circle of life

Again with my living jewelry.

Vice, The Fashion Issue 2010
Death Becomes Her
Photographer: Ellis Scott
Stylist: Aldene Johnson
Jewelry: Dominic Jones

denim dujour

Dujour Magazine March/April 2009
Photography: Nikolas Schot
Styling: Edith Domen
Hair+Makeup: Carmen Gonzales
Model: Florence

pick and choose

DUJOUR Magazine is offering two limited edition covers for their Art Issue (in hardcover!) and we need some help narrowing it down.

My favorite is numero uno. Which one do you like best? VOTE HERE

Dujour Magazine Summer 2008

via the Dujour Magazine team

And take their survey!

The Fashion Almanac

The Fashion Almanac via Issuu

P.S.
West Oahu Little League Team advanced to the final round of the Little League World Series! It was such a good game, but it's always so sad when they show the losing team. Waipahu Represent!

Crash #46

Photos: Crash Magazine

Sshhh, Free Magazines

Mygazines.com lets you see and zoom into full pages of mags you don't want to buy or read in the store, but would read if they're free online.
They have Glamour, Allure, Marie Claire, even Vogue.

This is so cool it should be illegal. Wait, is this illegal??

Revisited Movies + The Black Issue

I forgot how much I loved both of these beautiful movies as a kid. If you haven't seen them, do so, they're definitely among my favorites.

And I finalllly got my arse to Borders and got the Black Issue. I haven't fully read it yet, but from what I did see, I'm a little disappointed with the content, but the editorials make up for it, although I would've liked more creativity. It also would've been nice to see only black women in the ads and more throughout the entire mag, but I guess that's just too far fetched for the advertisers. Sigh, one day it'll happen.

The US Vogue Formula

Effing Awesome Person - All their Personality = Boring Ass Cover

August 2008 | September 2007

Runway Looks + Dull Background = Boring Ass "Trends" Editorial

July 2008 | January 2008

Talented Celebrity + Blank Faces = Boring Ass Editorial

July 2008 | October 2007

(No offense to the photographers who took these, I love your work outside of Vogue!)

Photos: Style.com

Race Plays an Important Role in Japanese Magazines Too

Europe and the US aren't the only ones dealing with featuring the right type of models based on their ethnicity.

Generally speaking, in Japan, as a magazine becomes more "high" fashion, the amount of Japanese ancestry in their models decreases.


Magazines for the everyday girl in Japan tend to feature full or close to full Japanese models to remain as true to reality as possible, so that readers can easily relate to the models they see and picture themselves in these outfits. Examples: CanCam and Popteen


High fashion magazines speak to women with a penchant for European luxury brands. To keep the focus on European/Western luxury, Caucasian models are used to reinforce legitimacy.
Examples: Spur and Vogue Nippon


Read more about this specific topic here and also explore that website for more excellent readings on Japan's consumer and media trends.

Italian Vogue All Black Issue Countdown

Please read Cathy Horyn's article and her accompanying blog post about the upcoming All Black issue of Italian Vogue.

If you don't have time to read either, here's my rundown:

-Available in Europe next Thursday and soon after in the US (Though for Hawai'i folks it might take longer because I went to Border's the other day and they only had the May issue.)

-Shot by Steven Meisel, makeup by Pat McGrath, hair by Guido Palau

-Featuring Iman, Naomi Campbell, Liya Kebede, Sessilee Lopez, Jourdan Dunn, Toccara Jones, and Tyra Banks, to name a few

-The editor of Italian Vogue, Franca Sozzani, says that her inspiration for an all black issue comes from Barack Obama and the "lack of diversity seen on the runways," among others.

-While it is not the case for all mentioned, the lack of diversity within the industry stems from modeling agencies unwillingness to find and properly train nonwhite models and advertisers, magazine editors, and designers unwillingness to hire nonwhite models

What really touched me about the article was that Barack Obama was one of the inspirations behind this issue. I find it amazing that him running for President has helped open new doors for black and other nonwhite models in the fashion industry. His appeal is so far reaching that it has even reached Italian Vogue before American Vogue. Aahh... I can't even describe how incredible I think this is!

I can't wait for this issue to come out, and judging by the first photos released, it is going to be a visual feast for my eyes!