2beMAG

[You can read an extended multimedia version of this article at 2beMag #6, with music video and photogallery included!]

Karen Elson was born in 1979 in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. At the tender age of 16 the soon to be super model, was discovered by the owner of Boss models in Manchester, England. It was her red hair and deep blue eyes that caught the attention of the manager, and soon enough she signed her first modeling contract. Only a year after being discovered, Steven Meisel got his hands on her photos and decided to shoot her for Italian Vogue on her 18th birthday.

Since her shoot with Meisel, Karen was immediately exposed to the world of high fashion and continued to work with blue-chip names like Bruce Weber, Mario Testino, Peter Lindberg, Mert and Marcus Steven Klein and Ellen von Unwerth. She has walked and done campaigns for the most prestigious brands in fashion like Marc Jacobs, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Versace, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Burberry and the list goes on and on and on… Karen has also graced the covers around the world for Vogue, W, Dazed & Confused, Numéro, Marie Claire, Elle, Nylon and others. She is currently the face of YSL Opium perfume and appears in the Fall/Winter 2010/11 ad campaign of Louis Vuitton, along with Natalia Vodianova and Christy Turlington.

Apart from being a successful model Karen has also done plenty of acting and singing. She appeared in War Opera by Darren Lew, More beautiful women by Nick Knight, 48 Girls by Craig McDean and various different films by Bruce Weber.

Karen also appeared in The White Stripes’ video clip “Blue Orchid”. It was on the set of this music video that she met her future husband, the lead singer and guitarist of the band, Jack White. The video’s director, Floria Sigismondi noted “you sensed an energy between them.” The couple was married in 2005 in Manaus, Brazil. The White Stripes’ manager Ian Montone serving as best man while drummer Meg White, who is also Jack White’s exwife, was the maid of honor.

Karen Elson has always been interested in music and before meeting Jack she was a founding member and performer with the New York City based political cabaret troupe The Citizens Band, appearing with them at various theaters as well as the downtown art gallery Deitch Projects.

The matrimony with Jack White encouraged Karen to dedicate even more of her time to music. After Jack White heard a few songs that Karen Elson sang in secret, he urged her to try and write some more. Eventually she had written enough for an entire album and in February 2010, it was announced that Elson would be releasing her debut solo album The Ghost Who Walks, produced by her husband. The album received good reviews; Karen Elson was credited for both her singing and song writing abilities in the genre of gothic-folk and country. Karen Elson and Jack White have two kids together, a daughter, Scarlett Teresa White and a son, Henry Lee White. The whole family now resides in Nashville Tennessee, where Elson also owns a vintage boutique called Venus & Mars.

[You can read an extended multimedia version of this article at 2beMag #12, with video and gallery included!]

Originality in videosystems has always developed with technological innovations in projection devices. Since the eighties, different artists started to experiment with the many opportunities that these devices offered them. Tony Oursler made some videosystems where he projected talking heads over some egg- shaped ovals, and Bill Viola and Steve McQueen created monumental screened presentations in huge walls. The latest years, the 3D technique development and the searching for stunning methods for the show business and publicity have given place to a new communication technique using screening, the 3D mapping projection. This technique is characterized for screening third dimension images over surfaces such as huge building facades, big installations or objects etc. Agencies like the TCH Access Agency offer the maximum creativity to acquire incredible volume and depth effects.

From the success of the Samsung 3D projection on the historical building in Amsterdam, Beurs van Berlage, in May 2010, many brands like Mattel, Nike or Toyota have recourse to this technique. We present you one of the most successful projections that gave been lately created for the “Adidas is all in” campaign. This projection had place on the Palais du Pharo’s surface in Marseille, a big scale project orchestrated by DJ Cut Killer. This technique has also been used for fashion brands such as Ralph Lauren and, recently, we could see a good example during the new Santa Eulàlia store opening, a classic in the fashion business in Barcelona, placed in Paseo de Gracia.

[Article by Lorena Vilela for 2beMAG issue 12]

[You can read an extended multimedia version of this article at 2beMag #13, with runway video and photogallery included!]

This american fashion designer, who first reached fame by becoming one of the 90’s super models, was born in a small vilage in Utah in 1967. When she was just a young girl who already measured 1.95m, she was discovered in her village by Helmut Newton and right after moved to Paris and found work as a model, where she catwalked for Thierry Mugler and Azzedine Alaïa. Ten years later, and with a wide set of connections thanks to the Paris fashion network, she moved to L.A and started working with photographer Herb Ritts, becoming his muse. In L.A, she started meeting celebrities and stars like Renée Zellweger, Nicole Kidman, Penélope Cruz, Daphne Guinness, Sarah Jessica Parker or Michelle Obama, and became their personal stylist. She also worked as a fashion consultant for some movies such as Ocean’s Thirteen or Diabolique, featuring Sharon Stone.

Frequent companion of Mick Jagger, whe describes her as “my main person of interest”, Scott has become so much a Hollywood insider that in 2000, she was hired to coordinate the Oscars, offering fashion advice to stage performers. Before becoming a fashion designer, she had also worked as a stylist for worldwide publications such as Vogue, Vanity Fair or W magazine, where, in 2009, she already contributed designs for Madonna to wear in her photoshoot with model Jesus Luz.

It was in 2007 when she decided to launch her firs fashion collection, and hasn’t stopped since then, obtaining not only an amazing feedback from potential costumers, but also from the critics. Her favourite color is black, and her style can be understood as a mix between dominatrix an victorian looks. Strapless and really tight dresses, super skinny pants, and tight blazers are a must in all of her collections. Also, the sixties rock legacy is ever present in Scott’s collections. “I like very sexy silhouette and I like to feel like when you put something on, you zip yourself into it and you’re secure in there”, Scott explains. Some people says that what makes Scott succesful is that she is not designing for the many, but for the few, so she is breaking with the democratization of fashion, which had never been a reality until now.

Scott, apart from super model, stylist and fashion designer, has also created a make-up line for Lancôme, called “L”, and also designs extravagant jewellery like the 1.400 carat diamond necklace that Kidman wore to the Oscars this year.

[You can read an extended multimedia version of this article at 2beMag #9, with runway video and photogallery]

Alber Elbaz was born in Casablanca, Morocco, in 1961, but quickly moved to Holon, in Israel, with his family, where he grew up. Finally, after serving to the Israeli forced, he decided to study at the Shenkar College of Engineering and Design, in Ramat Gan. Once he had finished, he moved to New York in 1987, and started working as a designer for Geoffrey Beene, from whom he was very influenced, he always says. In 1997 Elbaz left Beene to start as a designer of the famous brand Guy Laroche, thanks to retailer Dawn Mello, and despite the conservative style of the brand, Elbaz got to give some freshness to the brand’s image. However, Elbaz’s affair with fashion brand Guy Laroche lasted for a year only, and after that he started designing ready to wear for YSL. His job at the french brand had also a short life because, three seasons after his start, the fashion house signed up with Tom Ford as the new designer.

Finally, in 2001, but having spent some time working for Krizia, in Italy, before, Alber Elbaz found his place at Lanvin, the oldest fashion brand worldwide. Since then, Elbaz’s work has been applauded by the fashion press without a rest. He is considered one of the best designers of our time and it is usually one of the celebrity’s favorites to dress them up for the red carpet. His night dresses, as well as his pret-a-porter designs, are well known for their delicacy and elegance.

[You can read an extended multimedia version of this article at 2beMag #9, with the featured video!]

When the body loses its limits.

The use of new technologies in art production is a consolidated reality nowadays. Cinema, videoart, netart etc, they all use technology as a way of expression. But what happens when those technologies become the main character of the artpiece? Chunky Move is an Australian dance company founded in 1995 by artistic director Gideon Obarzanek. Since then, they have opened an amount of 25 shows around the world and have gained a great recognition because of its unpredictable and risky style. Its proposals show a perfect fusion between body and technology, the dancers moves while dancing become a dialogue, and they use resources such as lighting, beams of light and projections that go beyond any expectative.

The majority of the company’s proposals have as an objective to explore human’s behavior in view of their desires, conflicts and emotions. The lights and sounds build this way of confronting the world that is not always rational. Nowadays, some of its shows such as Glow, Connected or I like this, are being performed in really important cities like New York, Monaco or Melbourne. Now, we present you a video where is performed one of their most successful shows, Mortal Engine. A performance which combines dance, music, video and light beams and in which movement and sound together generate projections that distort the dancer’s body’s limits. The choreography responds to the beings moves without a specific form that try to connect and wrap themselves over and over again. It is an almost magic representation about the human’s figure’s metamorphosis.

[Article written for 2beMAG #9 by Lorena Vilela]