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The exclusive behind-the-scenes story of VARSITY STYLE Fall 2013.

David Beckham - Now A Statue

Just when you thought Beckham fashion/world domination couldn't get any more serious... The football player/husband of Queen Victoria has expanded his H&M body-wear range and celebrated with a new campaign...

But that's not all. To celebrate the launch of the new range, H&M posted a statue of Beckham outside their biggest stores. Yes, a statue.

Here's one in New York City...

 

One must ask: what next?

If they bring out a Victoria Beckham doll, you heard it here first.

 

In other campaign news, the Michael Phelps for Louis Vuitton was cancelled because it didn't fit in with the theme of the campaign. Too bad.

 

50 Shades Of Fashion

So here's the latest style buzz.

Lady Gaga released a new image for her perfume campaign which I'm really enjoying. I love the whole Zorro feel... That said, if you're an American Horror Story fan, this is actually a little scary.

 

A label by the name of Marc New York Andrew Marc (which I've never heard of and has nothing to do with Marc Jacobs) have opted for a 50 Shades Of Grey theme for their fall campaign. You have to hand it to them, it's a smart way to get press exposure. The whole thing got me thinking about which designers should reference which films in their campaigns. Here are some ideas:

Prada: The Hobbit.

Alexander McQueen: The Dark Knight Rises.

Meadham Kirchhoff: Any Afrikaans movie.

Dior: Black Swan

Dolce & Gabbana: My Big Fat Greek Wedding

 

Stop the press! Victoria Beckham is guest editing the September issue of American Glamour (note: this sounds great when said out loud.) I don't usually (read: ever) buy Glamour, but queen V may prove impossible to resist...

 

This next one (my favourite) she tweeted exclusively to her fans yesterday...

 

 

But the Beckhams didn't stop there! David makes his return to mens magazines with the September cover of UK Esquire. If I had a Prada shoe for every Beckham cover this year...

 

 

And finally: US ELLE revealed their decision to put Katy Perry on their September cover yesterday. They're up against the biggest Vogue ever (with a yet-to-be-revealed Gaga cover) and the Viccy Glamour... But this is one of the least boring covers I've seen from them in a while. Nice work.

 

So what does all this magazine mania mean, you may ask... Well, it means I will soon be bankrupt.

 

Fashion Now

This an exciting time of the year for fashion: he collections issues are coming up soon, new designer campaigns are being released, and more exciting celebrity covers are popping up everywhere. Here is a roundup of my favourite stories right now.

 

Okay, if I don't stop blogging about the Beckhams for at least a month after this, you can shoot me. It turns out the Beckham covers UK ELLE released on Monday were in fact both newsstand covers... So you get a choice (yay!). The real subscribers' is this one right here. I'm a sucker for covers with really cool writing on like this - so I absolutely love it.

Meanwhile, Queen Victoria (totes going to start calling her that) was photographed for the June/July issue of German Interview by Angelo Pennetta. Styled by Beth Fenton, this shoot is all about Viccy reading a book. Simple and lovely. I wonder if she and David will keep a bookshelf with magazines they covered for their children...

 

 

In non-Beckham cover news we have Rihanna on the July cover of UK Esquire.

So this cover isn't much about fashion (I don't think those dog tags, or the other scant items they put her in for the rest of the shoot are going to change anyone's life) but may I just say how perfect the SA ELLE editors was to put her on their June cover? Rihanna is definitely in right now.

Photographs by Matt Irwin.

 

 

Moving away from the cover and on to what you may find inside... The AW12 campaigns are slowly but surely being revealed. These are the ones that tickled my fancy...

Those legendary hats by Stephen Jones and Marc Jacobs for AW12 have finally been immortalised in this campaign shot, of course, by Juergen Teller.

And let's not forget Marc's new fragrance coming out soon called spot. The bottle is obviously inspired by a ladybug, one of the only bug I not only tolerate but actually like. Also shot by Juergen Teller, this one is definitely a winner!

Burberry takes us into a cinematic British fantasy. Shot by Mario Testino at the Royal Naval College in Easy London (not South Africa) starring Gabriella Wilde and Roo Panes, this campaign is nothing if not classic.

 

 

David Beckham ELLE Covers Revealed!

The last time a name was splashed so big across the cover of UK ELLE, the it read GAGA. Now, six months later, Lorraine Candy and the team make history by revealing their first solo male cover star.

Here is Victoria's manly half photographed by Doug Inglish on the newsstand July 2012 cover wearing only a pair of Dior Homme jeans. David posted a link to the cover on his facebook page, adding a modest "hope you like it."

Meanwhile, everyone has been twittering their appreciation:

@victoriabeckham looking good on @ELLEUK!!!! X vb

@ELLEUK @victoriabeckham Thanks for letting us borrow him for a bit!

@LorraineELLE @victoriabeckham he is our favourite cover star ever!

 

Speaking of twitter, I remember a while back when Lorraine tweeted that she was making the final cover decision and wanted suggestions on whether his shirt should be on or off. I was thinking on for newsstand and off for subscribers... Turns out they did the exact opposite. While the newsstand cover is nice, I much prefer the subscriers' one. (as usual)

Oh well, it's too late to subscribe now. I think they should send this cover to South Africa to say sorry that we have to wait a month longer than everyone else to see it.

Can you believe the next issue will be winter collections? Time flies.

 

David Beckham Covers ELLE UK July 2012.

I was right! You're looking at the first solo male cover star in ELLE history. The other options were all pretty good, but when you're thinking of a British icon who's making his mark in fashion, Beckham seems to be the perfect man for the job. And seeing as the issue will be a celebration of the Olympics in London, it makes him even more suitable.

If you can't wait till May 30th (the cover release date) then you can follow @ELLEUK on twitter today for shoot updates and check out the ELLE UK website for more.

 

ELLE MAN!

 

This is without a doubt the most groundbreaking cover news of the year. UK ELLE has announced that it is breaking its 26 year tradition and doing an all-male cover for the July 2012 issue.

The good news is, we won't be waiting much longer to find out who it is. Elleuk.com will announce his identity on Tuesday, and until then they've given us 32 options to speculate over. See the full story HERE.

I've managed to narrow those options down to 9, but I'm pretty sure I know who it's gonna be. Keep reading to find out.

 

Andrew Garfield and Daniel Radcliffe

Ryan Gosling and Alexander Skarsgard

Christopher Bailey and Robert Pattinson

Tom Ford and Orlando Bloom

All options considered, my money is on David Beckham. He's a British icon, and in light of his wildly successful underwear range with H&M and his wonderfully talented wife, he makes the perfect candidate for the first ever man to grace the cover of the world's biggest selling fashion magazine. If I were the editor, I'd pick him.

I will definitely update this story on Tuesday.

Images: Elleuk.com

 

Banned Fashion

The UK is my number one destination when it comes to really great fashion magazines. It's also the place a fashion ad is most likely to get banned or almost banned... Sometimes for a good reason and sometimes for a very very strange one. Take a look at these...

Exhibit A: The David Beckham for H&M underwear campaign has narrowly escaped a UK ban as reported yesterday by UK VOGUE. Apatantly there have been three complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority saying that the images are not appropriate for children to see and quote 'offensive.' The ASA replied by saying the images are mildly sexual at best, and left it at that.

Exhibit B: The Marc Jacobs 'Oh, Lola!' campaign starring Dakota Fanning was banned because it was seen to sexualise a child. I've just recently done a 1800 word analysis on this ad (don't ask) and I must agree. The ad has a strong reference to the iconic novel 'Lolita' which is about a man who has a sexual relationship with his wife's underaged daughter. So we can safely say they had reason to can this one.

 

Exhibit C: Hold on your seats people... This Miu Miu AW11 ad was banned in the UK becuse it placed a child in a potentially dangerous position. The argument goes that because 14 year old Hailee Steinfeld is sitting on a train track and wiping something (perhaps a tear) out of her eye, that she is going to commit suicide. Now, I'm sure I don't need a 1800 word essay to prove that's being a little redicilous. Fact remains, it's banned.

So, if you were king or queen of the world, which of these would you ban?