But the most eventful day is about a new german assistant……..(I won't name her)

Marcella the super fashion stylist introduced me and Madeleine (also an assistant) to a new assistant number 3 the ‘german assistant’ who was already hanging some clothes up on the rail.  She was petite, quiet and smiley….

As we start unpacking and hanging the clothes up, laying the shoes out etc, the 'german assistant’ asked us how long we’ve been working with Marcella, do we do this often and also whether we’re doing this for college….COLLEGE? EH?  Although both me and Madeleine look young we’re NOT interns, we’re doing the job on a freelance basis.  The ‘german assistant’ told us about herself, she’s from Berlin living in London for a few years, assisted with a couple fashion stylists at ‘**’ for advertising works blah blah blah, she’s moving away from that area to get more paid jobs in fashion with Marcella.  Madeleine and I were like ‘WHAT?’  I told the girl that you won’t get paid for this there’s no budget for assistants, some editorials you do but only for 1^st assistant again depending on the budget, if have more they would split the money if you work for advertising, music, celebs, tv etc….yeah there’s abit of assistant fee.  The ‘german assistant’ was shocked you could see the colour of her face went pale; I told her she would get a credit anyway.  There was silence so we carried on doing the unpacking and hanging, she helped dressing the model, tidy the wardrobe area and she’d become very quiet and slacked til lunch time (around 3pm), eventually after lunch Madeleine told me that she sensed the girl wasn’t happy and wanted to leave because she knew that she would NOT be paid for this assisting job, I told her to tell Marcella about because she wasn’t aware of this. She did and we have to let her go, the girl came up with a lame excuse saying she’s busy this week and have some work to do, she thought she’d be by her own doing the 1^st assistant role and get paid.  She left us with extra more work in the end and we will NOT credit her name in the magazine.

To all future stylist’s assistant, make up assistant and whatever assistant you’re after…..THIS IS WHAT YOU GET.  To be a 1^st assistant you need to work your way up, work mega hard (if you could handle 10-12 hour long shoot), gain your trust and hopefully you would get paid depending on the budget.   Don’t end up like the ‘unknown german assistant’ and don’t waste our time.  We do welcome interns but don’t expect anything.  Thank You.

Here's the behind-the-scenes shots from the FT - How to Spend It magazine from last autumn 2007, shot at the old ruined mansion somewhere near the Epping Forest in Essex I remember it was a warm day and bloody cold at night.  The shoot was fun apart from burning my finger off when accidently handling a very hot hair curler (didn't know it was switched on), it was painful.

Photographer: Chris Dunlop

Stylist: Marcella Martinelli

above: our digi-bus

above: location (the mansion was burnt down by a huge fire in the early 1900s, it's been used alot for filming, fashion shoots......the film 'Hot Fuzz' was filmed there too)

above: Make-ups

above: Piero the fab hair stylist!!!!!

above: not for the squimish, a cream applied on my burned fingers!!

above: a quick touch up

above: shadows

above: another touch ups

above: awww careful!!

above: pose and pout!!!!!

above: Yikes!!! Danger Danger!! There were lots of dead pidgeons around......

above: careful Marcella!!!

above: the beautiful sunset of Essex

above: make up touch up

above: tired

above: on our way home.....god knows how many looks we'd done.

The photos are available to view on Chris Dunlop's website.

Photographer: Elisabeth Hoff

Stylist: Marcella Martinelli

Photographer: Lorenzo Agius

Stylist: Marcella Martinelli

Myself and couple assistants were assisting in the jewellery shoot for R.J magazine yesterday (Marcella Martinelli as Stylist), shooting 8 looks but in the end we had shot 12 looks....YIKES!! I was very surpised to see Hamilton the hair stylist, haven't seen him since...er...the FHM shoot in early 2007?

The shoot took place in the poshy west London's studio....indoor....in the basement......lots of people......HOT.....HUMID....and SWEATY.  The studio's electric fan didn't help either, but the jewelleries and beautiful designer clothes made us forget the heat.

Won't say anymore about the story of the shoot....here's a few behind the scenes shots....more photos will be posted later once the magazine is published in early Sept 2008.

1. The Journey Continues - Mark Brown ft. Sarah Cracknell

2. Sweet Like Me - Gabriella Cilmi

3. Suddenly I See - KT Tunstall

4. Overpowered - Roisin Murphy

5. Black and Gold - Sam Sparro

6. DJ - The Ting Tings

7. Singing in the Rain - Mint Royale

To reveal 7 other bloggers of their top seven spring songs, I'm tagging:

Fashion Nation, Stylist Stuff, Danny Daily, Fashion Ambition, Dapper Kid, Crimson Cream, Estrella Style  

Photos ©Jordan Duvall. For more of Jordon's work see www.jordanduvall.com

As mentioned in my previous post 'A Very Hot and Humid Day at the Fashion Shoot' it was shot at an exclusive apartment on a hot humid day where it was impossible to stay rehydrated all day indoor and outdoor.

Here are some chosen behind the scenes photos:

Photographer: Chris Dunlop

Styling: Marcella Martinelli

Make Up: Julie Jacobs

Hair: Piero

A behind the scenes video will be posted later...

Here are the fun pics from yesterday...

Marcella Martinelli (Fashion Stylist)

singing*** 'DIA-MONDS!!!! DIA-MONDS AREEEEEEEEEE AAAAA GIRL'SSSSSSS BESTTTT FRIE-NDSSSSSS'

Will post all the behind-the-scenes photos and video when it's published on September 2008!!!

Behind the scene photo

(Photo by The Fashion Assistant and her Camera)

Will post the rest of the behind-the-scenes photos as soon as the magazine is published.

I got to hang out with this lovely creature last Sunday, which was two degrees off the record high for the date. I was doing a test shoot where the team comprised the photographer, the makeup artist, and me. The makeup artist also did hair, and unlike most fashion switch-hitters, she was equally adept at both. She and the photographer had pulled an avant-gard dream wardrobe of Prada, Comme des Garçons, and Junya Watanabe. I wore ruffled matador jackets and feathered Ann Demeulemeester things and belts as necklaces and a cute Marc Jacobs dress for good measure.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. First I had to make a coffee run, in full makeup, hair becurlered and ready to spring loose as soon as we stepped on set.

(This photo by Tina Cohen.)

The A/C didn't work in the hotel room where we were shooting, and I already had one layer of dried sweat coating the backs of my legs from an early morning $1 rag sale (finally getting the hang of LA thrift!), but working with such energetic people was a pleasure. Everyone solicited each other's opinions, and collaboration hung in the air like San Francisco fog (and just as pretty and dramatic). We shot some seven looks in a little over four hours, totally nailing each one, and we still had time to break for dinner.

When the light was well and gone, the makeup artist, the photographer, and I all sat down and drank a Bloody Mary or two and went through the day's shots. That has never happened to me before: Normally, even in the rare event that your team still stands one another's company at the end of the day, the photographer is never amenable to the idea of showing his unretouched, raw take. It was all kinds of special.

1980s draped fuschia bustier dress; 1980s black rim aviator shades - Granny's Day Out

Shoes; vintage inspired shoulder duster earring - Stylist's own

1980s enamel tiger head pendant/brooch - Granny's Day Out

1940s black dress with pink suede collar - Granny's Day Out.

1940s military cropped jacket and dress with embroidery; vintage sunglasses - Granny's Day Out.

Black shoes - Stylist's own.

1970s black and white tassel dress; vintage inspired earrings; 1950s glass stretchable bracelets -

Granny's Day Out.

Grey Mary Janes, vintage sunglasses - Stylist's own.

Long printed 1970s maxi dress; 1970s necklace with baubles- Granny's Day Out

1980s black and white sequinned party dress with open back - Granny's Day Out

Light pink 1970s spaghetti strapped empire waist dress with lace; reconstructed vintage tie belt - Granny's Day Out.

Hat - Stylist's own.

1980s red reconstructed vintage jumpsuit; thick 1980s embroidered waist belt; 1940s silver pin; vintage sunglasses - Granny's Day Out

Shoes - Stylist's own.

1950s-inspired bustier polka dotted jumpsuit; 1950s rhinestone brooch - Granny's Day Out.

Hat and shoes - Stylist's own.

Printed cat's face oversized tee; white rimmed sunglasses; set of red and blue wavy bangles - Granny's Day Out.

Sneakers ; stockings- Stylist's own.

1970s printed polyester shirt; 1960s charm bracelet on a chain; vintage white rim sunglasses -Granny's Day Out.

1970s floral short-sleeved shirt; 80s red leather belt - Granny's Day Out.

Sunglasses - Stylist's own.

See you at:

3 Coleman Street, #03-25 Peninsula Shopping Centre, Singapore 179804

Tel: 65-63369774
www.grannysdayout.com

These shots from Italian Glamour were the products of my first- and second-ever editorials. The issue finally came out in March, if I recall correctly.

whitetexthere

Sunglasses photo by Stefania Paparelli. Jeans photo by Fabio Chizzola. Fashion Editor for both shoots: Eduardo Marchioli

Meanwhile, Greek Cosmopolitan was my second-most-recent editorial. (You may recall my post about the shoot.) And it came out, like, two minutes ago. Fashion: bending the time-space continuum to its own ends since Madeleine Vionnet invented cutting on the bias.

Peep the heavy-duty stylist's clamp holding the dress on.

I guard those sandals — which Iphigenia made and then gave to the three models you see here — with my life. Iphigenia, wherever you are, you are one bad-arse Greek stylista (and your name still rocks my geeky classics-loving face off).

These photos by Vassilis Karydis. Fashion Editor: Iphigenia Mataraga.

Meanwhile, the test I wrote about here merits posting an extract.

See, first we run through the meadow. Look how sweet we look!

Then I seduce the helpless male model with my feminine wiles. I'm sneaky like that.

These photos by Colette de Barros.

And then there was this test. Pretty fun. I remember when I went out to eat at Zankou that weekend and told my favourite old creative writing professor I'd spent the previous day modeling an Ann Demeulemeester vest that was primarily made of feathers, he laughed — and now when I see the picture that results, I always picture his smile.

This, from memory, is a Comme des Garçons matador jacket and Calvin Klein underwear.

The aforementioned pretty Demeulemeester feathered thing, and more Calvin Klein skivvies.

Marc Jacobs dress.

Prada dress; belt worn as necklace, makeup artist's own. We shot in a hotel room, and the afternoon sunshine on the 98-degree day filtered through the white net curtains so beautifully. It was like working inside a softbox. And then we drank Bloody Marys!

These photos by Brian Sassmann.

That concludes fashion show-and-tell for now.

Vogue Italia's cover girl for June is supermodel Linda Evangelista. She was photographed by world-renowned lensman Steven Meisel. Linda shows the younger models what it takes to be super. Enjoy the pics!

Fashion-forward and multi-hyphenated career woman of the world, Tyra Banks, appears on the latest New York Times magazine. An excerpt:

Tyra Banks has 275 smiles. Like a star athlete who has perfected a jump shot or a curveball, Banks has studied, honed and mastered the smile. In her arsenal are the “surprise smile,” the “angry but still smiling” smile, the “flirting with boyfriend” smile and the “commercial” smile, which, like the rest of Tyra’s smiles, was designed and perfected when Banks, who is now 34, began modeling at 15. From the start of her career, when she was virtually plucked from an all-girl Catholic high school in Los Angeles and whisked off to Paris, to her days as a mass-market first-name-only supermodel strutting the catwalk in her underwear for Victoria’s Secret, Banks always treated modeling as a kind of beautiful science. Then, and now, the smiles were her secret weapons: they could compel, manipulate, seduce. Banks did not become a model to be a muse to designers or because she loved fashion. Modeling — and smiling — was a skill that could, if engineered and managed carefully, change the course of your life.

For the full length article, click here.

Here are some additional pics from the article by the way:

Love her or hate her, it can't be argued that Tyra made our TV guilty pleasure pleasurable. America's Next Top Model is on its way to the 11th season and I still see myself anticipating the reality series. I just wonder what Tyra has in store for the future, aside from her eponymous show and ANTM of course, critics and naysayers be damned.

V magazine also chose Gwyneth to grace their May/June double issue:

Gwyneth for British GQ's June issue:

Though she did not appear on the Vanity Fair Hollywood Issue cover last February, Gwyneth was included in the Hollywood Portfolio photo spread inspired by Hitchcock classics. In this pic, Gwyneth is photographed by Norman Jean Roy together with Iron Man co-star Robert Downey Jr. Their shot was inspired by the movie To Catch a Thief.

This is a very interesting video by Photoshop Retouching & Photography Tutorial Videos. However it does not surprise me that much as I used the G9 for some art nude, but just shows how versatile this little point and shoot is, as a backup for a photojournalist or as a stand alone camera.

The adage its the photographer, not the camera springs to mind!

The retouching is also interesting to see as well, although I try to avoid it as I am a bit of a purist ;)

Click here to watch the video 

Enjoy...

Four of NBT's dancers took part in a fashion shoot for the Manchester Evening News ahead of performances of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Palace Theatre last week.

Georgina May, Yi Song, Michela Paolacci and David Ward posed in beautiful 1940s costumes from the production at the Radisson Edwardian Hotel, sometimes getting right down to their stylish smalls! (Photos: Sean Wilton)

The pictures accompanied Helen Tither's article interview with David Nixon who not only choreographed the ballet but also designed the costumes. HERE

Click here to read a review of the first night performance at the Palace