Tuesday 17 June 2008

Who's That Girl? Do We Know Her?

Flipping through some old magazines, I all the sudden notice that interesting trivia of how some heavyweight people in fashion come into this industry! We always do "tagging" between bloggers, so I thought that maybe "tagging" them can be quite fun!

- Girl No. 1
  • She served cod, chips and mushy peas at 17. One of her regular customers in the chip shop was Henry Holland, designer and creator of the House of Holland rhyming slogan T-shirts. Now, she is the face of the house.
  • She went to London and worked in a burger joint in the day and a bar at night.
  • She visited Model 1, slammed down a portfolio and refused to leave until she was signed.
  • She was recently dropped by Burberry after Mario Testino dubbed her "over-publicised". He was tired that she had been promoting her face everywhere. He has replaced her with Rosie Huntington Whiteley.
  • She is Agyness Deyn.

School Photo

Agyness (was named Laura) with mother Lorraine

Photographed by Terry Richardson for i-D, may 2008

Photographed by Terry Richardson for i-D, may 2008

Paul Smith Women 05 Fall

- Girl No. 2

  • She moved to New York in 1979 to study Ancient Chinese Art and shared a flat with the actress Catherine Oxenberg.
  • Starting as an assistant to Anna Wintour in 1981, she then soon assisted André Leon Talley, now U.S. Vogue’s editor-at-large.
  • She discovered Alexander McQueen with the purchase of his entire graduate collection for £5,000, paying it off in weekly £100 instalments.
  • Discovered model, Sophie Dahl, & described her as "a blow up doll with brains".
  • According to a 2002 interview with Tamsin Blanchard, it was she who brokered the deal in which Gucci purchased McQueen's label. Her friend, Daphne Guinness, said that “She was upset that McQueen didn't take her along when he sold his brand to Gucci. Once the deals started happening, she fell by the wayside. Everybody else got contracts, and she got a free dress".
  • She is Isabella Blow.


- Girl No. 3

  • Her father, legendary Charles Vere Wintour CBE, was an editor of the Evening Standard; and her mother, Eleanor Trego Baker, was the daughter of a Harvard Law professor.
  • At 15, her father arranged a job for her in Biba boutique. She soon started dating older and well-connected men. She briefly dated Piers Paul Read, then 24. In her later teens, she dated gossip columist Nigel Dempster and became a fixture on the London club circuit with him.
  • Dropping out of school at 16, one of her boyfriends, Richard Neville, gave her first look at magazine production when she hung around the offices of his controversial Oz.
  • She entered fashion journalism in 1970 when Harper’s Bazar merged with Queen, and the new magazine needed editorial assistants.
  • Her salary is reported to be $2 million a year and generous perks including Mercedes S-Class, a $50,000 shopping allowance, and the Coco Chanel Suite at the Ritz Paris during Pairs Fashion Show. Condé Nast president Si Newhouse had also provided her an interest-free $1.6 million loan to purchase her townhouse in Greenwich Village.
  • She encouraged fashion houses to hire younger, e.g. her invention of John Galliano for Christian Dior.
  • She gets up at 5:40 am everyday, plays tennis and gets to Vogue's offices at 8am. She seldom stays at a party over 20 minutes and gets to bed by 10:15 every night.
  • An intern at Vogue was told she must not make eye contact with her or initiate conversation with her. One day in the hall, the intern saw her trip and stepped over her rather than violate this taboo.
  • She is Anna Wintour (with her trademark bob since age of 14).




- Girl No. 4
  • At 18, She began modeling, having been scouted on the street in Paris by a British photographer's assistant.
  • She then became a writer and then a stylist for French ELLE.
  • She worked as a consultant and muse for Tom Ford at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent for six years.
  • She describes her professional progress as a series of accidents. She was working as a freelance stylist and her daughter was in a children's fashion shoot. The photographer was Mario Testino. They hit it off and began working together as a team for American and French Vogue.
  • She said: 'You can wear a completely transparent shirt and show all the breasts - I don't care. But I prefer to have my hands in my pocket than to have a nice little bag. So I am not good for all these fashions. They have to sell bags, bags, bags, bags, bags, bags. I hate handbags.'
  • She is Carine Roitfeld.

Carine Roitfeld in Purple Magazine

51 comments:

FASHION CHALET said...

Wow, very nice article. I am interested by all of those stylish women! xx

Thanks for your comment ♥ my brother did take those. I'm excited to take some more tomorrow. I really want to have more "outdoor" photos on my blog and also get started with my "online vintage" store. Let's see how it goes.. your photos are always perfection. Fashion! Beautiful makeup & style.

Your blog is lovely as always! xoxo. =)

Secretista said...

Amazing. You look fab in your previous posts. You've gotta bootay... and style (duh)!

Jill said...

I loevd learning about these women, especially Isabella Blow. Nice job on the info and pictures.

Anonymous said...

aww look at anna, she looks, dare i say it, friendly?

Human Racing said...

Nice article. I actually kind of guessed Anna Wintour correctly. This was fun to read.

yiqin; said...

Such an awesome post! Agyness is really pretty when she was young! & awesome facts about someof them! I lvoe this post!

Sharon S said...

I love Carine, I think she's soo gorgeous! Fabulous post too!

AlicePleasance said...

This is the proof Anna's heavy fringe is here to stay forever!
Isabella Blow is definitely one of my icons. She was and will be a legend...

Blonde hair, Blue jeans said...

cool post!
i found really cool the "young wintour" photo!
did she never changed her hairstyle¿? =)

Paris said...

I feel quite sad for Isabella Blow, even though she has had many wonderful things happen. How different Agyness looks in 2005! I wonder when and what her next transformation will be xx

Times of Glory said...

To <3 fashion chalet: Darling, you look brilliant and you have 2 more things: style and brains! I believe your store will be great! It may take some time to start, but I'm sure you are on the right track!

To Secretista: Thank you darling!

To Jill: Thank you, dear!

To Emma: I guess it is an image! A serious high-end fashion with cool face...

To Nay'Chelle: Yes, Anna is probably quite unique to guess! Well done!

To Yiqin: Thank you, dear! I'm so glad that you like the post!

To Sharon Rose: Thank you darling! I think she is great look and always efforlessly chic!

To AlicePleasance: I love Isabella Blow! She is superb!

To Blonde hair, Blue jeans: Anna has her boob since age of 14... I guess she really really really like it!

To Paris: I always think Blow's late life sounds so much bitter! Yes, Blond did a great favour for Dyne's look and her CAREER! lots of love xx

AVA said...

great to see those 'from the past' photographs.. they always seem much more normal and 'I could coincedentally bump into them in the supermarket like' when they are young.

by 'they' I mean, beautiful, successful, always looking at their best - women

Anonymous said...

what a fun post! i loved reading about anna wintour since she was the editor in chief while i was working at teen vogue. though i had no scary run-ins with her, apparently all the rumors out there are true! nobody can attest to her amazing eye for fashion though!

Anonymous said...

This post is fun! Looks like Anne's hairstyle never really changed.

/// said...

What a fun feature--- your blog is fabulous! :)

Carolina Lange said...

Amazing post!
I am a big fan of Carine Roitfeld. She is fantastic!

Tricia said...

The fabulous Isabella Blow, RIP.
thanks for her great pictures.

Miby said...

Isabella Blow reminds me of Bimba Bose, like sort of, maybe is just the hair style, she is unique! I like Agyness as well, she is quite natural! Lovely post!! Pretty interesting backgrounds!! :)

Unknown said...

thanx so much fro the comment. This post was soo interesting....and wonderfull!!

Danz said...

Really great post Miss L (I can call you that right?)! Very informative and fun to read :)

Agyness is so cute, then and now. Isabella Blow was a formidable presence and that comes across clearly in her photos. Even from the age of 14, Anna looked like she had a very strong, ambitious character. Carine is gorgeous and an amazing woman.

Thank you so very much for your really wonderful comment, darling! Your words mean so much to me :)

Anonymous said...

i really enjoyed this post! i didn't know any of the little facts & the pics were awesome :)

Kira Aderne said...

Dean and Carine are fantastic!
but i don´t wintour...why don´t know...maybe because she is not natural, ugly and boring...

a kiss!

Kimberley said...

I love agyness/laura.

Lovely post, I love reading about these women!

Winnie said...

I really loved reading this post!

annabananna said...

i just love what you did there! and enjoyed reading every bit!

Supercalifashionista said...

Aygness is my favorite! She is adorable! Great post by the way, I love your blog doll!

WendyB said...

Super fun post!

Cammila said...

What a cool idea! I really enjoyed this. I never knew that Isabella Blow discovered Sophie Dahl! That quote is hilarious! And hat first picture of Carine Roitfeld is beautiful.

I have a stack of Seventeen magazines from the early 90s and I periodically flip through and see a now famous actress or model who was an unknown at the time. There's one with Katherine Heigl on the cover when she was like 15.

Elizabeth said...

Fascinating. This is my favorite post!

Couture Carrie said...

Really insightful and unexpected post; interesting juxtaposition of the different types of characters that populate our fashion "play". The vintage pics are most appreciated! Fantastic post :)

AsianCajuns said...

What an awesome post!!! It is really intriguing to learn about earlier days of fashion celebs (much more interesting to me than run-of-the-mill celebs). Thanks!

AsianCajuns said...

Amazing post! I didn't know most of this stuff of these women and I pride myself on knowing the fashion world.

Ida said...

What a lovely post!! You do know your fashion lessons:))

I like Agyness so much better with darker hair. I wish she would stop bleaching it.

..... said...

aggy looked so impish when she was little !! lovely

Elisabeth said...

What a fantastic post!

Yesha said...

whoa! very interesting. i like agyness. she looks very pretty to me. =]

Belowen said...

This was a really fascinating read! Thanks for posting! <33

Cate said...

Miss L, great post!
agyness deyn looks really like her mother. but i agree with mario testino - she is really over-publicised.
-somehow i always confuse daphne guinness with isabella blow.
-i love the information about anna wintour with the intern who did nothing about her tripping. haha! her own fault if they make such stupid taboos. sorry but i really can't stand anna wintour. but i must admit she looked really pretty when she was young (not so much now).
-oh and same as carine roitfeld, it bugs me that the designers sell nothing but handbags! they should sell more actual CLOTHES! though i DON'T hate handbags the way she does. i really love the shoot with her in purple magazine.
xxxxx Cate

Luxe. said...

This was really interesting!
1. OMG at young Anna
2. Carine, my love, my hero!

STYLE DU MONDE said...

Wow. Wonderful post!

Adele said...

how cool!
thanks
i lernt loads in this post!x

Seeker said...

Great post, very interesting and informative.
You had a lot of work darling and you did it well.

I like Aygness, but I don't like Anna Wintour, I think she's arrogante.
keep the good work sweetie :)

xx

Dianna said...

love this post! very informative with so many tidbits of information that i didn't know.

Margaux said...

Hah, love the information about Anna Wintour. Especially about not making eye contact.

Fashion Is Poison said...

great post. i love looking at the 'before' pictures

Wendy said...

I adore Carine Roitfeld and her style.

Bang Bang Starz said...

I love carine, she is beautiful and her daughter looks exactly like her when she was young too!

meliindaa. said...

your blog is so well written and amazing! good job.

Chantelle said...

Wow, this article is great. Nice post, very informative, and with enough suspense to make one curious.

Unknown said...

great post!! original!

Sister Wolf said...

Oh my, fantastic post! Brilliant!