Tao Okamoto

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• Nordstrom photoshops Ralph Lauren model Tao Okamoto — Jezebel

>> Last week, rumors of a major shift in the New York modeling agency setup floated around; eventually, it came out that Paul Rowland, the founder of Women Management and its Supreme offshoot, was leaving Supreme to head up the women's division at Ford.

According to Page Six's industry insider, Rowland, who sold the company which he founded in 1988 a few years ago, "had a huge salary there, but wasn't really getting along with management. So basically, he just left." Ford "cleaned house and canned everyone," says another source, to make way for Rowland and the agents he was bringing with him.

Caroline Poznanski, meanwhile, who ran Ford's women's division until Rowland's arrival, has been chosen by Supreme to take Rowland's old job. "It's one big game of musical chairs," reports the source. "There were rumors around that Supreme was just going to close, but instead they hired Poznanski and absorbed some other people who had been let go from Ford."

One booker notes: "The models at these places are in a tailspin. A lot, including [Ford girls] Chanel Iman and Jacquelyn Jablonski, don't know if they're staying or going. There will likely be a spate of lawsuits because both Paul and Caroline are trying to bring their girls over, but they have noncompetes in their contracts."

Some models have already switched »

>> First Look: Zac Posen for Target — Zac Posen's Target collaboration doesn't come out until April 25, but Fashionista's got a full look at the wares.  Available for the peeping? A mod yellow raincoat ($49.99), a very Posen-esque red ruffled party dress ($79.99), and the navy snap dress at left ($69.99).  Now we're just waiting to see Posen's Spring 2010 ad campaign, styled by his boyfriend Christopher Niquet and featuring Tao Okamoto photographed by Ellen von Unwerth. [Fashionista, Christopher Niquet]

UPDATE: The Jean Paul Gaultier for Target lookbook is now available for the looking, too. [Refinery29]

>> Tao Okamoto was tapped as one of the top faces to watch after Fall 2009 runway season, and designers are clearly enamored.  Phillip Lim recently named her his muse and had all models on his Fall 2009 runway wear wigs cropped just like her hair, and now Ralph Lauren has welcomed her into his stable alongside current mainstays Ubah Hassan (who recently talked about what her Ralph casting was like) and Valentina Zelyaeva for his Fall 2009 campaign.

A lot of attention has been placed on bringing more models of color into the mix, but with heavy prevalence placed on black models; Tao's appointment could open the gateway for Asian models in major campaigns.  Her agency promises "this is just the beginning of things to come for Ms. Okamoto," and Ralph is a good place to start — the exclusive contract Valentina Zelyaeva has had with the brand since 2005 helped elevate her to Forbes' list of 15 top-earning models last year, ringing in at $2.3 million, and her agent touting a Ralph Lauren deal as "one of the greatest things you can have."
*image: source

>> For Spring 2009 more than ever, brands stuck with campaign models who guarantee a sell — supermodels like Gisele Bundchen and Kate Moss for Versace or Claudia Schiffer for Yves Saint Laurent, Daria Werbowy for Roberto Cavalli — or the classic blonde hair-blue eye combination that Toni Garrn and Anna Maria Jagodzinska's campaign sweeps represented.  Also of note for the season, Prada and Balenciaga's decisions to go with big groups of models — eight and ten, respectively.

With Fall 2009 campaign season under way, it sounds like at least a couple of brands have decided to break from that latter part of last season's formula — Wayne Sterling of The Imagist reports:

"It is too early to say and too tenuous to reveal who's holding/confirming what these days but rest assured it is the striking and the extreme that seem to be filtering into the next phase. Among the buzz I picked up by some art directors is a disenchantment with the 'multiples' ideal, that concept of an army of models rocking as many of the looks from the show as possible while waving as many possible it-bags as can be crammed into a double page. Two VERY big brands have already gone 'Only Girl.'"

The most likely candidate from that description of packing the models in seems to be Prada — so does that mean Prada is one of those already-decided brands, and Miuccia's current favorite exclusive Ymre Stiekema is going to finally get a main season campaign under her belt?

Who else is already being pinpointed? »