Friday, February 13, 2009

more than you needed to know about LANDIS SMITHERS :

facebook is the devil.
but the good kind of devil. you know, with the sexy red swimsuit
and cute horns.
i am sucked into that vortex every day,
and recently have responded to my first meme.
i'm replicating it here,
for those of you not "friends" with me directly.
and if you read it,
yes,
you have to do this too.
call it passive tagging.
you're it:
***********

1.
i was born on the day the first men landed on the moon.
my grandfather seriously tried to get my mother to name me "moon".
thankfully, my mother was not soleil moon frye.
or gwyneth paltrow.

2.
i grew up in london, new york, merrakesh, and houston.
new york wins.
but in houston i had a pool.

3.
i was the person in our college group who was not supposed to "settle down",
ever.
i was the first person to find someone and settle down.
this taught me not to trust the expectations of friends.

4.
my first name is not landis.

5.
i believe that dogs > people.

6.
the best education i ever got was from the jesuits in my high school.
and mrs. murphey taught a better english lit class than any professor at cornell.

7.
i think the prius is the work of the devil.

8.
i believe clothing can change the way you feel about yourself,
and change the way the world feels about you.
that is, in the end, true power.

9.
for the first year that we had Grr, every time I came home,
she would whine, squat, and pee all over the floor.
at first i thought she was afraid of me, and then the vet told me that, no,
she simply had picked me as her mother.
i did not find that comforting.
because mommy had to clean up the pee.

10.
i in no way planned to become a film director.
i in no way planned to run a brand.
i believe in fate, and i believe in free will.
it's how you combine the two that makes life interesting.

11.
my sister and i lead parallel lives.
to a degree that has now become spooky.

12.
i love to travel.
but i hate to commit to it, plan it, or think about it.

13.
some of the most intimate friends i have
are people i barely have spent time with, or only know virtually.
(that's you sofia suarez, and gretchen . . .)

14.
i have been arrested.

15.
my mother was a beauty queen,
complete with crown and court.
and yes, that did affect my life.

16.
i believe models are smarter than people give them credit for.
i also believe that beauty makes life easier on people.

17.
i once knocked over iman in the lobby of the four seasons.
she was very gracious.
and very tall.

18.
i would live in hong kong in an instant.

19.
i would live in paris for a lifetime.

20.
but new york city will always be home.

21.
i spent my christmas holidays in st. croix for a decade.

22.
i believe passion is amazing, but exhausting.
happiness is what sustains.

23.
i have a tendency to buy anything that has shagreen on it.

24.
lanvin and rick owens make me kind of wet.

25.
i am comfortable with my materialism, superficiality, and self-centeredness.
because they are part of what make me generous, thoughtful, and outgoing.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

tresemme - behind the shoot, day two

send sergio up!
lay the track down!
kick the music, turn on the monitors
and WALK.
as the time counted down,
as all good shoots do,
we recounted the journey to each other,
we posed for pics
and we looked forward to the work,
coming together.
glamour, people.
it's this fun.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

tresemme - behind the shoot, day one

we're backstage. and we're "backstage".
mix in some models and some bottega boots:
we're doing hair, people.
lovin yamila and her smile
it was (lots of) lights, camera and action:
and then, a preview of day deux:

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

tresemme - the fittings and the genius of daniel caudill

ask your stylist,
daniel caudill,
to be inspired by the spring runway.
to think "structure, looseness, elegance, form".
to limit the palette.
and to make it all from scratch.
sigh.
and, no, not a men's look in the mix.
(alas.)

Monday, February 9, 2009

tresemme - locations, the before view, as in "before the storm"

welcome to the set. sets.
it's a runway. you can see it, right?
i think if you squint you can see. i mean, the models must help, right?
how about this? know what this is?
very good!
an argentine wine smuggling warehouse turned tango club.
which has nothing to do with the shoot.
but what we turned it into? now that's another thing . . .