French Vogue

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Carine Roitfeld on Her Sexy Kids Spread, Tom Ford’s Not-So-Gayness and More

In anticipation of Carine Roitfeld‘s new book, Irreverent, the Times interviewed the former French Vogue editor for the Sunday Magazine. And we all know Carine gives a good interview. This one is brief, but she speaks frankly about Tom Ford (there’s a cute thank you letter from him in the book), that French Vogue spread that caused a media shitstorm (and her firing from the glossy?), why she named the book Irreverent, and more. Here are the best bits.

On going on a romantic date with Tom Ford:
“O.K., Tom, unfortunately for the woman, is gay. But he is very not so gay. Even the way he touches a woman, the way he puts his hand on your back or the way he opens the car for you, he’s a gentleman. You’re dying that he likes everything you’re wearing, everything you’re doing, because his taste is very important to you. You want to seduce him all the time.”

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Thylane Blondeau’s Mother Responds to Controversy About Her Daughter, Shuts Down Her Facebook Page and Tumblr

Last week, we told you about Thylane Blondeau, the gorgeous 10-year-old French model who starred in, among other spreads, a mature French Vogue editorial that depicted her suggestive, adult poses. Thylane and this particular editorial have since spurred a media frenzy.

Many news outlets and blogs (and their commenters) are outraged–calling it “creepy” and “exploitation” and blaming everyone from the magazine to the fashion industry as a whole to Thylane’s parents. Good Morning America even aired a piece yesterday about Thylane and the sexualization of young girls, bringing up, yet again, teen campaign stars Elle Fanning (13) and Hailee Steinfeld (14).

Thylane’s mother, French TV host and fashion designer Veronika Loubry, who has herself been criticized for allowing her daughter to be photographed in this way, has responded to her detractors both in the French press and on Facebook.

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Top Ten Fashion Media Stories of 2010

Media is evolving at the breakneck speed of Twitter and traditional print outlets and new media ones are constantly reorganizing and reshuffling mastheads to ensure that their publications continue to rake in advertisers and stay alive. The world of fashion media is no exception. This year there was so much playing of editorial musical chairs, we devised little flow charts to try to keep it all straight.

From Carine Roitfeld’s shocking departure from Vogue Paris to the fat-hating Marie Claire blogger who pissed just about everyone off, here are the top ten fashion media stories of the year.

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Fashion News Roundup

Fashion News Roundup: ALT on What The First Lesbian President Should Wear, More News on Kate’s Wedding Dress and Was Carine Canned?

Carine Canned? Racked is reporting that Carine Roitfeld was fired from French Vogue, citing the EIC as the reason for the mag being blacklisted at Balenciaga and Bernard Arnault threatening to pull all LVMH ads from the next issue. “Basically, she was fired,” a source tells Racked. Quel scandale! Not sure if we buy it though. {Racked}

Royal Dress Update: HuffPo’s royal’s correspondent is reporting that while the odds have Bruce Oldfield to design Kate Middleton’s wedding dress, she’ll likely wear a lesser known British designer who has dressed all the Middleton women (sister Pippa and mother Carole included) over the years. {Huffington Post}

When We Have a Lesbian President, ALT Knows How She Should Dress: In her Sunday Times column, Maureen Down mused about whether we are ready for a gay commander in chief following the landmark vote to repeal “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.” She consulted André Leon Talley who told her that he imagines a lesbian president “who looks like Julie Andrews and dresses to meet heads of state in ‘ankle-length skirts, grazing the Manolo Blahnik kitten heels.’ She would save her ‘butch trouser suit for weekends at Camp David and vacation hikes in Yellowstone. No plaid lumberjack shirts at any time.’” {NYT}

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More On Carine’s Plans After French Vogue (Hint: They Do Not Involve Tom Ford)

The fashion world was sent reeling last Friday when news broke that Carine Roitfeld would leave French Vogue after serving as the mag’s editor for the past 10 years.

After recovering from the shock, speculations began as to whom would succeed Roitfeld (fashion director Emmanuelle Alt seems to be the front runner but we assembled a list of our fantasy picks), and what Roitfeld would do next.

Though Roitfeld told Cathy Horyn at the New York Times that she has “no plan at all” after she steps down in the coming weeks, industry insiders began speculating that she might return to Tom Ford. Which would make sense given their close relationship–Carine served as Ford’s muse and stylist while he was at Gucci in the ’90s and helped propel the brand to success, Ford just launched his own women’s collection, and most recently, he guest-edited French Vogue (an issue Roitfeld styled).

Alas, no such reunion is in the cards (yet).

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Breaking: Carine Roitfeld to Leave French Vogue

Carine Roitfeld, the beloved and massively influential editor of French Vogue, will resign in a few weeks to focus on personal projects. Roitfeld helmed the mag for the past 10 years. Under her tenure, French Vogue became one of the most daring fashion publications, a hallmark for what was cool in the world of fashion.

“It’s 10 years that I’m editor of the magazine, I think it’s time to do something different,” Roitfeld told Cathy Horyn at the New York Times. “When everything is good, maybe I think it’s the time to do something else.”

While rumors once circulated (around two years ago) that Roitfeld would take over for Anna Wintour at American Vogue, Roitfeld confessed to the Times that she has absolutely “no plan at all” post-Vogue.

Roitfeld, 56, who got her start as a model and a stylist, styled many of the magazine’s memorable and envelope-pushing editorials, including this last issue, which was guest-edited by Tom Ford. “I had so much freedom to do everything I wanted,” Roitfeld told the Times. “I think I did a good job.”

That would be an understatement. “It is impossible to overstate Carine’s powerful contribution to Vogue and to the fields of fashion and magazine publishing. Under her direction, Vogue Paris received record levels of circulation and advertising and editorial success,” Jonathan Newhouse, ceo of Condé Nast International told Vogue UK’s website. “Carine herself has become widely known as a beacon of style, fulfilling the role with charm and graciousness. She has become a giant in her profession [and] will be deeply missed. I am extremely grateful to her for what she has achieved.”

Carine’s replacement will be announced within the next few weeks. Her absence will be a gaping hole in the industry, but a few names are already being buzzed about to fill her shoes:

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Magazines

Behold: Tom Ford’s French Vogue

The man can do no wrong. After just getting word that Tom Ford is the guest editor of French Vogue‘s December-January issue, WWD‘s treated us to the cover and a peek at an editorial starring Lauren Hutton in Ford’s designs. The cover features model Daphne Groeneveld looking like Ford has put her in a trance, and who can blame her?

According to WWD, Ford accepted the offer from Carine Roitfeld to guest edit her baby over a year ago, before he had decided to show his own women’s collection in NYC this past season. And he truly assumed all the duties of EIC–from editing to casting to styling. “He took his role very seriously,” Roitfeld told the paper. “He is truly multitalented.” The Ford-edited issue, which hits stands November 30, will also feature photography by Terry Richardson, a spread devoted to older women who haven’t gone under the knife, and best of all, family photos of the designer.

Click through for a glimpse of an editorial spread from the forthcoming issue starring Lauren Hutton.

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Fashion News Roundup

Fashion News Roundup: That Miu Miu Dress Again, Lauren Shares Her Wedding Planning Expertise and Tom Ford to Guest Edit French Vogue

Really, Elle China? Yep, that Miu Miu dress that has been on the cover of 478329874 magazines this year has landed yet another one. Fei Fei Sun sports the dress in yellow on the cover of Elle China’s December issue. Seriously guys, what is this? {Fashion Gone Rogue}

Lauren Sherman, the Wedding Expert: Our bride-to-be editor has become a veritable expert on the process of planning an affordable wedding in NYC (yes, it is possible!) and has shared her findings with Refinery29. Some examples? Do your own flowers and scour Craigslist for a photog. {Refinery29}

WWWhoops: For some reason, WWD decided to momentarily spill the beans about last night’s CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund winner before it was actually announced. They swiftly deleted the scandalous tweet, but it was too late. {@themoment}

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Fashion News Roundup

Fashion News Roundup: Cat McNeil Does H&M, Chanel Owns St. Tropez & Dawson Does Cosmo (Seriously)

Summer Lovin’: Catherine McNeil’s on the cover of H&M’s summer magazine. She shares the inside with Noah Mills, and it’s shot by Alexi Lubomirski. {FashionGoneRogue} Danger Zone: Noémie Lenoir, who landed a French Vogue cover last year, attempted suicide this weekend outside of Paris. As of last night, she’s in stable condition. {DailyMail} Vroom Vroom: [...]

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Is the New: Lane Bryant & Calvin Klein

Between Garance Dore’s comments regarding the health of plus size models, Francisco Costa’s alleged vow to stop using size zero models for Calvin Klein, and Crystal Renn’s sort of shocking French Vogue editorial, I don’t think anyone’s mentioned the name of a skinny model all week. But even if fashion’s ready for Mark Fast’s lineup, [...]

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Fashion News Roundup

Fashion News Roundup: Cruz Does Vogue & Uniqlo Moves Uptown

Holy Cheekbones Batman: The cover of Penelope Cruz’ French Vogue is out. Without reading the captions can you even tell who else is photographed? French Vogue‘s making up for the rest of the world’s lack of airbrushing this month. {Fashionologie} Sketchy or Smart: People StyleWatch is one of the most successful ‘fashion’ magazines right now. [...]

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Fall 2010 Paris

Why Balenciaga Blacklisted French Vogue

Word on the street, or in the Tuileries, is that French Vogue was blacklisted from Balenciaga via Max Mara. The magazine’s editor-in-chief, Carine Roitfeld, consults, or did consult, for the Italian brand. She allegedly asked Balenciaga for samples for an editorial shoot, and one of the coats ended up at Max Mara’s design studio where [...]

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