MUSIC FROM ALBERT NOBBS: SINEAD O’CONNOR ‘LAY YOUR HEAD DOWN’

Sinead O’Connor is releasing her ninth studio album How About I Be Me (And You Be You)? on February 20, 2012.  The first single “The Wolf is Getting Married” will be released on 27 February, accompanied by a video directed by Roman Rappak, lead singer of Brenton.

Meanwhile, prior to the release of her new record, the Irish singer-songwriter can be heard in the film Albert Nobbs singing the lullaby “Lay Your Head Down.” Producer and star of the film Glenn Close also wrote the lyrics for the song, which was composed by Bryan Byrne. “Lay Your Head Down” was nominated at The 69th Golden Globes for Best Original Song, but was beat out by Madonna’s “Masterpiece” from her film W.E..

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LILY DONALSON (25)

Lily Monica Donaldson (born 27 January 1987) is a British model, born in London, grew up in Kentish Town and educated at the Camden School for Girls.  She is the daughter of photographer, Matthew Donaldson, and the great-niece of Fleetwood Mac legend Mick Fleetwood.

Since being scouted by Select Model Management in 2003 at the age of 16 while shopping in Camden, Donaldson has starred in campaigns for fashion houses such as Dior, Jil Sander, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Burberry, Kenzo, Hugo Boss and is the current face of Calvin Klein and Cesar Paciatti.

In the May 2007 issue of American Vogue, she was featured on the cover with fellow models Doutzen Kroes, Caroline Trentini,Raquel Zimmermann, Sasha Pivovarova, Agyness Deyn, Coco Rocha, Hilary Rhoda, Chanel Iman, and Jessica Stam as the “World’s Next Top Models.” Later, in the September 2007 issue of British Vogue, she was named a “Head Girl”, a model to watch out for in the upcoming season.

Donaldson has appeared on the covers of multiple international editions of Vogue, W, Harper’s Bazaar, i-D and V magazine. In particular, she was on the March 2009 covers of Vogue simultaneously in the UK, Australia, and Italy. She also appeared in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in 2010 and 2011.

In 2009, Vogue Paris declared her one of the top 30 models of the 2000s. She is currently represented by IMG Models.

PARIS HAUTE COUTURE: JEAN-PAUL GAULTIER SPRING 2012 COLLECTION INSPIRED BY AMY WINEHOUSE

Presented at Paris Haute Couture, Jean-Paul Gaultier pays homage to Amy Winehouse in his Spring/Summer 2012 Collection. Inspired by Winehouse’s style, the French fashion house showed tailored jackets, form-fitting skirts, lace undergarments, silk dresses, bustiers and belted waists in colors ranging from black to splashes of citrus and lime. The models strutted down the catwalk with cigarettes to the tunes of the late singer, in multicolored beehives by hair stylist Odile Gilbert and jet-black cat-lined eyes by makeup artist Stephan Marais.

Images via Fashiongonerogue.com

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRICKY (44) ‘HELL IS ROUND THE CORNER’

Tricky (born Adrian Nicholas Matthews Thaws, 27 January 1968) is an English musician and actor. As a producer and a musician, he is noted for a dark, rich and layered sound and a whispering sprechgesang lyrical style. Culturally, Tricky encourages an intertwining of societies, particularly in his musical fusion of rock and hip hop, high art and pop culture. His first album Maxinquaye was nominated for the Mercury Prize and voted Album of the Year by NME Magazine.

Read more here.

“Hell Is Round the Corner” is a song by Tricky taken from his debut album Maxinquaye, released in 1995. featuring then-girlfriend Martina Topley-Bird on vocals. The song appeared in the film Transporter 3 and the TV series Skins, Sleeper Cell, Rescue Me and New York Undercover.

Song Lyrics:

I stand firm for our soil [a source]
lick a rock on foil [nigga I'll come forth]
Say reduce me, seduce me, [They juice me, seduce me]
Dress me up in Stssy.
Hell is round the corner where I shelter.
Ism’s and schisms, we’re living helter skelter [been livin' on a study]
If you believe and [or] deceive common sense says shouldn’t receive
Let me take you down the corridors of my life.
And when you walk, do you walk to your preference?
No need to answer till I take furthur evidence.
I seem to need a reference to get residence.
A reference to your preference to say,
I’m a good neighbor, I trudge, [shrug]
So judge me for labour,
live version of the song. The bond on me ensures [lobotomy] my good behavior
The constant struggle [strum] ensures my insanity.
Passing the ignorance ensures the struggle for my family
We’re hungry beware of our appetite.
Distant drums bring the news of a kill tonight.
The kill which I share with my passengers.
We take our fill, take our fill, take our fill.

[repeat first four lines]

Confused by different memories,
Details of Asian remedies
Conversations, of what’s become of enemies.
My brain thinks bomb-like,
So I listen he’s a calm type.
And as I grow, I grow collective.
Before the move sit on the perspective.
Mr. Quaye [Mr. Kray] lay in the crevice. [Distant cradle in the crevice]
And watches from the precipice.
Empirial passage.
Heat from the sun somedays slowly passes,
Until then, you have to live with yourself (x2).

NATALIA VODIANOVA FOR STELLA McCARTNEY BY MERT & MARCUS SPRING/SUMMER 2012

Natalia Vodianova (DNA) returns as the face of Stella McCartney in the brand’s Spring/Summer 2012 campaign. Photographed once again by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, the Russian model is in full bloom, wearing the label’s paisley prints and asymmetrical designs in the collage style images.

Images via Fashion Gone Rogue / Stellamccartney.com

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALAN CUMMING (47)

Alan Cumming (born 27 January 1965) is a Scottish stage, television and film actor, singer, writer, director, producer and author. His roles have included the Emcee in Cabaret, Boris Grishenko in GoldenEye, Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler in X2: X-Men United, Mr. Elton in Emma, and Fegan Floop in the Spy Kids trilogy. He has also appeared in independent films like The Anniversary Party, which he co-wrote, co-directed and co-starred in; and Ali Selim’s Sweet Land, for which he won an Independent Spirit award as producer. His London stage appearances include Hamlet, the Maniac in Dario Fo’s Accidental Death of an Anarchist, for which he received an Olivier award, the lead in Martin Sherman’s Bent, and as Dionysus in The National Theatre of Scotland’s The Bacchae. On Broadway he has appeared as Mac the Knife in The Threepenny Opera, the Emcee in Cabaret, for which he won the Tony in 1998, and Design for Living. Cumming also introduces Masterpiece Mystery! for PBS. He currently appears as a regular on The Good Wife, a role for which he was nominated for an Emmy.

He has also written a novel, Tommy’s Tale, had a cable talk show (“Eavesdropping with Alan Cumming”) and produced a line of perfumed products labelled “Cumming”. He has contributed opinion pieces to many publications and performed a cabaret show I Bought A Blue Car Today. Retaining his British citizenship, Cumming also became a U.S. citizen in November 2008. He also starred as Gutsy Smurf in the 2011 film The Smurfs.

Read more here.

THE POWER OF LOVE: QUERELLE JANSEN BY CRAIG McDEAN FOR VOGUE ITALIAN FEBRUARY 2012

The Power of Love: Querelle Jansen (New York Model Management) appears once again in the pages of Vogue Italia. The Dutch stunner is captured by Craig McDean for the February 2012 issue in a Fellini-esque spread, styled by fashion editor Karl Templer. Sculptural updos by Eugene Souleiman and mime-inspired makeup by Mark Carrasquillo add elegance and edge to the dreamy editorial. Set Design by Piers Hanmer.

www.Vogue.it

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NARCISO RODRIGUEZ (51)

Narciso Rodriguez III (born 27 January 1961) is an American fashion designer. He is the first child and only son of Cuban parents Narciso Rodríguez II, a longshoreman, and Rawedia María Rodríguez who are of Canarian descent. He grew up in Newark, New Jersey. His parents were against Narciso entering fashion: “They wanted me to be a doctor or a lawyer or a dentist. So when I dared to tell them, the shit hit the fan. It was crazy. But no matter how many times I heard ‘No,’ I just kept going. I never thought about ‘no’. ‘No’ wasn’t an option.” He was educated at the New School in New York, studying at their art and design college, Parsons The New School for Design. Following freelance work in New York’s garment industry, he joined Anne Klein as Women’s Design Director under Donna Karan. Later, he moved to Calvin Klein where he worked on the Women’s Collection. In 1997 he launched his own label. His first major attention came when he designed the wedding dress of fellow Calvin Klein employee Carolyn Bessette for her wedding to John F. Kennedy, Jr..

In 2005 he became the first American to win the Council of Fashion Designers of America Womenswear Designer of the Year Award two years in a row. However, by 2006, Rodriguez, who had ended his partnership with his label’s manufacturer, Aeffe, was over US$1 million in debt to his suppliers, and needed fabric donations for his spring collection. His clients include Salma Hayek, Anna Paquin, Claire Danes, Sarah Jessica Parker, Rachel Weisz, and Sonia Braga.

On May 5, 2007, Liz Claiborne acquired a 50% interest in the Narciso Rodriguez label. In 2008 Narciso Rodriguez bought the 50% interest back from Liz Claiborne for 12 million dollars.

In 2003 Rodriguez introduced a women’s perfume with Shiseido’s Beauté Prestige International division called, “For Her”. His men’s fragrance, “For Him”, launched in July 2007.

On November 4, 2008, Michelle Obama wore a dress from Narciso Rodriguez’s spring 2009 collection when she joined her husband, Barack Obama, appearing for the first time as president-elect of the United States, on the stage at Grant Park in Chicago; it was widely panned by both the fashion press and the public. The dress, originally unveiled at New York City’s Fashion Week in September 2008, came from Rodriguez’s “stress-relief” design collection. Rodriguez was a strong supporter in the fashion world of Barack Obama’s campaign.