Beautiful Youth Aotearoa: Clyne

Victoria

As we move into shooting season for Black 13, we've been scouring the various local model agencies looking for interesting new models for our local shoots with fashion director Rachael Churchward - and photographers Russ Flatt, Craig Owen, Stephen Tilley, David Shields and Marissa Findlay. In a developmental sense the industry is looking very healthy with a plethora of beautiful new faces coming through at all of the main agencies and also at the boutique establishments. We thought we'd post a few of the new faces that are capturing our eye for a variety of reasons - there are many more who could easily appear in a future issue of Black and many that will succeed elsewhere. First agency, Clyne Models where there is a strong development board - and a high percentage of redheads.

Yasmin Bidois

Lauren

Jono.

Ella Verberne.

Caity.

Declan Riesteren.

Stetsasonic "Talkin All That Jazz"

This hip-hop gem was the second single off Stetsasonic's second album, In Full Gear (1988) and showcases the original hip-hop band's still unique mix of live instrumentation and rap. Pinned on a jazzy shuffle with Lonnie Liston Smith's Expansions bassline - played on stand-up bass - the tune is testament to an incredible era of hip-hop. There's some classic fashion of the time in this clip too - the 'black force' image a la Public Enemy in the bar through to the white boiler suit look, Prince Paul and the crew sure looked the part. De La Soul, Tribe Called Quest, Jungle Brothers, BDP....Talkin All That Jazz would have been influential to them all.

Blacklisted #1

Image: Andy Eaton

Over the last twelve issues of Black Magazine we have featured 'things we love' in our upfront section 'Blacklist.' Today we thought we'd begin to post a series on Blacklog under the title 'Blacklisted' - the people, products, tunes, bands etc that we are loving here at Black. Simple as that, we love this.

Band of Skulls.

This British three piece released their debut album, the charmingly-named Baby Darling Doll Face Honey in March 2009 to considerable critical acclaim. Packed with singles like I Know What I Am, Blood, Fires and the Twilight Saga soundtrack-featuring Friends (but don't hold that against them), yet the album has a couple of killer tracks that haven't joined the single train, notably Dull Gold Heart and the gorgeous, creeping Cold Fame. Considering Band of Skulls only formed in November 2008 they very much look like a band to watch over the next year or two.

Andy Eaton.

At the risk of sounding like a stuck record, we don't take submissions here at Black but every now and then a photographer approaches us about shooting for us and we find it hard to say no. London/New York based photographer Andy Eaton has a style that we believe is quintessentially Black so we have commissioned him to shoot a ten page editorial for Black 13 with stylist Sara Dunn. Andy has a substantial pedigree having worked as an assistant with Solve Sundsbo and Nick Knight before assisting Mert & Marcus for 1 year. More recently he has assisted full-time with Tom Munro in New York.

VSmagazinelive.com.

Fashion films are proliferating on the net, as are sites willing to post moving image fashion. One such site is the online home of VS Magazine. Described as a 'curated and emotional view on fashion and culture' the site, and particularly the television section, is a veritable treasure trove of video, TV, fashion and music clips both contemporary, and enticingly, historical. It's clear they have quality archival researchers on board; clips including Bridget Bardot singing on a motorcycle, David Bowie as a teen fronting a 'long hair protest, the original Nancy Sinatra video for Bang Bang (above), excerpts from film's such as Polanski's Cul de Sac and much more have been lovingly curated in a fab gallery of fashion and culture. Not 100% sure about some of Ellen von Unwerth's films but by and large well worth a look.

Lara Stone in the new Calvin Klein campaign.

Not since the above mentioned Bridget Bardot has a front tooth gap been so adorable and desirable. Lara Stone, a global favourite amongst fashion photographers and the model currently ranked Number 1 in the world by Models.com features in the new campaign for Calvin Klein Collection, ck Calvin Klein and Calvin Klein Jeans. The Calvin Klein Collection images were shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott who are themselves on a trajectory toward Number 1, as the image above would suggest. Beautiful...

Blaire Archibald.

At just 21, Blaire Archibald is finishing his degree at AUT in fashion and design with a project that has captured our attention here at Black, to the degree that we are planning to offer some assistance with said project. The snappily dressed fashionista has a knowledge of the broader industry, including publishing, that belies his age. He is also a model listed on the very strong development board at Clyne Models in Auckland giving him experience on both sides of the camera. Watch this space...

Not just Naked but now very Famous

Huuuuge congratulations to The Naked and Famous who debuted at number one on the New Zealand charts yesterday with their single Young Blood. They have long been one of our favourite bands (from New Zealand or overseas) and when we shot them for Black 12 (above) with Stephen Tilley they were such a cool bunch of people we are now even bigger fans. We've heard a sneak preview of a few songs from the upcoming album, Passive Me, Aggressive You and they're all stunners. Expect very big things...

The Mysterious Mr Vek

We first heard Nothing But Green Lights from Tom Vek's 2005 album We Have Sound a couple of years back and fell in love with the drawling vocals, Talking Heads keys and bobbing bassline, not to mention the super simple, super neat video (below). We Have Sound is a lo fi masterpiece that sits somewhere between The Fall and Beck at their collective best and it's hard to believe that the 2005 outing is the only album this hidden pop genius has produced. However, Vek (real name Tom Vernon-Kell), a twenty-nine year-old Londoner, has been making noises about releasing a new album in 2010, it's just that no one much seems to be able to substantiate this and the man himself flies well under the radar to the point of being mysterious. In recent times his Wikipedia entry has had a number of nameless posts suggesting the album is forthcoming, then not. It might be Island records, but then it might not be. His website includes numerous forums with fans asking where he is, "Tom sighting" etc and other sites are equally abstruse. Odd, obscure, we love it and "there's nothing but green lights" as far as we're concerned "in a 1989 Mercedes Benz..." Bring on that difficult second album Tom...

Black 13 - Robert Erdmann hair shoot with Wendy Iles

Black 13 is rolling quite nicely already and in London over the weekend Robert Erdmann teamed up with Wendy Iles, an Australian-born hair stylist who has worked with a raft of photographers on numerous magazines, celebrities and campaigns. In addition to the beauty editorial, Black beauty editor Stefan Knight will interview Wendy for the third of our series of hair legends following on from Sam McKnight and Kerry Warn. All stocks of her book Archive sold out in Paris within three days and a visit to her site to view a preview of the book indicates why. This woman is truly a 'hair genius' and we are very much looking forward to publishing her work in Black 13.

You go uncle Joe

Image: prodesign.co.nz

Very proud of family this week. Joseph Churchward is a living legend of type having created no less than 654 fonts - all hand drawn in the old style - over a prodigious career littered with milestones. Joseph is Rachael's cousin, although her arm of the family calls him 'uncle.' This week he was presented with the Queens Service Medal as only the most prolific single type designer in the world should be. Joseph was born in Samoa but is proudly Wellingtonian and a super lovely man to boot. Here's the clip of the One News piece this week, you will see what we mean. Congratulations Joseph!

Four Gone...

...eleven to go. Last time we meandered in traffic along Ponsonby Road, the Mini pop-up store on the corner of MacKelvie Street, and beside Workshop Ponsonby, was taking shape and looking a lot more interesting than the open air car park that was there. So too is the 'What's Your Number' campaign that coincides with the store's opening. Only 15 Mini Sohos have been made and these individually numbered vehicles are only available here in Aotearoa, and only available here online at the Mini Online Store. Four of the white silver beasts with varying individual embellishments have already sold and a quick look at the specs shows why. While you are there you can also buy something to wear (above) directly from the Mini-sponsored Stolen Girlfriends Club, and extended family and friends at Black Box. Roll on Mini Ponsonby...

Shooting Dominique

In the latest issue of Black, Australian hair legend Kerry Warn talks about the difference between the huge movie sets he works on and small, compact stills shoots, which he says can often be far more creative and rewarding. Sometimes the smaller the set, the stronger the result. We're running a beauty feature with interesting faces in Black 13 and yesterday a core stripped back crew of photographer Russ Flatt, hair & make-up Stefan Knight and fashion editor Rachael Churchward shot Dominique @ August Models who will likely be in that feature. An Aucklander of Slavic extraction she's just finished a psychology degree and is about to start a law degree and we think she's beautiful. Grant Fell took a few over the shoulder snaps on the trusty Sony Alpha.

Around Louis Vuitton's world with The Selby

Anyone with an interest in the machinations of one of the world's great luxury brands Louis Vuitton, or anyone with a passing interest in fashion full stop, should take the time to go on a web journey with The Selby at Louis Vuitton.com. Todd Selby has singlehandedly created an entire genre online with his photographic forays into the homes of the fashionable, the artistic, the creative and the plain obscure on his wonderful site simply entitled The Selby. Todd has a unique talent; capturing environments, the people who live in them and the synergy between a space, the objects within and its occupants.

Louis Vuitton Fall/winter 2010/2011 - The Journey of a wardrobe is a fascinating insight into the brand and its longstanding and celebrated attention to detail. In Paris we look inside the Louis Vuitton residence in Asmieres (established by Louis Vuitton and his wife Emilie in 1876) observe, in Selby detail, the creation of a range in the workroom, visit the studio where Marc Jacobs weaves his magic and see everything there is to see behind an LV show right down to the model of the room in which the event was held. For those of us used to Antipodean backstage areas, the show backstage area in Paris is a thing of beauty in itself. The journey isn't limited to Paris however; Shanghai, Tokyo, New York and London all feature in a photographic sojourn that is both inspiring and intriguing. Who said the web wasn't dynamic? All images from the site by Todd Selby.