A new star has been added to the American Vogue cover girl rotation: the Queen of Pop (and my personal favorite) Lady Gaga. Upon seeing the new cover on Twitter, I shrieked and squealed (as is a Glamazon tradition) out of delight and well, shock.



Lady Gaga is quite rebellious, edgy and bold to join the ranks of (snore) Anne Hathaway, Sarah Jessica Parker, Nicole Kidman, Blake Lively, Angelina Jolie, Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, Jennifer Aniston, Halle Berry and the like, essentially elite Hollywood (save a celebrated Beyonce and Michelle Obama moment). But this could be a sign Vogue is joining our pop culture obsession, and the present. SN: Rumor also has it Rihanna has an upcoming Vogue cover. Interesting...





On her lovely cover, Gaga wears a Haider Ackmermann Spring 2011 jumpsuit in blush, inside she goes for his gown in brilliant blue.

I think it's BEYOND stunning. Sure the bare makeup, pink bob and elegant jumpsuit isn't exactly typical Gaga (I mean, she's not naked covered in meat or wearing a shotgun bra) but it's not typical Vogue either. It seems Anna Wintour and Lady Gaga met somewhere in the middle. I would've loved something futuristic, structured and avante garde but that'd be more reminiscent of Elle Magazine, don't you think?



Toned-down Gaganess aside, I think the cover is beautiful and am excited to see more pictures (and finally, hear Born This Way!). What do you think of the cover?



Kisses,



Coutura

Am I the only one that still hasn't seen Black Swan?



The movie couldn't have had better timing, and I'm not talking about Oscar season. Black Swan hit theaters at a time where ballerina-inspired fashion, with its whimsical tulle skirts, soft hues and delicate fabrics, is seeing a resurgence.

Taylor Swift embraced the look at this week's People's Choice Awards in a peach dress from J. Mendel which she paired with a soft updo, strappy Prada pumps and bold red lips to add a jolt of sex appeal.

Fittingly, Black Swan star, Natalie Portman, wore the same dress on Vogue's January 2011 cover. Elegant jewelry and soft pink lips completed the look.



Who wore it best? And more importantly, when do I get to wear it?



Kisses,



Coutura

Has anyone seen Black Swan yet?! If so, please refrain from spoiling it by providing detailed scene deets for the rest of us that haven't (me included...I meant to get to it this past weekend, but doing laundry won out over that one..ugh.) OK, now that we've gotten that out of the way, I can share the news that actress Natalie Portman (the star of Black Swan) will be gracing the cover of Vogue's January 2011 issue. I'm no stranger to fawning over her looks (ahem, just click here for evidence of that) but I have to admit that she looks so gorge here on the cover! In the issues, she shares details about the major transformation she had to undergo in order to take on this part. Apparently, she worked 8 hours a day, 6 days a week with former New York City ballet dancer Mary Helen Bowers. It took her about 6 months to create that ballerina body.

Um, that's insane. I can barely get my butt to the gym once a week and once I do I have to go to some sort of organized class because otherwise I'll stay on a machine 15 minutes and call that a work out hahaha. So, I applaud Portman and her ability to transform her body into this greatness and can't wait to see the movie this week!

What do you think of her picture on the cover, Glamazons? I love it! Totally glam.

xo

Ferocia

Remember when Tom Ford hosted a super private showing of his first-ever Women's Collection with barely any editors, no celebrities in the front row and ONE photographer (Terri Richardson)? Well, he finally unveiled images of his collection in next month's Vogue shot by Steven Meisel and presumably to his dismay, those images have hit the internets.



Like Marc Jacobs and Tracy Reese's Spring 2011 collection, Ford presented a seventies-inspired line of fitted dresses in vibrant colors and playful prints like leopard and tye-dye with traces of menswear. For some reason, perhaps given the mere obscurity of all, I thought I'd be laying eyes on something more fascinating, like feathers and hair used as fabric for example.

Ford's desire for exclusivity and elusiveness I can understand (afterall, he's a fashion designer), but his aversion to the internet...to celebs? I mean, it's all a little perplexing. You don't want celebs in your front row, but Beyonce, one of the biggest pop stars of our generation, can walk in your show. If that's not vying for media attention, what is?



Here are Tom Ford's (who now goes by Mr. Ford) quotes on the internet, celebrity and fashion journalism via Vogue:

“I do not understand everyone’s need to see everything online the day after a show. I don’t think it ultimately serves the customer, which is the whole point of my business — not to serve journalists or the fashion system. To put something out that’s going to be in a store in six months, and to see it on a starlet, ranked in US magazine next week? My customer doesn’t want to wear the same thing she saw on a starlet!"

Do you agree that seeing fashion the day after a show (or the day of on The Glamazons, haha) doesn't serve YOU as the customer? Does the fashion industry benefit from celebs wearing their garments?



I'd argue that it does, but immediacy does represent the democratization of fashion, and some people prefer the traditional hierarchy (designers -> editors/buyers -> (and six months later) the public). Even though I'm an editor, I'm not one of those people. Are you? Do you think the new and improved, digitally-enhanced "fashion system" undermines the retail business?



And finally, on to the most important question, which dress do you think Beyonce wore? LOL.



Do you like the collection?



Kisses,



Coutura

Photo Source

We gave you the scoop in June about Halle Berry's Vogue cover and well, it's finally here! The Academy-Award winning beauty covers the ginormous September Fashion issue sporting a blunt bog, and looking as beautiful and confident as ever.



Halle Berry is the second black woman to cover Vogue's September Fashion issue EVER. Naomi Campbell nailed the cover in 1989...yup, a whole 21 years ago.



Shot by Mario Testino, Halle Berry models one of Fall's biggest trends, velvet. Check out the inside spreads and tell us: what do you think of the cover and her new hair look? Is it GLAM or a SHAM? Do you find it upsetting that a black woman hasn't scored the cover of Vogue's September issue in more than two decades?

Discuss.



Kisses,



Coutura



Source

Halle Berry isn't just showing off her bikini body on the beach with little Nahla these days. She's also covering Vogue's "biggest issue ever" and signing on to star in the latest fashion flick, "Shoe Addicts Anonymous."



The comedy, which is scheduled to release in Fall 2011, is an adaptation of Beth Harbison's best-selling book. I love Halle in comedies (so fun! so uninhibited!) so I'm sure it'll be hit. Are you guys looking forward to this?



And if her stunning beauty in Paparazzi shots is any indication, Halle will look ravishing on the cover of Vogue. Our only wish is that little Nahla in a matching outfit, could get some Anna Wintour love as well.

Are you looking forward to Halle's cover? (Here's her old Vogue cover...)

Kisses,



Coutura



Source

Raise your hand if you're tired of seeing the same celebrity on the cover of the same magazine month after month. The newsstand displays the same faces over and over again and it's frustrating and boring.





I mean, how many times can you see Sarah Jessica Parker on the cover of Elle, Nicole Kidman on the cover of Vogue, Mary J. Blige on the cover of ESSENCE, Lauren Conrad on the cover of Seventeen and Angelina Jolie/Brad Pitt/Jennifer Aniston on the cover of [Enter Gossip Magazine here] before it just gets stale?

And once you open the issue and arrive at the Cover story, you learn the magazine cover is just as dull as the accompanying article. Beyonce has nothing new to reveal about her relationship with Jay-Z and Angelina Jolie is still volunteering in foreign countries, having babies and getting tattoos. Yawn.

Celebrities are even starting to shed their clothes in magazines (hello Kim Kardashian and Christina Aguilera!) to show us something we haven't seen already. Snore.





The good news is that the magazine industry may have finally woken up. Here's what editors are saying about the same old celeb covers via The Daily Beast:





Glamour editor Cindi Leive explains:

"I think what you’re seeing in the magazine world is a certain amount of fatigue with the same old, same old faces. One reason we had a nice sale with Taylor Swift was that you hadn’t seen her on a million magazine covers before and there was actually the hope that ‘Oh my God! I might actually learn something new.’ I think taking risks is serving people well right now."

But magazine guru Samir Husni says with some celebs, there's nothing new to learn. He argues:

"What else do you really want to know about Angelina Jolie? With a lot of these celebrities, there’s nothing left to show unless they actually take their clothes off. We’ve covered them from every shape, every corner. We’ve shown them with their kids, and with their boyfriends and with their girlfriends, so that’s why you’re starting to see semi-naked soccer players and a semi-naked Tiger Woods. That’s what it takes to survive in a digital age."

Elle's creative director Joe Zee suggests: 

"It’s about commerce. At some point, you have to go and find something new."

Yeah, duh. 





No one pins down the source of the celebrity cover backlash in the article; suggestions run the gamut from reality TV stars (everyone is a celeb these days, the reasoning goes) to the digital media shift (no one reads mags anymore to begin with). But the upshot is the same: it's time for a new cover subject.

Many are arguing that the answer is to go back to the original subject of magazine covers: models. Having worked at a magazine, there are so many upsides to featuring a model over a celebrity. They are trained to give a great photo (they're masters of the smize). Conversely, you can go hoarse trying to coax a camera-shy celeb to come out of her shell. And rather than arrive with their boyfriend, publicist, manager, mom, best friends, doctor and personal paparazzi in tow, (most) models come, do a job and then leave. They have a more business-like approach to photo shoots as modeling is their main profession. 





The problem is the magazine-buying public is so accustomed to buying an issue because of their favorite celeb that some wonder: will they be inclined to pick up a book with a relatively unknown, yet beautiful, model's face on the cover? What do you think?





Are you tired of seeing the same celeb faces? What's the solution? Are models on magazine covers a good alternative? Do you even buy magazines at all? Discuss.





Kisses,





Coutura

To everyone that has ever approached me wanting to get into a fashion show, here's your chance. Vogue and Fashion's Night Out are sponsoring New York's largest fashion show ever on September 7, 2010, and it's open to the public.





The historic extravaganza will feature over 200 models and looks with 1,500 seats for onlookers. The whole city will be in attendance.





Go to Lincoln Center's box office this summer to get tickets to the event. And feel good about your purchase: a portion of the proceeds will go to The New York City AIDS fund.





Queen Anna Wintour says the show will focus on fall trends to encourage shopping: “We felt it is important for people see what wonderful fashion will be in stores at that moment. This show will focus on the key trends we’ve identified for Fall so that shoppers will have plenty of inspiration to join the fun during Fashion’s Night Out."





See you at the show!





Kisses,





Coutura

Sarah Jessica Parker is something of a fashion icon. So it's only natural that she grace the cover of Vogue for the umpteenth time to discuss the release of Sex and the City II, starring her fashion-obsessed character, Carrie. The surprise here, is well, her face. It almost looks computer-generated.



Everything else about the May cover, shot by Mario Testino and styled by Tonne Goodman, is perfection from Sarah's brilliant blue dress to her radiant smile (she's so charming!) but the photoshop job is scary! It's almost as awful as Sarah's last rendezvous with Photoshop for the Sex and the City II poster, where she looks like she visited Mars in the movie, instead of Abu Dhabi. And what's with her eyes?

With French Marie Claire ditching Photoshop for the April issue, and Kim Kardashian showing up naked and allegedly "not retouched" in Bazaar, we have to wonder why Vogue and SATC II picked the worst possible time to be heavy-handed with airbrushing.



We all know SJP isn't Demi Moore, aesthetically (though Sarah's body is..completely perfect) and that's part of Carrie's charm. The everyday woman, who isn't a beauty God, can relate to Carrie's imperfections (that were highlighted in the episode in the First Season when she was best friends with a modelizer and dated a model who liked her nose because it was "different." Yeah, I'm like an encyclopedia for Sex and the City episodes...but I digress...).



So what does it say to that everyday woman, who related to Carrie, when you have to distort SJP's facial features until she's nearly unrecognizable in order to sell a magazine, or a movie? Nothing positive...nothing positive, at all.



So please, Vogue editors and SATC II ad execs, walk away from Photoshop. Carrie's fine the way she is. Thanks!



What do you think, Glamazons?



Kisses,



Coutura