June 2016 Arguably the most iconic, influential and controversial model of her time, Britain’s Kate Moss was still a schoolgirl from suburban Croydon when she first auditioned for designer John Galliano at the tender age of 15. The year was 1989, and no one suspected that the enigmatic, 5’7”, fresh-faced beauty would soon be turning the fashion world on its …
Coco Rocha And James Conran
April 2016 The most successful fashion models —the ones with longevity, who manage to remain relevant—are usually the ones with the most business savvy, who look at their careers as branding exercises, far beyond mere creative practices. And that’s why the unstoppable Toronto-born, B.C.-raised Coco Rocha continues to make waves on a variety of fashion fronts. With 1.1 million Instagram …
Cindy Crawford
January 2016 While the ravages of time can be merciless, one positive gift of aging is becoming truly comfortable in one’s skin. And that’s a blessing that hasn’t been lost on Cindy Crawford, the iconic supermodel who splashed on the scene in the mid ‘80s and gave new meaning to bold beauty throughout fashion’s heyday in the ‘90s. I first …
Georgia May Jagger
September 2015 One of the first times I laid eyes on Georgia May Jagger, I should have suspected there’d be a signature motorcycle jacket in her future. Back in the spring of 2011, the younger daughter of Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall delighted the crowds in St. Tropez as she closed the Chanel resort show, sitting on the back of …
Coco Rocha (November 2014)
November 2014 The term “poser” has gotten a bad rap: According to most dictionaries, the word has negative connotations, and refers to a person who either pretends to be something he or she isn’t or acts in an affected manner in order to impress others. But Toronto-born, Richmond, BC-raised model Coco Rocha, who poses for a living, would likely take …
Queen Latifah
Artistry and entrepreneurship don’t often go hand in hand, but Queen Latifah has not only managed to cultivate a multitude of talents and also create a stylish personal brand for herself that she’s now marketing with great aplomb. Born in Chicago 40 years ago, Dana Elaine Owens was raised in Newark, the daughter of a school teacher and a police …
Ines de la Fressange
Few personify French elegance better than Inès de la Fressange. The iconic model with the big personality was the first to be contracted by a major couture house back in 1983, when Chanel signed her to represent the brand. She spent six years as Karl Lagerfeld’s muse before a much-ballyhooed falling-out: In 1989, de la Fressange was chosen as France’s …
Elizabeth Hurley
“A real lady must always wear powder on her nose and stockings on her legs!” Estée Lauder declared when I interviewed her back in the eighties. “Oh, God – I fail on both counts today!” Elizabeth Hurley, who has been the global ambassador for Estée Lauder’s Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign for the past 20 years, laughed when I recounted the …
Coco Rocha
The term “poser” has gotten a bad rap. According to most dictionaries, it has negative connotations and refers to a person who either pretends to be something he or she isn’t or acts in an affected manner in order to impress others. But Toronto-born, Richmond, B.C.-raised model Coco Rocha would likely take offence to those definitions. Her new book, Study …
Carmen Dell’Orefice
In the trenches of fashion, beauty is traditionally defined more by the height of one’s cheekbones than by the depth of her character. But every once in a while, you come across a creature so breathtakingly exquisite, that you that you know the physical is in perfect synch with the spiritual. Meet Carmen Dell’Orefice. For over six decades now, Carmen …
Yasmin Warsame
As much as the dark side of fashion’s underbelly has been exposed in recent years, with tales of the pressures of the business putting some players over the edge, other use the industry spotlight as a platform for awareness, and end up shining far brighter, and imparting more inspiration than any glossy style image could ever hope to. Toronto’s Yasmin …
Marisa Berenson
Fashion visionaries have been romancing the ‘70s with their collections these past few seasons, celebrating a long-gone era of innocence and optimism, when we all believed anything was possible, and dressed like we were ready for it. The iconic girl in the eye of that ‘70s style storm—“The Girl of the Seventies”, as Yves St. Laurent called her—was Marisa Berenson, …
Heidi Klum
We’re at Yorkville’s swank Hazelton Hotel and Heidi Klum is sad. Looking like Glamazon Barbie in a red tailored pantsuit and blond ponytail, the 38-year-old, 5’9” German beauty had her heart set on shopping Toronto’s mink mile, but it’s been pouring rain all morning and now she’s got a spate of media interviews to finish and a plane to catch. …
Daphne Guinness and James Gager
Of all the artistic wonders I luxuriated in during Miami’s recent Art Basel fair, few were more inspiring than Daphne Guinness herself. The 43-year-old British heiress and haute mode aficionado, who turned herself into a virtual work of art with her sublime sense of aesthetics and brave creative choices, swooped into Miami to launch her latest project with MAC: a …