Image of the Day

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Oddly one of my favorite photographs by Horst P. Horst – a 1946 portrait of Babe Paley, for Vogue. Prints of this and four other classic Vogue photographs (in editions of 30 each) are available from net-a-porter.com – click here to browse.

Smoke Like Ribbons

You may have already heard about Coco Avant Chanel, the forthcoming Chanel biopic, which stars Audrey Tatou as the great Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel.

Chanel has been portrayed on film at least a few times previously:

Marie-France Pisier in Chanel Solitaire (1981)

Shirley MacLaine in Coco Chanel (2008).

…and live on stage: Katherine Hepburn in Coco (1969).

When I think of Coco Chanel, I think of this classic 1935 Horst image…

…crossed with this 1961 photo of her adjusting a model's dress with a grandma-sized cherry at the end of her ever-present cigarette.
An interesting, multi-dimensional personality, to be sure.

Audrey Tatou seems like a fairly solid casting choice to me, and with Karl Lagerfeld's design direction, I think Coco Avant Chanel shows a lot of promise. More images here.
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The Unseen Hand

.Emily found this great British Vogue photography book in Bozeman, Montana. It discusses the process of how the magazine has worked with photographers over the years, and features a bunch of outtakes, contact sheets, re-touching notes, correspondence, etc.

Here are some highlights (click to enlarge).

Michael Cooper, 1965

Helmut Newton, 1966

A 22 year-old David Bailey's first contribution to Vogue, 1960. The letter is an interesting read: "In return for this guarantee, it is understood you will do no editorial work for either Harpers Bazaar or the Queen."

Norman Parkinson, 1958 and 1960.

John Deakin, 1952. ("I am very worried about John Deakin at the moment, since he is obviously a very sick man, and should not really be working at all. As you know, he has noone to look after him, and in his present condition he is finding it extremely difficult to wash, shave, etc., and I think that the whole business is beginning to get him down.")

Ellen Von Unwerth, 1991. (Really classic and beautiful compared to some of her later work—this reminds me of a higher contrast Peter Lindbergh.)

Unknown, 1974. (Looks a little like later Sam Haskins, or Jeanloup Sieff in color.)

Guy Bourdin, 1971 and 1970.

Just Jaeckin, 1967.

Bob Richardson, 1966.

Don Honeyman, 1952.

Horst, 1949.

Guy Bourdin, 1977. (I would not be surprised if this shoot was the inspiration for the current Versace campaign by Mario Testino, below.)