Our fave fashion sites
By Suleman Anaya

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Dec 05: The notion of merging art and commerce into one bankably beautiful super-hybrid is nothing new, but the New York-based agency Art + Commerce was among the first to help bring fashion into the equation. As if foretelling today's collaborative mood, the preeminent powerhouse launched in 1982 with a small stable of photographers, but soon grew to include stylists, make-up artists, illustrators, all doing their parts to create high-concept images while not forgetting to push the product. The minimal site, recently revamped with nary a distracting blip of flash, extends the philosophy into cyberspace with an online oasis of magazine and campaign imagery by the likes of Steven Meisel (Italian Vogue cover pictured left), Carter Smith, Collier Schorr, and Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, as well as portraits by Annie Leibovitz and creative direction by Ronnie Cook Newhouse. Much more than a place for professionals to browse and book, the site has become a virtual gallery of works new and old, classic and radical, iconic and unknown. (And, although you won't find much about it on the site, A+C even handles the estates of Robert Mapplethorpe and Guy Bourdin, who we happen to know is about to experience a fashion moment with the release of a monograph in early 2006.) But while Art + Commerce is now at the top of its game, it still seeks out fresh talent with its two-year-old Festival of Emerging Photographers, whose photos can also be seen on the site in a glimpse of things to come. It's one mother of an agency.
Nov 05: Catching up on Suzy Menkes' endless wisdom, mapquesting Dover Street, googling exes and scouring eBay for anything Balenciaga are all highly important online pursuits, but sometimes all we want from the web is eye candy. We get plenty of it at Nine Daughters and a Stereo. Started as a thesis project by art director Eva G�del and photographer Kira Bunse, the Cologne-based model agency, named after a lyric from a song by David Bowie and Iggy Pop, has in-the-know fashion types abuzz with its unique—some would say distinctly German—aesthetic. Not only do the agency's lanky boys and girls look like they stepped out of a Northern Renaissance painting or the gritty housing projects of East Berlin, but its visual sensibility extends to the site's overall design, a purist's delight that no doubt helped win over clients Jil Sander, Stephan Schneider, Raf Simons and Kim Jones. No cheesy glamour shots here—just waist-up, make-up-free, gallery-worthy portraits. Another section of the site features the same models—alas, in clothes—as they've appeared in magazines from Dazed and Confused to Beijing's Vision Magazine. We should probably mention that ND&AS is also a location agency, and some of the unusual places pictured on the site are certainly nice to look at, but not nearly as nice as what brings us back again and again and again.
Oct 05: While in certain cultures a totem is a revered symbol, to the global fashion tribe it means the equally revered Paris fashion agency co-founded by PR guru Kuki de Salvertes, the man who brought Vivienne Westwood to the pret-a-porter calendar, helped launch Oliver Theyskens' career and handled Jeremy Scott during the designer's continental days. Specializing in progressive, often Belgian designers, Totem had, until recently, a less-than-cutting edge website. But now the agency has overhauled its online presence to match its stellar client roster, which currently includes Raf Simons, Bernhard Willhelm, Veronique Branquinho and Bruno Pieters (pictured left). In addition to designer bios, press clips and complete collection photographs going back several seasons, the new domain features a soundtrack courtesy of Gallic turntable legend Michael Gaubert and an info-packed email newsletter, to which we highly recommend you sign up. Yet, the most intriguing improvement is a section called Reportages, which contains backstage slideshows (Totem produces over fifty runway shows a year), agency-specific photo shoots from magazines and mini-profiles of buyers, stylists and other denizens of the Paris fashion scene. Offline and now online, Totem is totally cool.
Sep 05: As this year would have seen the 100th birthday of Christian Dior, had he not eaten himself to death almost fifty years ago, and with Paris Fashion Week beginning before you can say "foie gras," we thought we'd shine this month's spotlight on the online home of the venerable French house. Unlike other designer websites, Dior's domain proves that the brand that bears the couturier's name is as alive and kicking as when he launched his iconic New Look in 1947. Of course, the Dior customer has come a long way since her original post-war incarnation. As envisioned by the indomitable John Galliano, the label's Artistic Director since 1999, she is ever more seductive and adventurous, equal parts starlet and lolita � la Gwen Stefani and Riley Keough, both recent Dior muses. Take, for example, the Flight collection—an ensemble of aviator-inspired luxe looks—or the diamond-encrusted Christal watches, just two of the garishly glam lines that sparkle onscreen. But, despite injections of rocks and rock 'n' roll under Galliano, history is valued highly at Dior, as seen in the Heritage section, which contains biographies of Dior and Galliano, a chronology and gallery spanning six decades, and information about the Dior museum in Granville, France. There's also an eye-catching interview with Galliano about the influence of cinema on his work (under STARS), but the real bonbon of the site is the video of the latest Dior haute couture show (under LIVE) which marked the centennial, twenty-six minutes of visual succulence sure to turn even the most restrained fan into a glutton for Galliano. Appetite whetted? Hunger for Dior can quickly be sated with a visit to diorboutique.com, the brand new e-commerce sister site offering a wide range of accessories and shoes (European orders only).
Aug 05: Fashion folk are not normally thought of as an altruistic lot, as images of Prada-wearing she-devils and glossy-lipped, sexually motivated models fill the popular imagination. But the misconception is set straight with one mouseclick to Designers Against AIDS. Founded by Ninette Murk, a Belgium-based fashion journalist, DAA is essentially a line of T-shirts designed by famous and emerging fashion designers, DJs, musicians, photographers and sports stars, whose mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing global battle against the HIV/AIDS epidemic and to bring back a sense of urgency not seen since the late 80s. While scientific advances have increased life expectancy among victims with access to medicine, the resulting complacency is as far removed from reality as the notion of an intern-eating editrix. The staggering death toll in Africa is growing by the minute and infection rates are, again, on the rise in the West. Murk's project has enlisted the likes of Bernhard Willhelm, Robert Smith of The Cure, the Scissor Sisters and Rogan to emblazon messages of hope on long-sleeve tees supplied by sponsor Umbro and sold at fashion and music stores worldwide, with fifty percent of proceeds going to AIDS research. But unlike most clothes with a cause—you know, those gnarlments you wouldn't even wear to the corner bodega—these shirts are actually stylish. It's fashion that feels good for the right reason.
Jul 05: It used to be an adventure seeking out hidden shops around town. We remember our day-long retail romps fondly. But today's explosion of boutiques has made it nearly impossible for even the most advanced-stage shopping addict to keep track. Then there are designers swinging open their doors in the most far-flung corners of the city (we hear a certain Belgian darling is scouting real estate in Coney Island). The experience has become, well, crude. Enter Refinery29, a slick online guide that reveals and reviews New York's newest boutiques, but not any boutiques—these aren't the Yellow Pages. The team behind the site selects the shops that make the list with the high-mindedness of a museum curator, using customer service, attention to detail and, of course, the quality of the merch as their criteria. It's no surprise to find Opening Ceremony, Fabulous Fanny's, Some Odd Rubies and In God We Trust in the debut edition—shops that share fresh concepts and names with stories behind them. In addition to the store reviews, which are accompanied by mall directory-style illustrations, the very anti-mall site features a changing selection of hot items from store rosters and what-are-you-wearing questionnaires of people on the street. Refinery29 will soon cover other major cities, including Berlin, London and Los Angeles. Time to gas up the El Camino.
Jun 05: If you're Brazilian, you know all about this site. If not, there's no better time than the present to tune into our friend Erika Palomino, who runs the excellent Brazilian website that bears her name and whom—as it happens—we'll be air-kissing more than a few times this week while we're in town for Fashion Rio, the seaside city's fashion week. Her domain is a treasure trove of news about all things fashion, music and nightlife. Even at Hint HQ, where everyone is exceptionally au courant, we regularly check into the handy little resource for a quick fix on what's going down in the Southern Hemisphere. When we do, we find indelible sound bites such as why all of Sao Paulo fell in love with Jack White (you know, one half of the White Stripes and newly-minted Mr. Karen Elson) during a recent concert in the megalopolis and what clubs and stores to hit (and which ones to avoid) when in Rio, along with interviews with designers, models and musicians. The website also is the go-to URL to navigate Fashion Rio—or just pretend you're here from your studio in Hoboken—featuring a detailed calendar and backstage coverage almost as good as Hint's. There are even juicy scoops as to who sat where just hours after the designer's bow. But be prepared to call on your rusty college Portuguese or have your houseboy Ruiz help you get the most out of EP.com—the site is only partially translated into English.
May 05: For yet another month we've found our lucky link on European servers. This time the honor goes to Vienna, whose excellent University of Applied Arts fashion program is putting on a graduation show, Show Angewandte 2005, that could give Parsons pause. This year, menswear visionary Raf Simons is directing the event, which takes place June 2 and 3. (Simons has served as guest professor at the school in the past, as have other luminaries such as Vivienne Westwood and Viktor & Rolf.) While the school's website is geared mainly towards prospective students and German speakers, its partner site Unit-F is an exhaustive resource on Austrian fashion, featuring projects, Vienna Fashion Week coverage, funding opportunities for emerging designers and more. The most useful feature of Unit-F is Shortcuts, a free bimonthly newsletter packed with interviews, articles, reviews, news, and a litany of links pertaining to the city's vibrant fashion scene. We know, we've been!
Apr. 05: Currently, our favorite domain is the virtual outpost of a French villa, but this is no ordinary mansion on a hilltop. Nestled in the small Cote d'Azur town of Hyères, Villa Noailles was home, in the 1920s, to the Vicomte and Vicomtesse of Noailles, two dashing aristocrats from Paris and generous patrons of the arts who counted Picasso and Cocteau as pals. Two decades ago, their cubist quarters once again found itself a cradle of the avant-garde when it became the home of the Hyères International Fashion and Photography Festival. This year, marking the festival's 20th anniversary, the organizers of the competition—which opens April 29 and whose past finalists include Viktor & Rolf, Gaspard Yurkievich, Xavier Delcour, Sébastien Meunier and Henrik Vibskov—have lined up another stellar program of events. Four days of runway shows, panel discussions, parties and exhibits (including one devoted to Charles Anastase and another to fashion demi-deity Azzedine Alaïa, one of this year's judges) culminate with the announcement of who'll take home this year's prizes. But, for us, the villa's website is already a winner, featuring detailed information about the festival, its history, this year's finalists and videos from years past. The Vicomte and Vicomtesse would surely have been pleased.
Mar. 05: Contrary to prevalent stereotypes, Germany's contribution to the fashion world consists of more than Heidi Klum and the dress-socks-and-shorts combo. And don't even get us started on Schiesser underwear, Zwilling tweezers and Dr. Hauschka quince cream, all marvels of the modern world which are, sadly, mostly overlooked. But it's hard to miss Viaux. Started in Hamburg two years ago as the continent's first venue devoted exclusively to fashion photography, the gallery quickly developed into a cult destination among the fashion set who flocked to its raucous opening parties. The Hamburg success warranted the opening of a satellite location in Berlin and, we might add, an equally happening web address. Featuring brilliant graphics and contagious German electro-pop tunes, the website gives you more than a mere glimpse of current and past exhibits, which include the work of lensmen like Klaus Thymann, Rankin and Cometti. Best of all, you can e-buy one-of-a-kind pieces from a wittily curated online boutique called Objects of Desire, which includes an exquisite Bavarian porcelain skull...or did include it until we snapped it up.
Feb. 05: With the Paris collections about to drop on our derrières like a ton of bricks again, we thought we should give props to a Frenchie fashion house for this month's link. But when it comes to their websites, otherwise visionary haute labels tend to disappoint, offering little more than a list of shops where the line is sold. So imagine our squeals when we discovered Lanvin's site, packed with enough content to fill out one of its balloon dresses for spring. A perfect complement to the venerable label, it features not only past and present collections for women and men, but also the label's advertising, including this season's Degas-inspired campaign. The 106-year-old maison, however, is known as much for its fragrances as for its frocks, thus a section is devoted to these legendary scents. Of course, all this would be incomplete without a tribute to the woman whose legacy informs current designer Alber Elbaz's success, the inimitable Jeanne Lanvin. And so, under Heritage we find the story of the couturière who was every bit as ahead of her time as Coco. With its fittingly regal gold-on-black design, the site even features a bibliography of books on Lanvin, so you can bone up on French fashion history at your local library, should you decide to venture into the offline world.
Jan. 05: With today's models taking up second careers as entrepreneurs, activists and the like, modeling agencies couldn't be far behind. To wit: London-based Storm models has joined our ranks in pursuing that noblest of endeavors: publishing an online magazine. But if you think it's all leggy airheads phoning in their two cents on the latest lip gloss, you shouldn't be so judgmental—Into The Storm turns out to be a brainy little tome. Its second e-issue, subtitled Everything Style Magazines Forgot to Tell You, devotes itself to humorously exposing the fluff behind glossy magazine covers, and partially succeeds, thanks to a roster of contributors lifted from the mastheads of those same UK-led titles (think The Face, i-D, Arena Homme +, et al). The demise of some of them only serves the cause further, as their writers, editors, art directors and stylists, freed from word rate-motivated lip service, treat the notion of fashion and style with less than reverence. In the end, though, it's all well-intended fun, and the articles—with cheeky titles like How To Sell Out the Right Way and Deface the Face of 2004 (pictured here)—don't take themselves seriously enough to do much harm beyond offering a bloody good read.
Dec. 04: Fashion fanatics are a neurotic bunch, as anyone who's witnessed a designer sample sale or read our message boards can attest. But even the most obsessive clotheshorse is My Little Pony compared to another breed: the sneaker freak, to be found on the streets of the Lower East Side, San Francisco, London, Tokyo and just about everywhere else. That athletic shoe enthusiasts are no weekend hobbyists is evidenced by Sneakerfreaker.com, the online presence of the eponymous Melbourne-based print magazine devoted to the growing cult of cool kicks. Geared mostly to the skater/urban set, the website features blog-style previews of soles about to hit the market, mainly classic models re-released in limited editions by major and minor brands (as expected, Nike's Dunk gets a lot of attention, but plenty of less iconic laces are duly worshipped), along with short articles on sneaker culture, interviews with collectors, store reviews and city guides for sneaker-hunting. There's even a section devoted to sneaker-inspired street art, as well as a user forum and a shop where you can buy the magazine and T-shirts. If Pumas and Ponies, rather than Manolos and Jimmy Choos, are your weakness, Sneakerfreaker.com is a must. Run, don't walk.
Nov. 04: Among the current tsunami of all things ersatz Japanese—"whitened" horror movies, Louis Vuitton Murakami bags, Burritoville bento bars—it's good to find a Rising-Sun original. We're talking about Shift, the online magazine devoted to design, art, fashion and music, with an emphasis on the digital. Worth a visit for its clever cover designs alone, the pioneering e-zine was already a must-click for creative junkies way back when Hint was only a precocious toddler in Dior diapers, and has managed to stay relevant by, ironically, not shifting gears. For instance, the site eschews the showy histrionics, à la Flash, of so many other domains, instead sticking to a straightforward design. But what really sets Shift apart are its copious contents, a well-edited mix of interviews, news, book and product reviews, a blog and a virtual gallery. Current offerings include the spooky art of Norma Toraya, a special feature on the digital film festival DOTMOV and, in Shift's online store, the Factory, one-of-a kind T-shirts and the 2005 edition of the Shift calendar featuring the work of 12 artists from around the globe. If you've missed the last seven years of Shift, it's high time you catch this cultural shinkansen (the bullet train of Japan, doncha know?).
Oct. 04: It's been Beaubourg, Davé, the seedy clubs of Pigalle and the teeming art scene of the 13th arrondissement in seasons past. Yet, during the recent Paris collections, we found ourselves spending an inordinate amount of time at the Palais de Tokyo. And we were not alone. Since it opened three years ago, the Palais has become a fixture among fashion junkies, art-lovers and flaneurs alike. Dubbed a "site for contemporary creation" rather than a museum—so last century—the industrial-size space features an interdisciplinary array of cutting-edge art exhibits, fashion shows, performances, concerts and everything in between, not unlike Berlin's pioneering Kunst-Werke. The Palais is famously open noon to midnight, but you can visit around the clock on the Atari-like website, which is in keeping with the venue's offbeat outlook. Along with descriptions of the building's various spaces and gardens, as well as information on current and past exhibits, the pop-up-happy domain includes a user forum and the very entertaining Tokyoplays, a collection of short animations that will make you smile. But the showpiece is Tokyoskool, a crash course in contemporary art, featuring text, images, games and exercises organized around unorthodox themes such as "Bad Taste." Alas, to date, the PdT site only comes in the language of very good taste, French.
Sep. 04: Savvy pill-poppers in four metro areas—New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and London—have long known of an easy (and cheap) way to get their fix. Each Tuesday, they eagerly await to swallow their city-specific edition of Flavorpill, the email magazine that runs down the following week's best in music, art, theatre, film, DJ sets, readings and every other cultural medium imaginable. Cut with clever write-ups, insider details, contact info and extra goodies like CD reviews, Flavorpill's mood-enhancing suggestions are purely editorial, with nary a paid-for promotional plug. For those concerned with anonymity, the same information can be procured online at Flavorpill's visually stimulating website, which features a header design by a different graphic artist each week. Most recently, the debut of a Chicago edition this month means that, for cultural junkies in the Midwest, relief from withdrawal is only a click away. And for anyone living farther outside these five cities, Flavorpill's Spread the Flavor contest is flying a lucky winner on an all-expense trip to Chicago or NYC, but you'll have to sign up at the site to get high.
Sep. 04: Nothing is off-limits for the magazine world's Marquis de Sade, Terry Richardson, whose playful full-fronties fly in the face of any dubious obscenity law the FCC might hand down. Richardson's uncompromising style has left a trail of sticky magazine pages from here to down there, and can now be viewed on the glossy of all porn glossies, the Internet. The site's simple design won't distract you from your single-minded objective, to perve on—and sometimes recoil from—assorted bodies in assorted states of undress posing in assorted scenarios. Or, if you consider yourself more of an exhibitionist than a voyeur, you can join in the fleshy frolic by answering an open call for models willing to take it all off. C'mon, don't be shy.
Aug. 04: Diesel campaigns are never formulaic (remember Luxury of Dirt and Successful Living?), but for fall '04, the label's creative insomniacs have pushed the limits of their imagination even further...by finally getting some sleep. The main site's new Diesel Dreams adjunct is a Freudian trip through the virtual dream worlds of thirty video artists from seventeen countries, exploring "the understanding of human desire and thought, resulting in revolutionary unraveling of the mysteries of the unconscious." Each reverie is revealed in a mini-film ranging in style and subject from blood-drenched samurai fantasies a la Kill Bill to sunnier propositions featuring busty blondes and dancing polar bears. With titles like Acid Pigs Fly Over Me and My Darkness Is Melting, there is no shortage of fantastic creatures and landscapes, but our fave has to be My Dark Horse Is Horny, a vision so deliciously surreal, it would make Dali envious.
Jul. 04: No longer do you have to watch reruns of The X-Files to witness an alien abduction; just visit Alexander McQueen. The rebel East Ender's updated website showcases the entire sci-fi-themed fall '04 women's collection, including a short video clip of model Tiiu Kuik decked out in a spaceship-sized ruffle lace gown as she looks up expectantly into a tractor beam-like spotlight. The site also features a universe of runway looks from past seasons and McQueen's new menswear collection, a laser-sharp testament to his Savile Row roots. Rounding out the online close encounter are abstracts of the designer's mother ships—as he refers to his futuristic stores—in London, Milan and New York and a small version of the brilliantly balletic Nick Knight photo currently splashed across the Meatpacking district storefront.
Jun. 04: The EU is on a roll now. The latest border-blurring project to receive funding is Contemporary Fashion Archive (CFA), an ongoing endeavor to digitally lay out today's fashion map by five European fashion institutions: Central Saint Martins, Flanders Fashion Institute, Dutch Fashion Foundation, Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences in Germany and Unit F in Vienna. And they do so with gusto. Focusing mostly on northern labels with a conceptual bent—i.e. Martin Margiela, Walter van Beirendonck, Raf Simons, Viktor & Rolf—the six degrees-style site is a near endless network of the people and places in and around the fashion industry. A search on Ann Demuelemeester, for example, yields not only a profile, contact details, shop info and runway photos going back more than a decade, but also a list of related art projects, media coverage and collaborators with whom she's ever worked. Which just goes to show, if you think you know everything there is to know about contemporary fashion, you don't.
May 04: In the sea of soporific designer websites, John Galliano's is an eye-popper. The Dior designer's domain for his own line is as animated and character-driven as the man himself, with everything from Galliano-clad elephants to lyre-strumming mermaids. Upon landing, the subway map-style navigation takes you from the "airport" to destinations such as videos showcasing the latest runway shows, among other mainstays, and a connect-the-dots riddle involving Cheyenne, the site's mascot dog. But all that is just garnish to the main dish: a flashy section called Miss Galliano. With five chapters to date, these mini-stories take you into the world of the quintessential Galliano girl—long-limbed, pouty and the center of attention—as she goes on shopping sprees and fights Chinese mobsters in nothing but a bikini and knee-high boots. Counterfeiters, beware!
Apr.04: London Fashion Week is not dead. After a near-fatal leap off a cliff some years back, the once vigorously misbehaved show week is regaining consciousness thanks in part to Fashion Fringe, a grassroots initiative aimed at jumpstarting the British fashion industry with the discovery of the next Westwood, McQueen or Galliano. Conceived by Colin McDowell—the inimitable English fashion historian, author of sixteen books and senior fashion writer for the Sunday Times Style Magazine of London—Fashion Fringe will scour the country over the summer in search of new talent, under the supervision of stylist-editor Katie Grand, and will hold a competition among four finalists during the London spring collections in September. The winner will walk away with a hefty �100,000 and, even more valuable, business advice from the angels at Fashion Fringe for at least a year. "Fashion Fringe is an attempt to revitalize British fashion, to bring back some excitement in London which has been lacking for some time," McDowell tells Hint. "Lee McQueen told me years ago that he has to go where the buyers are, as so many others have said. All of our big guns have gone to other places, and understandably so." So how exactly did the idea for Fashion Fringe come about? Says McDowell, "I'm a great aficionado of the Edinburgh Festival, a fantastic cultural event. It has all the grandeur it should have like top theater groups, ballet and so on. But it also has a fringe element. At the one end you've got the Grand Opera on the official program but also the Jerry Springer Opera. It's sacred on one side, but profane on the other. I thought this is what we want with Fashion Fringe. The British Fashion Council has a mission to promote the country's Establishment, while we have a different mission to promote the next generation of designers, and together we can keep British fashion very much alive."
Mar. 04: If you missed the sight of the first boys to walk down a Chanel runway last week, tune in to the newly revamped Chanel website to witness the fall '04 collection in all its tweedy triumph. But it doesn't end there. The recent couture show is also on view, as well as some serious rocks in the jewelry section, including those on the new white version of the hi-tech J12 watch. But for all the novelty, the house of Chanel rests heavily on the legacy of its founder, Mademoiselle Gabrielle a.k.a. "Coco" Chanel. Accordingly, a must-surf section is devoted to the pioneering Parisienne, going back to her tumultuous time and outlining the house's philosophy as continued under Karl Lagerfeld, creative director since 1983. Then zap back to the modern Internet era and send your cherie an e-card with a hot neon light take on the famous double-C logo.
Feb. 04: Romance is so overrated. We know what you really want this Valentine's Day is tie-up, strap-on, smack-down nooky. So toss out your drug store chocolates and consult the seduction experts at Agent Provocateur, the London-based lingerie line sported by fetching femmes from Kylie Minogue to Sophie Dahl. The espionage-themed site carries a whopping fifteen ranges of boudoir-bound rags, each of which comes with its own special agent to guide you through the shopping process. There's safe-cracker Baby, cat burglar Leila, blackmailer Francoise and phone tapper Peonie, all with homepages, steamy video and loads of dirty talk. You'll never step foot into Hallmark again.
Jan. 04: Fresh from the success of his latest book of photographs, "Berlin" (7L), Hedi Slimane has recently forayed into music and stage design, creating sets for French group Air's upcoming concert tour. These eclectic interests of Dior Homme's creative director are reflected in the label's redesigned website. As you'd expect, anemic gamins abound. But the boys must compete with minimalist graphics, beats and clothes, while Flash movies showcase recent collections, ad campaigns, electronic tracks mixed exclusively for Dior Homme and the sleek geometries of the new Tokyo store. We especially love the 39-frame jeans page, clearly inspired by Muybridge's famous motion photographs.
Nov. 03: Burberry has revamped its website, and the check-happy warhorse of British style that reinvented itself from trench-maker to trend-setter does not hide its many faces. It's all there, from the fashion-forward, Christopher Bailey-designed Prorsum line to the broad appeal of tartan-clad scarves and dog totes. You can also phone in orders directly from the online holiday catalog. Other goodies include videos of the spring '04 runway shows, Stella Tennant and Kate Moss in the latest Testino-shot ad campaign and a slick overview of the house's century-and-a-half heritage up to the recent opening of the Milan flagship store.
Oct. 03: There isn't an ounce of fat on her, but model-cum-activist Angela Lindvall carries the weight of the world. Now, after launching Collage Foundation, an organization aimed at global awareness, the face of Dior and Vogue covergirl expects others to join the cause. The richly-designed site reveals a serious organization dedicated to curing the world's social and environmental ills with an emphasis on youth outreach. Its colorful features include profiles of exemplary defenders of the planet, articles on ways to act locally, listings of important events and so on. That's what we call model behavior.
Oct. 03: Among the current spate of sites offering indie art in a quick-n-slick slideshow format is the Milan-based This Is a Magazine. A pioneer of the genre, the "screen art" site has released issue #10, featuring 240 online pages of unadulterated eye candy in the form of photos, illustrations, animation, design, concept and fashion. They've also bundled their virtual images from issues #5 through #9 in a print companion called Compendium #2: Fashion=Fiction (#1 came out last year and we absolutely lurve it), consisting of 192 thick-stock pages of work from 35 international artists. It's well worth the $19, which is, afterall, less than a fake LV wallet on Canal Street.
Sept. 03: What do you do when you leave your Slimane-sleeved iPod and all its painstakingly downloaded MP3s at a trick's place? Get dirty. Not with Christina, with D-I-R-T-Y, from Paris mini-emporium Colette. After greeted at the homepage with an updated version of that nipple-pinching painting at the Louvre, you find yourself submerged in music, from futuro-Tokyo squeals and scratches to oozy Berlin electronica. D-I-R-T-Y is deliciously au pulse. But it's Radio Colette, an hour-long mix of tunes from Blondie to The Rapture, that stands out as the site's pièce de résistance. Now, if they'd only translate the interviews.
Aug. 03: The ever-prolific Bjork has almost turned out more merchandise this year than Disney, from greatest-hits CDs and books to a lavish Live Box Set on DVD. So if you couldn't drag your hip-slung ass to her show in Brooklyn last week, everything you could possibly want to hear, see or buy can be found at her blog-style website. From the latest news and obligatory message boards to a complete discography and concert reviews by fans, no aspect of Bjork's inexhaustible oeuvre is left untouched. And we thought Hint's community was obsessive.
Jun. 03: School's out at Antwerp's Royal Academy of Fine Arts, where avant-garde designers are produced like Florida churns out boy bands. The Belgian breeding ground that spawned the Antwerp Six in the early 80s and more recent sartorial stars such as Véronique Branquinho, A.F. Vandevorst and Christian Wijnants, the college's graduating class of '03 looks just as promising. Watch the videos on the school's site for a glimpse of fashion's future.

 

 

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