Fashion Models [Search results for Model of the Year] 

Kate King (Canada/FORD, NY) walked Wang in her first season ever FW11

New York Fashion Week is here and from within the modeling industry, everyone's eyes are wide open to spot the next big face of the season. BCBG Max Azria on Day 2 will often set a precedent, followed by Alexander Wang on Day 3. The big question about Wang's show is, "Who will open Alexander Wang?" Wang has recently set a precedent with discovering The New Face of the season. I wish I could say it was me (ha) as he (Alexander Wang) often remembers me when I wear my Marc Jacob's silk georgette twill top with built in bow tie (shot his party at Paris Fashion Week wearing that and then a year later he recalled it), but alas reality sets in.

Wang wasn't always the hit wonder for models though. Up until he got the CFDA Top 10 nomination, he was casting more unknown girls. Taking a quick look at the history of who opened Alexander Wang therafter, this is what we get:

SS08 Noot Sear
FW08 Freja Beha Erichsen
SS09 Raquel Zimmerman
FW09 Natasha Poly
SS10 Mirte Maas
FW10 Natalia Vodianova
SS11 Britt Maren
FW11 Aymeline Valade

Is it any wonder with A-listers like Freja and Raquel opening in the past, that when a new face gets the first impression look in a show chalked full of A-list models and alpha editors now, the new face gains noteworthy public recognition in the modeling industry? Or when a new face walks the show at all for that matter...

Hang with me here for just a couple of more minutes. If you take a look at the other models who get cast for Wang, you will see a lineup full of A-listers. Out of curiosity, I wanted to see who The Real Queen of the Alexander Wang runway was. Which model has walked Alexander Wang MORE than any other model? So I went back in the archives at both style.com and vogue.com till they didn't have any older shows than SS17 and made a mini Runway IQ tracker which you can play with below.

Without further ado, the winners are:

1. Hanne Gaby Odiele (Ford) 8 looks
2. Freja Beha Erichsen (IMG) 7 looks
Kasia Struss (Women) 7 looks

3. Abbey Lee Kershaw (Next)6 looks
Alla Kostromichova (Women) 6 looks
Lily Donaldson (IMG) 6 looks
Magdalena Frackowiak (DNA) 6 looks

What's the point of all this? Well as the saying goes, you are judged by the company you keep and if you are keeping company in Alexander Wang's line up, a designer celebrated by the CFDA and getting press left and right for his companies sales, you are in good company.

Recently Cara Delevingne (pronounced Dela-veen) won the British Fashion Awards Model of the Year for 2012. According to the Daily Mail quote, "Cara’s unique sense of style and flair in front of the camera has made her one of the most prominent names in fashion" Given what I know of Cara's Off Duty charisma (as even seen in these pictures) I have a hard time believing they were minimizing "unique sense of style and flair" to just her On Duty personae. Go Cara!

When I had my twins - 15 years ago - I think I was a pretty good mother.

I think I was like most new mothers, in that I did everything by the book. I kept them on a schedule, I burped them after each feeding, I gave them a bath nearly every single day, I put shoes and socks on their feet, I brushed their hair and put lovely pony-tails on the sides of their heads. I was a good mom.

The more kids I began to have, the farther and farther I began to stray from the "model mother" persona that I once resembled. Actually, it probably began to fade long before I actually gave birth to my son. The beginning of the downward spiral was - oh ... probably after about the first year after my twins were born.

So ... that means - if am going to be honest - that I have been a less than "model mother" for at least 15 years - giving myself credit for being exceptional for merely one year!

Yep - that sounds about right.

I have been very aware of this failing for many, many years. It bothers me, of course, and I often try to do better - but, I am just a mediocre mom in most regards. I yell - far too much! I complain - far too much! I set very high expectations - way too much! On some things - like school - I think I am pretty successful as a mother. And, in raising some pretty fun, loving and socially adept children - I have done well. But ... there are certainly some areas that I am miserable at and have failed pathetically. I am a mediocre mom. I know all this.

Yesterday, Alexis came over to where I was sitting on the couch and stood in front of me.

In her hand she held a banana.

I watched as she began eating this banana.

Suddenly ... I saw ... as she folded down the peel, the nastiest bruise on the side of the banana.

In my mind I thought, "Is she going to keep eating that yucky, bruised banana?"

She took another bite.

In my mind I thought, as I squinted my eyes and my stomach turned a flip, "Is she going to eat that yucky part of that banana?"

She took yet another bite.

In my mind I thought, "Should I tell her? Should I tell her?" and then I watched, through squinted eyelids (because I couldn't watch out-right or I felt like I surly might throw up), as she took a big bite - eating the yucky bruised part of the banana.

She stood in front of me and ate the whole banana - yucky, squishy, bruised parts and all.

I let her.

I never said a word.

I debated about telling her, but thought, "It won't kill her. If she likes the taste and the texture doesn't bother her - let her eat it. I wouldn't eat it, but it won't kill her. It shouldn't do anything to her, other than encourage astonishment from others if she ever does it around anyone outside of our house. That's okay - my sister has been known to eat boiled shrimp - shells and all (blech!) - Alexis will fit right in - as long as she always sits next to my sister. "

Being as Alexis is the 4th child - it occurred to me - while I watched her eat this banana - that I would have had a hard time eating - that I have never told that child about rotten fruit. Either that - or she chose to ignore this lesson and has decided to distinguish between those things she will eat and won't eat, on her own. I prefer to believe the latter.

This is just an example of how my mothering skills have seriously deteriorated over the years. Somewhere along the way, I stopped teaching the lesson about rotten fruit.

I'm certain there are many other lessons that I have failed to teach Alexis that I probably taught my first born children - because she is at the tail-end of our line of children and also because she has been stuck with me as her mother (*sigh*).

I hope she survives.

On the upside ... I guess with Alexis around, not much fruit will ever go to waste in our house. And ... when my kids eat boiled shrimp, I'll try to remind them to peel the shells off first. My poor sister - she didn't realize you weren't supposed to eat the shells until I told her (you should have seen my face when I saw her crunching on those shrimp and then how we laughed - HA!) - just this past summer - she's in her 40's. I wonder why our mother never told my poor sister to take off those shells? Maybe my poor mothering skills aren't my fault at all - maybe it's just a disease that has been passed down from generation to generation in our family. That's probably what happened. We're just defective or genetically challenged in the mothering department.

This is Glenda Bailey--Editor-in-Chief of Harpers Bazaar...wearing a great statement necklace with Hermès Kelly briefcase.

This is Tyler Riggs. He's going to Paris to model for the next Louis Vuitton campaign.
suspenders--H & M
jeans--Robert Geller
hat--New York Echo

Her dress is from Rag and Bone. The shot was taken outside of 635 West 42nd at the FORM show.

This is designer Nicole Rendone wearing a self made dress outside of the FORM show.

Virginia Smith

Directly above is George Camany. His shoes are from Té Casan and are made from recycled Pony Hair with vegetable dyed leather. His square ring is made from a bulls horn and the round one from bone marrow.

This is absolutely gorgeous Hope Dworaczyk.
dress--Elizabeth James
jacket and scarf--L.A.M.B.
heels--Christian Louboutin
bag--Chanel

This is Luttifi Madjid, the Fashion Forecaster for Nordstrom's. It turns out that Nordstrom's forecasts the direction of fashion a full year in advance, so he was actually measuring the pulse of fashion for Spring of 2010. He suggested that soft color palettes along with Gothic (think the FIT exhibition) references to medieval and victorian times might be popular.

When I had my twins - 17 years ago - I think I was a pretty good mother.

I think I was like most new mothers, in that I did everything by the book. I kept them on a schedule, I burped them after each feeding, I gave them a bath nearly every single day, I put shoes and socks on their feet, I brushed their hair and put lovely pony-tails on the sides of their heads. I was a good mom.

The more kids I began to have, the farther and farther I began to stray from the "model mother" persona that I once resembled. Actually, it probably began to fade long before I actually gave birth to my son.

The beginning of the downward spiral was - oh ... probably after about the first year after my twins were born.

So ... that means - if am going to be honest - that I have been a less than "model mother" for at least 16 years - giving myself credit for being exceptional for merely one year!

Yep - that sounds about right.

Go HERE to read the rest of this post.

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David Cameron just officially became Britain's Prime Minister, replacing Gordon Brown. Often referred to as "Sam Cam" his wife Samantha Cameron is seen here wearing Erdem on her way to the Erdem show at the Fall/Winter 2010 shows at London Fashion Week.

You can't see it here, but Samantha is due for a new baby this September. What about this makes her a role model you may ask? Because just last year, she lost her oldest son to cerebral palsy and epilepsy. The fact that she is 'fighting on' despite such a recent loss suggests to me that this is a woman filled with indomitable faith and hope.

May she be not only a fashion role model for this new era in England, but also a constant source of inner inspiration for women around the world as well.

via her models.com page , "16 year-old Dutch model Daphne Groeneveld was discovered in Amsterdam when a woman randomly approached her about starting a career. After just one year of modeling she has graced the cover of Vogue Paris with Tom Ford, walked in the Valentino, Chanel, and Dior Haute Couture shows in Paris, and received dancing lessons from Madonna for a Miu Miu ad campaign video. She lists Lara Stone and Doutzen Kroes as models she looks up to and admires."