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| Franck Sorbier Haute Couture
photos by Piero Biasion
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What if this season was one of lightness?
As if making cultural, esthetical and emotional decisions could became a game.
After all, we could stay “classieux” and be in good mood, couldn’t we?
Everyone knows the principle of the Chinese portrait. But to be clear, is a metaphorical description, a charade, a fanciful presentation which identifies the senses of a human being and facets of the personality.
In XVII century, this game was called the game of enigma. At a later time and in a European setting, the game would be renamed “portrait chinois” due to its ingenious and surprising complications.
Everything begins with an: if I could be …………I would be.
In this collection, I wish to not only affirm my appreciation for eclecticism and freedom of expression, but also to testify to my attachment to the great classics of couture.
I continue to love black, for its modesty. I produced a pink dress out of the love for a song. I chose the velvet to evoke sensuality. I paid homage to “arts premiers” because they are pure. I have winked at the pass that I have recomposed with a dash of insolence, with hint of humor and a pinch of nostalgia.
This collection has something of “the best of” because an haute couture dress is never finished. But despite the “ups and downs,” passion is always there, deep inside of me.
Haute couture may be a utopia, but it has granted my greatest wishes.
And that is priceless.
-- Franck Sorbier
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| Fashion Fights AIDS with Fun
Story and photos by Bill Clearlake
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I decided to wear black. I tucked a black shirt with gray pinstripes into a pair of black 5.11 cargo pants over my black Born Waids. I zipped on my black photographer’s vest. My camera bag is black and everything had to match.
I drove "Deep Purple" (my PT Cruiser) to the Fremont BART Station and bought a round-trip ticket to San Francisco.
I hopped out at Montgomery Street Station. I was planning for a cab to take me to the venue at 498 Broadway at Kearny -- The Horizon Ultra Lounge. I tried to flag down a cab, like I’d seen people do in movies. After a few minutes of being ignored, I tried calling one of the major cab companies on my cell phone. I managed to get through to a dispatcher, but the connection was weak and, through the thick static and traffic noise on the corner of Market and 2nd Street, I heard her say something like, "Yes, Mr. Clueless, we'll have a taxi at your location as soon as Hell freezes over." Then the connection went dead.
After almost an hour of dropped phone calls, and frantic waving at passing cabs, a Yellow pulled over. A young fair-haired lady raced me to the cab, shouting to me that she’d just waved him over.I shouted back to her that I’d been calling for an hour to get this cab and beat her to the door.
I climbed in and told the cabbie my destination. He explained that I didn't need to shout at the young lady, that he was picking me up because I was black and being black himself, often couldn’t get a cab to stop for him. Kearny was congested with road construction down to a single lane, but my skilled driver danced us through the traffic and let me off across the street from the club.
I breezed past the two black-suited security guys and entered the back-stage area. I was immediately caught up in the swarm of models, designers, makeup artists, event coordinators, dancers, and other photographers. It was a blur of silk frills and latex, boobage, flying hair and elbows. I felt like I should have been warned that I might lose an eye or an arm in the tornado-like maelstrom.
I found myself pinballed through a narrow corridor of clothing racks and hairdressers, and finally bumpered out into a somewhat more open area that was to be the runway for the fashion show.
The backstage area was frenzy of activity. I escaped without losing an eye.
I emerged with both eyes and all appendages intact.
I found a place to park my gear alongside some couches and next to some other photographer’s metal gear case. Camera in hand, I grabbed some shots of the behind-the-scenes action, a shot of one of the organizers, Leyina Chen, with one of the models and picked out a spot at the corner of the runway where I was told I could get shots as the models found a mark and posed.
It was a tiny space and I found myself wedged between Event Photographer, Paula Claudine A. Hobson-Coard, another photographer and people standing at the bar at my back. It was all I could do to stay behind the masking tape line on the floor. I was warned once for being over the line and in the frame of the videographer’s camera at the far end of the runway. I was breaking a sweat from the heat and thought about getting a cold drink before the show started. Then, the show started.
Featured designers, Rebel Voice, G82 Design, NK Swing, ByanBe, Serena, Hughes Designs, Josephine Resort, Inlush, West Coast Leather, Cocoa Jeans, Agape Amour Couture, Magdelena Trevor, Medium Reality, Fashion by Brice, Danielle Petee, Fashion Art for Humantiy, Jewelry by Christine, Miz B by Leila Radan, and Melissa Bolin were represented on the runway as cameras clicked, strobes flashed and hundreds of guests, sponsors and VIPs cheered.
The designs were innovative, exciting -- often daring. I tried to get shots that reflected the excitement of the event. I knelt to the floor, bent, twisted, turned myself and my camera into every possible angle I could manage in the tiny space at the runway’s edge. At one point, while kneeling for a low-angle shot, I lost my balance and almost fell onto the runway. It was nothing more than quick reflexes that kept me from toppling onto feet of a passing model. I realized that I was dehydrated and a bit woozy. I managed to get a nice lady at the bar to get me a glass of ice water. The warning light on my Speedlight started blinking and sometimes wouldn’t fire. A fellow behind me with a point-and-shoot camera helped me swap batteries for my Speedlight during a lull. The shoot went well.
I stayed for a while for the after-party. Everyone was having a great time, mingling drinking, swapping business cards and stories of the evening. I met some fine folks that I'll be sure to stay in touch with.
The Fashion Fights AIDs event was done to raise money for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation for their annual San Francisco AIDS Walk. As much as I hope an event like this won’t be necessary in the future, when a cure for AIDS is finally found, I'm looking forward to participating in this event until that great day comes.
Bill Clearlake for Artemis Allure Models Magazine - www.ApolloGT.com
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| Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Miami Swim - July 19th, 2010
video interview: Jenny Buettner of Shibue Strapless Panty
interviewed by Rose, www.facebook.com/rosiefbaby
copyright 2010
©Artemis Allure Models Magazine
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| Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Miami Swim - July 19th, 2010
show: Tyler Rose
photos by Apollo GT
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Designer Nichole Carroll shared with us the wind, the sand, and the hair along with the Tyler Rose Swimwear collection. Bring on the ruffles of rose petals, the perfect lines that hugs the pertect curves, and the colors that fit to be in the Sun, and we had one fantastic show to wrap up the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Miami Swim.
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| Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Miami Swim - July 16th, 2010
show: Ed Hardy
photos by Frazer Harrison and
Kris (Excipio Photo)
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Ed Hardy never failed to make the girls look so good in bright colors but we were so pleased to see even in simplified white or yellow this collection can be just as stunning. Anyone who put on Ed Hardy swimwear and not strut a power-walk must be cooling under the shades. 
And of course never swim Ed Hardy without tattoo. Bright, bold colors and saturated neon from Ed Hardy Swimwear will make you feel so succulent.
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| Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Miami Swim - July 15th, 2010
show: Trina Turk
photos by Ignacio Ramirez
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Trina Turk brought the colors to us in vibrant styles, such as the Acapulco Gold Print Maxi Dress you see below right, in her swim and spa collection, featured at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Miami Swim this July 15th. The show included the BYOS (Bring Your Own Shade) that stirred up the viewers even more.
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| Motel, Punk, Left-Field, Retro and Fun-Filled Killer-Style Clothing
text by Herve Godard
photos by Jallais Yannis
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Rifling through the fabulous thrift stores of the West Coast of the States all the way back in 1999, the Motel crew was struck by something. A realisation spoke to them; the UK needed a vintage-inspired, prints-driven brand to sink their hungry for innovative fashion teeth into. Motel was born, creating classy and stunningly-crafted tops, trousers, dresses and skirts in a huge array of styles and with an ever-expanding list of inspirations.
While the name Motel can evoke for some people the images of cheap places, he tries especially to remind the idea of the affordable cost of living of the American model, at the origin of Motels, while associating it the collective fantasy of glamorous, fascinating and a little bit scarring atmosphere, between Alfred Hitchcock, Veronika Lake and Betty Paige.
The brand provides the young British fashionista with a veritable thrift-store feel that looks great, fits fabulously, and does not cost the earth.
Motel feels no need to splatter their name across the chest of their clothes in an inane effort to get more punters; they need no gimmicks or tricks for the crowds to come flocking. But instead Motel just keeps on reinventing vintage-wear to create punk, left-field, retro and fun-filled killer-style.
Maybe this is why Motel has fast been discovered by style magazines such as WAD and why weekly sightings can be found in the best fashion titles; Grazia, Cosmopolitan, Harpers Bazaar, In-Style, Now, Reveal and Look to name a few. Then there are the fashion elite who continue to track Motel down; supermodels Gisele, Claudia Schiffer and Naomi Campbell are all fans, along with fashion lovers Peaches Geldoff and Fern Cotton, while modish musician supporters include Duffy, Kate Nash, the Saturdays, Bo Pepper, New Young Pony Club, Ida Maria, Robyn, Diana Vickers, Alexandra Burke and the Ting Tings!
Motel are quickly becoming a powerhouse of the fashion market, and what's more they are doing so by not taking themselves too seriously, a brand unafraid of excess, always moving forward ready to inspire you to add a bit more quirk into your wardrobe.
Motel will be available in Paris in September at Citadium and Killywatch.
www.motelrocks.com
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Partners in Wine (and Fashion)
June 5, 2010 - San Francisco, California
Story and photos by Bill Clearlake
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 Bobby Brower Jr. and his old college roommate, Brandon Eachus have managed to pair wines with some of the hottest new fashions.
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"A Night of Wine and Fashion" was organized by Brower's PoiZ winery and Eachus' WoogieWoo online fashion emporium.
Brandon has been a personal trainer for five years, and owned a clothing line for four years. His desire to see other people reach their potential drove him to start WoogieWoo.com to help other designers leverage off of his knowledge of the industry.
WoogieWoo is free to use, and gives fashion entrepreneurs a place to brand and sell their products. WoogieWoo takes a flat 25% of sales, so there is no risk for designers to use the website to test market their ideas.
Brandon didn't stop there. He knew that new designers needed a way to get their products to a wider public. He began using traveling trunk shows as a way to bring the public to the designers. By showcasing their products on the runway, buyers and investors could see the fabulous designs first-hand. For new designers who are typically on a tight budget, this is a low-cost way to get exposure they otherwise could not afford.
Bobby Brower was Brandon's college roommate for four years. Bobby's family owns Chateau Julien Wine Estate near Carmel, California. Brower began developing his own wines for a younger demographic. Bobby called his wines, "Youthful" and "Sexy" which tied in naturally with new fashion designs. Bobby and Brandon developed "A Night of Wine and Fashion" and the combination is, as Brandon said, "…explosive in an evening of entertainment."
Brandon went on to say that, "Bobby lives in New York where he is advancing his own brand (PoiZ) as I live in California working on WoogieWoo. But getting to throw these events with one of my best friends makes it all just that much better."
Participants were treated to fine wines, delicious appetizers and fashion shows featuring designers La Voice Clothing, Invisible Hero Industries, Lorian Lindsay, Rock Chiq, Royal Rabbit, Alyssa Nicole, ahReSihM , and Socola Sua.
The event, held in San Francisco's Grand Hyatt Hotel was well attended in luxurious surroundings. The large runway was lined with seating for VIPs and members of Media. Along the walls was a smattering of vendor tables featuring fashion samples, a modeling agency, and a vendor selling Kombucha -- a fermented tea that is supposed to have medicinal properties.
The stars of the evening were WoogieWoo.com fashions, and PoiZ Winery - and, of course, the fabulous models and VIP guests!
"We have a show in New York in September where we will be taking designers from the New York area and putting on a spectacular evening of wine and fashion in the Big Apple. It is very exciting and rewarding to hear the appreciation of these designers after a show being so excited and appreciative to have had the opportunity to do something on that kind of scale for their brand. It's the rewards that will keep me working harder and harder to make "A Night of Wine and Fashion" even larger and to continue to give designers around the world the tools to succeed." - Brandon Eachus
Bill Clearlake for Artemis Allure Models Magazine - www.ApolloGT.com
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