Kate Moss for Balmain

There's nothing like a smart/creative mix. And like we all know, fashion is a specialist on doing that. To name a few: Comme des Garçons + H&M, Björk + Alexander McQueen on Fashion Rocks 2000, Rodarte + Target, Miu Miu + Lindsay Lohan, etc.

And now, Balmain, for their fall/winter ad campaign they worked with Inez Van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin to make a short film featuring Kate Moss wearing tight pants, leather jacket and a sequined top while she appears to be in the photo shoot view from a different angle. But that's not all, add Antony Hegarty's amazing and unique voice and a great animation of some kind of creature going around Moss' body and stealing her cigarrettes.

Enjoy it! I really think it's a great mix of model + music + animation + video + fashion.

Beyoncé & Thierry Mugler

I'm not Beyoncé's biggest fan, I kinda like some songs (of course "Single Ladies" is one of them) but I must accept the she and her creative team has made an amazing job putting the "I Am" tour on stage.

Like any other big artist, like Madonna, Lady Gaga or Britney, there are some elements of vital importance like the set design, coreographies and of course, the costume design. Starting a few years ago we've seen some great collaborations between singers and fashion designers, like Madonna and Ricardo Tisci, Britney with DSquared and Beyoncé with Thierry Mugler.

Thierry Mugler was huge during the 80's and 90's, famous for creating highly-stylized silhouettes, very feminine and making emphasis on the female body. Another characteristic is his mixture of materiales, playing with leather, metal, vinyl.

I found this video, where it shows some of the pieces that Mugler exclusively designed for Beyoncé's tour and they're just amazing. The way he creates a real piece of cloth from a sketch, respecting everything that's included on the drawing just leaves you speechless. I've seen some of this designs he made on videos, but never got a closer look like the ones you'll see here. From sequins to an amazing "robot costume" made out of plastic and metal, we assure Thierry's greatness as a avant garde fashion designer.

Click here so you can watch the video (sorry I couldn't find the embed thingy to post it).

Indestructible

I've been loving Robyn since I heard "Bulletproof" and more when I found "Dancing on my own". First of all I thing she's really androgynous, beautiful eyes, nice pop-ish/electro-ish music and her music videos are simple, but they have their own beauty.

Spending my life in front of my laptop I found her new video for "Indestructible" and I'm stil wowed! The song is amazing, has a nice beat, the images are sexual and beautiful at the same time and she's wearing an amazing dress. No need to show her crotch through a lace dress like Lady Gaga or using an awful body suit like Leighton Meester. She's wearing a costume made of tubes with liquid flowing trough them while changing color and I like the fact that is extremely wearable and at the same time avant-garde enough to make a statement.

Take a look at the video and pay attention to the soon, I thinks it's gonna be on my favorites from her, specially because of the aesthetic of the video.

Enjoy!



Robyn 'Indestructible' Official Video

Robyn Myspace Music Videos

Karen Elson sings

I've always love Karen Elson, her red hair is so characteristic, she has always had a unique presence on runways and red carpets. She has been away for a while, since she got married with Jack White, White Stripes' singer, but you can always see her at the Met Gala and in some ad campaigns (like St. John, PHI, Yves Saint Laurent, etc).

Now, this british model is becoming a singer. Since she started modeling at age 16 she found interest in music, but her career as a model was on it rise and she has to leave it a little behind. She began with collaborations for Robert Plant and James Iha (from the Smashing Pumpkins). She also collaborated on a tribute to Serge Gainsbourg in which she recorded a song with Cat Power called "I love you (me either)."

She's the creative director and also performer with The Citizens Band, appearing with them and because of this she had a positive critical response, being acclaimed by press and people talking about her striking vocal skills.

She has been working as a solo singer and in her new 12 track album soon to be released. Her debut song is called "The ghost who walks" which was produced by her husband and she shows her amazing skills for singing and also for playing acoustic guitar.

Here are some stills from her debut video and I think you should listen to her, I think she's really good in what she does, and singing is not an exception. Great voice, great look, great hair. Enjoy.

Lady Rouge

Dior has been one of my favorites brands since I remeber and specially when I read about it. Since the 1946 the fashion house has been creating amazing and timeless clothes. Christian Dior gave birth to the "new look" and after him Yves Saint Laurent and John Galliano were in charge of the brand as creative directors.

With John Galliano as the head designer, Dior has earned lots of attention from the press, from fashion lovers and mostly for everyone who sees a runway from him. For the last season, the model chose for the ad campaign was Marion Cotillard, she's Lady Dior and she represents the french scense of the brand.

Personally I love Marion, from the moment I saw her in "La vie en rose" I felt in love. She's unique, she's a good actress, beatiful, versatile, looks great on red carpets and ads and now I just found out that she sings. "Lady Rouge" is the name of a production, presented by Dior, lyrics and music is from Franz Ferdinand. The song sounds really really good, she actually has a nice voice and of course it has the Ferdinand signature.

You can hear the song here, and also take a look at the photoshoot of Lady Dior/Lady Rouge made by Annie Leibovitz.

Femme en fourrure

I was online today talking with my friend Daver, as he introduces me to a great music duo, so I thought I should write about... Femme en fourrure!

Femme en fourrure is a duo from Finland, and looks like this country is been a major scene for music and also well known for its unique street style and fashion designers coming from there.

Formed by Juuso & Bianca, both from Helsinki, they're part of the nu-school of house born in the finnish land. They're quite new online and they have only released a few singles and remixes on their MySpace profile. But when you hear their music, you can tell they're going to be a major hit or at least a song that you can enjoy and dance.

The purpose of this entry is showing you the AMAZING video from their single "Plump Bisquit". First the song is super housy and nice to hear and then, the video seems to me like a great aesthetics proposal. As you start with the video, you realize that every detail is taking care of, the way the color matches (or not), the photography from the video, the hair, the headpieces, the outfits, the Vivienne Westwood for Melissa Shoes, the make up, the movements, etc.

I'm not an art critic or a video expert! But just by watching this video, a low budget video, you realize that is not necessary to include sci-fi/special effects/celebrities/expensive things in a video music to make it awesome! Miika Lommi (she directed one of Terry Poison's video) is the director of this super creative piece, which I can stop watching and enjoying! Is great to see how people still cares about making a statement without using a great famous directed, giving the opportunity to new rising stars like Lommi is. There's too many good directors, designers, artist, musicians, etc that have so much to say and show with their work.

I'll try to keep posting interesting things that I find around...

Please check the park with the nipple-less/navel-less girls + the nail polish!

♥ femme en fourrure!

images taken from myspace.com/femmeenfourrure

FEMME EN FOURRURE - PLUMP BISQUIT from Top Billin on Vimeo.