Azealia Banks covers the new Dazed & Confused
TFS

If you follow Know Wear you know I'm not the biggest fan of Dazed & Confused. But sometimes, I have to give it to them, they're the only ones daring to do new things without worrying about being politically correct or even commercial.
For their September issue cover they have featured the Harlem singer and rapper Azealia Banks shot by the super talented Sharif Hamza. And I just love everything about it. The colours are great – I love the hair the most, it looks like of big peacock feather. The story inside, styled by Karen Langley, takes a nice spin on the classic sexy girl-next-door theme we have seen over and over. And I don't think I need to say much about the cover picture, do I? I think it's genius and I can't understand how it's been banned in 7 countries. We live in the 21st century, for crying out loud.
So far, this is one of the best September covers this year. After Vogue's boring covers I really needed something to get me excited again.

What do you think?

Zenia Sevastyanova covers the new Dazed & Confused in Giles FW12
Models.com

Any of you who read me often will know that I have never been a big fan of Dazed & Confused. But you will also know that despite this I can give them credit when they do something extraordinary, which according to Know Wear's archive has only happened twice since I started blogging. But the time has come again.

For their July issue, Dazed features model Zenia Sevastyanova on the cover shot by the brilliant Kacper Kasprzyk and styled by the amazing Robbie Spencer. The inside story, which also features Katryn Kruger, Cora Emmanuel, Mackenzie Drazan, Madison Headrick and Maria Bradley, is just as great as what you'd expect from the cover. But I must admit my favourite shots and styling are those of Zenia in a Giles' FW12 look. It was one of my favourite collection's from the last London Fashion Week and it's great so see it being styled in such a fantastic way!

Click here to see my post on Giles FW12 collection including a video of the finale and backstage detail shots.

FashionGoneRogue

I have often mentioned in the past how I'm not a big fan of magazines like i-D, Dazed or Another. I don't dislike them equally or for the same reasons but there is something mostly pretentious and often empty about them.

The October issues of Another and Dazed & Confused are a whole other story, though. Riccardo Tisci has guest art-directed the cover shoot for the 20th anniversary of the magazine, which is celebrating over London Fashion Week. I actually got a copy of the magazine and the shoot inside is stunning. The composition references are mostly religious, as it's normal from Tisci. And so it's easy to link the front cover of him with Mariacarla Boscono and Saskia de Brauw as version of "La Pietà" by Michelangelo or "The descent from the Cross" of the Virgin de Guadalupe.
Rachel Weisz covers Another magazine looking very unusual. I love the bold makeup and the yellow Miu Miu coat and the fact that she's holding a little lamb –"Rache's got a little laaaamb", anyone?– is random but, hey, it works! I will, however, not buy this issue because Another's layouts are too messy for my taste.

You're cold, then you're hot, Karl

I was going to ask if you guys remembered the Chanel FW10 collection, but how could you possibly forget? I remember how indignant I was at the Kaiser for this very odd collection. In fact, I only liked the hot water tweed bags, if you remember my review. I haven't changed my mind one bit but I must admit I did not see this one coming. Silly me. What can you possibly do with a show piece that can't go into production (because it ain't wearable, Karl) but that attracted a lot of media attention? —You use it on editorials. Duh.

And that is exactly what Dazed & Confused has done in their August 2010 issue. Kristen McMenamy, one of the first models to become known because of her androgynous look in the 90's, wears Lagerfeld's yeti overalls in an amazing shoot styled by Dazed's fashion director Karen Langley. I have to admit that, in this scenario, the coats work like a charm. Thinking about it, if you cut the black legs it wouldn't make a half bad coat. After all, we all loved Bárbara Martelo in the Marant one, didn't we?

Click here to see the rest of the shoot at Dazed & Confused.
I'm off.

[Pictures: Style.com, trucosyfondos.com, RDuJour.com]


PS. They would also be great for a fashion version of "Where the wild things are" with Anna Wintour as Carol and Bryanboy as Max.