Niki Taylor (below, in full 90's mode) has spoken out about the increasing numbers of fashion contracts & covers being swooped up be celebrities - mainly, actresses. When asked the question What changes in consciousness would you like to see in the fashion industry?", Niki replied to FutureClaw mag "Put models back on covers of magazines and in campaigns and let the movie stars do movies."
Niki was one of the supers back in the 90's. My favourite Niki Taylor shot is from UK Vogue (top of post). I had it on my wall circa 1992, she's wearing a Vivienne Westwood bustier outfit and is looking very Cindy C - people used to confuse the two of them. It's also great to see Cindy Crawford in the same mag! And to see the 90's supers featuring in the fashion glossies again - Amber Valetta, Kristin McMenamy, Naomi Campbell - and Kate Moss never left!
Niki sometimes modeled with her pretty younger sister, Krissy. Tragically, Krissy died in 1995, from an acute asthma attack stemming from cardiac arrhythmia.
6 Years later, Niki was involved a horrific car crash in 2001, resulting a coma for 6 weeks with injuries to her back, lungs and liver. It took 56 doctors to operate on her spine. This FutureClaw image is a nod to that surgery.
I can see where Niki's coming from - heavyweight fashions mags such as W, US Vogue and ELLE especially have been putting actresses on their covers for a long time now, and UK Vogue and ELLE has started to features actresses a lot more often, with Lily Allen, Demi Moore, Keira Knightly, Jennifer Aniston, Angelina Jolie, Carey Mulligan, Kate Hudson some of the latest, off the top of my head. And lately, it seems labels and fashion House campaigns feature actresses more often than not - Julianne Moore for Bulgari, Madonna and Scarlet Johannson for Dolce & Gabbana, Victoria Beckham and Sofia Coppola for Marc Jacobs, January Jones for Versace, Lily Allen for Chanel, Leighton Meester for Missoni...it goes on. Let actresses promote other products - like Scarlet's cool campaign for Moet & Chandon, below.
Personally, give me a model any day - we all know that 99% of actresses don't even choose their outfits, yet are lauded as fashion icons. It's duplicitous. At least, for the most part, models actually live and breath fashion, they have access to the best of the best and they innately style themselves to suit. Granted, they have the access to all of the labels - but they still don't need to pay a stylist to dress them in the morning. Look no further than at one of the most admired, imitated fashion icons of our generation for proof - Kate Moss. You can just see her pulling out a fur gilet and her Westwood boots after a night on the booze with the band.
Case in point - the Vogue UK edition with Emma Watson on the cover. A very wishy-washy, drab cover, yet inside is an A-Mazing Testino shoot, Star Girls- 'A Decade of Supermodels' - this Thread from The Fashionspot concurs. One of the model shots should have been the cover. I mean, just take a butcher's at these:
I understand that fashion houses think that getting celeb to front a line will bring in big bucks. But personally, I think let the models do their thing - actresses, stick to your own media!
Jamie and Kate wearing Tom Ford channel Mick and Bianca Jagger's
Kate and Lila Grace
Mr Moss, Kate and Lila
Lila helps Mum exit the Rolls
Flower girls (and page boys)
Anita Pallenberg
Naomi Campbell & Marc Jacobs
Stella McCartney and daughter Reiley
Marianne Faithfull, Karen Elson and Nick Knight
Daphnee Guinness
Lara Stone & David Walliams
Jack White & Philip Treacy
The champagne tower
Kelly Osbourne
Carine Roitfeld & Terry Richardson.
