images have been collated by Jess Hallett and Jefferson Hack. My favourite images of her are when she is at her most natural and caught slightly off guard. Today also marks her 39th birthday, so here's a selection of images to celebrate.

Photographer: Corinne Day

Photographer: Corinne Day

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti

Photographer: David Sims

Photographer: Corinne Day

Dior's first campaign under Raf Simons

What do you think of Dior's latest campaign? It is the first ready-to-wear campaign under the creative directorship of Raf Simons. Willy Vanderperre has shot Daria Strokous, Daiane Conteratio, Nicole Pollard, Anna Martynova and Marie Piovesan in a simple, minimal campaign reminiscent of Raf Simons work at Jil Sander and his own label. 

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Saint Laurent Spring 2013 campaign

Lensed by the brand’s creative director Hedi Slimane, Saint Laurent's latest campaign features Australian model Julia Nobis. The images are typically monochrome for Slimane, with androgynous silhouettes and boyish clothes. There is almost no difference from his recent campaign for menswear, which is how Slimane wants it to be- boys to wear womenswear, girls to wear menswear.

Slimane, previously head designer at Dior Homme, had been absent from the fashion scene since 2007, pursuing instead a successful career as a fashion photographer. He joined Saint Laurent Paris in March 2011 and debuted his first women's collection at Paris Fashion Week in October. His first menswear catwalk show for Saint Laurent will show in Paris in January.

You can also see his campaign for menswear here, which featured Dutch female supermodel Saskia de Brauw.

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News: Alexander Wang joins Balenciaga as Creative Director

Alexander Wang has joined Balenciaga as it's new creative director, replacing Nicolas Ghesquière after 15 years at the French fashion house. An offical announcement is due to be released next week.

28-year-old Alexander Wang graduated from New York's Parsons School of Design in 2005 and shortly after set up his own successful label. The designer's first full ready-to-wear collection launched in 2007, followed by diffusion line, T by Alexander Wang, in 2009. HIs debut flagship store opened in Manhattan in 2011.

Petit Bateau x Carven

Carven has teamed up with France's beloved brand Petit Bateau to create a one-off capsule collection. I'm super excited for this collaboration, I love Carven's Peter Pan collars and playful prints, and I equally love Petit Bateau's cotton t-shirts and cosy knits. The Petit Bateau & Carven collection will be available to buy from December 6 in all Petit Bateau stores worldwide. Below is the campaign for the collection, which features model Anna de Rijk.

 

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Tim Walker: Story Teller at Somerset House

I have long admired the photography of Tim Walker, many would curse me for ripping out pages of my beloved Vogues, but some of his images were just too great to stay in the folds of a magazine, and had to take pride of place on my bedroom walls. So I was super excited when Somerset House announced an exhibition of his photography, sponsored by Mulberry. The exhibition itself certainly didn't disappoint, not only was it free admission, the rooms were extensive and well laid out. They were also as visually exciting as his photography, larger-than-life props complimented the framed photos, from giant grotesque dolls and clown puppets, to huge snails and detailed insects with delicate, transparent wings.

The extraordinary photographs in the exhibition are drawn from the pages of the world's glossy magazines: British, French, American and Italian Vogue, Vanity Fair, W and The New Yorker. With the addition of an interesting behind-the-scenes video, the exhibition showed me just how extensive the production of his photography is. It is less like a fashion shoot and more like a film set- there are hair and make-up artists, fashion stylists and costume fitters, model makers, set designers, builders, producers and painters, prop suppliers and that is just the beginning. He claims the camera "is simply a box put between you and what you want to capture". But there you have Walker at the centre of it all, among all this creative noise, creating unique, fantastical images that go beyond fashion and the clothes the model is wearing.

Images: Tim Walker

Hedi Slimane's Saint Laurent menswear campaign SS2013

Images have been released for Hedi Slimane's first Saint Laurent menswear campaign for Spring/Summer 2013. Photographed by the fashion designer himself, the campaign features Dutch female supermodel Saskia de Brauw, proving girls can do it just as well as boys. The clothes featured in his 2013 range are available to both men and women. 

Slimane, previously head designer at Dior Homme, had been absent from the fashion scene since 2007, pursuing instead a successful career as a fashion photographer. He joined Saint Laurent Paris in March 2011 and debuted his first women's collection at Paris Fashion Week in October. His first menswear catwalk show for Saint Laurent will show in Paris in January. 

Images: Hedi Slimane, via Disegno Daily

LN-CC: London Night Chameleon Cafe, Dalston

Behind a non-descript door off Shacklewell Lane in Dalston, lies a fashion maven's grotto. Designed by set designer Gary Card, the LN-CC concept store space acts as a evolving platform for curated ideas that encompass menswear, womenswear, music, and books. Walk down an obsolete alley and some even more mysterious stairs, and you come to a hidden, fantastical and surreal space. The store consists of three product rooms, a library, a record store and a club space for private events. These spaces are all arranged around a dimly-lit orange tunnel, clad in offcuts of wood- part future spaceship, part childrens treehouse. In the product rooms you can find the likes of J.W Anderson, Dries Van Noten, and Haider Ackermann.

The store operates on an appointment-only basis.

(Thanks to @olivierlegris)

Images: LN-CC