Week 4 - Carine Roitfeld, the ex-French Vogue chef-editor

PARIS Vogue says its editor-in-chief, Carine Roitfeld, has decided to leave after a 10-year tenure in which the French fashion monthly became "a worldwide reference and indispensable magazine".
-- "Paris Vogue vague on editor-in-chief Carine Roitfeld leaving", AP, December 19. 2010   10:41AM

10 years of serving one of the most powerful fashion leading magazine in the world, Carine announced her departure. According to official post on vogue.uk (http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/daily/101217-carine-roitfeld-resigns.aspx), this true and talented woman decides to pursue personal projects. All official websites states that Carine was resigned, but according to the issues with small children and Tom Ford, the society wasn't happy about what she represented, people sees differently.

Carine dressed up three 6 years old girls with extremely glamours and make-up in last Dec/Jan issue, these fast growing up small children brought "horror and revolution" into public. But I wonder, this world is full of teenage mum, lost their viginlity by 12 or even under, costs of one birthday party equals to a month living fee for a orphan in a village of third country, worst of all some kids are doing child labour to survive. So dressing up three six years old kids mean so shockingly bad, then why these "justice people" don't use their energy on how to save the real helpless kids like what I just said before?



This is a vintage ad for Love Cosmetics, title is "Because Innocent is Sexier Than You Think". If decades ago we've already started putting all these "inappropriate" elements together, why today this chaos is only created by Carine and people just wouldn't face the reality? 





Carine co-worked with Tom Ford, they lensed Clarissa & Doug in the same issue. The very first time it hits my eyes, not in a disturbing way which is like most other people might feel, but thankful and happy. You might say the ridiculously priced glamour is too early for the small kids, but this couple been through everything that we've been through, don't they deserve their ways of kissing hugging biting all that sorts of sexual action? We are looking at young and super skinny models everyday, it rapes our eyes and mind by force telling us this is beautifully appropriate. Just because we never consider about the others doesn't mean they don't deserve it and ok to be laughed/ignored at.


Another vintage ad i found on boredpanda.com, Men ask "Is She Pretty" not "Is She Clever" is the truth throughout the universe, until today men are still referred as visual animals. Women are just either beauty or sex object. But we are growing stronger, fighting back hard in this men dominating world. Our beloved Prime Minister Julia Gillard made us women proud, our talented headmaster Leanne Whitehouse made us skillful and confident, my immense mother made me who I am today. So when I look at those photo shoots Carine did with Tom Ford, woman is dominating and absolutely needed by men, no matter what age group they in, which decade they from. The massage I received from Carine, again it's reality.


Losing Carine is the lost of French Vogue. The more I read about her, the more I'm in love with her. What a strong, confident, thoughtful woman she is! Always been true to herself and this world, no matter what other people say, as long as she's happy with it. Of course with the talents she has, Jonathan Newhouse the ceo let her take the lead. This world is constructed by 6,400,000,000 human being and countless amount of magazines. But there is only one French Vogue and one chef editor for it. Under such a big pressure, I believe Jonathan had no choice but to let Carine go. I'm expecting the next issue, sure it'll be hold up and get compared with the past ten years, but who cares? I just wish Carine the best with her future, I'm looking forward.

• AFTER From
  
  

Week 4 - Photo Shoot 2 : Beauty & Make-up, Still life shoot

Draft Shoot 

On the day, taken by my own camera

re-arranged pieces

<A day of Li> photo shoot, products list

OLAY MEN SOLUTIONS - smooth cream foaming cleanser - 100g

L'OREAL MENEXPERT - hydra energetic eye gel - 10ml

L'OREAL MENEXPERT - 24hr hydrating gel - 100ml

KIEHL'S STYLIST SERIES - creme with silk groom - 30ml

GILLETTE fusion power - shaver

DOLCE & GABBANA light blue - EAU DE TOILETTE - 100ml

LYNX with Brazilian orange essence - deodorant bodyspray - 155ml

SIANG PURE OIL - traditional Chinese medication oil - 25cc

YUNAN BAIYAO - aerosol - 85g

ILLAMASQUA - rich liquid foundation - 30ml

BOBBI BROWN - foundation brush - full size

Week 3 - Photo Shoot 1：Object, Still life shoot

Product list

Sunflower - from paddington, $6 for 5. As a line element throughout three shoots of Li. It's lively, energetic, refreshing. Li still wakes up at 5:30am everyday, and starts to warm up his body with ballet exercises. It also states his family as the sunflower follows the direction of the sun, he quit ballet to do stock for his family.

TRIVOLI Audio Player - $399, the very first generation of Trivoli audio player, seen in lots of American movies, used by people who has an old soul and real taste. Li loves listening to ballet music. "When I hear beautiful ballet music from the radio in my car, I just wanna pull over and start dancing", Li saids in one of his interviews.

Financial Review newspaper - $1.5, magazines <DANCE Australia> $7.5 and <COLOR> $23 current issue.

Ipad - $499－$629, keep himself on track with the latest stock information.

Hand-made journal book, FABER-CASTEL artist pen, $1.7 - as <Mao's last dancer> author, he still records his life, his memories.

<Class Ballet Music> CD, <BLACK SWAN> DVD - inspirations and entertainment for him

Story 

The beautiful yellow tone spread out this photo shoot, representing Li's background which is Chinese. Five and more sellable products, in a composition of his office desk look with a feeling of neatly messy.

Week 3 - Blog update

1: 750 WORDS EXPLORATION OF THE CONCEPT OF CELEBRITY AND ITS IMPORTANCE WITHIN MAGAZINE PUBLICATION DESIGN

We find beauty in stuff that's DONE WELL. The variety makes it complicated. Beauty is the eye of the beholder, is whatever moves you personally, is a natural way of acting at a distance.

According to Dutton's video speech (Denis Dutton's Darwinian Theory- TED talk, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PktUzdnBqWI), a few areas can be beautiful. the human being, natural landscape, art works, entertainment, skilled actions can all be beautiful. He also pointed out that beauty is involved with human psychology. The natural selection such as landscape and animals, the sexual selection like personality and out appearance, also the artistic selection such as workmanship, are all examples of human psychology. 


Every dictionary defines Celebrity as famous people, but why famous people celebrity? To me, Celebrity is not only the famous people, but also the icon of the time, trends representer, spirit of an culture, reflection of the society, pushes the economy in different ways, and of course the gossip, fame, money, and live on the young.


"The very essen of glamour is to invoke envy, after all." (Lim, G 2005, Idol to Icon: The creation of Celebrity Brands) he pointed out that the impact is far more powerful and profound in terms of catalyze lifestyle changing when celebrities own the fashion brand that bears their name. Celebrity brands speak to consumers directly, they dictate demand with choices depend on the popularity of the celebrity, (Lim, G 2005). We can see advertisements of Kate Moss and Iman how sectors of the fashion business have gained from the choice of matching the right celebrity to the right product.

In Style magazine created the concept of devotion to the celebrity lifestyle in relation to fashion and other finery, it also shows celebrities not simply as beautiful, rich and  famous, but as real people that real people can relate to (Lim, G 2005, p82), The larger idea is to create a palpable sense of aspiration - that you, as a consumer, can enhance your own "personal brand" by way of say, an article entitled "Asset Management". 

♥   EXPLORING CELEBRITIES ♥

• Shirley Temple / Angelina Jolie

- Shirley's bright and cheerful in ultimately bought millions of dollars worth of products that had her likeness on them. Dolls, phonograph records, mugs, hats, dresses, whatever it was, if it had her picture on there the fans bought it. Every mum wanted to dress their daughter like her, she was the icon of the 1930's, also has the most income of her age group celebrity. (Her famous aviator jacket from her movie <Bright Eyes>(1934) is back to fashion this winter!!!)

- Angelina's not only an Oscar-winning actress, but also a devoted humanitarian. Her fuller lips has pushed the beauty industry to produce products like lip plumper etc. Tattoos and love story completed this amazing woman, yet she told the world: “I am still, at heart — and always will be — just a punk kid with tattoos,” through the December issue of Britain’s Harper’s Bazaar, 2008.

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• Frank Gehry / Vivienne Westwood

- Frank has never been a celebrity to people who reads trashy hollywood magazines but he's such an inspiration and role model for designers of recent decades. His breakthrough style of sketching architectures and experimenting methods of building them in real scale has been encouraging younger designers to think outside of the box and be brave of what you design.

- The "Punk Queen" Vivienne Westwood is a legend. Her cutting edge but classic style invented a culture, a revolution, yet her fans are still growing continuously nowadays. "Too fast to live, too young to die".

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• Twiggy / Britney Spears

- World's very first supermodel Twiggy, is a God's gift. 

"The Cockney Kid with a face to launch a thousand shapes... And she's only 16"

- The Daily Express, February 23rd 1966

- American's forever sweetheart & pop princess Britney Spears is an icon for 90's, she is so famous that you can't imagine a person who does not know this name in this world. Every teenage girl wanted to be like her and she wanted to be just like every teenage girl, life pressure pushed her down to her knees, but she found herself back way stronger and better.

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• Marie Antoinette / Paris Hilton

- Marie's life was never chosen by herself. She had to marry the French King Louis' to improve the Austrian empire even though they had totally different interests. She was in a life of pleasure and carelessness, overspend on her outfits styling and private palaces for entertaining herself also her friends, trying to escape from her marriage.

- Paris was born with the golden spoon. She's also an icon, who associates with brands clubs and men, totally explained the Blonde stereotype well. I personally can't believe that I saw some girls who actually praising Paris as their idol. I would be very sad if I was her.  

Some celebrities like to go hardcore clubbing and do wild wealthy paparazzi to get famous, some celebrities just prefer the social ideal of a small, quiet dinner when they're outside the limelight. Like Lim (2005, p89) said, celebrities are normal people, after all; being famous just happens to be their job.

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2: 750 WORDS EXPLORATION OF THE DEMATERIALISATION OF MAGAZINE PUBLICATION DESIGN

- sex & celebrity sells

- picking the right targeting groups

- became a brand itself

- predictable but still changing slidly in a way that people'll still be loyal

e.g.

1 

- <Grazia>, $4, British celebrity trash mag leader, weekly issue, immuture designs(what's with the 

diagonal pictures in different 

grid?), distinct fashion trends represented in a fast food way. The photography's quite straight forward, in a way of commercial with a tiny touch of editorial. a few of writing articles which are star interviews, diet tips, home improvements and scandal involved. Always featuring celebrities on every issue cover.

2 

- <New Idea>, $4, for all ages group woman, weekly issue, cheap quality, squeez as much latest celebrity paparazzi as they can, overwhelming format, hectic fonts design, and always gossip about the loyal. Something that I'd never pick up cause it gives me headache, but for readers who's interested in celebrity gossip is definitely a must buy. 

3 

- <Australian Gourmet traveller>, $10, for people who's interested in hospitality and life style, nice paper. chic design, very beautiful photography and styling. it's a magazine filled with beautiful mouth-watering food photography, as well as super delicious must try recipes, the latest food trend and dinning news along with travel sections.

4 

- <VIVI>, $19 - $25 depends on current rate. Japanese trend magazine issued monthly, age target early 20s - 30s. a must buy for me because it contains trends forecasting information and never fail. all models in this magazine are all japanese-american/british mix. quite overwhelming page design. it mix editorial photo shoots with very commercial outline and display. it also represents why the latest fashion cycle in Japan is only 2-weeks. it contains 5% celebrity (both Japanese and American) fashion and gossip, 5% body care solutions and products, 5% hair and beauty, latest cosmetic collections, 5% musician celebrity latest album/tour interview, and the rest are all fashion photo shoots and similar clothes collections. VIVI definitely has got a great sense of using layout principles and fonts format, but the characteristics of Japanese themselves such as super-attention to details made this whole magazine very interesting to read even though it might be a bit overwhelming to some readers.

        

5 

<COLORS> #1 issue, Topic: birth

WHAT'S COLORS ?

http://www.benetton.com/colorspress70/press_colors_eng.html

A magazine, a series of CDs, documentaries, books and exhibitions

Established in 1991, from an idea of Luciano Benetton and Oliviero Toscani, under the direction of Tibor Kalman, with the premise that diversity is positive but that all cultures have equal value, today COLORS is part of the publishing activity in Fabrica, Benetton's communication research centre. COLORS' editorial offices are situated in Fabrica's architectural complex, restored and enlarged by Japanese architect Tadao Ando, and it has a network of external collaborators in the four corners of the earth.

Pictures are, above all else, COLORS' expressive medium: a method that is universal and reaches the greatest number of people with a strong, immediate impact. Using this visual language, COLORS' themes alternate between the challengingly serious, such as ecology, wars around the world, the fight against aids, and the frankly frivolous such as shopping, fashion, toys, but each is seen from an unconventional, irreverent perspective.

From issues 41 to 60 COLORS had transferred its attention to the theme of different “communities” inhabiting the planet, using photographic images and interviews, to recount with simplicity and immediacy, the intimate beauty of all human beings. After a year in New York, during which the magazine, thanks to its distinctive personality, has enhanced its vitality and visibility among the American media, COLORS now continues its research and documentation at Fabrica.

On sale in 40 countries, 3 editions, published in 4 languages, an Internet site that has won a record number of hits and critical acclaim: COLORS is a quarterly magazine that talks to young people all around the world.

COLORS PROJECTS

Today COLORS is not only a magazine, it’s a way of communicating and of using diverse media languages to interpret the world. COLORS’ experience and cultural background have engendered numerous editorial projects.

COLORS Music: a music collection based on the idea that music, like images, is a universal medium, transcending barriers and reaching the greatest number of people with a strong, immediate impact. COLORS Music selects music from various geographic areas and presents it in a novel contemporary context. Nordic, Cumbia, Ottomanic, Rio Funk have already been produced in co-operation with Irma Records, a Sony Music international label.

COLORS Books: from the best-seller 1000 Extra/ordinary Objects or to 1000 SIGNS, published with Taschen, to the recent series with Skira Editore, the first of which is Hunger followed by Pagine Gialle. A complex publishing agenda made possible by, amongst other things, COLORS’ network of correspondents and photographers in over 50 nations across the world.

COLORS Exhibitions: COLORS has organised exhibitions in prestigious venues in locations including Florence, Rome, London, Istanbul, Madrid, Barcelona, Maastricht and Budapest.

COLORS Documentaries: A new generation of documentaries to bring attention to major, diversity-based themes and to give voice to the stories of ordinary people: from Hong Kong to Patagonia to the Rocinha slum, to the Aral Sea, which was awarded the first prize at the Torino Film Festival 2004, in the documentary section.

- <Colors>, $23, is an art and literature magazine which issued quarterly, developed by Fabrica in Benetton's research center in Italy. double language published, each issue has a theme and covers the topic from an international perspective. it features a Benetton advertising style sardonic point of view and well known for its photoessays. This issue of DANCE is just perfect for my allocated celebrity Li. 

http://lab.colorsmagazine.com/dance

Every Issue of <Colors> topic and it's cover

http://lab.colorsmagazine.com/websites-archive

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3: STILL LIFE PHOTOSHOOTS. ANALYSE MIN 3 VARYING EXAMPLES FROM DIFFERENT MAGS.


http://therockingpanda.blogspot.com/2011/03/week-2-diary.html

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4: CELEBRITY RESEARCH (LI CUNXIN)


http://therockingpanda.blogspot.com/2011/03/week-2-diary.html