Critics for Uvenio Menswear!

I want that Uvenio embrodiery cross briefs and I would like to own one...Its sooo classic! And the photography is awesome, Christopher Uvenio Designs is the next Gianni Versace with a dark mysterious edge!

Posted by: Sebastian 

 

 I love that Christopher Uvenio Designs isn't simply, its more a Work of Art! Its a Classic! The photography is fantastic capturing Uvenio  with purple roses

posted: Liam Davies

 

This is a very work of art...the designs by Christopher Uvenio is really interesting and very avant garde and I really how he pushes the menswear designs into a high level that rarely seen in menswear. He's must be the Gaultier of NY! I love his stuff. Love his male models, very  masculine. Frank Louis sure knows how to use the camera, he is supertalented and it shows. I love Christopher Uvenio designs and I look forward seeing more of his work in the near future.. 

Posted by: Jonathan 

  

Christopher Uvenio Designs is something I never seen before and its sooo unique, so masculine and so high fashion..I would LOVE to see more of Uvenio Designs!

Posted by: Jordan |

 

I have been a Christopher Uvenio Design fan since I have done several starring roles in independence films including "Kiss Me Guido" and His designs have always been so catchy, amazingly beautiful design fabrics and love the feeling of his clothes including the faux fur coat he gotten for me. This collection Fancy Dress with the photography by Frank Louis is awesome. Frank Louis' work is so great that each designs of Christopher's makes it mysterious, classic, beautiful, gothic and most of all the sex appeal to the clothes.

The men, Nick is hot to look at in Christopher Uvenio gold chain shirt and that black feathers makes Nick really hot, Billy with the red shirt makes the designs more sex appeal and his chest is super massive while in that kilt..those guys should be in more of Uvenio designs, and Frantz is really a clasic model seen in that kilt to give it a classic touch to it. As an actor in independence films and soft core films, I love wearing his designs.

Posted by: Victor Steele 

CHRISTOPHER UVENIO DESIGNS ROCK!
I LOVE THOSE MALE MODELS, CHRISTOPHER HAS THE RIGHT LOOKS FOR THE MALE MODELS TO BE IN HIS DESIGNS AND IT SHOWS, FRANK LOUIS DONE ABSOLUTE AMAZING PHOTOSHOOT AND WOULD LOOK FORWARD SEEING MORE OF HIS WORK WITH UVENIO DESIGNS! LOVE THE COLLECTION!  

Posted by: JC |

 

This is a real awesome collection and I really enjoy the looks of the men in Uvenio designs and Rick Louis' photography is incredible statement..Love the looks and the designs!  

Posted by: Bryan  Woods

I LOVE THIS STYLE,THE MODELS,THE LOOKS,THE PHOTOGRAPHY AND CHRISTOPHER UVENIO DESIGNS ARE AMAZING! A FABULOUS COLLECTION!

Posted by: Julian.martino 

carmen dell’orefice: Queen of the Runway

World's Oldest SuperModel turns 82!

 

Carmen Dell’Orefice (born June 3, 1931^.]) is an American model and actress, born in New York, NY. She is known within the fashion industry for being the world's oldest working model as of the Spring/Summer 2012 season. She was on the cover of Vogue at the age of 15 and has been modelling ever since.^.

 

Carmen's parents were Italian and Hungarian. They had an unstable relationship characterized by frequent breaks and reconciliations. Carmen lived in foster homes or with other relatives during her parent's clashes.

In 1942, Carmen and her mother moved to New York City. At the age of 13, while riding a bus to ballet class, she was approached to model by the wife of photographer Herman Landschoff. Her test photos, taken at Jones Beach, were a “flop” according to Carmen. In 1946, her godfather introduced her to Vogue and 15-year old Carmen signed a modeling contract for $7.50 an hour.

 

She became a favorite model of photographer Erwin Blumenfeld who shot her first Vogue cover in 1947. She appears in the December 15, 1947 issue of US Vogue as Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White and Cinderella along with model Dorian Leigh, actors Ray Bolger and Jose Ferrer.
Carmen and her mother were poor, and her modeling income was not enough to sustain the family. With no telephone, Vogue had to send runners to their apartment to let Carmen know about modeling jobs.

 

She roller-skated to assignments to save on bus fares. Carmen was so malnourished that famed fashion photographers Horst P. Horst and Cecil Beaton had to pin back dresses and stuff the curves with tissue.

 

Carmen and her mother were accomplished seamstresses and made extra money making clothes. One of their customers was Dorian Leigh. Carmen later became best friends with Dorian’s younger sister, model Suzy Parker. Together they were bridesmaids at Dorian’s second wedding to Roger Mehle in 1948.

In 1947, Carmen's rate was raised to $10–$25 per hour. She appeared on the October 1947 cover of Vogue, at age 16, one of the youngest Vogue cover models, (along with Niki Taylor, Brooke Shields, and Monika Schnarre). Carmen was also on the November 1948 cover of Vogue. She worked with the most famous fashion photographers of the era including Irving Penn, Gleb Derujinsky, Francesco Scavullo, Norman Parkinson, and Richard Avedon.

 

Carmen was photographed by Melvin Sokolsky for Harper’s Bazaar in 1960. The iconic image titled Carmen Las Meninas has been collected internationally. Sokolsky also photographed her for the classic Vanity Fair lingerie campaign in which Carmen obscures her face with her hand. She was painter Salvador Dalí’s muse.

 

Despite her early successes, modeling agent Eileen Ford declined to represent her and Vogue lost interest in her. Her thin frame required medical attention: doctors prescribed shots to start puberty, and her new curves brought her work in catalogs modeling lingerie at $300 per hour. She joined the Ford Modelling Agency in 1953.

Personal life.

Carmen met and married Bill Miles in the early 1950s. Bill exploited his wife financially, by picking up his wife's modeling agency checks, allowing her only $50 allowance from her earnings. They had a daughter, Laura, and divorced soon after.^.

 

In 1958, she met photographer Richard Heimann and married him six months later. She decided to retire, after which he left her.
Her third marriage was to a young architect, Richard Kaplan, in the mid-1960s. The marriage lasted nine years. In needs of funds, she returned to modeling in 1978, and continues to work to this day. In the 1990s and 2000s, she modeled for Isaac Mizrahi’s clothing line at Target, as well as Cho Cheng and Rolex. Carmen is featured regularly in their advertising campaigns appearing in Vogue, W and Harper’s Bazaar.

In the late 1980s, Carmen was engaged to television talk-show host David Susskind. He died before they were married.
In 1993, a neighbor introduced her to Norman F. Levy, who was Bernard Madoff’s best friend. He was her boyfriend for several years.

 

In June 2011, Carmen celebrated her 80th birthday On July 19, 2011 she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of the Arts London, in recognition of her contribution to the fashion industry. The university sponsored a retrospective exhibition curated by illustrator and long-time friend David Downton, featuring Carmen’s Vogue covers, some of her finest modelling moments, and photographs from her personal archives.

Classic Versace Campaign Ads 1980's to 2013

The Versace woman: she gets noticed. That’s a guarantee, sometimes a threat, as you’ll see looking back on the label’s ad campaigns from the ’80s to now.

 
   Alongside structured shoulderpads and big hair, the label’s early ads helped cement the careers — and bolster the bank accounts — of top models including Cindy Crawford, Stephanie Seymour, and the legendary Iman; a decade later and all the industry’s top girls were posing together for iconic billboard fare. Recent years have seen well-oiled models and glossy celebs helming campaigns, with ever-harder abs and ever-heightened post production.

But while trends and photographers have changed, that brash, quintessentially Euro Versace excess has remained as loud and proud as the latest collection’s wild celebration of vinyl

. From Gianni’s ’80s glam to Donatella’s ’00s naughtiness, it’s all here — along with a few bonus mid-’90s menswear ads, because they have to be seen to be believed.

 

Gianni Versace: The Icon Story continues...

Gianni Versace is among the most famous fashion creators of ХХ century. His art fascinates with its baroque scope and unusual life of the colors and of the patterns. As a powerful reformer of the style, he transformed the concepts of the people for elegance and helped to men to break their appearance and to emancipate it by the canons of the strictness, boredom and monotony.

Terry Edgins throws additional alight on the relationship of Gianni Versace with the celebrities:”In the spirit of Armani, Versace courted the flashiest stars – Sylvester Stallone, Tina Turner and Elizabeth Hurley. But Versace also so often got in touch with the people with bad reputation, as Mike Tyson that very often was wearing “Versace” at public places. 

 

 

Gianni Versace him self boasted once at one reporter that the rapper Tupac Shakur “was wearing Versace” in the day when he entered in the prison and in the day, when he was discharged.” The connoisseurs of the fashion loved to say that the wives of the rich people were wearing “Armani”, until their mistresses preferred “Versace”.

EROTICISM OVER EVERYTHING?
The beauty of the naked or of the half-dressed body, its seducing relief, the hinted or the directly offered eroticism – all this organically interweaves in the disposition of the designer to be at the same time provocative and seductive. For him the beauty is created to be seen as by the men, as by the women. When two women comment one handsome man (half-naked at the beach or effectively dressed in the street or in the bar) they use expressions and epithets, much more different from the words of two men who discuss the beauty and the elegance of one woman.

 

But is there are boundaries between the seducement and the vulgarity, between the sex and the porno? At such kind of questions Gianni Versace answers categorically and together with this philosophically: ”The boundaries and the parameters change with huge speed. Madonna that shows sex, until she is singing, was unthinkable in the 40s.

 

And from other side, one of the best and one of the most ancient books, where the sex and the seduction are explained and illustrated with big simplicity, is namely Kama Sutra.” To enter deeper in the concept of the designer for the eroticism is good to make sense of his opinion of the artistic and sexual phenomenon Sharon Stone. For her, Versace thinks that she possesses beauty that goes beyond the success of one movie. Making analogy with the myth of Kim Basinger and the movie “9 ½ weeks”, he notes that the eroticisms, enlarged on the cinema screen, is able to make all the people dreaming.

Gianni Versace expresses his attitude to the beautiful and provoking naked woman’s body and through the selection of top models for his fashion-shows as the sexy Naomi Campbell, Helena Christensen, Claudia Schiffer, Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, Yasmeen Ghauri, Kate Moss, Nadia Auerman etc, as also the extravagant Christen McMenamy that in 1996 poses in front of the objective of Juergen Teller naked with inscription “Versace” in the style of the “heroin chic” of the middle of the 90s.

 

Just her substandard character and even not so proportional features and physical harmony, and special features of the character and of the biography (she is over 30, she drinks, she smokes and she lives an irregular life) and her image of “bad girl” attract the interest of the fashion creator. It is no chance that Gianni Versace chooses her for advertising face of his collection autumn-winter 1995-1996.

 

But somehow or other the opinion of the designer for the eroticism and for the sex-appeal couldn’t be understood, if we don’t enter deep into his enthusiastic attitude to the ancient Greek and ancient Roman cultures and the confessed in them cult to the beautiful and well-shaped naked body – symbol of life, health, love and success. Versace didn’t put ever the eroticism over everything, but concerning his works of art it can be affirmed convincingly that the eroticism is present in everything, that without it and without it life-asserting symbolism is unthinkable the style “Versace”.

Tribute to everything Gianni Versace, from videos, editorials, ad campaigns, quotes, and images from my personal archives spanning 16 years. I will try to catalogue Mr. Versace's images from my favorite collections during the last 7 years of his life. Gianni Versace was a man who changed my life and introduced me to the world of fashion, art, supermodels, photography, and music. He will never be forgotten... enjoy!     

  

Gianni Versace: King of Rock & Frock

 

The King of Rock & Frock

 
Gianni Versace was regarded as the designer of choice by entertainers and professionals alike, who were attracted to his classics with an edge. He was full-bodied, flamboyant, and extravagant. He was the unopposed King of Glamour who built a $ l billion fashion empire. Gianni Versace was born on December2, 1946. His father Antonio was an appliance salesman and had a tailoring store in Reggio Calbria. As a young boy, he learned to design and make his own clothes.

 

 Several of his designs were sold at the family store. At the age of nine, he designed his first dress, an off the shoulder velvet gown. He worked for his mother until he was 25. 1972 He moved to Milan and worked for a short time with Florentine Flowers, then with De Parisini of Santa Margherita. He designed some "instant" summer wear, which flew off the racks. 1973 He worked with Callaghan (Novara), Genny (Ancona), with Alma and also conceived and designed a line of his own called Complice. 1978 Versace opened his first shop on the via Spiga in Milan and presented his first signature collection as well as his first menswear collection.

 

He used as his Logo, the head of MEDUSA the woman from ancient Greek legend, who had snakes instead of hair. 1982 He won the L'Occhio d'Oro for the best fashion designer for his Fall/Winter collection, displaying the now famous metal garments made of light aluminium mesh. In 1985, his Instante collection hit the store stands. In 1989 he opened the Atelier Versace, a couture workshop. Versace presented Versus, a new line for young people looked after by Gianni's sister Donatella. 1990 Versace launched his Classic V2 line and his Signature line which interpreted his vision in easier versions. He also had the guts to put Jeans on the catwalk during a couture show, which rocked the fashion world.

1991 He received the L'Occhio d'Oro for the 4th time proclaiming him the most creative and innovative designer for men. In 1992 Gianni Versace moved to Miami Beach, Florida and purchased a home at 1116 Ocean Drive formerly known as the Amsterdam Palace for $2.9 million. 1992 Versace unveiled an array of leather bondage dresses, which accentuated sexuality. As usual, this caused a furore. 1993 He designed the new line Home Signature, a line of home furnishings and products.

 

Furthermore Versace was awarded the coveted American Fashion Oscar, on February 1, 1993. 1994 A London newspaper made claims that Versace's empire was funded by the Mafia. He sued and received $ 150,000 settlement and a public apology. After receiving city approval to demolish the Revere Hotel next-door, a two-story, 6,100-foot addition was built transforming the entire structure into a palatial home which Versace named Casa Casuarina. 

 

Gianni Versace's initial connection with Miami, South Beach in particular, came when he designed the sensual T-shirt-and-pastel-jacket look for Miami Vice, a look that exuded a fresh style that would soon sweep the country and set the tone for a decade of wild and reckless living. Versace was murdered on July 15, 1997, at the age of 51, outside his Miami Beach mansion; he was shot to death on his front steps. Andrew Cunanan, who was wanted for murdering four other people in a killing spree (all of the victims, including Versace, homosexual), became a prime suspect.

Cunanan fled and hid from the police. Eight days later he committed suicide in a houseboat on Miami Beach that was under siege by armed police. 1998 The Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of New York, held an exhibition of Gianni Versace's creations, from the ultra-classic to the cool and modern. His flair and daring will always be remembered. In late 2002, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London held a wonderful retrospective exhibition of Gianni Versace's most memorable gowns. This was attended by thousands of people and was most successful.

 

the label
After the death of Gianni Versace, his sister, Donatella Versace, took over his business and continued usage of the family's trademark of using bright colors and designs. She was born in Reggio Calabria Italy, in 1959, being 13 years younger than Gianni. Brother and sister had a very close relationship and Gianni considered her his muse.

 

She started as accessories designer, then took over Versace Young, the children's line. Then she was head designer for Versus, the youth line. Many good friends, including Giorgio Armani, showed up on Donatella's first runway show after Gianni's death, to give her support. The fashion world accepted her as a full-fledged designer. However the house of Versace experienced sagging sales for two years. However, in 2000 the house of Versace finally found a resurgence of sales. Donatella blossomed and in the last two years has become a premier fashion designer in her own right, and not just Gianni's little sister.

 

The Look

He was one of the most important Italian designers of the 1980's and 90's, famous for his strong colour sense and clean lines. He like to wrap the female form, often with bias-cut clothes and fluid silks. Many of his ideas were audacious, but all were carried out to a high level of technical achievement.

Versace viewed his clothes as powerful statement which were executed with unfailing confidence. Almost always the body was swathed or the garment wrapped in some manner. In his clothes, classical historical references blend with bold geometric shapes and complex textures in brilliant colours. His designs are unmistakable, he enjoyed working with leather and experimenting with new fabrics and trimmings. His designs for the theatre and ballet, undoubtedly influenced his fashion work.

 

Who wears Versace? Madonna. Sting. Courtney Love, Jon Bon Jovi, Elton John, Liz Hurley, Katherine Zeta-Jones, Virginia Madsen, Drew Barrymore, Melanie Griffiths, Halle Berry, Beyoncé

Gianni Versace created more Perfumes for Men & Women than any designers til this day!

Perfumes

1984 Gianni Versace (W)
1984 Versace l’Homme (M)
1989 V’E Versace (W)
1991 Versus Donna
1991 Versus (M)
1993 Mediterraneum (M)
1994 Red Jeans (W)
1994 Blue Jeans (M)
1995 Baby Rose Jeans (W)
1995 Blonde (W)
1995 Baby blue Jeans (W)
1995 Pink Jeans (M)
1995 Green Jeans (M)
1996 Yellow Jeans (W)
1996 Versus V (W)
1996 The Dreamer (M)
1997 White Jeans (W)
1997 Black Jeans (M)
2000 Metal Jeans Women
2000 Metal Jeans (M)
2000 2Thousand
2000 Versace Woman
2000 Essence Emotional
2000 Essence Ethereal
2000 Essence Exciting
2002 Jeans Couture (W)
2002 Jeans Couture (M)
2003 Mediterranean Sport (W)
2003 Jeans Couture Glam (W)
2003 Versace Man
2004 Crystal Noir (W)
2006 Bright Crystal (W)
Versus
2001 Time for Energy (U)
2001 Time for Pleasure (W)
2001 Time to Relax (U)
2003 Time for Action (M)
1984 Gianni Versace (W)
1984 Versace l’Homme (M)
1989 V’E Versace (W)
1991 Versus Donna
1991 Versus (M)
1993 Mediterraneum (M)
1994 Red Jeans (W)
1994 Blue Jeans (M)
1995 Baby Rose Jeans (W)
1995 Blonde (W)
1995 Baby blue Jeans (W)
1995 Pink Jeans (M)
1995 Green Jeans (M)
1996 Yellow Jeans (W)
1996 Versus V (W)
1996 The Dreamer (M)
1997 White Jeans (W)
1997 Black Jeans (M)
2000 Metal Jeans Women
2000 Metal Jeans (M)
2000 2Thousand
2000 Versace Woman
2000 Essence Emotional
2000 Essence Ethereal
2000 Essence Exciting
2002 Jeans Couture (W)
2002 Jeans Couture (M)
2003 Mediterranean Sport (W)
2003 Jeans Couture Glam (W)
2003 Versace Man
2004 Crystal Noir (W)
2006 Bright Crystal (W)
Versus
2001 Time for Energy (U)
2001 Time for Pleasure (W)
2001 Time to Relax (U)
2003 Time for Action (M)