MEMO PAD
SEX KITTEN: Baby Phat, conceived by hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons as the women’s counterpart to Phat Farm, has developed a new ad campaign featuring a seductive shot of Rhea Durman, dressed in tight denim jeans, a black bra with the Baby Phat slinky cat logo, set in Swarovski crystals and a silver chain around her waist. The ads, photographed by Ellen Von Unwerth, will run in the March issues of Teen People, Vibe, Honey, Nylon and Visionaire, as well as in a light box on the corner of New York’s Bleeker and Broadway.
TYLER’S’ LATEST: On again, off again…and now, it’s on again. Tyler Brule’s fashion magazine, code named “Project Palma,” is back in development. Brule, creator of Time Inc. International’s global shelter book for the semi-avant-garde, wants to join the ever-broadening fashion fray next September. The combined men’s and women’s magazine will be produced under Time’s Wallpaper Group and, according to vice president Paul De Zwart, there will be “no horoscopes, no liposuction….We won’t be doing couture shows, and not the extreme and over-the-top fashion. It’s consumer based and what readers want to buy. There will be a wearable element.”
EASY RIDER: Abercrombie & Fitch is breaking its spring quarterly on Thursday with a launch party that indicates the retailer may be taking a turn back toward its more controversial pictorial layouts. The theme of the issue is “XXX,” featuring shirtless twin models Kyle and Lane Carlson of Elite Chicago riding a motorcycle on the cover.
“That should tell you everything,” said Sam Shahid, owner of Shahid & Co., A&F’s ad agency. “Two guys riding on a motorcycle should really tell you all you need to know.”
IMAGE MAKERS: Seventh on Sixth, Inc., the producer of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, will debut two fashion photography exhibits in New York during Fashion Week, Feb. 8 through Feb. 16. The first exhibition, “The New Generation of Fashion Photographers,” will be shown in the tents at Bryant Park. It will feature the work of 15 emerging stars, including Kayt Jones, Sean Ellis, Zach Gold and Matthias Vriens. The second exhibition, “Ten Years of Fashion Photography,” will be installed in the lobby of the Conde Nast Building at 4 Times Square in New York. The exhibit, open to the public, features photos from more than 25 of the foremost fashion photographers such as Patrick Demarchelier, Mario Testino, Sante D’Orazio and Ellen Von Unwerth.
The exhibitions were created by the International Festival of Fashion Photography.