Chloe Sevigny covers Candy as Terry Richardson

screen cap/luis venegas's vimeo

Candy, the world’s “first transversal style magazine”, frocked up model Luke Worrall and actor James Franco as women for the covers of its first and second issues. For its just-launched third issue, Candy has transformed actor Chloe Sevigny into a drag king – and in fact, in character as photographer Terry Richardson, with his trademark flannel shirt, glasses, sideburns and thumbs up. Having shot both the Worrall and Franco covers, presumably Richardson shot this one as well. Sevigny has more than a passing interest in the subject of transsexuality. She earned an Academy Award nomination as Lana Tisdel, the girlfriend of murdered transgender man Brandon Teena, in Kimberley Pierce’s 1999 film Boy’s Don’t Cry. She voiced the role of Andy Warhol’s male-to-female superstar Candy Darling in James Rasin’s 2010 documentary Beautiful Darling. And she recently shot a British television series called Hit & Miss, in which she plays a transgender Irish assassin. She also has some commonality with the controversial Richardson. Sevigny is in a minority of mainstream actors to have engaged in an unsimulated sex act in a film – Vincent Gallo’s 2003 Brown Bunny, in which she performed fellatio on co-star Gallo. Richardson has pushed the boundaries of pornography like no other in fashion - coming under fire for the alleged exploitation and degradation of some of his models in the process - and his personal work features a high volume of imagery of himself engaging in unsimulated sexual acts. Sevigny copped a lot of flak herself over Brown Bunny. So, lots to chat about during the cover shoot.

Gemma Ward impresses the critics and a new artist mate

the sunday telegraph

As a teenager Gemma Ward conquered the fashion world. Now 23, she is slowly making her mark in the film business, with her fourth film, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, due for release on May 20th. But how does she shape up as a theatre performer? Not too shabbily, according to reviews of her stage debut in The Perth Theatre Compay’s production of The Ugly One, which premiered on March 22nd. “Ward does well on her stage debut and, to her credit, is better as the 73-year-old reconstructed cougar Fanny than as Lette's younger wife” says The West Australian’s David Zampatti; “It's impossible to ignore her international celebrity as a beauty but, while this perhaps adds an unintended extra layer to Von Mayenburg's text, it does it no harm”.

the australian

Notes Perth Now’s Maria Noakes:

“Can she act? In a nutshell, yes, she can. But she’s still learning and it’s a big leap from the catwalk to the stage. Swinging between three characters including Fanny, a 73-year-old woman with a fetish for plastic surgery and the young wife of Lette, Ward only stumbled over her lines once but at times, particularly at the beginning, she looked somewhat wooden. However she made a good go of it and as the play hit its straps she warmed and seemed to settle into her roles. 

Her co-stars WAAPA graduate Benj D’Addario, Brendan Ewing and stage veteran Geoff Kelso out shone her but that was to be expected – the trio have years of experience under their belts.

No doubt given time Ward will come into her own as an actress. Despite her inexperience she is mesmerising to watch. It’s a surreal experience seeing the towering former international supermodel perform just metres in front of you and an experience Perth audiences wont forget in a hurry”.

The Australian's John Kinsella didn't think Ward was too bad, but concurred that there is definitely room for improvement:

"Gemma Ward, cast as Lette's wife, and also a 73-year-old CEO who lusts after the new Lette, makes yet another subtext. Supermodel, and one of the faces of her time on the catwalk, she becomes a mirror for proliferating narcissism. Ward was acceptable, and certainly knows how to use the stage and hold her glances. But her voice was thin, and though the roles were deliberately flat, she could have made them more dynamic. The play relies so much on skin-deep humour that she was well-placed with her industry background to bring this out".

 

Wards mother Claire, naturally, loved the play. After the show, she told a reporter that her daughter was a little bit nervous about the sex scenes:





Prepping for her stage debut is not the only thing Ward has been up to in Perth. She also found the time to pose for US-born, Perth-based artist Matt Doust, for Doust’s entry in the 2011 edition of Australia’s most prestigious portraiture competition, The Archibald Prize.

"I think he's extremely talented, he's going to go so far and I was very honoured to work with him" Ward told News Ltd. "Just the alignment of every feature on her face intrigues me" noted Doust - who set tongues wagging at a Prada dinner in Perth on March 15th, that the duo’s relationship may have developed a little further than artist and muse.

Doust is the second Californian-connected artist to become enchanted by Ward’s features.

Danny Roberts, an LA-based fashion illustrator and colleague of Ward’s sister Sophie Ward, has done over 100 Gemma Ward portraits.

Death of a Hollywood icon

richard avedon

RIP Elizabeth Taylor.

"I'm obsessed with models" - Melissa George

Since departing these shores in the mid 1990s, following a three year stint playing Angel Brooks on Australian soap Home & Away, Melissa George has established herself as a queen of the US small screen. Notwithstanding a few features, notably Dark City, Mulholland Drive, The Amityville Horror and 30 Days of Night, George’s CV is replete with a score of American tv movies and series, including Roar, Murder Call, LA Confidential, Friends, Charmed, Alias, In Treatment and Grey’s Anatomy. Her latest small screen effort: Australian production The Slap, whose current filming schedule downunder facilitated her participation in last week’s L’Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival as the event’s official ambassador. Frockwriter caught up with George on Friday night – four years after we chatted to her backstage at New York Fashion Week. This time, she demonstrated that she is as much of an ambassador for the Argentinian fashion industry, as she is for its Australian equivalent, and offered a fascinating theory to explain the sudden proliferation of top Australian models - or at least those hailing from her native Perth. 

How are you enjoying the fashion festival?
I’m loving it. I was very moved by Maticevski [L'Oréal Paris Runway 5 show]. The music and the workmanship... I was almost on a film set.

Did you like the pavlova dress at the end?
You know why I loved it? Because every designer has their showstopping piece. It’s not about what you’re going to wear on the weekend. It’s about what item of clothing best represents my vision. And that’s it. The layering and....of course I wanted to wear it on a film set, running through the Scottish Highlands like after a lover. I was on a movie set, completely. I got quite emotional, quite choked up actually.

Are you doing a remake of Highlander?
No, nothing like that. I just think it was so romantic.

So, your impressions of the festival?
It’s been extraordinary. I mean, I think we all have to agree that it’s just been so well put together. The quality of the fashion, the fact that L’oréal has just put on this massive amount of publicity for the week. I mean it’s almost uncanny. I got off the plane from Buenos Aires and I arrived here and I’m like ....

Everywhere.
Like... hang on a second this is not normal. This is absolutely not normal and... It’s an honour.

Had you ever been to this festival before?
No. Never.

What are you working on at the moment?
Right now, I'm shooting The Slap. I’ve been shooting since January and then I went away for a month and now I’m back and I continue shooting on Monday. In between fashion shows I’ve been rehearsing with the director. Rob Connolly is doing the next two. We’ve had an array of directors – Tony Ayres, Jessica Hobbs, Matthew Saville. Amazing writers and directors. I love the balance - fashion and acting.

How would you describe your relationship with fashion?
It’s an emotional relationship I find. It’s not about putting on clothes for me. It has to evoke an emotion for me and I have to feel something. I’ve got these gorgeous, thigh-high flat boots... it’s not an Australian brand, it’s an American brand. [Joseph] Altuzarra for Sergio Rossi. And they’re thigh-high and they have croc tips on the toes and when I get up in the morning in New York and it’s cold and I put them on with leggings and a big Céline sweater and I get my New York Post and my coffee... it’s a simple boot but evokes such an emotion in me. And I think fashion creates confidence. It really does. Let’s face it, you can’t walk around naked, right?

Well some people like to.
Some people would like to... in the privacy of your own home.

No I mean the naturists – like you see in Europe. They have entire resorts.
Oh I know.

You see them playing tennis in the nude.
Oh well that’s fine. I mean that I agree with [laughs].

So what else is on the drawing board?
I’ve got a Mandy Moore movie coming up with Martin Freeman, who is shooting The Hobbit right now. And he and I and Mandy shot this fantastic romantic comedy in London [Swinging with the Finkels]. I haven’t laughed that much in a long time. They thought I was drunk the whole time because I was laughing that much. It comes out in June. And then my movie in Scotland, called A Lonely place to Die. I don’t know if it’s going to be called that.

Oh so you did in fact recently shoot in the Highlands? Pity you didn’t have Maticevski on wardrobe.
I just shot a movie for four months in the Highlands. Nothing to do with the gowns at all but it was just an action film. Then that and The Slap, I’m really proud of that. It’s the first time I’ve come home since shooting Triangle. That was an American production. This is an Australian production. It’s the first Australian job I’ve done since Dark City with Jennifer Connolly.

Any other fashion or luxury brand projects in the pipeline?
There’s a couple.... But I think after this, I’m going to take a little bit of a break. Let’s not do more of this for a minute. You can’t get more beautiful than what Daniela Frederici shot [for the LMFF program], the campaign was gorgeous. Nothing really. I’m just busy in Buenos Aires really.

So yes, you live part of the year in Buenos Aires?
In Buenos Aires and New York.

Your husband is Chilean?
He’s Chilean but you know, we just fly over the Andes...

Do you speak Spanish?
I do speak Spanish.

Where do you spend the most time?
I don’t know really, it changes every year. Right now I came from Buenos Aires and I’m going to go back there. And New York’s my heart.

Are there some good designers in Argentina?
Yeah – [Pablo] Ramirez,  Liliana Castellanos. Look at this [reaches for a fringed, black alpaca shawl, below, that an associate is carrying for her].

Not to mention the whole Eva Peron legacy.
I live in her neighbourhood, where she grew up and she was buried right near where I live. This is Liliana Castellanos, which is alpaca and then they have the people in the country weave a border.

Is there an Argentinian Fashion Week?
There’s a Sao Paolo one.

You’ll be the face of Buenos Aires Fashion Week next.
Oh I don’t know about that. I don’t look very Argentinian. They always think I’m foreign. What other designers do I love? I love Tramando – look at their website. They’re right in my home. And [Jessica] Trosman is another good one. They’re really cool designers. They’re honestly the future. Everything is made out of Latex and layers.

There would be a very strong leather and leather craftsmanship tradition there.
Oh yeah and the crocodile and the skins and all that, which is not very appreciated in the rest of the world, but it’s Argentina. It’s a big meat-eating culture and everything.... the décor in our place is all animal or cowhide and stuff like that and there’s a French feel, there are a lot of French antiques there. But mixtures, like the Argentinians.

I asked you a couple of years ago about the success of all the Australians in Hollywood. Have you been following the more recent influx of Australian models overseas? They’re everywhere at the moment.
Oh look, they’re the most gorgeous....

Do you know any of the Australian models?
I’m obsessed with models. In fact I can spot them a mile away. I read Italian Vogue, French Vogue, Australian Vogue, I know all their names.

[Joking] Hey you probably comment on my blog. It attracts model obsessives.
I know who you are [yeah right]. They’re divine. They’re all from Perth.

Well that’s right, there have been quite a few from Perth, starting with Gemma Ward. So what’s in the water in Perth?
I think we’re just so far away. There are lots of billionaires... there’s a theory that all the rich miners married supermodels back in the ‘80s and so they all got themselves a hot wife and created beautiful children.

How does Rose Porteous [widow of mining magnate Lang Hancock] fit into that?
Oh yeah, you know, she’s the top of the ladder.
 

Sophie Lowe, Krew Boylan and co get down to basics for Marcs

Australian sportswear brand Marcs might have cool new Australian model Julia Nobis as its current advertising face, but when the company was looking for talent to embody its new ‘ICONS’ campaign, it opted for non professional models. Not that they’re exactly ordinary mortals (top to bottom): actors Sophie Lowe and Krew Boylan, Dank Street Depot chef Jared Ingersoll, meditation guru Gary Gorrow (brother of Ksubi co-founder George Gorrow), artist Tanya Linney and snowboarder Alex ‘Chumpy’ Pullin - who became Australia’s first snowboard champion on Tuesday after winning the snowboard cross world championship in La Molina, Spain. Shot by Stephen Ward, the campaign showcases six Marcs classics that have been in the Sydney brand’s repertoire since it was founded in 1979 by the late Mark Keighery: mens’ and womens’ V-neck T-shirts and button-down shirts, a mens’ round-neck T and a womens’ shirtwaister. Oz ski blogger Lorraine Lock had a preview of Pullin yesterday on Snow Blind, but here is a first look at the complete campaign and a video.