Superior Smizers: Caroline Brasch Nielsen

Caroline Brasch Nielsen is a Danish sweetheart. She was born in Copenhagen on June 21st, 1993, making her currently at the ripe age of 19. I know. I just spent the last half an hour at least watching model interviews and it turns out that Jac is only 18! Can you believe that?? And Aymeline Valade is only 21! I digress. Caroline was picked up to be a model by a scouter from Elite while having lunch with her friends in 2010. In March of that year, she debuted at Dries Van Noten in Paris. In her first season in the shows, she opened for Valentino and walked in Balenciaga, Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent, and Chanel. That is big. I don't know of any model who became that successful in her first few days on the job. I still can't figure out how she did it. 

Since then, Caroline has been featured in editorials, on magazine covers, and has opened and closed some of the biggest shows in fashion. In 2011, just a year after beginning her career as a model, she became the face of both Marc Jacobs and Valentino. She has been working consistently with Valentino on their campaigns since then. 

In addition to being a really cool chick in general, she has incredible style. She is frequently photographed by street style photographers for her quirky take on classic shapes and garments (see: leopard print fanny pack). If you thought Hanne Gaby had awesome clothes...you were right. But Caroline has got a pretty bangin' wardrobe as well. You gotta check her out. 

[Photos via harpersbazaar.com, hanneli.com, intothegloss.com, and tumblr.com.]

The subtle change in direction of the stripes on her breast pocket combined with the Alexander Wang-esque (or maybe just straight up Alexander Wang) skirt and the leopard snap-purses-cum-fanny-packs. Not one, but two. In varying sizes. It just kills me. 

Caroline looking cherry lipped and classy hatted for Into the Gloss. 

Are those her hands? Are they someone else's? The world may never know. 

What an angel. 

 

You remember this photo from yesterday, don't you? The jacket is still really awesome. 

I could call it a derp face, but she looks more like she's barking. 

"Rrrrruff!" 

Damn, look at those smizing eyes. They are penetrating your soul, I can just tell. 

You should also check out this video of her from FashionTV. I watched nearly all of my favorite models' interviews, and it was quite an incredible learning experience. Anyone who happened to be on my blog's Facebook page about an hour ago would have seen first hand how I excited I got about the videos. I think I posted about five in a row. 

Have a happy weekend, guys! Is it just me, or has it been Saturday all week?

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Dans Les Rues

I respect street style. You all know that. I follow it loosely on the Internet and I am surrounded by it constantly, yet Mr. Newton's Fashion Month photos for Harper's Bazaar somehow went unnoticed by me until the other night. It's a time thing, I suppose. Since my posts have been both text- and photo-heavy as of late, I figured tonight I'd give us all a break and just show you a selection of my favorite Fashion Week street style photos. 

[Photos via harpersbazaar.com.]

I'm a huge fan of turtlenecks for fall, so add a tweed dress and I am so freaking down.

Ulyana Sergeenko is one of the only people I can think of who actually just looks amazing every time she steps out of the house. 

My girl, Hanne Gaby Odiele, smiling fo' rill. Probably because she's just so cool that it makes her all tingly inside. 

Caroline Brasch Nielsen, another one of my main bitches (I plan to do a Superior Smizers post on her at some point). I'm not sure which show she came from in this photo, but that eye makeup is amazing, and so is her jacket. 

So quirky. So New York. 

Kel Markey is suddenly on my radar of awesome-as-hayl chicks. I know she's from the United States, but something about this look reminds me of German schoolgirls and the Broadway show "Spring Awakening." 

That skirt is really quite scrumpdiddlyumptious. 

This model came right from the Ann Demeulemeester Spring 2013 runway show. I can tell from that hair. A funky hair part can spruce up the most classiq Parisian-cool uniform (striped shirt, black jeans, Chanel bag). 

Kel Markey really is quite a cutie. 

I hope this has inspired you to keep faith in the uplifting qualities of fashion despite the period of complete apocalyptic turmoil the Tri-state area is going through right now. I know it seems frivolous when some people are struggling to get clean water in one of the most metropolitan and commercial cities in the world, but fashion is a distraction of sorts. 

Help out your fellow cityfolk/countrymen/world citizens and donate a lil' bit of money to the Red Cross to aid the people whose lives were turned completely upside down by the hurricane. 

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Superior Smizers: Hanne Gaby Odiele

I have begun yet another segment on this here blog entitled "Superior Smizers." Smizers is not, in fact, a real word, not even on Urban Dictionary. I will define it for you right here and now. "Smizer" is essentially a synonym for "model," because the verb "smize" means to smile with your eyes (as coined by Tyra Banks, on the television show "America's Next Top Model"). I just created the noun form of smize, is all. I thought it was way too boring to name this series something like, "Favorite Models." Nuh-uh. Superior Smizers it is.

This segment is not an excuse for me to touch upon the serious(ly controversial) issues people tend to discuss about modeling. That's not what this blog is for. It's fo' fashion, ain't it? I look at a lot of runway shows on my computer, and after a while I begin to recognize the faces. Most of the time these models are just used as walking mannequins to showcase the designers' clothing. They're not really acknowledged much. Unless they're Kate Moss. Sometimes they become muses for designers or artists, but a lot of the smizers that put their heart and soul into what they do aren't recognized as more than pretty faces. They're also hated on so much: for being very thin, for being shallow, etcetera. The truth is, they have a difficult and physically taxing job; they're forced to walk in incredibly high heels, wear uncomfortable clothes and sometimes go on trapezes in designer garments over the open ocean. I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound so easy to me. Their feet are bruised and destroyed by the time they get to Paris Fashion Week after a month of walking in runway shows. That's intense, is it not? I want to show you all what these girls look like on the catwalks, on the streets, and even before they were legit smizers, as well as some little tidbits of info about them. Byaaaaaay! 

First up we have Hanne Gaby Odiele. She is one part of the mystical being Hanneli Gabiele Mustaparisian.

She was born in Kortrijk, Belgium on October 8, 1988. She was discovered at a Belgium rock (as in music, not the stones and pebbles sort of rocks) festival and signed with Supreme Management modeling agency in 2005. She's walked in all the big shows: Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Calvin Klein, Prada, Marc Jacobs, Alberta Ferretti, Givenchy and Balenciaga, to name a few. In 2006 she became the face of the Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti and Topshop fall campaigns. Later that year, in December, she was hit by a car and broke her legs. (Holy crap, right??!!) She didn't go back to the runways until 2008, but did some shoots in the intervening time. A mega-plus in my book about Hanne Gaby is her impeccable and unique fashion sense. She is completely unafraid to experiment with trends and non-trends, therefore making them trendy. She's become somewhat of a street style star. Basically, she's totally perfect. Shall we check her out?

Photos via harpersbazaar.com, hanneli.com, fashionistable.blogspot.com, and fuckyeahhanne.tumblr.com. 

I thought we'd start off with a close-up. Oh hey girl, how you doin'. 

Her perfection is killing me. You don't know how badly this makes me want her sweater  her Nina Ricci veil  her adorable bag her gelato.

She's totally tapping into the green-purple color scheme that my mom is so fond of. Somehow I feel like Hanne Gaby is doing it a bit better than my mother dearest. 

That hair...

Do I spot a leather collar, a top knot and crotch embroidery?! I think I do! Gotta love Hanne Gaby. 

I will reiterate what I said last time I used this picture in a post: "Running shorts, a crop top and a hot pink cape coat have never looked so good. Or looked good at all." That is a direct quote from myself. Yeah, I'm being that person.

Graphiq pantz!!!! Phre$h off da runw@y!!! (A note in normal English: you can tell she just came from a show because she's got intense make-up on; models tend to go barefaced when they're just chillin'. They're just that gorgeous.)

I don't always want to be other people, but when I do I want to be Hanne Gaby Odiele.

Happy Easter! (Remember this post? I think now would be an appropriate time to call it back.)

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The World Is A Well-Dressed Place

...During fashion month, that is. You all know of my slight obsession with street style photography, so it should come as no surprise that I avidly stalk Mr. Newton's photos for Harper's Bazaar as soon as they go online. I kind of just want to be every single one of these people. Is that bad? (Ah-do-doo-do-do...)
Hanne Gaby Odiele is basically a perfect human being. As is Hanneli Mustaparta. And any Parisian woman. If I could be a cross between those three, I'd just be a flawless creature named Hanneli Gabiele Mustaparisian.

I apologize for the lack of writing in the past few days, but I've literally been just a fried piece of broccoli all week from all the running around I've done--haircut (think Peppy Miller) and junior prom dress shopping for my sister on Monday, a meeting with Emily Weiss with a guest appearance by Leandra on Tuesday, going-away dinner for my mom on Wednesday and an Elizabeth + James trunk show in the Bowery tonight. So now you understand why I nearly fell asleep at three in the afternoon today during French class. Before I begin to slur my words (can you do that on a keyboard? Doesn't matter, it will happen inevitably), let's just take a peek at these gorgeous women from around the world.

Photos via harpersbazaar.com, hanneli.com, froufrouu.com and STREETFSN.

She somehow got away with breaking the leggings-are-not-pants rule. The proportions like incredible on her, and the neutral color palette and simple shapes put a modern twist on the classic Sixties silhouette. 

Mustard anything is okay with me. Except for actual mustard. Ew.

Taylor Tomasi-Hill stars in a re-make of "Beetlejuice", due out next fall.

Hanne Gaby Odiele, take one. Running shorts, a crop top and a hot pink cape coat have never looked so good. Or looked good at all. One question: how is she not a frozen ice pop? It was like negative a billion degrees.

Hanneli Mustaparta--we're tight. Things that I need in my closet directly off of her body: cat shirt (is this from Opening Ceremony? I have a hunch that it is), white wide leg pants, mega-cool gloves, plum jacket.

Not only do I lovehdy-dovehdy (that's a verb) her hair, but her sweater is mad kyoot. The hat and the glasses complete the Alexander Wang-esque vibe with a sort of retro-ness thrown in just for kix. 

I don't know why I love this so much, but I do. Her pants are perfect and her hair is luscious. The whole thing is just magically delicious. She's one of those people that just has a naturally beautiful face. And some mighty fine eyebrows.

Navajo princess meets Persian rug weaver meets hitch hiker.

This is the Parisian I was referring to. Her hair that looks like dreads, her sweater that looks like perfection, her skirt that looks like an abstract garden, her face that looks like an angel, her hat that looks like it belongs on a cowboy...I want to be her. 

 

Hanne Gaby part two. The only one who can wear a Jil Sander veiled cap with gelato: you're lookin' at her.

Maxi coat. 'Nuff said.

Natalia Vodianova rocking a Tibi-ish style before it was cool. Turtlenecks are sexy, I don't care what you say. I will wear them for the rest of my life.

Mirte Maas, bein' a babe. 

Hanne Gaby part three. Matching your lipstick to your clothes is not a dead art.

Be inspired. Soak it in. Become Hanneli Gabiele Mustaparisian. Whatever floats your boat.

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