This week's pick of pop culture, magazines & pretty things...1. The fashion world is dismayed
at news that model Daul Kim, who appears on the cover of this month's RUSSH magazine, has died at home in Paris reportedly after taking her own life. Kim grew up in Singapore, was discovered at age 13 and started modelling full-time at 16. The melancholic model kept a blog, I Like To Fork Myself, which often hinted at her troubled state of mind, her mother's concern for her mental health and a values clash with Korean culture.Her interview with RUSSH is revealing: "I am often very miserable, so I reward myself with a fur coat every year," she says of her recent special purchases. She also told RUSSH that if she wasn't modelling, she'd "like to be in a happy place", while she kept trim and fit with "stress from work". Her answer to the question, "What are you excited about?" was "I want happiness". Clearly, she was in a lot of pain in what can be an isolating industry. I hope she has found rest in a peaceful place, her family find the comfort they need and this prompts more talk about the need for monitoring of young women in the industry.
2. On a brighter note, last night I took Husband to the launch of Frock Paper Scissors, the annual fashion magazine published by students at the Queensland University of Technology. The vibe was one of excitement, passion and pride as an assortment of pretty young things and dapper young fellas celebrated the satisfaction of seeing their work come to life. Co-editors Madelaine Brown and Rebecca Dickson thanked their tireless team of i-dotters, stylists, illustrators and wordsmiths, and listed the sponsors who helped get the publication into print (no mean feat), while there was also a focus on the magazine's fantastic online offshoot edited by Sara Donaldson. The magazine itself is a vision of youthful exuberance, with features addressing fash-mag standards, including designer collaborations with dance companies, haute couture and the luxury industry. A front-of-book interview with designer Fleur Wood, who once worked for the Tibetan Exile Government, was a stand-out for me, while the styling has an edgy Yen-like flavour. Congratulations to the team.3. My Fashion Database (MyFDB) has been billed as "the IMDB of the fashion industry". The site catalogues everything from campaigns and models to magazine covers and photo shoot credits. The site runs on a monthly subscription basis, but offers visitors a free 30-day trial attached to three billing options. Definitely one to bookmark if you're serious about fashion.
4. "Not too long ago, fashion editors regarded fashion blogs, with their real people and street style, as the hobby of a handful of overzealous, amateur fans. Today the fashion blogosphere's littered with individuals sharing their passion for style, from their own daily outfits to photographing other well-dressed pedestrians," writes Alexandra Phanor-Faury for Blackbook in a piece anaylising the legitimacy of the fashion blogger and the temptations of free loot. (Pic: Susie Bubble for Sketchbook)5. The U.K. ELLE beauty team is
enamoured with its Maybelline New York branded advent calendar. What a clever beauty marketing gimmick! Speaking of calendars, Frankie magazine has just published theirs just in time for Christmas gift-giving.6. First Rove Live, now we hear The Oprah Winfrey Show will be ending in 2011 so that Winfrey can concentrate on her cable TV channel, OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. The show, which started in syndication in 1986, attracts around seven million viewers a day!
7. OCD types and stationery obsessives will adore kikki.k's Christmas, Sorted catalogue, which fuses the idyllic landscape of store owner Kristina Karlsson's Falkenberg, Sweden, home town with matte pages of diaries, address books, planner notepads, gift wrap, wall calendars, organisers, recipe folders, writing sets, bags, memory jotters, desk accessories and photo albums. In true kikki.k style, the book features a 'Christmas Gift List' page for you to record ideas and a page of organisational tips.
8. Myer's Emporium magazine,
published by ACP Custom Media, also has impressive pull power, with 250,000 copies of the glossy distributed each season though Myer stores (free for Myer One card holder; $5.95 otherwise) and to Myer One loyalty members. The summer edition of the magazine celebrates the happenings of the store's brands, like Wish, Cozi, Blue Juice, Fiorelli and Cooper St Clothing, shows us how to coordinate summer outfits, and showcases pages of Christmas gift ideas – from perfume, lingerie and lifestyle goods to homewares, toys, gadgets and blokey things. Tree trimmings, a lifestyle feature profiling India Hicks, three fashion editorials, 'Shopping with Fifi' and a story on the art of indulging yourself (key message: don't fight the splurge) round out the book.9. 'Aussie Angels', including Elyse Taylor, Miranda Kerr and Abbey Lee Kershaw, have taken over the Victoria's Secret runway, with the fashion mags and bloggers madly tweeting as
the girls strutted their be-winged bodies down the catwalk.10. Speaking of bronzed Aussie models, beauty brand ModelCo is giving a metallic silver tote with pink candy-striped handles away to ladies who spend $58 or more on their product at David Jones from this Sunday. Perfect time to stock up on TAN Airbrush in a Can!
The Word for the Weekend: "The Lord is not slow to do what he has promised, as some think. Instead, he is patient with you, because he does not want anyone to be destroyed but wants all to turn away from their sins." 2 Peter: 9
Yours truly,
Girl With a Satchel
