marcus piggott

>> Last year, there was a huge push for more diversity in fashion, culminating in the publication of Vogue Italia's all-black July 2008 issue.  Unfortunately, attention on that issue has waned this year, even though there is still much work to be done; now, the issue du jour seems to be what has become a common practice among fashion magazines: heavy retouching.

Katie Grand, who while at POP was a huge proponent of the "super glossy" look, has since reigned in her reliance on Photoshop.  Of her first issue of LOVE, which came out in February, Katie told Interview, "It's not so retouched.  I just wanted to take pictures of iconic people without redrawing them." And she's continuing the tradition for her second issue, out Sept. 1 — she had Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott (whose aesthetic generally lends itself to a good bit of retouching) photograph cover girl Coco Sumner as she walked in off the street, no hair or makeup.  The Times UK wrote of that decision: "She is shrewdly tapping into the new spirit of the times — heavily airbrushed celebrities seem gauche and embarrassing during a recession."

David Bailey: "It’s f*cking ridiculous" »

>> Vogue Runs Editorial in September 2009 Issue Strikingly Similar to August 2007 W Editorial —Vogue's September 2009 issue boasts an editorial called "Into the Woods," photographed by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott; curiously enough, an editorial that ran in the August 2007 issue of W — by the same photographers — has a similar concept and the same name.  Both editorials feature autumnal leafy backgrounds and the models — Natalia Vodianova for Vogue (right), Doutzen Kroes for W (left) — strike similar poses. [Fashionista, Comme Artiste]

>> So it turns out Vogue Paris's September 2009 cover — the one that was rumored to feature a "radical model makeover" — does boast Lara Stone, as suspected, complete with eyebrows (hers are normally bleached) and dark brown hair.  The image, photographed by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, marks the second this year Carine Roitfeld has devoted to Lara — the first fronting the February 2009 issue, in which she was the only model.

>> As is to be expected, this year's September issues are not going to be the behemoths of yesteryear: publishers are approaching their closing deadlines this week and said that they expect issues to be about a third lighter than years past.  

The September issues are still anticipated to be the Fall's largest, as most advertisers withdrew their pre-collection ads that run in August to focus on September and will run fewer ads, if any, in the remaining months.  As for the cover faces, magazines are sticking with safe bets — blonde white women. Vogue will feature Charlize Theron, who usually graces their October covers (in 2004 and 2007); W will, as reported, have Kate Moss photographed by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott; Elle will boast perenially newstand-friendly Jennifer Aniston; Allure went with Amanda Seyfriend, Glamour with Jessica Simpson, and Marie Claire with Ashley Olsen.  

No word on Harper's Bazaar, POP, V, LOVE, or Vogue Italia, but Vogue Paris is said to be breaking the blonde mold by dying a usually flaxen-haired model's coif black in a "radical model makeover" — some suspect the "luscious" beauty in question may be Lara Stone.

>> INSIDER WIRE —Kate Moss has been pretty off the radar since she hosted the Costume Institute Gala last month . . . until she popped up today at the Topshop offices. Maybe a vacation was in order, but she also worked at least a little, shooting an upcoming W cover — September 2009, perhaps — with Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott on May 22.  More recently, the magazine photographed Lara Stone, Guinevere van Seenus, and Edita Vilkeviciute at a country house with a lake outside of London. [Sophynails Twitter, Sophynails Twitter]

>> Giorgio Armani has niece Roberta Armani increasingly stepping in for him in the public eye as a brand ambassador and just released the newest set of underwear ads featuring David Beckham this morning, but the brand face we're most interested in is Raquel Zimmermann, whose Fall 2009 ads for Armani — the first of many for her this season — are starting to pop up.  The same team was used for Fall 2009 as for Spring 2009: stylist Katy England with Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, but Raquel replaces Sasha Pivovarova as the face of the brand.