A Monday morning tweet from Fashionologie.com told me that Anna Wintour owns an iPad. I was flummoxed because fashion and technology do not always go together. The best interpretation of this relationship is when Samantha Jones handed her iPhone to Carrie Bradshaw in which she replies “I don’t know how to work this,” on her wedding day in Sex and The City the movie.

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The September issue of fashion magazines is the biggest selling issue all year — so it plays a big role in fashion. In RJ Cutler’s documentary, The September Issue Candy Pratts Price confirms that “September is the January in fashion,” confirmed by Candy Pratts Price. That is why when it comes to September cover, most publications play it safe by putting a blonde celebrity (or a model with celebrity status) in a pretty dress.

Let’s analyze last year’s September issues: Vogue put Charlize Theron, W put Kate Moss, Elle put Jennifer Aniston, Glamour put Jessica Simpson, Marie Claire put Ashley Olsen (or her twin—I still can’t tell them apart), and Allure had Amanda Seyfried. It was an all-blonde September — and Dodai Stewart from Jezebel was furious about it.

This year, some magazines still play it safe(ish). Harper’s Bazaar put Jennifer Aniston (she’s quite a popular choice, isn’t she?), Elle nabbed Julia Roberts, InStyle picked Hilary Swank. However, some tried to push the envelope delicately. Teen Vogue put Justin Bieber on the cover—which was genius because all these prepubescent girls will definitely buy a copy or two. Vanity Fair featured Lady Gaga who is blonde, but edgier than Jennifer Aniston or Jessica Simpson. American Vogue put Halle Berry in Anna Wintour’s cropped hairdo circa early ‘90s. (BTW, Halle is the second African American woman to appear on Vogue’s September cover. The first was Naomi Campbell in 1989.)

Perhaps my favorite is Stefano Tonchi’s W. It features up-and-coming actresses Kat Dennings (Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist and the upcoming Thor), Jessica Chastain (The Tree of Life), Yaya DaCosta (The Kids Are All Right), Greta Gerwig (Greenberg), Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World), Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone), Emma Roberts, and Zoe Kravitz. I love the pyramidal composition of the cover girls. The cover will be triple-page foldout and will have W’s new logo, which is an italicized “W”. The font choice is also much better than Vogue’s Futura.

Follow the jump for covers from more September issues.

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As a cat person, I sometimes envy dog people who are able to dress their pooches with cute dresses. I am aware that the dogs sometimes look uncomfortable wearing clothes, but aren’t some of the best pieces of fashion uncomfortable (i.e. high heels)?

Cats are en vogue. Miuccia Prada celebrated the felines in Miu Miu Spring 2010 collection and it is about time for cats to gain some more recognition in the fashion world. Cats are begging for their place in fashion. After all, it’s called the catwalk not the dog walk.

Well, it seems that the people at Opening Ceremony (in case you forgot, owners Humberto and Carol were our guests in May) and United Bamboo heard the demands of cat-lovers. United Bamboo launched limited edition 2010 calendars featuring cute kitties wearing their clothes earlier this year. Now, for $500, you’ll be able to dress your cats in United Bamboo. There are two designs to choose from.

Now we can all match our cats:

Perhaps our school should offer Animalwear Design class next semester. Would you sign up?

Written by: Harry Go

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When I think of Versace, I think of a long, blonde woman with a radiant solid colored dress.

That is how Donatella Versace has shaped the brand. Perhaps Donatella has a youth obsession and she wants everyone to look like her—but younger. The models on the Versace catwalk somehow look like a better presentation of Donatella herself. Take a look at this image below from Versace Spring 2010 collection.

See what I mean?
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Say hello to Cailin Hill. She joins the ranks of the many, many models who blog (like Dorothea Barth-Jörgensen.

Unfortunately, Cailin, whose face may look like Lydia Hearst’s from some angles, has not gained enough exposure yet — at least not in American fashion scene. Cailin is based in Paris, where she claimed “all the cool people in Paris are actually from Germany“. Her blog is actually great! It is called Model.Burnbook.

From the look of it, one might guess it’s a blog of a graphic designer or some creative guy. I love the background and the typography. And the images! She also produces quite witty quotes such as, “Today I Facebook lurked all my exes out of boredom and discovered none of them have gotten any richer or any better-looking.” I will definitely be checking her blog for inspirations.

Cailin also tweets. Don’t we just love a geeky model?

Cailin Hill is my newest favorite model.

P.S. I think she has an obsession Lindsay Lohan — she has excessive posts about her.

Written by: Harry Go

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The fall campaigns are rolling out and I think it’s about time we have a little chat about them…

John Galliano put Karlie Kloss (again) on Dior’s campaign. Good for Karlie! She will soon be “that Dior girl” and “Galliano’s muse.” The concept of this ad is pretty much mimicking the runway concept. I like this ad. The messy hair works well with Karlie’s vicious stare — but what’s with her right hand?

Prada cast Miranda Kerr, Angela Lindvall, Daria Strokous, and Sigrid Agren. I thought Miranda would be the one most exploited but Angela stole the show. I like the ’60s sculpted hair, which was shown on the runway show as well. Somehow it reminds me of Prada Spring 2009 campaign.

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Scent is a personal thing. People change outfits everyday, but we tend to stay with the same fragrance and make it our signature scent.

Celebrities are “creating” fragrances to get some easy money when they’re not in the mood for a real job — but do people actually wear celebrity fragrances?
To answer my own question: yes. Stardom sells a lot of perfume to the public.

We all know these celebs don’t actually design the scent, but I wonder if these stars pick the name — or at least if they lend a hand on picking the name; like when Coco Chanel picked the vial No. 5.

I thought about this when reading this headline on The Cut Blog: Naomi Campbell Sued for Not Launching ‘Cat Deluxe With Kisses’ Perfume. I still cannot get over that name: “Cat Deluxe.” It would have been quite a name by itself, but they felt the need to add “With Kisses.” Isn’t that name too long?

Then there is the candy-coated scents of Mariah Carey. She and Elizabeth Arden (the company that holds her fragrance license) partnered with Bazooka Candy Brands to launch “Lollipop Bling,” a collection of “three irresistible flavor inspired fragrances”:

Bazooka is also the company behind Ring Pops — which is suitable. Mariah said in a statement, “the inspiration for ‘Lollipop Bling’ was Nick’s (Cannon) marriage proposal to me. He first surprised me with a Ring Pop.” Read more…

It has been 18 years since Peter Lindbergh last worked for Vogue. In March, we were informed that he would return to the magazine. He said something that I found rather intriguing: “It was like you are the black sheep in the family, and your older brother asks you to come home.”

Lindbergh shot Natalia Vodianova and Ewan McGregor acting out family scenes in a setting that echoed the aesthetic from Mad Men and A Single Man for American Vogue July 2010. Natalia is a lady with many lovers—at least that’s how it is portrayed in the magazine. She has been involved in love stories with everyone from Diddy to Justin Portman (who is now her real-life husband).

The spread’s title was “Magnificent Obsession.” It was Grace Coddington’s interpretation of an everyday family — complete with two kids and two dogs. Even so, it is hard to believe there are many families that wear Louis Vuitton and Dior Homme to go and play outside on the grass. The story says, “The Fall collections’ most vivid moments had all the autumnal brilliance of a 1950s domestic drama.”

Here are some of my favorite images from the spread:

(All photos are from Vogue July 2010)

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Models have been known for branching out to different creative aspects. For example, Tyra Banks has tried singing, acting, talk show hosting, mentoring, motivational speaking, writing — you get the idea. Perhaps it’s because modeling has a short lifespan. After all, not everyone can be like Kate Moss. She’s been working for 20 years and it seems like she won’t stop.

That said, many models are reaching a new kind of celebrity status. Coco Rocha (ohsococo.blogspot.com/) has her own blog and even the late Daul Kim blogged. Some other models such as Jessica Stam and Heidi Mount prefer to use Twitter. Without a doubt that these blogs and Tweets are visited by their fans often. It adds another layer to them. This way, they’re not just seen as walking mannequins.

Swedish model, Dorothea Barth-Jörgensen, started a photoblog. She snaps pictures of her friends (fellow models, of course) backstage or at parties and posts them on her blog. The pictures are pretty nice — even if several of them are excessively Photoshopped. The blog is called Displaced Bones. I don’t know if it’s intentional, but Displaced Bones abbreviated as DB, same as her name. It shows sepia and black-and-white pictures and a little writing to accompany each post. Check out some of her pics:

Anna de Rijk, Shu Pei Qin and Madisyn Ritland backstage at Jason Wu Resort 2011

Hanne Gaby Odiele

I’m not a big fan of Dorothea (yet) but her blog is a good resource for model-stalkers out there. We would know who hangs out with whom and who are the party-animals. Unlike Coco Rocha’s blog, I will probably be visiting Displaced Bones regularly.

Written by: Harry Go

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Now that school is over and fashion houses are celebrating their cruise/resort collections, I decided to take a little vacation as well.

I was excited about going back to Asia! I didn’t go back home during Christmas because I was working on the layout design of One Eighty magazine—which was pretty successful if I do say so myself.

Here’s how my trip goes from San Francisco to Indonesia: SFO to Hong Kong to Singapore and then to Jakarta (the capital of Indonesia). From there, I’ll fly to my city, Makassar.

This is exactly how long and painful the flight is:

It takes about 16 hours to fly from SFO to Hong Kong. From Hong Kong to Singapore is another three hour flight. Singapore to Jakarta takes one and a half hours and finally the flight from Jakarta to Makassar is going to take 2 hours.

Add all those up and it is TWENTY-TWO AND A HALF HOURS of flight. I didn’t even count the airport security check, transit time and the jetlag! I couldn’t sleep well because there’s always a mother with a crying baby on every plane — and did I mention I hate airplane food? This is the pain that most International students have to suffer.

Asia is quite a growing market for fashion. Both Chanel Pre-Fall 2010 and Christian Dior Resort 2011 were showing in Shanghai, China.

Chanel Pre-Fall 2010 collection. Photo credit: Style.com

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