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June 12, 2013

Joan Smalls: Woman of Steel

Barnaby Roper Sets Fashion's Latina Heroine into a Spin

Puerto Rican supermodel Joan Smalls is transformed into a high-fashion superwoman in today’s exhilarating short by director Barnaby Roper. “I was playing around with the fact that the summer brings blockbusters. This year this includes Man of Steel, which is being released the same week as this film,” explains Roper of the video that employs the New York-based filmmaker’s signature technical wizardry. “I tried to show a strong individual female character and Joan was the perfect person—she gives really strong poses.” Stylist Keegan Singh built up Smalls’ heroic look by plundering designers including Balmain, Rodarte and Altuzara for powerful silhouettes and then finished the looks off with piles of tough jewelry from Eddie Borgo. Smalls, who modeled in New York for three years before her big break walking exclusively for Ricardo Tischi’s Givenchy couture show in 2009, has become an industry favorite featuring in cover stories for W magazine as well as various editions of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, and fronting campaigns for Gucci, Stella McCartney and Estée Lauder who, in 2011, made her their first Latina face.

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Eleonora Carisi: Milan Menu

The Italian Blog Star Reveals Her Down-Time Tips for the Perfect Day at Milan Fashion Week

Street style favorite and beauty-about-town Eleonora Carisi stops by the Borsalino showroom and grabs a coffee at Fioraio Bianchi as she flits around Milan in this day-in-the-life series by photographer Piotr Niepsuj. Recently named one of the hottest new fashionistas by Style.com, and appearing regularly on The Sartorialist and other online style bibles, Carisi also runs her own blog at JouJouVilleroy and is the proprietor of hip Turin-based concept shop YouStore. “She’s elegant but not too elegant, retro but up to date, feminine but not girly—she’s just cool,” says Milan-based Niepsuj, whose clients include Nike, Adidas, and Mont Blanc. Adds the photographer, “She’s constantly on the run, and always on the phone!” Before embarking on her busy Fashion Week schedule, the Milanese stunner revealed some of her favorite spots for a coffee break, a quick bite, or a shopping spree when in the Italian fashion capital.

Max & Co.
“This week I have to go to the presentation of the new Max and Co. shop in Milan! One of my best friends from Turin made all the furniture with his team from Ciszak Dalmas. Crazy isn't it? So proud!”
Max & Co., Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, 20122, Milan

Fioraio Bianchi Caffè
“In between orchids, beautiful flowers, and surrounded by the most amazing smells… A great place to come for a coffee and talk with friends.”
Via Montebello, 7 20121, Milan

Trattoria Bagutta
“This restaurant reminds me of old French movies and a wonderful day when I shot for [French department store] Galeries Lafayettes with [photographer] Chris Heads! We took some very funny photos with the chef!”
Via Bagutta, 14 20121, Zona Centro (Piazza San Babila) , Milan

Morgan’s cocktail bar
“I love flamingos so their sign is perfect for me and it’s all pink and 50s styled, so it feels like a cocktail movie with Tom Cruise! There are paper umbrellas on the drinks, charming leather chairs, and just a generally nice atmosphere. Sometimes you need a good place with not-too-big crowds to be able to actually hear the voices of your friends!”
Via Francesco Novati, 2 20123, Milan

Borsalino Showroom
“Borsalino is such an iconic hat brand, and if you think about ‘Made in Italy’ this is really a brand that captures it. Chic, elegant, but at the same time rock‘n’roll and creative! I hade the chance to see the archive with hats, hats, and more hats, including thousands of hats used for films and photoshoots!”
Via Lanza 4, ang. Foro Buonaparte,  20121, Milan 

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Spotlight

Tim Walker: Story Teller

The Fashion Photographer Reflects On the Secrets and Lies in His Imaginary World

From a flying saucer invading a foxhunt to floating dinner tables, photographer Tim Walker’s fantastical images tantalizingly blur the line between fiction and reality. For over 15 years, the east London-based Walker has contributed his singular brand of fashion photography to British, Italian and American Vogue, as well as Vanity Fair, W and The New Yorker. Formerly an assistant to Richard Avedon, Walker draws inspiration from children’s books, films and illustrations, amassing them in scrapbooks which he uses to create his “imaginary places that never existed.” “I started using the camera as a way of capturing a mood I wanted to express,” he says. “To me, a photograph is far stronger when something is suggested rather than defined. If you define it there is nowhere for your imagination to go.” Ahead of a forthcoming exhibition at London’s Somerset House supported by Mulberry, and an accompanying book out next week from Thames & Hudson, Walker talks to NOWNESS about chance encounters on set and how the camera often fibs.

Your work often involves creating huge sets and a cast of models. Is it about setting up everything and then being open to chance?
Absolutely. It’s fundamental to what I do. A lot of gestures and expressions happen when the models experience something during a shoot—the wind blowing through the set or something falling over, for example. They need something to react to. A “mistake” can liberate a photograph and prevent it from looking over-choreographed.

Many of your images are surreal in some ways—is this a conscious decision?
The surreal in my work is instinctive, I think. I’ve always veered towards fantasy, dreams and magic. For me photography is a window to another world. I love things that are somewhere they shouldn’t be, for example the outside inside and vice versa. I find the notion “the camera never lies” really interesting because the place where it lies more than anywhere else is in fashion.

In 2010 you made a short film called The Lost Explorer. Why did you want to work with moving image?
I’ve always found film inspiring. As a photographer you always aspire to achieve something extra that you can’t achieve with still images. I decided to make a film out of curiosity and I naively thought I could draw on my knowledge of photography, but you can’t; they’re two very different things. I would love to make another film. I’m working on some ideas now but it’s an enormous process.

Tim Walker: Story Teller opens at Somerset House, London on October 18.

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