Pink Rock Candy-Blog

When you think Agent Provocateur, you may think sexy and/or burlesque, but leave it to US ELLE to turn Agent Provocateur stockings into something completely out of my realm of imagination. I’m not a lover of stockings in the first place and only bought into the black tights trend after I realized it was much too cold to wear dresses in the winter and it was imperative that I covered my legs or risk frost bite from ankle to thigh. This however, is not a black tights issue, this isn’t a tights issue at all actually. I’m completely in awe at how even the sexiest stockings can make a gorgeous model look like a haggard, aging, French prostitute from the early 1900s.

There, I said it!

I have nothing against US ELLE, photoshoot stylist, Christopher Niquet, or model, Valentine Fillol-Cordier— in fact, I have been telling everyone about Miss Fillol-Cordier’s description her style in the most recent issue of Nylon. Her style resembles, “Coco Chanel if she were Kurt Cobain’s grandma.” Just that thought made me laugh out loud and decide I’d like to dress like Coco Chanel if she were Jimi Hendrix’s grandma and Jim Morrison’s girlfriend, now picture that— but, I digress, the slouchy red and pink stockings Valentine wears in the ‘Strawberry Fields’ fashion editorial, are really quite unattractive.

I can deal with everyone and their mother wearing opaque black tights, I can deal with boldly printed tights, and I can even deal with ripped pantyhose, thank you Alexander Wang, but stretched out looking saggy nylons are a bit to much.

Maybe its just me though. What do you guys think of the over-sized thigh highs look? See the more pictures after the jump! (more…)

After being a little sore about i-D’s June issue, which is tarnished by Mariah Carey, I’m officially back to loving magazines, and oddly, this isn’t because of any European Magazines. My magazine elation is actually caused by two US magazines. The first is the May/June 2008 issue of V magazine, with Gwyneth Paltrow on the cover and the second is the June issue of US Vogue with Sarah Jessica Parker on the cover, but most of my glee due to V considering I’m going to get my SJP fix in a bout 2 weeks.

I know this goes against my feelings on having celebrities on the cover of magazines, because we all know they made the cover because of their individual movies that have/are coming out in May. Though neither of their movies need major publicity considering the cinematic grandeur, these two ladies were willing to take one for the team and get style in gorgeous clothes and photographed by famous photographers. What a hard life, but I digress.

Aside from having Gwyneth on the cover of V the editorials with the real models are fantastic, they might even be fan-fucking-tastic, but I’m not quite sure yet. The first editorial to catch my eye is the “In Your Dreams” editorial with Lily D., Stam, and Doutzen, though only Lily and Jessica are in the pictures below. Even though they used pieces from the fall/winter 2008 collections of Alexander McQueen and Dolce & Gabbana, I can forgive them because it was juxtaposed with picturesque beach scenes and ethereal embraces. I knew I loved those McQueen dresses, but seeing them in a magazine makes me 800 times more giddy than seeing them in runway pictures.

Click to Enlarge!

My other favorite part of the May/June issue is the “Powerhouse” editorial featuring the big leagues from IMG, Ford, and Supreme. The IMG girls bared it all, and looked seductive doing it, except for Daria and Irina K. who look a bit scared in the fetal position and Freja who just looks bored. The Ford models had funky geometric designs painted on their faces, making me even more excited that there’s a carnival in town. Maybe I’ll take the magazine and tell the face painter, who better be there, I want the same design as Chanel Iman. Finally, there’s the edgy Supreme models who all wore rad matching white cowboy boots, and looked like they were to some summer concert that’s a mix between Coachella and OzzFest.

Thank you V magazine for making my month! Follow the jump for the editorial (BEWARE OF NUDITY!). (more…)

Dear i-D,

I have a bone to pick with you. What is up with this Mimi fiasco? I happen to spend more than enough money buying magazines and an exorbitant amount of time reading them both in print format and online, for those I don’t happen to purchase. Over the years I have matured and my taste in what I want to see in fashion magazines has changed.

I breeze over the fitness and life stories sections, glance at the beauty section, concentrate mostly on the fashion editorials and ads, and very rarely do I even skim the cover story concerning whatever celeb is hocking their newest project that month. This, at least, is the format for most US magazines, but i-D, I usually love reading you and your Euro mates because there is a lot more edge to your editorials and less focus on what celebrities think about fashion, so why is Mariah Carey on your cover?

Sure, when I was younger I would sing “Heartbreaker” over and over while dreaming that one day I would be able to hit those high notes. I even watched Glitter more than once, and I consider myself to have pretty good taste in movies. Unfortunately, somewhere between that and “We Belong Together,” I realized midriff tops and daisy dukes were not cute on anyone and stopped caring. When I realized she put Wentworth Miller in “We Belong Together,” I was a but stoked, but this was after the fact because I didn’t know who Wenty was until I saw him on Prison Break. I take Mariah for who she is, but I know for a fact she is not, I repeat NOT, edgy fashion mag material.

I’m not sure how a magazine can go from calling Agyness Deyn, who is almost my generation’s new Kate Moss, an ICON, to putting Mariah Carey in a skimpy black bikini on the cover the next month. Is this your tactic to keep us fashionistas on our toes? Are you trying to start bring back the 90s ab-baring trend Mariah is oh-so-good at? I’m so confused!

Will I ever be able to see ‘(insert month) issue of i-D’ in a thread on The Fashion Spot and be excited knowing I’m going to experience a fantasia of fashion related eye-gasms? I don’t think so. Now, behind every link I’m going to think I’ll have another “what the fuck” moment followed by a month a great concern?

Please next month, recommence with your normal awesomeness, or else I may have to shun you forever.

Xs & Os
Chelsea Rae

Photo Credit: The Bosh

I will admit, I’ve been quite critical of late. I’ll also admit, I’m not the biggest Karlie Kloss fan made evident when I criticized her Blue Steel, but I really, really like her spread in the Numéro 92. Something about her overly fierce stare just works with the clothes and the contrast between the Delfina Delettrez spooky eye jewelry, the crazy scalloped eye makeup, and her signature glare totally works, and goddammit, the girl just always seems to take a fabulous picture.

I’m more and more wishing US magazines would start to be a little edgier like their European counterparts, but I know very few magazines will ever surpass the spice magazines like Numéro and i-D provide. Luckily, the interweb gives us lots of access to those magazines we might never read otherwise.

Also I really like the Chloe dress in the picture above, though I’m not sure I’d have the guts to hop in the pool with it. I also spy one of the Prada skirts I’m in love with, sigh!

More pictures below! (more…)

Jourdan Dunn is going to be on the cover of the upcoming all-black, Steven Meisel shot, July issue of Italian Vogue. What are my feelings of the cover choice? I kind of wish it was Chanel Iman, simply because I feel like Chanel is really adorable like the little model sister I never had. Jourdan Dunn, though, is very gorgeous, and was the first black model to walk Prada since Naomi Campbell in 1997. My feelings about the issue in general, on the other hand, I keep going back and forth about.

Part of me, is saying, thank god black models are going to get their chance to show the world what they can bring. They will be able to show all those casting directors that just because they have an extra inch or so around the hips, doesn’t mean they can’t wear couture or look as fierce as all of the pale svelte models they normally put in Vogue and send down the runways.

On the other hand, though, I’m very sad and annoyed that things have come down to this. Its grievous that the only way for most young black models to get any attention is if they devote an entire issue to black models. This is almost as if to say, we feel bad and acknowledge that we, as a fashion industry, have shunned you and models like you, so to make amends we’re going to give you your own issue, and you won’t have to compete with the models we actually like. I honestly hate to be the one to rain on anyone’s parade, but I’m sure I’m not the first person to see this. As fabulous as it is to give this set of models a chance, they are still technically segregating them from the other models the industry tends to covet.

This may just be part of the disdain I have for people, black, white, or otherwise, who throw themselves and others into little groups because of their skin color, religious beliefs, or sexual orientation, but whatever the reason, I don’t entirely like the idea of this issue. If only they would make a conscious effort to be racially unbiased with every magazine issue, there would be no need for an all-black issue.

All lamenting aside, I hope this will help open doors for the young black models of today and of the future.

What do you think about the all-black issue? Do you think it will help lead the way for more diverse (in all senses of the word) runways and fashion editorials, or will things just stay the same?