I’m moving house at the moment and trying to decide which possessions will make the move with me and which are headed for that great recycling bin in the sky. One thing that will definitely be coming with me is my magazine collection. Yes, they are heavy and a bit unwieldy but it’s worth carting them to the new apartment for the pleasure and inspiration they bring. I think of a great magazine with great photography and great writing as a work of art and not something to be tossed lightly aside. My favorite magazine of the year so far is the current issue of French Playboy with Lou Doillon on the cover. Her photos inside by Takis Bibelas have more in common with a Helmut Newton shoot than they do with anything you might see in an American “men’s” magazine. The entire issue is a special fashion issue. There is also a great article with cool photos of the neon and rough edges of Paris’ Boulevard de Clichy. The Juergen Teller photo story in the issue is unmissable as well. - x eddie

From the current issue of New York magazine:

In 1962, photographer Bert Stern shot a series of photos of Marilyn Monroe that have collectively come to be known as “The Last Sitting.” Forty-six years later, Stern has revisited his classic shots with Lindsay Lohan, another actress whose prodigious fame is not quite commensurate with her professional achievements.

Last night I bought the new issue of New York magazine. I love New York magazine. It’s their Spring Fashion issue which I picked up totally for research/fun, and was shocked to find a nude Lindsay Lohan shoot inside. OK - so seeing a Hollywood starlet whose clothes have accidentally fallen off is far from shocking these days…but I really did pick the magazine up just because it was the Spring Fashion issue. The back cover of the mag is meant to look like a faux front cover - Andre 3000 is featured on this back cover which hypes the Spring men’s fashion coverage inside. The issue I saw had been flipped over so that the Andre “cover” was visible. I was like, “ooh Spring fashion!” Which makes me and Andre 3G’s mom the only two people in the world who have picked this magazine up for a reason unrelated to the Lindsay photos.
As far as the Lindsay photos - I’m really into platinum hair and dark eyebrows these days. The hair though needs to be super-white platinum and the brows should be as dark as possible. I know she’s wearing a wig here (and not much else), but she really should go platinum all the time I think. Also worth noting - I’m sick of all the websites where people post snarky and harsh comments about photos like these - the whole Gawker syndrome. Usually when I read such negative comments I find myself thinking, “Whatever - she’s young and rich and pretty and famous and you would change places with her in a second.”
OK - check out these 3 outtakes from the LiLo shoot at the Hotel Bel-Air - the site of the original 1962 Monroe photo session. Three photos that you won’t see in the magazine - even if you accidentally pick it up. x Eddie

Hey - I DJed the Rebecca Taylor Fall/Winter 08/09 show today in Bryant Park. In addition to being one of the most talented and consistent designers around, Rebecca’s also a truly lovely person whose show I always look forward to working on. Her black silk organza dandelion-printed dress was my favorite look from the collection. Check out some of my backstage snaps below…oh, and if you want to know what music we used for the show, here are the tracks - “I’m In Love With A German Film Star” by Kish Mauve (the original version which is amazing, not the bad remix which the US iTunes store has), “L.E.S. Artistes” by Santogold, and “End It Tonight” by teenagersintokyo. x Eddie

The shows, the clothes, the parties, the models, the madness - it’s Fashion Week in New York and over the weekend I hit the ground running…or at least walking at a really brisk pace with a determined look on my face. Here’s how it went down so far…On Friday I headed to the tents to catch Erin Fetherston’s show. I loved Erin’s cute floral print dresses paired with tights, but her front row packed with it-girls was what really caught my eye. Anne Hathaway, Leigh Lezark, Arden Wohl, Rachel Zoe, Irina Lazareanu, and my favorite Gossip Girl - Taylor Momens - were all pimpin’ Erin hard. Afterwards, I headed over to the Ben Sherman store in Soho for their fashion week party featuring a photo installation by Bronques of Last Night’s Party. There was a huge mob out front when I arrived - inside The Ruff Kids were spinning for the glam mods and models who made the cut. With several photographers shooting and Agyness Deyn tearing up the dance floor this went well beyond your average store party - it looked like the “party scene” in a video shoot for a really cool British band. Later that night, I hit the cool midnight party that Seven New York threw for German designer Bernhard Willhelm. On Saturday - after precious little sleep - it was off to the Ruffian show and more non-stop Agyness and Irina action…so much fun shooting photos at this show. Saturday night’s afterparties were a bit of a bust - or maybe I was just too tired to really appreciate them. I felt much more myself after a good night’s sleep, so Sunday bloody Sunday I was back at it full-tilt. My first stop on Sunday was the fantastic Diane von Furstenberg show. She is one of my absolute favorite designers of all-time and this season’s military/30’s/40’s/foreign agent show was a knockout. Leaving the huge main tent at Bryant Park, I popped back downtown for a dose of indie fashion at up-and-coming designer Telfar’s show. Later on Sunday night I ran into Cory and she put me on the list for the Purple Fashion party at the Beatrice Inn. Just when I was thinking I’d had enough for one weekend, there I was diving into a cab for Beatrice. The Purple people - including Terry Richardson, Olivier Zahm, Chloe Sevigny, Irina, AndrewAndrew, Cory Kennedy, Mark Cobrasnake, Danny Ksubi, and Sarah from Colette - were all a bad influence on me. I’m not usually easily swayed but my weakness for fashion got the best of me…check out my photos from the weekend below…more soon…xoxo Gossip Boy

Checking out some of the new Spring 2008 ad campaigns today…I’ve been waiting to see what Marc Jacobs and Juergen Teller were going to do with Vicky Beckham, having read that she would be the star of the upcoming MJ campaign…and I have to say…the concept for this shoot rocks…love it! The image above - which is already running in a few mags - is probably the coolest MJ ad ever. Poshers in a giant Marc Jacobs bag with her legs splayed, the new no heel/reverse heel/insane heel shoes on her feet the only visible product. (I love these shoes FYI - my jaw was on the ground when I saw them on the runway at Marc’s New York show last September.) Dedicated followers of fashion will notice more than a hint of the legendary photographer Guy Bourdin’s influence on this campaign - the above shot in fact comes much closer to a rip-off than an influence. The unnatural positioning of the legs is a key component of some of Bourdin’s best work. Bourdin’s ad work for Charles Jourdan often featured staged “crime scenes”, where the models appeared dead, their fantastic taste in footwear the only visible sign of the glamorous lives they once led. Carine Roitfeld - in an interview in the current Self Service magazine - casually mentions that she thinks there have only been a few originals in fashion photography, and that everyone else is just imitating. She says this not in a hyper-critical manner, merely as a statement of dry fact. Two of the originals she credits are Newton and Bourdin. I see Marc Jacobs and Juergen Teller not really as imitators…instead I think they are simply men with good taste and a strong knowledge of fashion history. Right?