Isabeli Fontana.
Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott.
Vogue Paris.

Is it just us or do Mert & Marcus have a little Meisel crush? Remember their recreation of Meisel’s Kristen McMenamy Vogue Italia cover? This time around they cast Isabeli Fontana as a 21st century version of Linda Evangelista by Meisel on the cover of VP. We’re beginning to see a pattern, though Meisel isn’t the only photographer M&M have paid tribute to. Their series of covers for LOVE draws direct inspiration from the work of Helmut Newton.

Scanned by | The Frenchy @ tFS

Still looking for a last minute gift? Or perhaps ready to treat yourself to something great in celebration of surviving the year? Here are a small selection of fashionable treats certain to bring a smile to anyones face.

Masters of Fashion Illustration

A stunning collection of images by one of the foremost fashion illustrators; Downtown has captured everyone from Linda Evangelista to Carmen dell’Orefice in his beautiful drawings.

Tom Ford Lipsticks

With their silky smooth texture and righly pigmented colors Tom Ford’s lipstick collection offers up a bit of luxury for beauty lovers. Shown here in the covetable shades of Bruised Plum, Warm Sable and Moroccan Rouge.

Blow by Blow: The Story of Isabella Blow

One of fashion’s most influential forces is remembered by her husband in this revealing biography. A must read for any fans of Isabella Blow or Alexander McQueen.

Jonathan Adler Angel & Devil Mugs

Who cares if you’ve been naughty or nice! Taking a sip of eggnog from one of Adler’s delightfully cute mugs is pure fun.

Edith Head : The Fifty-Year Career of Hollywood’s Greatest Costume Designer

Any appreciators of cinema will enjoy this look back through the years of costumer Edith Head’s creations for the films of Paramount and Universal. Her work for actresses like Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly helped to define Hollywood style for several decades.

Graphic Image iPad Case

Need something chic to put your latest tech goodies in? This grey leather case is about the coolest we’ve seen.

Vosges Exotic Truffle Collection

Paprika, pepper, caramel, nougat and then some; experience the multitude of flavor sensations in Vosges’ Exotic Truffle collection. Delicious!

Panasonic TA-1

HD video in your pocket, perfect for recording family moments or sneaking backstage with.

Patrick Demarchelier

There are so many iconic images inside Patrick Demarchelier‘s eponymous book that it would take forever to list them. The special shots of Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington and Madonna should be more than enough to entice you.

Bond No. 9 Scented Candles
With their unique packaging and heavenly scents, Bond’s candles make for a sweet scented treat. Especially fabulous is the Andy Warhol Union Square candle, with notes of Lily of the valley, green stem, blue freesia, white birchwood, amber, and musk.

Make A Donation!

Don’t forget that a charitable donation also makes for a wonderful gift this season. Incredible organizations like Doctors Without Borders, Fresh Air Fund , World Wildlife Fund , UNICEF and hundreds of others are all in need of a helping hand.

Happy Holidays from Everyone at MDC, no matter what you’re celebrating (or even if you’re not celebrating at all) we wish you a joyous end of year!

Nothing conveys the identity of a brand quite like its advertising and more and more mainstream fashion brands are attempting to tweak their image via campaigns that utilize fashion’s biggest powerplayers. Case in point, the F/W campaign for conservative brand, Talbots features the edgy pairing of Linda Evangelista and Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott. Meanwhile Jones New York enlists Annie Leibovitz and a slew of top names like Hilary Rhoda, Jessica Stam, Hana Soukupova, Jacquetta Wheeler, Du Juan, Yasmin Warsame, Aminata Niaria and Ujjwala Raut for their ads. Not to be left in the dust, mall staple Esprit enlists Coco Rocha for its collection ads and Anne Vyalitsyna, Du Juan and Missy Rayder by Mariano Vivanco for the mainline.

The addition of a familiar (and fashionable) face can add a layer of cool to a brand’s image, but does the trick work? Did any of these ads enhance your opinion of the labels in question? Tell us.

Linda for Talbots

Jones New York’s impressive cast

Esprit chose top models like Coco, Missy, Du & Anne V for both its lines

Boys’ First Looks, gouache, watercolor, chalk, graphite & frisket on paper
50″ x 42″, Paris. Backstage at Givenchy Men’s show June 2009.

For you West Coasters, casting director and artist Daniel Peddle‘s show Backstage is in San Francisco for 3 more weeks. We adore Daniel’s dreamy watercolors works which not only captures the ephemeral world of backstage but transforms the normal hecticness into a surreal, contemplative realm.

Fashion news:

Wow, do we love Daphne Guiness, who bought Isabella Blow’s entire wardrobe. “Like any artist, it should not be dispersed, but remain as a monument with people having access to it,” said Ms. Guinness.

Nicola Formichetti rumored to be Thierry Mugler’s new artistic director…. True or false?

Brits invade France. “With Pugh probably in at Mugler, it seems like Paris’ major houses are getting a British makeover. Giles Deacon just took over the helm of Emanuel Ungaro with help from Katie Grand and Phoebe Philo has been holding it down in Paris for years, recently at Celine and previously at Chlöe (where fellow Brit Hannah MacGibbon currently resides).”

Harold Tillman (owner of Jaeger and Aquascutum and President of British Fashion Council) was awarded a CBE; Designer Tamara Mellon and uber photographer Nick Knight were awarded OBE’s from the Queen. That’s a pretty big deal for those who didn’t know about it.

Modeling news:

Constance, Freja, Natasha, Sasha, Sessilee. If you haven’t seen the preview for the Loic Prigent see it here now documentary for French Vogue, . A fascinating glimpse into the fabulous and oft times lonely life of the new supermodels.

Christy Turlington is not just a supermodel on the outside but a pretty super person on the inside. Check out her new documentary.

Dorothea Barth Jorgensen, on her really cool blog, interviews James Tinnelly from Women whose love and passion for the industry knows no bounds.

Agyness Deyn may be one of our favorite models ever for her awesome personality, her new website makes us even more of a fan.

Photographer Lara Rossignol found these long ago pics of Linda Evangelista; what’s great is the story she tells of Linda and why Miss E will always be the best supermodel ever.

Miscellaneous:

Check out new online magazine, Omit.

Photographers, you have 5 days till the deadline for PDN’s Fashion Photography competition.

Steven Klein, on his first music video, explains the Lady Gaga video.

New face Edmond R (left) and Carson (right) are 2 lovely surprises from Chosen Management (below)

Steven Meisel has a sense of humor and every so often it emerges on the pages of Vogue Italia : the December issue is a tongue in cheek send up of Twitter, social media and the perils of online exposure. Beginning with a hilarious tweet from the master himself, the editorial is filled with fun little moments : from Abbey Lee Kershaw climbing into her fridge to Kristen McMenamy jumping on a trampoline with her dog, the whole story is priceless.

Agyness Deyn

Christy Turlington & Natasha Poly

Abbey Lee Kershaw

Naomi Campbell & Sasha Pivovarova

Linda Evangelista

Jamie Bochert and Hanne Gaby Odiele

Karlie Kloss

Lara Stone & Kasia Struss

Anna Selezneva

Gisele Bundchen & Natalia Vodianova

Freja Beha Erichsen & Viktoriya Sosonkina

Kristen McMenamy

Karen Elson

Sessilee Lopez

Meisel Pic, Vogue Italia | Scan by Diciasette at tFS

Each year W‘s art issue overflows with creative energy, merging the worlds of fashion and art into one and enlisting some of the most innovative talents in both fields for truly imaginative editorials. This year sculptor Maurizio Cattelan conceives an emotionally charged story shot by Pierpaolo Ferrari and staring the legendary Linda Evangelista as an enigmatic woman of our times. Mixing political and religious imagery with arresting shots of Linda as a gilded Madonna and fallen society dame, the story stands out as one of the most compelling in a long while. The artistry behind this story is evident on all levels from Camilla Nickerson‘s distinctive styling to Gideon Ponte‘s intricate sets. Even the cover, which hints at the recession crunch with a knowing wink, is as memorable and evocative an image as W has ever produced. View the story in full on W Magazine.com

Kate Moss by Craig McDean for Another Magazine. (for full story on the covers and Another Magazine’s Decade in Style, click here).

Joining in the multi cover party that V Magazine started with 4 Fall covers and the special edition V Magazine 19 cover bonanza by Paul Rowland, is Another Magazine‘s beauteous quartet of Natalie Portman, Vanessa Paradis, Kate Moss and Katie Holmes. Love Magazine also enters the fray with 2 covers, one of Coco Sumner (Sting’s daughter) and the other of young musician Alex Hartley. It looks like it’s never been a better time for readers with such a plethora of choices.

Katie Holmes by Craig McDean.

Vanessa Paradis and Natalie Portman by Hedi Slimane.

Coco Sumner by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott

Alex Hartley by David Sims

Amber Valletta, Kate Moss, Linda Evangelista and Lady Gaga for V Magazine.

————————————————————————————-
There’s always the next Kate Moss, but is this girl actually the one?

If you’ve ever met French model Vincent LaCrocq, you’ll know why he was picked for Alexander Wang‘s men’s lookbook. Completely swoonworthy.

When we want more black models in editorials, this is NOT what we were thinking of… Our own story on R’el and Melodie by Greg Kadel for Numero is also generating quite a discussion.

Annie Leibovitz, strange and sad story.

What is the future of fashion, modeling and the Internet? The Imagist ponders…

September 10th’s Fashion’s Night Out in NYC promises to be big.. Mark your calendars now to meet supermodels, designers and photographers like Steven Klein and Annie Leibovitz. Click here for the official website.

How funny… the making of the Gucci campaign is preferred to the actual campaign.

Top model Sean O’Pry has been awarded the keys to his hometown city. Here’s a pic of him with his mayor.

13 year old style blogger Tavi is on the new POP cover…. and you are not.

Jessica White blogs; she talks about the ups and downs of her life. Besides the excitement of shooting for Sports Illustrated and Maybelline, she is frank about losing her money and the devastation of being sexually abused, this looks like a must read.

Speaking of all the calls for less Photoshopping… here’s Glamour Magazine‘s model with a belly and she looks beautiful!

Models go to the movies..Irina Lazareanu has landed the lead in the new Spike Lee movie! Agyness Deyn is also set to appear in a Kevin Sampson movie.

Kate Moss vs Scarlett Johansson, are we seeing double??

Untitled from Victor Del Toro on Vimeo. Madison is 5’10″ and 15 years old, a classical South Carolina beauty comes to us from Vision LA.

Lansing’s face by Didio is very expensive.

Mikael Larsson with Red Model Management. An unconventional beauty. (Ph by Jon Malinowski)

Sam from Boss Models is a sculptor.
———————————————–

Noot Seear is Canadian, totally cool and in the new Twilight movie, here she talks to Style.com and is very funny.

What do Erin O’Connor, Georgia May Jagger, Karen Elson, Naomi Campbelll, Jerry Hall, Thandie Newton, Elizabeth Jagger, Susie Bick and Elizabeth Hurley have in common? They will now be at Tess Management in London (formerly Independent Models). Tess, comprised of Tori Edwards and Sian Steel will debut in September 2009.

Here’s the preliminary New York Fashion Week calendar and here it is at the Tents.

Here’s the milliner background story behind that goooorgeous Madonna headpiece that Linda Evangelista wears.

Padma Lakshmi, photographed by Steven Meisel for her new jewelry line, is really as stunning in person as she is in the campaign.

Erotic magazine Jacques is going high class, in the fashion of French Playboy.

Untitled from Victor Del Toro on Vimeo.

Also 15 and out of Vision LA today is the lovely 5’9″ Maggiemae.