This month’s cover girl Kate Bosworth talks exclusively to harperbazaar.com.au about her style, birthdays and film roles …
Kate Bosworth, actress, star style
How would you describe your style?
“It’s based purely on my mood. Today this outfit is probably because of the weather (Bosworth is wearing black leggings and a purple and black plaid shirt from Sportsgirl) or maybe it’s because I’ve just bought this shirt. It’s a mix of grunge and [the TV show], My So-called Life. Do you remember that show with Claire Danes? God, I was obsessed with it when I was younger. A sullen teenager obsessed with Jared Leto’s character. I don’t care where something’s from as long as I like it. I’m not a label freak. I obviously appreciate the best designers, but anything that suits a personality — vintage, $35 Sportsgirl, or Balenciaga — as long as you like it and feel good in it.”
Do you have any fashion icons?
“Clothes for me are an expression of mood. You see all these different kind of characters. I love [the model] Agyness Deyn — I’ve met her a few times. She is so down-to-earth, sweet and funny.”
How did your style evolve?
“If you looked at me in high school, I was a joke. In Boston, I put on hoodies and sneakers and trudged to school. I only became of my style when I felt I was becoming my own person. I didn’t really care before. My father has been in retail his whole life. I remember he bought me these plaid pants growing up and I thought they were so geeky, and here I am wearing a plaid shirt. It made me laugh. But he said to me when I was young ‘Don’t go along with the trends, don’t buy them, stick to classic pieces.’ My first encounter with beautiful fabrics was going into work with my dad at Zegna, I was about eight or nine. It was my first experience of learning the difference between something of incredibly high quality and appreciating it. That’s my father in a nutshell. He’s always instilled quality in me — in every department of life. Although, he wouldn’t be so psyched with this (Bosworth pulls at her shirt)!”
How do you choose your film roles?
“It’s all down to my mood. Good dialogue gets me hooked. I like to be able to delve into the mind of the role and have it feel so raw. With my role in Girl in The Park, I was just so intoxicated with the character … I like spark. I like someone who gives it back. Women who act victimised; that kind of character annoys me. I like simple character traits. It sounds simple to find that kind of thing, but it’s hard.”
Your birthday falls on January 2, the day after New Year’s Day. Love it or hate it?
“Well, obviously everyone is always really hungover on my birthday. This year, I spent it with a small group of friends. I’m not a socialite. My birthday is spent in a hair-of-the-dog kind of way. Having a birthday around New Year’s certainly makes me self-reflective. There’s always this moment of going into a little breakdown mode. Thinking of the next year, turning older. But after I get over that, I love it, I’m so happy.”
Photographed by Simon Lekias
Interview by Eugenie Kelly
Rabu, 28 Mei 2008
Viktor & Rolf
Viktor & Rolf
Harper's BAZAAR talks to Viktor of design duo Viktor & Rolf about the release of their new fragrance, Flowerbomb
The Paris collections, March 2, 2005: backstage at the Viktor & Rolf show, an army of modern-day sleeping beauties stand in line, their hair splayed against lace-trimmed pillows. As the first of these enchanting maidens strolls out into the decrepit theatre venue, a reverential silence befalls the chattering flock of beady-eyed fashion magpies. The story unfolds: crisp cotton sheets are crafted into shirts; quilted comforters are sliced into tailored suits; the satin bedding of a lover’s nest is draped into the prettiest gown; luxurious duvets are magically transformed into opera coats. A fashion fairytale is born.
Cut to Mecca Cosmetica, Paddington, Sydney, August 25, 2005: inside the cult cosmetic emporium, an army of modern-day (beauty) queens refuse to stand in line, their hands grabbing for Viktor & Rolf’s latest offering, Flowerbomb. As the olfactory bouquet of flowers explodes into sensory overload, a collective “Mmmm” sounds from the inquisitive flock of perma-tanned beauty editors. Tea and bergamot blend into jasmine, freesia and rose which, in turn, merge into patchouli ... and a beauty icon is born.
“Flowerbomb is all about the power of transformation. The power of every individual to turn anything into something positive,” says Viktor, his face covered with a smattering of freckles, and lit up with a milky toothed smile.
“We have been involved in all the elements that make up this beautiful Flowerbomb: the name, the fragrance, the bottle, the packaging, the publicity, and so on. For us, this is the only way to be involved in a project. Flowerbomb is as much our creation as a collection. We have always wanted to go into beauty. Fashion is so much more than clothes,” says Rolf, who resembles a young Rowan Atkinson. “Fashion is a dream and fragrance is a dream in a bottle.”
As with all double acts there’s that strange insider thing going on as each looks to the other for approval. “We cannot say any more: what comes from Viktor and what comes from me,” says Rolf, “it’s like some common language.” The conception of the first open-able (I’ll explain later) bottle of Viktor & Rolf fragrance was announced way back in 2002 when a portrait of the bespectacled duo appeared in The International Herald Tribune, with the words “because we’re worth it” scribbled across the page, followed by the statement: “L’Oréal is proud to announce the partnership with fashion designers Viktor & Rolf for the creation of their brand in the beauty arena”. While the launch of a new designer fragrance is far from newsworthy, it’s the first time in 17 years that L’Oréal has signed up with a designer (the last one being Giorgio Armani), a fact made even more remarkable considering that Viktor & Rolf started out making clothes that looked like Coco the Clown goes to Hiroshima.
Some history: Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren, born May 1969 and December 1969 respectively, met while studying fashion at Arnhem Academy of Arts in the Netherlands. They decided to join forces following graduation in 1992 and, after claiming three awards at the 1993 Hyères Festival and a training stint in Paris, shot to fame in October 1997 with Launch, a show held at the Torch Gallery in Amsterdam, where a lack of funds but a wealth of vision saw the pair exhibit miniatures of their designs on Barbie-sized dolls and their very own fragrance: Le Parfum. But despite having its own advertising campaign and in-store sales points, the 250 limited edition bottles contained “virtual” perfume; the wax seal at the bottle’s mouth was not to be opened.
“We felt frustrated so we portrayed our dream world by making these miniatures,” explains Viktor. “They were all clichéd moments that you have in a great fashion designer’s life — the studio where you create, the catwalk, your own photo shoot, shop and perfume. It was like a dream.”
What some perceived to be mischief-making from a pair of pranksters actually hinted at the things to come and the scale of their ambition. Battling against the dominant luxury goods conglomerates, whose growth characterised late ’90s fashion, Viktor & Rolf bravely attempted to infiltrate the system with a plan that was unheard of: via the Paris Haute Couture. Who could fail to notice the autumn/winter 1998 Atomic Bomb collection, where the models’ heads nestled on top of huge mushroom shapes: a black chiffon blouse inflated with brightly coloured balloons, a le smoking tuxedo pumped up like a pigeon’s chest and huge paper chain-like ruffs that encircled the neck. While orders weren’t exactly flooding in, the publicity was. Viktor & Rolf had very much arrived.
Spring/summer 1999 and a haute couture collection sliced entirely out of black trimmed with white that was paraded under ultraviolet lights in total darkness. All that could be seen were the glowing white trims that created their own ghostly silhouettes. Autumn/winter 1999 witnessed another fashion moment where model Maggie Rizer was layered with the entire collection, piece after piece, so that she looked like some Holy Virgin Empress of the Outer Galactic Russian Dolls. Their last haute couture show, Bells, in July 2000, (where models staggered down a fogged-out runway with outfits covered in tiny bells so that you could only hear them) was followed by the launch of ready-to-wear for autumn/winter 2000.
First up was Stars & Stripes (“For us it was about the struggle between the personal and the commercial”); followed by Tapdance, where Viktor & Rolf joined a tap-dancing troupe; Black Hole, where the girls had black painted faces to match their black outfits; White, where virginal confirmation whites championed that season’s love’n’hearts trend; Bluescreen, where the girls matched a blue screen used for special effects; Flowers, where models shockingly danced and twirled like voodoo-possessed disco queens; and One Woman, their autumn/winter 2003 homage to Tilda Swinton where the models were made to look like clones of the art-house actress. (An interesting observation came from Swinton herself who said that, “The strange and the great thing is that dress up a bunch of people to look ‘the same’ and they each end up looking very clearly like nothing but themselves.”)
“We met Tilda at the Russian Doll couture show,” says Rolf, “And then one day she called us up to make a dress for her to wear to the Golden Globes when she was nominated for The Deep End. She came to Amsterdam and then, of course, we put her into a lot of clothes. It was the first time that we saw clothes come alive in a way that we hadn’t experienced before.”
“And then we became friends,” says Viktor. “She is something much more than a muse. A muse is more passive, someone you project something onto.”
“We call her The Glorifier,” says Rolf. “It’s a term we learnt from L’Oréal.
In perfume shops the perfume testing bottle, which everybody can use, is called the glorifier.”
Which brings us neatly back to the story of Flowerbomb. “The spring/summer 2005 collection was a celebration of Flowerbomb. The show had it all: a huge stage with a turntable setting, a countdown, pyrotechnics. It started with a parade of almost militaristic models dressed entirely in black and wearing motorcycle helmets. They took their positions on stage as if they were in a large photo studio posing for a group picture. After the last model had taken her place, the lights faded, a countdown could be heard, and firework explosions followed. The stage turned and revealed a mirrored image with models dressed in all variations of pinks and reds. Their faces were made up in pink, like the flowers that form the fragrance,” says Rolf excitedly, reliving the moment. “Flowerbomb is to be the first of our collection of fragrances. For Christmas, a special edition will be launched, and 2006 sees the birth of our first Monsieur men’s fragrance.”
The Viktor & Rolf empire grows ever larger. Besides their venture into fragrance, they have just opened the doors on their first store and closed the doors on their 10th Anniversary exhibition at the Louvre in Paris.
Rolf: “We didn’t show everything, the space was very difficult. It’s meant for historical costumes and exhibitions.”
Viktor: “But we wanted to show the concept of each collection.”
Rolf: “It was more for us to show our iconic language … ”
Viktor: “ … from year to year and to guide the viewer through. It was a story and it’s a reaction about the way we feel about our position in the fashion industry.”
Rolf: “Every time you think you’ve achieved the goal …”
Viktor: “… the horizon moves and you want more.”
Rolf: “We look forward to the next 10 years. This exhibition was like a closure. Now it’s exciting because we’re really infiltrating the system.”
“What interests me, over and above Viktor & Rolf’s invention, is how you can read their work,” says Olivier Saillard, fashion curator at the Louvre. “Their clothes echo the spirit of the modern times. It is a ball of mirrors reflecting the world.”
The same could be said of their new store in Milan’s Via Saint Andrea, where 18th century Dutch neoclassicism is turned upside down. Literally. Walk in the huge oak door, where you are greeted by a smirking satyr, and you will find the doormat on the ceiling.
“You enter into a surrealistic world — the Viktor & Rolf world — where nothing is what it seems to be,” says Viktor.
“It’s an Alice in Wonderland experience,” says Rolf. “The boutique looks like a neoclassical shop turned upside down. It features an oak parquet ceiling, chandeliers coming out of the floor, even the video showing our latest collection is projected upside down.”
The pair has said before that everything has happened by intuition, but the way their empire is unfolding — the couture publicity assault, the ready-to-wear, the menswear, the perfume, the boutique — it looks as if it has been conceived with military precision. So, is there method to their madness? “Sometimes we say to each other that if we think hard enough, these vibrations get into the world. Don’t forget, it’s taken 10 years,” says Rolf.
“One thing leads to another and then you’re on a roll,” says Viktor. “We aspire to become a fashion house in the great tradition of those before us, but on our terms. Our decision to start with haute couture seems a sly business move in retrospect, but then it was something that for us was a route. It gave us the opportunity to grow in our profession, and to develop the style that is now recognised as Viktor & Rolf. The concept fragrance was part of this period of experimentation. Now we look back on that time with a sense of pride and strange disconnection. We love what we do, and although that period may look more romantic now, we are happy to have had the opportunity to have such a large audience with whom we can communicate. But the best is yet to come.”
- Jamie Huckbody
Harper's BAZAAR talks to Viktor of design duo Viktor & Rolf about the release of their new fragrance, Flowerbomb
The Paris collections, March 2, 2005: backstage at the Viktor & Rolf show, an army of modern-day sleeping beauties stand in line, their hair splayed against lace-trimmed pillows. As the first of these enchanting maidens strolls out into the decrepit theatre venue, a reverential silence befalls the chattering flock of beady-eyed fashion magpies. The story unfolds: crisp cotton sheets are crafted into shirts; quilted comforters are sliced into tailored suits; the satin bedding of a lover’s nest is draped into the prettiest gown; luxurious duvets are magically transformed into opera coats. A fashion fairytale is born.
Cut to Mecca Cosmetica, Paddington, Sydney, August 25, 2005: inside the cult cosmetic emporium, an army of modern-day (beauty) queens refuse to stand in line, their hands grabbing for Viktor & Rolf’s latest offering, Flowerbomb. As the olfactory bouquet of flowers explodes into sensory overload, a collective “Mmmm” sounds from the inquisitive flock of perma-tanned beauty editors. Tea and bergamot blend into jasmine, freesia and rose which, in turn, merge into patchouli ... and a beauty icon is born.
“Flowerbomb is all about the power of transformation. The power of every individual to turn anything into something positive,” says Viktor, his face covered with a smattering of freckles, and lit up with a milky toothed smile.
“We have been involved in all the elements that make up this beautiful Flowerbomb: the name, the fragrance, the bottle, the packaging, the publicity, and so on. For us, this is the only way to be involved in a project. Flowerbomb is as much our creation as a collection. We have always wanted to go into beauty. Fashion is so much more than clothes,” says Rolf, who resembles a young Rowan Atkinson. “Fashion is a dream and fragrance is a dream in a bottle.”
As with all double acts there’s that strange insider thing going on as each looks to the other for approval. “We cannot say any more: what comes from Viktor and what comes from me,” says Rolf, “it’s like some common language.” The conception of the first open-able (I’ll explain later) bottle of Viktor & Rolf fragrance was announced way back in 2002 when a portrait of the bespectacled duo appeared in The International Herald Tribune, with the words “because we’re worth it” scribbled across the page, followed by the statement: “L’Oréal is proud to announce the partnership with fashion designers Viktor & Rolf for the creation of their brand in the beauty arena”. While the launch of a new designer fragrance is far from newsworthy, it’s the first time in 17 years that L’Oréal has signed up with a designer (the last one being Giorgio Armani), a fact made even more remarkable considering that Viktor & Rolf started out making clothes that looked like Coco the Clown goes to Hiroshima.
Some history: Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren, born May 1969 and December 1969 respectively, met while studying fashion at Arnhem Academy of Arts in the Netherlands. They decided to join forces following graduation in 1992 and, after claiming three awards at the 1993 Hyères Festival and a training stint in Paris, shot to fame in October 1997 with Launch, a show held at the Torch Gallery in Amsterdam, where a lack of funds but a wealth of vision saw the pair exhibit miniatures of their designs on Barbie-sized dolls and their very own fragrance: Le Parfum. But despite having its own advertising campaign and in-store sales points, the 250 limited edition bottles contained “virtual” perfume; the wax seal at the bottle’s mouth was not to be opened.
“We felt frustrated so we portrayed our dream world by making these miniatures,” explains Viktor. “They were all clichéd moments that you have in a great fashion designer’s life — the studio where you create, the catwalk, your own photo shoot, shop and perfume. It was like a dream.”
What some perceived to be mischief-making from a pair of pranksters actually hinted at the things to come and the scale of their ambition. Battling against the dominant luxury goods conglomerates, whose growth characterised late ’90s fashion, Viktor & Rolf bravely attempted to infiltrate the system with a plan that was unheard of: via the Paris Haute Couture. Who could fail to notice the autumn/winter 1998 Atomic Bomb collection, where the models’ heads nestled on top of huge mushroom shapes: a black chiffon blouse inflated with brightly coloured balloons, a le smoking tuxedo pumped up like a pigeon’s chest and huge paper chain-like ruffs that encircled the neck. While orders weren’t exactly flooding in, the publicity was. Viktor & Rolf had very much arrived.
Spring/summer 1999 and a haute couture collection sliced entirely out of black trimmed with white that was paraded under ultraviolet lights in total darkness. All that could be seen were the glowing white trims that created their own ghostly silhouettes. Autumn/winter 1999 witnessed another fashion moment where model Maggie Rizer was layered with the entire collection, piece after piece, so that she looked like some Holy Virgin Empress of the Outer Galactic Russian Dolls. Their last haute couture show, Bells, in July 2000, (where models staggered down a fogged-out runway with outfits covered in tiny bells so that you could only hear them) was followed by the launch of ready-to-wear for autumn/winter 2000.
First up was Stars & Stripes (“For us it was about the struggle between the personal and the commercial”); followed by Tapdance, where Viktor & Rolf joined a tap-dancing troupe; Black Hole, where the girls had black painted faces to match their black outfits; White, where virginal confirmation whites championed that season’s love’n’hearts trend; Bluescreen, where the girls matched a blue screen used for special effects; Flowers, where models shockingly danced and twirled like voodoo-possessed disco queens; and One Woman, their autumn/winter 2003 homage to Tilda Swinton where the models were made to look like clones of the art-house actress. (An interesting observation came from Swinton herself who said that, “The strange and the great thing is that dress up a bunch of people to look ‘the same’ and they each end up looking very clearly like nothing but themselves.”)
“We met Tilda at the Russian Doll couture show,” says Rolf, “And then one day she called us up to make a dress for her to wear to the Golden Globes when she was nominated for The Deep End. She came to Amsterdam and then, of course, we put her into a lot of clothes. It was the first time that we saw clothes come alive in a way that we hadn’t experienced before.”
“And then we became friends,” says Viktor. “She is something much more than a muse. A muse is more passive, someone you project something onto.”
“We call her The Glorifier,” says Rolf. “It’s a term we learnt from L’Oréal.
In perfume shops the perfume testing bottle, which everybody can use, is called the glorifier.”
Which brings us neatly back to the story of Flowerbomb. “The spring/summer 2005 collection was a celebration of Flowerbomb. The show had it all: a huge stage with a turntable setting, a countdown, pyrotechnics. It started with a parade of almost militaristic models dressed entirely in black and wearing motorcycle helmets. They took their positions on stage as if they were in a large photo studio posing for a group picture. After the last model had taken her place, the lights faded, a countdown could be heard, and firework explosions followed. The stage turned and revealed a mirrored image with models dressed in all variations of pinks and reds. Their faces were made up in pink, like the flowers that form the fragrance,” says Rolf excitedly, reliving the moment. “Flowerbomb is to be the first of our collection of fragrances. For Christmas, a special edition will be launched, and 2006 sees the birth of our first Monsieur men’s fragrance.”
The Viktor & Rolf empire grows ever larger. Besides their venture into fragrance, they have just opened the doors on their first store and closed the doors on their 10th Anniversary exhibition at the Louvre in Paris.
Rolf: “We didn’t show everything, the space was very difficult. It’s meant for historical costumes and exhibitions.”
Viktor: “But we wanted to show the concept of each collection.”
Rolf: “It was more for us to show our iconic language … ”
Viktor: “ … from year to year and to guide the viewer through. It was a story and it’s a reaction about the way we feel about our position in the fashion industry.”
Rolf: “Every time you think you’ve achieved the goal …”
Viktor: “… the horizon moves and you want more.”
Rolf: “We look forward to the next 10 years. This exhibition was like a closure. Now it’s exciting because we’re really infiltrating the system.”
“What interests me, over and above Viktor & Rolf’s invention, is how you can read their work,” says Olivier Saillard, fashion curator at the Louvre. “Their clothes echo the spirit of the modern times. It is a ball of mirrors reflecting the world.”
The same could be said of their new store in Milan’s Via Saint Andrea, where 18th century Dutch neoclassicism is turned upside down. Literally. Walk in the huge oak door, where you are greeted by a smirking satyr, and you will find the doormat on the ceiling.
“You enter into a surrealistic world — the Viktor & Rolf world — where nothing is what it seems to be,” says Viktor.
“It’s an Alice in Wonderland experience,” says Rolf. “The boutique looks like a neoclassical shop turned upside down. It features an oak parquet ceiling, chandeliers coming out of the floor, even the video showing our latest collection is projected upside down.”
The pair has said before that everything has happened by intuition, but the way their empire is unfolding — the couture publicity assault, the ready-to-wear, the menswear, the perfume, the boutique — it looks as if it has been conceived with military precision. So, is there method to their madness? “Sometimes we say to each other that if we think hard enough, these vibrations get into the world. Don’t forget, it’s taken 10 years,” says Rolf.
“One thing leads to another and then you’re on a roll,” says Viktor. “We aspire to become a fashion house in the great tradition of those before us, but on our terms. Our decision to start with haute couture seems a sly business move in retrospect, but then it was something that for us was a route. It gave us the opportunity to grow in our profession, and to develop the style that is now recognised as Viktor & Rolf. The concept fragrance was part of this period of experimentation. Now we look back on that time with a sense of pride and strange disconnection. We love what we do, and although that period may look more romantic now, we are happy to have had the opportunity to have such a large audience with whom we can communicate. But the best is yet to come.”
- Jamie Huckbody
Irina Lazareanu
Model and musician Irina Lazareanu talks exclusively to BAZAAR. By Emma Sloley. Photographed by Raegan Glazner.
“I can relate to her,” Irina Lazareanu says, flicking the ash from her first cigarette of the day and inclining her head towards a framed photograph on the wall of Johnny Cash and June Carter. The candid 1960s image shows the legendary musical couple lying in a field, Cash gazing out of frame with a thousand-yard stare, Carter tenderly leaning her head on his chest. The connection is clear: Lazareanu is comparing the tempestuous and ultimately redemptive relationship of the Cashes, marred by Johnny’s drug addiction and saved by June’s loyalty, with her own on-off affair with wild British singer Pete Doherty. “I understand when you love someone who is addicted and you’re trying to protect them,” she says by way of explanation.
“I remember one time standing outside his [Pete’s] house with a baseball bat, threatening to smash the dealer’s car if they didn’t leave.”
To the uninitiated, Lazareanu might come across as a long-suffering, drama-prone figure in the Marianne Faithfull mode, but she’s a lot more than just a foil for the troubled man in her life. This 25-year-old’s time is now. Her striking heart-shaped face, sad doe eyes and heavy fringe are her most familiar calling cards, ubiquitous in the past few years both on the European and New York catwalks and in career-making campaigns for Chanel and Balenciaga. She’s also a talented singer and songwriter — her first single, Strange Places, recorded with friend Sean Lennon, makes its debut in December, with a four-track EP called Some Place Along The Way to follow in mid-2008.
Sitting in her light-filled apartment in New York’s arty Soho neighbourhood, it’s not difficult to see Lazareanu’s appeal for purveyors of the zeitgeist such as Karl Lagerfeld, one of the first designers to cast her. She’s the cool girl in school everyone was dying to smoke behind the sheds with; the oddball beauty who — like models Stella Tennant and Karen Elson before her — has parlayed an unusual face into a brilliant career.
The Romania-born, Canada-raised Lazareanu moved to London at age 13, where she studied dance for several years and was drawn into a circle of friends that included Baby-shambles singer Pete Doherty (whom she calls Peter) and Kate Moss. As she tells it, the scene resembled a modern-day Bloomsbury Group; “reading Emily Dickinson and Oscar Wilde and wearing flowers in my hair. We’d write on walls and think we were changing the world.”
After many years writing, performing and touring as an unofficial member of Babyshambles, this album is a new beginning for Lazareanu, a way to define herself as something more than a rock-star girlfriend. “It was scary to be in the studio without Pete and the boys,” she says, “I’m used to playing with them in London. It’s hard to fly on your own wings and find your confidence.”
Lack of confidence doesn’t really seem to jibe the girl sitting here today. She’s dressed in skin-tight grey jeans, a slouchy striped top and a Doherty-esque black hat crushed over her famous fringe, smoking, eating chocolates and looking like some pixie/punk/Jane Birkin hybrid. The effect is both quirky and completely fabulous. “I try to make things my own,” she says of her style. “I wear a lot of things backwards, I layer things on and somehow it works. I like breaking the rules and doing the opposite … not on purpose to make a stand or be different. I just do them because that day that’s what I feel like wearing.” She rates Givenchy’s Riccardo Tisci, YSL’s Stefano Pilati and Christopher Bailey of Burberry as designers she loves, both for their clothes and “because they’re all just such nice people”.
Lazareanu’s big modelling break was walking in Lagerfeld’s 2004 Chanel couture show, “in a long dress that I was too short for”, followed by a French Vogue cover, guest-edited by her friend Moss. “When I was in London I’d model just to make extra money,” Irina explains. “Because I was so different-looking I never really thought about doing it full-time. I had it in my head what a model was supposed to be. Very tall blonde girls, like Gemma and Daria.”
But it wasn’t long before her career took off. “My first show season, it was crazy,” she says. “I think I did 97 shows, it was some kind of a record. People always said to me, ‘Oh you’ll never do a show’.” She exhales with a cheeky laugh. “But I’m still there, walking those runways.
”It hasn’t all been an easy ride. “It’s been a lot for me to handle recently,” she says with a sigh. “Especially with the press and being hounded and not having a life anymore. The past few months have been absolute hell. My every move reported, lies fabricated every day. I think I’ve been pregnant five times in the past year. I don’t know how to deal with all that.” The reason she’s being hounded is, of course, thanks to her on-off relationship with Doherty, who was, until recently, romantically involved — some even say engaged — to Moss.
Lazareanu and Doherty were also briefly engaged earlier this year, if the fashion press is to be believed (although she won’t comment on this), a turn of events that supposedly caused a great rift between her and Moss. “They made out there was a war between us,” is all Irina will say about the Moss rumours. “Which is absolutely not the case.” As if to illustrate, she shows off several photos from the fridge of herself and Moss laughing together on the back of an elephant in Indonesia; them mugging in a photo booth; Moss’s daughter Lila Grace.
It’s clear Irina is keen to move on from all the unpleasantness, and her music seems to act as the salve when all the bedlam gets too much. “For me, when I write, I try to talk about things all humans relate to. Sometimes literature or music has that amazing possibility to connect everybody. That’s how I wrote my album … every song is like a chapter in a book.”
Her musical inspirations lie in the folk/protest tradition of the 1960s. “I feel like a broken record,” she laughs, “But Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Leonard Cohen. All those people really influenced me. It was a time lyrically when the music really spoke out about things a lot more,” She declares she’d love to work with Cohen, the master of the melancholy lyric. “I think I would die. He changed my life. I met him one time through his daughter. I told him, ‘You’re the reason I started writing,’ and he said ‘Oh, I’m sorry’.”
The fact that her music is taking centre stage isn’t to say that modelling has been sidelined. Lazareanu is hot property right now and she’s smart enough to know that the window for opportunities in that world can be fleeting (unless of course you’re Ms Moss, but that’s another story). As well as playing muse to Lagerfeld and Balenciaga’s Nicolas Ghesquière, she hints at a major, long-term contract, although she can’t yet divulge what it is. “Music definitely feels like something that I take very seriously, I was a musician first,” she says. “But I really love the modelling too, and there are some jobs I can’t say no to.”
As for where she might be in five years time, her prediction is the antithesis of rock’n’roll. “Maybe have a bit of a quieter life. Maybe have a baby. Just normal things,” she muses, taking one last chocolate before pushing it and her cigarettes away. “Like anybody else.”
- Emma Sloley
“I can relate to her,” Irina Lazareanu says, flicking the ash from her first cigarette of the day and inclining her head towards a framed photograph on the wall of Johnny Cash and June Carter. The candid 1960s image shows the legendary musical couple lying in a field, Cash gazing out of frame with a thousand-yard stare, Carter tenderly leaning her head on his chest. The connection is clear: Lazareanu is comparing the tempestuous and ultimately redemptive relationship of the Cashes, marred by Johnny’s drug addiction and saved by June’s loyalty, with her own on-off affair with wild British singer Pete Doherty. “I understand when you love someone who is addicted and you’re trying to protect them,” she says by way of explanation.
“I remember one time standing outside his [Pete’s] house with a baseball bat, threatening to smash the dealer’s car if they didn’t leave.”
To the uninitiated, Lazareanu might come across as a long-suffering, drama-prone figure in the Marianne Faithfull mode, but she’s a lot more than just a foil for the troubled man in her life. This 25-year-old’s time is now. Her striking heart-shaped face, sad doe eyes and heavy fringe are her most familiar calling cards, ubiquitous in the past few years both on the European and New York catwalks and in career-making campaigns for Chanel and Balenciaga. She’s also a talented singer and songwriter — her first single, Strange Places, recorded with friend Sean Lennon, makes its debut in December, with a four-track EP called Some Place Along The Way to follow in mid-2008.
Sitting in her light-filled apartment in New York’s arty Soho neighbourhood, it’s not difficult to see Lazareanu’s appeal for purveyors of the zeitgeist such as Karl Lagerfeld, one of the first designers to cast her. She’s the cool girl in school everyone was dying to smoke behind the sheds with; the oddball beauty who — like models Stella Tennant and Karen Elson before her — has parlayed an unusual face into a brilliant career.
The Romania-born, Canada-raised Lazareanu moved to London at age 13, where she studied dance for several years and was drawn into a circle of friends that included Baby-shambles singer Pete Doherty (whom she calls Peter) and Kate Moss. As she tells it, the scene resembled a modern-day Bloomsbury Group; “reading Emily Dickinson and Oscar Wilde and wearing flowers in my hair. We’d write on walls and think we were changing the world.”
After many years writing, performing and touring as an unofficial member of Babyshambles, this album is a new beginning for Lazareanu, a way to define herself as something more than a rock-star girlfriend. “It was scary to be in the studio without Pete and the boys,” she says, “I’m used to playing with them in London. It’s hard to fly on your own wings and find your confidence.”
Lack of confidence doesn’t really seem to jibe the girl sitting here today. She’s dressed in skin-tight grey jeans, a slouchy striped top and a Doherty-esque black hat crushed over her famous fringe, smoking, eating chocolates and looking like some pixie/punk/Jane Birkin hybrid. The effect is both quirky and completely fabulous. “I try to make things my own,” she says of her style. “I wear a lot of things backwards, I layer things on and somehow it works. I like breaking the rules and doing the opposite … not on purpose to make a stand or be different. I just do them because that day that’s what I feel like wearing.” She rates Givenchy’s Riccardo Tisci, YSL’s Stefano Pilati and Christopher Bailey of Burberry as designers she loves, both for their clothes and “because they’re all just such nice people”.
Lazareanu’s big modelling break was walking in Lagerfeld’s 2004 Chanel couture show, “in a long dress that I was too short for”, followed by a French Vogue cover, guest-edited by her friend Moss. “When I was in London I’d model just to make extra money,” Irina explains. “Because I was so different-looking I never really thought about doing it full-time. I had it in my head what a model was supposed to be. Very tall blonde girls, like Gemma and Daria.”
But it wasn’t long before her career took off. “My first show season, it was crazy,” she says. “I think I did 97 shows, it was some kind of a record. People always said to me, ‘Oh you’ll never do a show’.” She exhales with a cheeky laugh. “But I’m still there, walking those runways.
”It hasn’t all been an easy ride. “It’s been a lot for me to handle recently,” she says with a sigh. “Especially with the press and being hounded and not having a life anymore. The past few months have been absolute hell. My every move reported, lies fabricated every day. I think I’ve been pregnant five times in the past year. I don’t know how to deal with all that.” The reason she’s being hounded is, of course, thanks to her on-off relationship with Doherty, who was, until recently, romantically involved — some even say engaged — to Moss.
Lazareanu and Doherty were also briefly engaged earlier this year, if the fashion press is to be believed (although she won’t comment on this), a turn of events that supposedly caused a great rift between her and Moss. “They made out there was a war between us,” is all Irina will say about the Moss rumours. “Which is absolutely not the case.” As if to illustrate, she shows off several photos from the fridge of herself and Moss laughing together on the back of an elephant in Indonesia; them mugging in a photo booth; Moss’s daughter Lila Grace.
It’s clear Irina is keen to move on from all the unpleasantness, and her music seems to act as the salve when all the bedlam gets too much. “For me, when I write, I try to talk about things all humans relate to. Sometimes literature or music has that amazing possibility to connect everybody. That’s how I wrote my album … every song is like a chapter in a book.”
Her musical inspirations lie in the folk/protest tradition of the 1960s. “I feel like a broken record,” she laughs, “But Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Leonard Cohen. All those people really influenced me. It was a time lyrically when the music really spoke out about things a lot more,” She declares she’d love to work with Cohen, the master of the melancholy lyric. “I think I would die. He changed my life. I met him one time through his daughter. I told him, ‘You’re the reason I started writing,’ and he said ‘Oh, I’m sorry’.”
The fact that her music is taking centre stage isn’t to say that modelling has been sidelined. Lazareanu is hot property right now and she’s smart enough to know that the window for opportunities in that world can be fleeting (unless of course you’re Ms Moss, but that’s another story). As well as playing muse to Lagerfeld and Balenciaga’s Nicolas Ghesquière, she hints at a major, long-term contract, although she can’t yet divulge what it is. “Music definitely feels like something that I take very seriously, I was a musician first,” she says. “But I really love the modelling too, and there are some jobs I can’t say no to.”
As for where she might be in five years time, her prediction is the antithesis of rock’n’roll. “Maybe have a bit of a quieter life. Maybe have a baby. Just normal things,” she muses, taking one last chocolate before pushing it and her cigarettes away. “Like anybody else.”
- Emma Sloley
The Mother of all moments
The Mother of all moments
The Mother of all moments
Posted on May 7, 2008
Meryl Streep once said “motherhood has a very humanizing effect. Everything gets reduced to essentials”.
Checkout FASHION's top Mother's Day picks
Every fabulous feline can recall a Mother moment – a scene frozen in time that makes us smile, laugh or sometimes even cry, when we think back to it.
For yours truly, it was Grade 5 picture day. I had assumed the class photo would be taken in the afternoon. Oh mon dieu, it was to be the morning! Through teary eyes, I dialed home and told my mom that I just couldn’t be photographed in my Beaver Canoe sweatshirt and jeans. My mom understood in a way that only a mom really could. Afterall, we were dealing with a Jostens photographer and not the great Patrick Demarchelier, but my mom grasped the importance of the mini fashion emergency and acted quickly. Within 15 minutes, she arrived at my public school and proceeded to get me into a plaid frock, dark opaque tights and black patent shoes. But the crowning glory? She whipped my locks into two perfect French braids, with the precision of Frederic Fekkai. When I look at that class photo, it is truly a moment captured in time. My smile says it all – happiness, content and pride. In the end, it wasn’t about the dress, although I still think fondly of that little number. It was about the woman who made my run-of-the-mill picture day truly sparkle. Happy Mother’s Day mom – my friend, my first stylist, my rock.
Checkout FASHION's top Mother's Day picks
The Mother of all moments
Posted on May 7, 2008
Meryl Streep once said “motherhood has a very humanizing effect. Everything gets reduced to essentials”.
Checkout FASHION's top Mother's Day picks
Every fabulous feline can recall a Mother moment – a scene frozen in time that makes us smile, laugh or sometimes even cry, when we think back to it.
For yours truly, it was Grade 5 picture day. I had assumed the class photo would be taken in the afternoon. Oh mon dieu, it was to be the morning! Through teary eyes, I dialed home and told my mom that I just couldn’t be photographed in my Beaver Canoe sweatshirt and jeans. My mom understood in a way that only a mom really could. Afterall, we were dealing with a Jostens photographer and not the great Patrick Demarchelier, but my mom grasped the importance of the mini fashion emergency and acted quickly. Within 15 minutes, she arrived at my public school and proceeded to get me into a plaid frock, dark opaque tights and black patent shoes. But the crowning glory? She whipped my locks into two perfect French braids, with the precision of Frederic Fekkai. When I look at that class photo, it is truly a moment captured in time. My smile says it all – happiness, content and pride. In the end, it wasn’t about the dress, although I still think fondly of that little number. It was about the woman who made my run-of-the-mill picture day truly sparkle. Happy Mother’s Day mom – my friend, my first stylist, my rock.
Checkout FASHION's top Mother's Day picks
Jumat, 09 Mei 2008
Selasa, 29 April 2008
Night of the fashionable stars Night of the fashionable stars
The Toronto chapter of Fashion Group International held its annual Night of Stars gala downtown at the Carlu recently, bringing out the brightest of Canadian fashion stars, natch. Though this fashionable girl was riding her couch due to a severe throat infection, details came pouring in fast and furious from my own fashionably lovely friends. Along with the night’s honorees—including twins Dean and Dan Caten of Dsquared, designer Wayne Clark, Holt Renfrew’s Barbara Atkin, journo David Livingstone and interior-design guy Brian Gluckstein—the well-heeled crowd consisted of Zoomer mag editrix Suzanne Boyd (looking lovely in a lingerie-inspired ensemble), who arrived with Ian Hylton, Pink Tartan’s Kimberley Newport-Mimran was there with hubby Joe, who was presenting, Natalie Lecomte from Holts dazzled in a pistachio Greta Constantine mini, while eTalk’s Ben Mulroney arrived with fiancée Jessica Brownstein.
Also in attendance were former Toronto Star fashion editor Bernadette Morra and CityLine’s Marilyn Denis, who cracked up the crowd while presenting, and past recipients Harry Rosen, Brian Bailey, Franco Mirabelli and Linda Lundström. Canada’s latest fashion finery came by way of new designers like Evan Biddell, Lucian Matis and the Greta Constantine boys. Monika Schnarre was there representing the photogenically privileged. With the champagne flowing in abundance, thanks to a minor mishap where all the white wine was consumed before the entrée’s hit the tables, guests mingled and noshed, until, if you were very lucky, you were invited to the Dsquared after-party in the Distillery District. Fingers crossed this fashionable girl won’t be too sick to attend next year, sounds like we missed out. C’est la vie.
Shown: Dean and Dan Caten with long-time friend, Ports 1961’s Julie Enfield. Photo courtesy of Fashion Group International.
Also in attendance were former Toronto Star fashion editor Bernadette Morra and CityLine’s Marilyn Denis, who cracked up the crowd while presenting, and past recipients Harry Rosen, Brian Bailey, Franco Mirabelli and Linda Lundström. Canada’s latest fashion finery came by way of new designers like Evan Biddell, Lucian Matis and the Greta Constantine boys. Monika Schnarre was there representing the photogenically privileged. With the champagne flowing in abundance, thanks to a minor mishap where all the white wine was consumed before the entrée’s hit the tables, guests mingled and noshed, until, if you were very lucky, you were invited to the Dsquared after-party in the Distillery District. Fingers crossed this fashionable girl won’t be too sick to attend next year, sounds like we missed out. C’est la vie.
Shown: Dean and Dan Caten with long-time friend, Ports 1961’s Julie Enfield. Photo courtesy of Fashion Group International.
Rabu, 23 April 2008
Selasa, 22 April 2008
Rabu, 16 April 2008
Selasa, 15 April 2008
Senin, 14 April 2008
LOKASI ROSITA COLLECTION
Samping Kompl.Karyawan Walikota Jakarta Barat Meruya Selatan,Kembangan Jakarta Barat
Minggu, 13 April 2008
Rosita Collection
Specialis busana Wanita antara lain:Kebaya pengantin, kebaya modern,pasang payet,bordir,dll
Minggu, 06 April 2008
Senin, 11 Februari 2008
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