Above is Peter M, another professional New York Street Fashion photographer. While not doing street fashion work for ELLE, he's busy updating his blog super.fantastic.picture.time on a daily basis with his latest photos. It's a good picture when you click to enlarge the image.
Put together: cool tie, cardigan, cuff links, and really cool shoes. Spotted on West Broadway.
I had a project I created this past fashion month which was supported by a few model enthusiasts, some of which have internet sites.
The project is still in it's BETA stages and needs to be tweaked before release to the public, lest someone steal the idea.
So in the meantime, a special word of thanks goes out to:
1. Claudia Vitarelli--Parsons student, for managing the execution of the project. It was an enormous time consuming task.
2. Campbell Gray--Columbia student, thanks for massive insights into the twittersphere.
3. Bonae's Blog--more models off duty, you can start by clicking through to his blog to an energetic shot of Freja
4. From A to 12th--check out his blog by starting here with a shot of one of his favorite models: Valerija Kelava
5. Naqia Esufaly--she hung out with all the street photographers during fashion month. We tried to convince her to start a blog, but she'd rather go straight into the modeling industry
6. Devore Irvin--almost lost it when he saw Lara Stone leave Calvin Klein. It's ok, I love her too.
7. [en]mASSE--a new art/fashion publication that's currently stocked at Spring/Lafayette and 40th/6th Avenue. Site here
Dree Hemingway, December 14, 2008...before she became a media celebrity.
Joan Smalls, back on June 3, 2009 before she became a Vogue It Girl.
Frida Gustavsson, at London Fashion Week back on September 23, 2009, in her first runway season, before she became a street style phenomena.
Tati Cotliar before she even finished her first runway season back at New York Fashion Week on September 25, 2009
Mirte Maas just after finishing her first ever runway season on November 19, 2009. Before she went on to multiple shoots with Steven Meisel, the Balenciaga campaign, and a Vogue China Cover.
Ruby Aldridge, on March 3, 2010. Before she went on to be shot by Juergen Teller for the Marc by Marc Jacobs campaign as well as by nearly every other street style blogger around.
Lindsey Wixson on February 10, 2010, just after debuting with a Miu Miu exclusive.
Ming Xi, during her first ever Paris Ready To Wear show on March 6, 2010, in a Paris Metro Stop. This is before her Givenchy campaign went mainstream.
Samantha Gradoville, on July 14, 2010. She hasn't even finished a complete runway season yet. Last season she Opened and Closed PRADA, one of the most influential shows any model can walk in, let alone a new model who Opens and Closes the show. Here she is at the recent Paris Couture shows.
The Independent, a British based newspaper recently mentioned this about altamira, "Dubbed 'Models off duty,' this blog captures the streetstyle of all kinds of fashion professionals including the industry's best-known models, often predicting soon-to-be-famous new faces."
Not only has this site been recognized as the single most powerful concentrated resource for models street style on the internet, but over time, that reach and influence will just grow more and more.
So stay tuned for updates during the coming fashion season.
Who will be the next big face of the SS17 season? Above you will see a google table from the SS 11 New York Fashion Week shows which I designed in an effort to answer that question for the SS17 season. This was a personal project of mine I coordinated with the help of about 6 other people. The objective was to provide an easy drop down menu to track the shows the girls walked and thus recognize the best new faces to watch as well as predict which models were being favored by designers and/or casting directors.
Since history often has a tendency to repeat itself, I thought the information from the SS17 shows might help predict the coming SS17 shows. Not all shows are included though, just the more influential ones.
So for a change of pace on the blog, I thought I'd plug in some quick analysis of the past in order to help foresee the future. What are the most directional shows for a model to walk at New York Fashion Week (and fashion month in general) and what makes those shows valuable for a model? Let's start with Calvin Klein, the legacy of campaigns which helped launch Kate Moss into stardom.
Calvin Klein SS17 basic break down as a predictor of the SS17 show:
21 different models/34 different looks.
2 models walked 3 different looks each
9 models walked 2 different looks each10 models walked 1 different look
Easy Facial Recognition--the girls wear little make historically, so a place in the Calvin Klein lineup will improve the booking chances for the SS17 campaign/editorial season.
2 different shows--There are 2 showings of the Calvin Klein show, so all key editors, stylists, and photographers usually attend. This quantity of attendees improves the chances that the models will be recalled for future bookings.
good model to look ratio/only 21 models for 34 looks--unlike other shows which have 1 model per look. The limited number of models improves the chances their face will be recognized for future bookings.
conclusions: repetition, key attendees, and proven track record make Calvin Klein a key show for models to walk
32% chance a model will walk the runway more than once. A repeat walk is worth more than a single walk because the repetition gives the editors another chance to recall the face. It's like a 2d go see.
two different shows reduces chances that a possible influential attendee does not get to see a key face.
Somebody behind the scenes at Calvin Klein chose Daphne Groeneveld to walk the runway 3 times. Look how well she fared afterward in the editorial/campaign season. Basically, if you see a girl walk Calvin Klein 3 times this SS17 season, the odds are good she will be a big name to follow.
Back to regular scheduled street style shots soon!
With fashion month soon to be upon us, models will be attending casting calls in between fittings, shows, and visits to their agencies. If you haven't seen what a casting call for a runway show is like, it can be quite anxiety driven. Girls are literally lined up by the 10's and 20's outside in hallways. Some Casting Directors have pre-casting castings, in which they will see hundreds of girls in just 2 days time, so they can edit down their choices for runway shows accordingly. Just try mentioning the name Russell Marsh to a model and watch her reaction. Because of the timing, I thought it was appropriate to republish an interview I did with Sarah Doukas, the founder of Storm Model Management and the one who discovered Kate Moss at JFK airport. In it, we talked about the impact of style on a models career.
We sat down for a chat at her agency in South Kensington and what follows is a brief glimpse of the modeling world, distilled ultimately into two major categories: how a models personal style can help create more opportunities for them and how press (think my blog here) can help create more opportunities for models as well.
I must add that everyone at Storm Models from their Press Officer Paula Karaiskos to their entire New Faces Division was a pleasure to work with. Many thanks to everyone at Storm who helped me along the way and especially to Sarah for breaking from her hectic schedule for the interview.
THE IMPACT OF PERSONAL STYLE ON THE SUCCESS OF A MODELS CAREER
Craig: Can a models sense of style positively impact her career?
Sarah: I definitely think it can positively impact her career. It's got to be simple but the point about that question is, that if they have absolutely no style and they go out just not looking great, they're wearing very unflattering clothes and things like that, then it's definitely going to have a negative impact.
Craig: really?
Sarah: Oh god yes, there's no question. I'm obsessed with finding British girls. It's my big thing....and it's hard to get them to the point of going out to do shows...I know that once they hit that international circuit, and they're sitting in a Paris agency and seeing those Parisian clients, if they don't look the part...you know they're wearing some kind of scraggy old t-shirt...(sighs)..they don't have to go and spend a great deal of money, but style is really important, very simple. So I think it is important.
Craig: so the lack of style can definitely negatively impact
Sarah: Impact. There's no doubt that lack of style can negatively impact. I'm not talking about wearing Balenciaga, but very simple High Street stuff. That elongates your legs and is just flattering.
STORM AGENCY TAKES ACTIONS TO IMPROVE A MODELS STYLE
Craig: do you guys tell models how to dress here?
Sarah: yeah
Craig: for castings?
Sarah: yes
Craig: So if you don't mind me asking in what? just jeans...stuff that shows their body?....is that what they're supposed to wear?
Sarah: I think if they walked around in a great big smock it would be a bit a problem for a client and I'm not suggesting that they look provocatively, you know wearing sexy stuff but certainly stuff that shows the length of their body and that they're slim. You can get somebody with the most fantastic figure and they come in here and may be in a dress like this (motions wide with hands) the client would say, "well I wonder what's going on there....have you put on weight?"...They can look at their book but they don't really know...so it's advisable to dress in something that can really see, you know show your shape. That's what I think.
Craig: so the key for style...there's not many options if you're having to wear skinny jeans and t-shirts??
Sarah: well you can wear leggings, they are back in fashion. You can still layer up. You can wear a really nice cardi with a longer tightish dress with leggings. There are lots of options. You can wear a short skirt with leggings. With boots. Again with layers. But just not, you can't walk around in sort of voluminous clothes as the clients are going to say "Hey whats going on under there? Maybe she's pregnant?"
Craig: So you do intervene then? On occasion, when it comes to a girl's style?
Sarah: Well I sit at the booking table. I do all the time. I like everybody to be autonomous in their job here and do their thing. I don't want to look over peoples shoulder. I hate that kind of thing because I work at the booking table with everybody and I don't have an office. You know, I'm just one of them, I'm not the boss or any such thing.
But yeah I do because I know its going to have a negative impact if they go out looking like that. And they appreciate it. You can say it in a really nice way. You don't have to say, "listen you have terrible style. We need to completely change you." You just have to say, "now listen, when you go out I want you to look great."
GREAT PERSONAL STYLE CREATES MORE SALES VALUE FOR BOOKING AGENTS
Sarah: You know they go into a French agency or a New York agency, the bookers are looking at them for the first time and at the end of the day we have to be realistic about this job: they are selling a product, those booking agents. So they have to believe in it when they see it. So they have to see somebody looking -- great. The book can look fantastic. But you know what? You need to believe to sell something, of course you do. You can't make any bones about it. It's a human business. And I really like these girls or I wouldn't do it. But we are selling something. So you must look good.
THE IMPACT OF PRESS ON A MODELS BOOKING VALUE
Craig: regarding press as opposed to runway shows, advertising campaigns and editorials, press like a girl gets her photo taken and she's in the New York Times...or interviews...like this is a form of press (I pointed to 1 of 4 of my Teen Vogue solo pages)
Sarah: does it have their names?
Craig: it does
Sarah: Exactly, that's very important. Years ago nobody knew who models were. Apart from those famous models, they were never given credit in a magazine or anything so there were was no credits given. So that was one thing that people were quite anonymous. And i think press is huge and I think it's really important.
We started with PR in 89 or 90. Because I just thought it was hugely important and Richard Branson was my partner for many years and he was like, "Sarah" we know he likes the press...he was like "it's really important"
I think it's important. Kate Moss is the first one that we did it with. And I build press books and I've done it on all my models. Whether it be Sophie Dahl, Lily Cole, Devon Aoki, Jourdan Dunn, Behati Prinsloo, Liberty Ross....
Craig: one thing that really gets me about press is, yeah it's cool because the model gets her name circulated in the public, but how does that impact the booking value of a model?
Sarah: Huge, because you know you've got a model "Ann Smith" who doesn't get any press, who is a great looking girl, and works alot. And you've got somebody else, say "Paula Reed" who gets press, is out in the public domain, if you went and asked somebody in the street do you know who this is? They'd say yes. Well that's what market research is. So then you get a big company going, "I want a name." So you put this beautiful girl up who hasn't got press and you put this one up who has got press. Who are they going to choose? Does the general public know this person? So they sell masses and her value is much higher than this one's is. Way higher.
ALL THINGS EQUAL, THE MODEL WITH MORE PRESS GETS MORE OPPORTUNITIES
Craig: so everything else being equal, they both walked the same amount of runway shows, they both did the same advertising campaigns and editorials, but one just got the press, that one is going to be the more valuable one then?
Sarah: yes, much more. Look at our magazines. Look at the campaigns. They're all celebrities. Actresses. Somebody well known, they take up what, 80-90% of fabulous campaigns. You know that's because that's the power of somebody whose got a name....
But if you're in the business. If you see your chance that somebody can go that route and if they want to, you've got to take it because it's going to be a huge benefit financially to them and it's going to be a benefit to the agency...it feeds on itself. As soon as you do some press, it's unbelievable. You get so many opportunities open. People are calling. It opens doors.
Craig: so being that press is so important, do you train models in self-publicizing?
Sarah: There are definite pitfalls. Of course you say to them "look, don't open up too much about your private life, or things you don't want to say." You have to learn how to talk to press, but you need to keep it professional but you still need to keep it real. They need to be interested in you as a person. At the end of the day you've got to understand that you can just chat away and end up saying something that you wish you hadn't said. So you do have to be guarded. Open but guarded...Paula would sit in if it was somebody young. Like when Jourdan had done press. She would sit in....
PRESS MUST INCLUDE A MODELS NAME TO BE IMPACTFUL
Craig: Regarding press, it's valuable as long as it includes the models name?
Sarah: Oh it has to. It has to be all about her.
Craig: So just a photo without the name isn't necessarily valuable?
Sarah: nobody would know who you were....if they don't have the name, then the general public just don't know. It's interesting now when people ring and they say they, "Ah, I want somebody well known." Well it's not easy. Not that many models are well known anymore. They're just not -- for the general public. For our world, we know who they are, but the man walking down the street doesn't. They have to constantly see the image of a person and interviews on her, with her name, with her name, constantly for it to get into their head and they suddenly say, "Oh I know who this person is"
WORDS OF WISDOM TO THE COMMERCIAL MODEL
Craig:....commercial versus high fashion...who makes more money in the short-term?
Sarah: the commercial girls make a fortune
Craig: they make tons
Sarah: they make tons!
Craig: why is it then that every girl aspires to the high fashion?
Sarah: because we all want to be driving a Ferrari don't we?
Craig: but you don't necessarily make as much money do you if you go the high fashion route?
Sarah: no, You know you always get these girls that make a load of money. You know they're fantastic looking girls and they're doing brilliantly. And they're like, "you know what, I'm going to cut all my hair off. I'm going to go seriously edgy. I want you to get me into...." And I'm like "You're taking a massive risk. You're going to ruin your market in the short-term" And it happens. It does happen. I can mention lots of girls who it has happened....I always think, "You should be glad for what you've got. I understand wanting to aspire to better and greater things. But, you could in the short term lose your whole market "
Craig: so a girl can start off as a commercial model and then go the high fashion route?
Sarah: it happens
Craig: does it really?
Sarah: yeah
THE MONETARY VALUE OF OPENING AND CLOSING A SHOW
Craig: when a model opens and closes a show, do they get paid extra?
Sarah: well I don't know that they get paid extra per se, but if a model is good enough to open and close, she may well be on a much higher rate than somebody else. I mean it's negotiated. It's all negotiated.
NEW MAGAZINES NEED GREAT PHOTOGRAPHERS WITH A GREAT TEAM TO BOOK TOP MODELS
Craig: I've got another question for you. A new magazine, a start up magazine in London calls you up and they say "we want your top girl" What are the credentials that someone has to bring for a new magazine?
Sarah: They'd have to bring an amazing photographer, stylist, hair and make up...all the jazz.
Craig: What if they don't have a famous photographer?
Sarah: You would have to be very careful with the top talent. Because you don't really know what it's going to look like. You'd ask for a dummy copy. And this that and the other but you wouldn't give top talent.
The first batch of photos of the girl in this post was taken here.
Now you can see where the second batch of pictures were taken. This is the angle that Benjamin chose for the final picture.
On Sunday afternoon, I had the pleasure of meeting one of Europe's most well known Street Fashion photographers -- Benjamin from Stil in Berlin. If you haven't already checked out their site, I recommend clicking around a bit when you do. They have some really amazing pictures.
Naturally I jumped at the chance to pick Ben's brain and being the patient gentleman that he is, Benjamin answered with aplomb and honesty:
How has Stil in Berlin evolved differently than where you originally thought it would go back when you first started it?
When Mary first asked me to join up with her to hit the streets of Berlin, she already had a plan of how Stil in Berlin could be. Of course having some advertisements connected to fashion was a thought, but we wanted to be the blog as clean as possible. So we just started out going into the city for an hour a week.
But the traffic on our site grew, especially after an article on slate.com (http://www.slate.com/id
Since then we did several interviews for online as well as print magazines, an exibhition (collaboration the Style-scouts organized by Style Scout from London. This really helped Stil in Berlin to be known and from then on people asked us the be involved in different projects. We made streetstyle videos for current-tv and we provide a major two monthly Berlin magazine with streetstyle articles.
A couple of weeks ago we even were invited by Chanel for a trip to Paris to check out their new campaign on the Coco Mademoiselle campaign. So right now things are going very well, I never would have dreamed of how Stil in Berlin would grow, and our website is still very clean.
When someone says "no" to having their picture taken, do you persist or do you walk away?
Well Germans are people that normally say what's on their mind. So if someone says "no" in most cases it will not turn into a "yes". To convince them we do tell him/her that their outfit is magnificent and that it will be only a matter of a minute. But gladly not a lot of people turned us down. And if they do the main reason is that they have to be at some appointment.
It was a pleasure meeting Benjamin and look forward to meeting the both of you in Berlin soon!
Spotted in Nolita, Chelsea is a former intern for Amanda Brooks and she attended Parsons. I've seen a lot of "boho chic" this summer, but don't recall ever seeing it in black as worn here by Chelsea. If you like cats and fashion then maybe you have something in common with her and would enjoy a visit to her style blog at: ilovecatparty.blogspot.com .
Yesterday I was able to catch up with Jourdan Dunn, Natasha Poly, and Jessica Stam. To see their pics and find out what clothes they were wearing, head on over to Teen Vogue's fashion week blog by clicking the above banner or here .
User generated street style sites helped spawn the era of the personal style blog. Lookbook.nu and Chictopia collectively created enough social media attention to pave the way for the individual personal style blog phenomena. In an unprecedented move, L'Oreal Paris has created a new niche for user generated content: yourstyleyourstudio.
And it's all about Haute Hair.
Fashion Night Out in New York City inspirations:
Your Style Your Studio, blog landing page
WIN THIS MARC BY MARC JACOBS cross body strap bag
Win the above Marc by Marc Jacobs Cross Body strap bag filled with the above L'Oreal products
L'Oreal Paris recently approached me to help them launch this new hairstyle lookbook--Your Style Your Studio. To my knowledge, there exists no user generated hair style site like this--YET.
Lindbergh may have been first to cross the Atlantic,Earhart the first woman to do so, and now Your Style Your Studio is first in the niche of user generated hair style inspirations.
The site is all about YOUR inspired hair and YOUR individual style from bold colors to daring cuts to fashion forward looks. The look book, inspired by the brand's studio line of hair products as seen in the photo above, is meant for both men AND women. So if you are a guy, go forth and upload your own pictures.
I believe in this site so much, that for the first time in the 4 year history of altamira, I'm doing an exclusive giveaway sponsored by L'Oreal Paris. Not only can you win 1 of 2 Marc by Marc Jacob's leather cross body totes, but you can win it stuffed full of the exact L'Oreal hair styling products seen in the photo above. I will personally select 2 winners.
To be eligible to win 1 of 2 Marc by Marc Jacobs cross body totes stuffed full of L'Oreal products as seen in the picture above, you must:
UPLOAD A PHOTO TO YOUR STYLE YOUR STUDIO--upload your own Haute Hair style inspiration photo to the Your Style Your Studio look book. The picture should be horizontal in format and a minimum resolution of 560 x 370 pixels.
LEAVE A COMMENT by Friday, September 16th 2011 8 am Eastern Standard Time
With a URL link to your hair style photo. Make sure the URL works correctly and that it goes to the Your Style Your Studio site like this link HERE
CONTEST CLOSES on Friday, September 16th 2011 at 8 am Eastern Standard Time. The contest is open to anyone anywhere in the world. Winner to be announced on Saturday September 17th, 2011. I will personally select 2 winners based on the editorial QUALITY of the picture you upload. It's all about Haute Hair. Artsy, Avant Garde, Creative. Have fun with it. Be creative. Make your photo's better than mine as seen in the links below--as if you were submitting to Numero or Vogue.
You won't be alone in uploading images to the lookbook. I'll be uploading additional images too! Here are some of my examples but remember, you want to do better than me:
A Clean Sweep
Mod Squad
Perfectly Undone Pony
The Modern Bouffant
New Wave
Braids Envy
Okay, so here we have Chanel Iman having a little fun with the camera before the DKNY show in the West Village. To learn what Chanel is wearing and see other shots of everyone from Iekeliene Stange, Behati Prinsloo, and others be sure to visit the Teen Vogue Fashion Week Blog
This is Ewa from Sweden. She runs the blog corrupt nyc.
What? VOGUE's Brian Fee? Yeah, you read that right. If you've ever wondered what goes on inside the mind of an editor for the world's most illustrious fashion magazine when they are looking at street photos, now your curiosity can at least be partially fulfilled. Brian from Vogue's Art Department was cool enough to look through 17 shots I took of Hanne Gaby Odiele from Supreme Models and distill them into a mini 3 piece pictorial for my blog (everybody give Brian an ovation--better yet, send him some new Rick Owen's pieces for his Guest Edit).
With regards to the first photo, Brian's words were, "it's gentle enough as the first shot, like 'get to know Hanne'" And in regards to the last shot he stated, "I really like
And for those of you that are curious to get to know Hanne better than you ever imagined, have a visit to this post at the Supreme Models Blog for a peek inside her apartment...
plaid shirt -- ACNE
bag--Alexander Wang
shoes--Givenchy
p.s. a sincere thanks to Hanne as well....
p.s.s. if you live in the U.K. check out my solo page interview in the ELLE collections Autumn/Winter 2017
Fashion photography's living legend Terry Richardson while waiting for his meal from Olives to be prepared. For those of you who might not know who he is, click on his site at TERRY RICHARDSON and then click biography at the top to learn more. My guess is that he's wearing a Presidential Rolex.
And if you haven't been to the blog in awhile, have a stop over to style.com and check out my solo High Line Street Style slideshow.
Follow Kate King on Twitter @katekingg
When I started this blog back in 2007, there was no such thing as the fashion world using twitter, using instagram, using Tumblr.
That's all changed for me and it's all changed for the modeling world too. Previous to the internet, models received their booking value through Runway, Campaigns, and Editorials. Now, models get their booking value through Social Media, which combines their street style presence via Social Media with their own social media channels like twitter, instagram, and Tumblr.
Even Supermodel Karolina Kurkova recently exhorted models, "It is no longer enough to just look beautiful and be in great shape. You need to be interesting." The fact of the matter is, as bloggers can now create their own booking value via developing online presence, so models can create their own booking value too. This translates into more money.
Trey Laird, Creative Director for Laird & Partners, the advertising agency which represents Juicy Couture (cha-ching, Steven Meisel shoots for them for a reason) confirms Kurkova's exhortation in financial terms “It’s not just enough to cast such-and-such a girl that opened Prada or Vuitton or whatever,” . “It’s a huge help if a girl already has a platform and followers, and Kate Upton is a great example of that.”
Follow Kate King on twitter at @katekingg
