Mental States: Photographed by Pierre Debusschere for the February 2012 issue of Dazed & Confused, Dutch model, Marte Mei van Haaster (IMG) is a study in androgyny. Posing for a series of artistic portraits, fashion editor, Katie Shillingford provides a wardrobe of bold prints, neon colors and fringed shirts.
Images via Models.com / Dazed-digital.com
Dansk magazine celebrates its 10th anniversary issue with three artistic and fashion forward covers for Spring/Summer 2012. Freja Beha Erichsen (IMG) is photographed by Christian Brylle, while Juliane Gruner (Scoop) is captured by Aitken Jolly, both styled by Anders Sølvsten Thomsen, with art by Cathrine Raben Davidsen. New York Model Management’s Mathias Lauridsen‘s portrait is shot by Mark Kean and styled by Toby Grimditch.
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.
Mikhail Baryshnikov photographed by Annie Leivovitz
Mikhail Nikolaevich Baryshnikov (Russian: Михаил Николаевич Барышников, Latvian: Mihails Barišņikovs) (born January 27, 1948) is a Soviet and American dancer, choreographer, and actor, often cited alongside Vaslav Nijinsky and Rudolf Nureyevas one of the greatest ballet dancers of the 20th century. After a promising start in the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad, he defected toCanada in 1974 for more opportunities in western dance. After freelancing with many companies, he joined the New York City Ballet as a principal dancer to learn George Balanchine’s style of movement. He then danced with the American Ballet Theatre, where he later became artistic director.
Baryshnikov has spearheaded many of his own artistic projects and has been associated in particular with promoting modern dance, premiering dozens of new works, including many of his own. His success as a dramatic actor on stage, cinema and television has helped him become probably the most widely recognized contemporary ballet dancer. In 1977, he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and a Golden Globe nomination for his work as “Yuri Kopeikine” in the film The Turning Point.
Read more here.
Princess Caroline of Monaco by Andy Warhol for Vogue Paris, Dec 1983/Jan 1984
Princess Stéphanie of Monaco, Countess of Polignac (Stéphanie Marie Elisabeth Grimaldi; born 1 February 1965) is a member of the princely family of Monaco. She is the youngest child of Grace, Princess of Monaco and Rainier III of Monaco, and the sister of Albert II of Monaco and Princess Caroline. Named after her great-great-great-great-grandmother Stéphanie de Beauharnais, Stéphanie has been a singer, swimwear designer, and fashion model; her mother lovingly called the princess her “wild child.”
In 1983 after her physical recovery from the accident which killed her mother, Stéphanie started an apprentice program at Christian Dior under the direction of head designer Marc Bohan, who had been a friend to Princess Grace. At the end of 1984, she debuted as a model on the biannual haute couture special published by Spanish magazine ¡Hola! (she repeated the assignment in 1990). Soon after, she graced the cover of German Vogue and the American edition of Vanity Fair in July 1985. She also became the face of the Swiss beauty line La Prairie, for which she was photographed by Horst, and she appeared on the cover of French Vogue, photographed by the late Helmut Newton, in September 1986.
In September of the same year she launched a swimwear line called ‘Pool Position’ with Alix de la Comble whom she had met while an intern at Dior. The fashion show to present the line, held at the Sporting Club in Monaco, was a major event covered by the world’s media. The front row included Prince Rainier (her father) and her siblings, Prince Albert and Princess Caroline. A year later a second collection was presented again in Monte Carlo. In 1989 the princess launched her own perfume, called “Stephanie”. Later in the mid-1990s, she had a Replay cafe and store in Monaco. She also helped open the Replay Store and Café in Barcelona in 1997.
In late 2008 she signed on as the guest-editor of the December 2008/January 2009 issue of French Vogue.
In February 1986 Stéphanie self-produced and released her first single with the French label ‘Carrere’, under the production of Yves Roze. The song “Ouragan” (“Hurricane”) and its English version “Irresistible” quickly reached the international Top 10, reportedly selling more than 2 million copies. In September she released a full album called Besoin reportedly selling more than 1.5 million copies (also released as Stéphanie in some countries) with eight new songs, including “Flash” (in French; its English version “One Love To Give”), which was released as a single and reached the hit parade all over Europe. In January 1987 she released the single “Young Ones Everywhere” to benefit UNICEF.
Later in 1987 Stéphanie moved to Los Angeles, however, it took 5 years for her next recordings to be released, and sales were so disappointing that only 3,000 copies sold in the USA. The album had 10 songs, including the single ‘Winds of Chance’ for which the video clip was recorded in the Canary Islands. Her first and only live tour took place in the summer of 1991 in Europe and South America to promote the album called Stéphanie released in the U.S. by Sony Music. U.S. critics gave the album negative reviews. She also recorded “In the Closet” with Michael Jackson under the alias of Mystery Girl for his album, Dangerous. She then ended her pop music career.
Since the death of her father, Prince Rainier, Stéphanie has become deeply involved in the fight against AIDS, becoming a UNAIDS ambassador. She also has created Fight Aids Monaco, her own foundation to support people living with HIV and at the same time to combat the social stigma attached to the disease. In 2006 with a group of French singers, the princess took part in the recording of the song “L’or de nos Vies” (The Gold of our Lives) in order to raise funds for the foundation.
She is the patron of the International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo.
Chita Rivera (born January 23, 1933) is an American actress, dancer, and singer best known for her roles in musical theater. She is the first Hispanic woman to receive a Kennedy Center Honors award (December 2002). She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.
Rivera, born Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero, in Washington, D.C., the daughter of Katherine, a government clerk, and Pedro Julio Figueroa del Rivero, a clarinetist and saxophonist for the United States Navy Band. Her father was Puerto Rican and her mother was of Scottish and Italian descent. Rivera was seven years old when her mother was widowed and went to work for The Pentagon.
In 1944, Rivera’s mother enrolled her in the Jones-Haywood School of Ballet (now the Jones Haywood School of Dance). Later, when she was 15, a teacher from George Balanchine’s School of American Ballet visited their studio and Rivera was one of two students picked to audition in New York City; she was accompanied to the audition by Doris Jones, one of the people who ran the Jones-Haywood School. Rivera’s audition was successful and she was accepted into the school and given a scholarship.
In 1952, Rivera accompanied a friend to the audition for a Broadway production of Call Me Madam and ended up winning the role herself. She followed this by landing roles in other Broadway productions such as Guys and Dolls and Can-Can. In 1957, she was cast in the role which was destined to make her a Broadway star, the firebrand Anita in West Side Story. (The role would bring fame and an Oscar to another Puerto Rican, Rita Moreno, in the 1961 film version). Rivera starred in a national tour of Can-Can and played the role of Nicky in the film adaptation of Sweet Charity with Shirley MacLaine.
On December 1, 1957, Rivera married dancer Tony Mordente. Her performance was so important for the success of the show that the London production of West Side Story was postponed until she gave birth to the couple’s daughter Lisa. In 1963, Rivera was cast opposite Alfred Drake in Zenda. The Broadway-bound musical closed on the road. In 1975 she appeared as Velma Kelly in the original cast of the musical Chicago.
In 1984 she starred in the musical The Rink with Liza Minnelli and won her first Tony award for her role as Anna. In 1986, while performing in the Jerry Herman musical, “Jerry’s Girls,” Rivera was in a severe accident when her car collided with a taxi on West 86th Street in Manhattan. Injuries sustained included the breaking of her left leg in twelve places, requiring eighteen screws and two braces to mend. After rehabilitation, Rivera continued to perform on stage. Miraculously revitalized, in 1988, she endeavored in a restaurant venture in partnership with the novelist, Daniel Simone. The eatery, located on 42nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenue, was named after her, ‘Chita’s’. It soon became a significant attraction for the after-theater crowds and remained open until 1994. In addition to her ballet instructors, Rivera credited Leonard Bernstein and Gwen Verdon, with whom she starred in Chicago, as being people from whom she learned a great deal.
She appeared in a filmed for the television version of the musical Pippin in 1981, as “Fastrada”. In 1993, she received a Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Aurora in the Tony-award winning musical Kiss of the Spider Womanwritten by Kander and Ebb.
Rivera starred in the Goodman Theatre production of the Kander and Ebb musical The Visit as “Claire Zachanassian” in 2001. In 2008 she appeared in a revised production of the musical at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia, co-starring George Hearn.
In 2003, Rivera returned to Broadway in the 2003 revival of Nine as Liliane La Fleur, and received her eighth career Tony Award nomination (Best Featured Actress in a Musical) and fourth Drama Desk Award nomination (Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical). She appeared with Antonio Banderas. She later appeared on the revival’s cast album.
On television, Rivera was a guest on the Judy Garland show. She guest-starred along with Michele Lee in a February 2005 episode of Will & Grace, and in December of that year, Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life, a retrospective of her career, opened on Broadway. She received another Tony nomination for her self-portrayal. Though she was expected to reprise her role in a Signature Theatre staging of The Visit in Autumn 2007, that was later postponed to the following season. Instead, she performed at New York’s Feinstein’s At The Regency supper club in New York for two weeks. Signature Theatre’s production of The Visit opened to rapturous reviews on May 13, 2008 and closed June 22, 2008. Rivera performed in a staged concert of The Visit as a benefit at the Ambassador Theatre on November 30, 2011.
Rivera had a cameo in the 2002 movie version of Chicago. Rivera guest-starred on Disney Channel’s Johnny and the Sprites as Queen of All Magical Beings. The episode debuted on March 15, 2008. In August 2009, president Barack Obama awarded Rivera with the Presidential Medal of Freedom and in November of that same year, Rivera released her third solo album titled, “And Now I Swing” to rave reviews. In the 60′s Rivera had recorded two albums, “Chita Rivera: Get Me To The Church On Time” and “And Now I Sing.”
Cindy Sherman (born January 19, 1954) is an American photographer and film director, best known for her conceptual portraits. Sherman currently lives and works in New York City. In 1995, she was the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship. She is represented by Sprüth Magers Berlin London in Europe and Metro Pictures gallery in New York. Through a number of different series of works, Sherman has sought to raise challenging and important questions about the role and representation of women in society, the media and the nature of the creation of art.
In addition to being a star in the art world, Sherman’s work has been featured in top fashion magazines, including Vogue Paris (spoofing the fashion industry with self portraits portraying “industry” types dressed in designer clothes) as well as appearing in a Fall/Winter 2011 advertisement campaigns (also self portraits) for M.A.C. Cosmetics.
Read full bio here.
Watch the Cindy Sherman documentary, Nobody’s Here But Me on Ovation.
Coco Rocha (Wilhelmina) and Liisa Winkler (ONE) star in the Spring/Summer 2012 campaign for Longchamp. Captured by Dane Shitagi, known for his portraits of dancers from the New York City Ballet, to capture scenarios loosely based on musical comedies and recalling the arch elegance of fashion editorials from the 1950′s and 60′s. The Canadian models (both of whom have dance backgrounds) are joined by professional dancer Alexia Level and choreographed by Blanca Li for the spirited ads. Set in Manhattan and Dumbo, Coco and company bring high energy whether chasing after frisky dogs, hopping over police barricades and literally dancing in the street.
“We really wanted to show this woman very active in the city, very dynamic,” said Sophie Delafontaine, head of design at the fashion house, which has recently branched out from its core leather goods into ready-to-wear, footwear and other accessories. The campaign also features a pair of 60-second clips (see above) directed by Li with creative director by Van Tran of the ad agency, Air Paris. View behind the scenes of the shoot below.
Images via The Fashion Spot / longchamp.com
