2beMAG

[You can read an extended multimedia version of this article at 2beMag #12, with photogallery]

Ginta Lapina was born in Riga, Latvia, and began her modeling career in 19.03.2005 when she was scouted on street of Riga by Nils Raumanis, the founder of DANDY model management in Riga, Latvia and after placed with MC2 Model Management in New York. Her runway debut was at the Spring 2008 New York Fashion Week in the Benjamin Cho show.

In 2008 she signed with model agency Women Management. Lapina has since walked in shows for many notable designers in the Milan, Paris, London, and New York fashion weeks including Anna Sui, Nina Ricci, Marc Jacobs, Dolce & Gabbana, Rodarte, Proenza Schouler, Vivienne Westwood, Miu Miu, Yves Saint Laurent, Carolina Herrera, Bottega Veneta, Versace, Valentino, and Louis Vuitton.

Lapina has been photographed in editorials for fashion magazines such as Russian Vogue, Marie Claire, Numéro, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue Italia, American Vogue, Dazed & Confused and Flair, and has been featured on the cover of Velvet Magazine. Currently Lapina appears in the Sportmax Fall/Winter 2010 campaign, and in the Miu Miu Fall/Winter 2010 campaign alongside Siri Tollerød, Lindsey Wixson, and Daphne Groeneveld.

Lapina’s hobbies include listening to rap music, swimming, and playing volleyball.

[You can read an extended multimedia version of this article at 2beMag #10, with runway video and photogallery]

The 26 years old Dutch fashion designer, Krizia Robustella, who lives and works in Barcelona, has won all the prizes at the 080 Barcelona fashion week. After 7 editions celebrating this event, this last one has been the first in which the two prizes have been given to the same designer, the prizes Mentos-080 Barcelona to the best women and men collections. Each prize was rewarded by a thousand euro, so Robustella earned 20.000 euros to invest in her future collections.

The young designer, who has competed and won over 18 other candidates, has a very eclectic style that combines and mixes many different ideas and styles in one result. She herself names her style as “Sport deluxe”, mixing sporty garments of the last decades with other pieces much more elaborated, where comfort is merged with luxury.

Lycras, leggings, overalls, eclectic colors, tops and a combination of jogging suits and working uniforms like those worn by air hostesses or hairstylist, create a unique world presented in Robustella’s collection. The jury was formed by professionals of the fashion field such as Jean Paul Cauvin, who was the manager of top model Laetitia Casta and the mercadotecnia of Torrente’s director, Jina Khayyer, editor of the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and Romain Brau, art director of RA and fashion and art exhibitions presenter worldwide. Jean Pierre Mocho, president of the SA SODES supervision council and organizer of the commercial fair of Prêt a Porter Paris, photographer Christian Lartillot and cofounder and codirector of both the creative studio Ipsum Planet and of the Neo2 magazine have also joined the jury.

The prizes have been finally given to Robustella after a long discussion because, as the jury considered, her collections summarize the spirit of catalan fashion and are truly original and nonconformist.

A selection of our pins for today:

• The North Face Desti

  

  The North Face Destiny Down Boot – Women’s Shiny Moonlight Ivory/Classic Khaki

  

• Jan Masny

  

  Jan Masny

  

• Sac à dos Bench

  

  Sac à dos Bench

  

• tokujin yoshioka: la

  

  tokujin yoshioka: lake of shimmer – avant time watch no. 3 for swarovski

  

• adrien brody.

  

  adrien brody.

  

[You can read an extended multimedia version of this article at 2beMag #11, with photogallery included!]

Olivier Theyskens was borne don January the 4th of 1977, in Brussels, Belgium. Son of a chemical engineer and a homemaker, he dreamed, when he was a child, to be a girl and be able to wear skirts and look like a princess. So it wasn’t surprising when, at the age of 7, he claimed that he wanted to do Haute Couture.

In October 1995, at the age of 18, he finally got to starts the studies of fashion design at the École Nationale Superieure des Arts Visuels de la Cambre, but within a year he felt that he was losing time so he dropped out to start his own label. He was only 19 years old. His first collections were defined as gothic extravaganzas and were made out of bed sheets his grandmother had given him. He created an amount of 25 designs which were shown at a showroom in Paris. There, one of Barneys stylists saw the collection and fell in love with it, wanting to buy it all, which Theyskens refused. Even so, the collection was shown at Barney’s shop windows during a few weeks, where Madonna saw them and fell in love with the creations. She finally wore one of his dresses in 1998 to the Academy awards, and since then, the name of Olivier Theyskens has been known by all the fashion industry. He finally had to close his label because he didn’t have enough money to create it. So he started working as a costume designer at the Théâtre de la Monnaie even though he never stopped creating dresses as a pastime.

In 2002, the French brand Rochas, well known for its perfumes and not so much for its fashion lines, selected Olivier as the new creative director. His first collection, presented in 2003, was amazingly claimed by the critics and, since then, he created a completely new silhouette for the brand, very elegant and French influenced.

In 2006, Theyskens was rewarded by the Council of Fashion Designers of America with the International award. However, Theyskens designs, really magical, special and fantastic-world-belonging, didn’t really fit within the ready-to-wear market and either within the idea of Haute Couture and its rules, so it wasn’t being really profitable for the brand. The designer’s refusal to create a marketable accessories line and the fact that he didn’t give importance to advertising ended up with Rochas’ demise.

In 2007 he was named artistic director at Nina Ricci, where he presented a more commercial line. After presenting three collections in the house, his contract, which was expiring on 2009, was never renewed and his position was taken by Peter Copping, from Louis Vuitton.

Nowadays, Andrew Rosen, Theory’s CEO, has hired Theyskens to design a capsule collection that has already been presented and that will be sold this summer. Theysken’s style is a perfect mix of old, gothic and romantic time’s nostalgia with the actual figure of the modern woman, very strong and active, and, overall, really feminine.

[Article by Laura Sunyer]

[You can read an extended multimedia version of this article at 2beMag #10, with video-book and photogallery]

Joan Smalls (Joan Rodriguez) grew up in Puerto Rico, where she discovered modeling by way of television. Originally using the TV to watch Sesame Street while sandwiched between her two pet dogs, Smalls later gained a healthy addiction to fashion-related shows. Frequent comparisons of her body type against the models on the tube convinced Smalls that she could make it in the industry, while an episode of E! True Hollywood Story provided her with enough industry insights to believe that a modeling salary could mean a better life for her and her family.

In 2007, Smalls jumped ship from Puerto Rico to New York City, where she promptly found professional representation with Elite Model Management. From there, she was chosen by Tory Burch as a fall show headliner, something she would also do for Heatherette, L’Wren Scott, Tracy Reese, and Benjamin Cho. Before 2009 was over, Joan Smalls made one of her most important career moves by switching her representation from Elite Model Management to IMG Models. Having been on the brink of true modeling stardom for several years, this move paid off immeasurably in 2010 when Smalls was chosen by Givenchy’s creative director, Riccardo Tisci, to appear as an exclusive in the company’s spring Paris couture show.