Modelling blog

Lydia Hearst, daughter of Patty Hearst, newspaper heiress who was kidnapped in 1974 by US guerilla group Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) has been announced as the new face and body of lingerie brand Myla.

The model is to front Myla’s new 1940’s-inspired autumn/winter lingerie collection, due in the shops on Monday. Lydia, 23, was awarded supermodel of the year, 2007, at the Michael Awards, often dubbed the ‘fashion Oscars’, and she has been photographed by Mario Testino and Terry Richardson.

Lydia’s mother, Patty was 19 when she was captured by the SLA, as daughter of William Randolph Hearst, newspaper magnate, she was being used to bid in exchange for their imprisoned members. Shockingly 2 months later it was announced that she intended to join her captors. She even posed with a rifle for an SLA poster and called herself Tania. She was sent to prison for seven years in 1976 for her involvement in a bank robbery, although at the time she claimed she had been brainwashed by the group. She went on to serve two years but received a full pardon from president Clinton in 2001.

Patty wed her bodyguard boyfriend Bernard Shaw in 1979 and gave birth to Lydia in 1984.

Girls as young as 13 and 14 are aspiring to be like Jordan according to reports this week. Young teens these days don’t look like the young teens that we used to be. They have coiffed hair, spray tans, false eyelashes, makeup, acrylic nails and look a lot older than they really are.

With the like’s of Jordan, making millions from her ‘assets’ many young girls see her as a role model and want to use their looks to make money.

This naive outlook is common among girls of this age, and it is becoming increasingly common amongst young middle-class girls, who would traditionally have gone to university, and wish to attain a respectable career.

Katie Price has got to the point where she is seen by many as feminist icon, having built a career on inflated breasts, soft porn, stage-managed ‘it girl’ type appearances and several books.

Her books depict female characters, like Crystal who doesn’t care that male admirers think she is easy, or promiscuous, and yet young girls, and worryingly their mothers are encouraging their daughters to want to be like Jordan - because she represents money, looks and fame.

The new Miss England was revealed to nation on Friday, when Laura Coleman was crowned the beauty pag

eant winner. The 22 year old graduate, is a former Miss Derby, and had to compete against 49 other British contestants to win the coveted national title and £5000 in prize money.

Laura

is in a long line of successful beauty competitors. Her mother, Dena, 56, a Miss UK finalist in 1975 and a former Miss Coventry and Miss East Anglia, won a total of 15 titles in her career as a professional beauty pageant winner. And her grandmother, Irene Patrick, 85 won the Miss Lovely Legs competition in the 19

40’s and was a Miss Army pin up. She even wore a dress that her mother had worn in 1975 Miss UK finals, which she believes brought her luck during the heat stages in this year’s competition.

Coleman lists her top interests as culture, politics, fashion, charity and she is a keen ballet and tap dancer. She graduated last week from De Montfort University in Leicester last week with a 2:1 in Business and Mar

keting.

Next stop for Coleman is the Miss World comp in the Ukraine later this year, where she will be representing England.

Jodie Marsh’s latest outfit worn out on the town is the latest in her attempts to leave nothing to the imagination. She attended a fashion party at Studio Valbonne in London on Friday wearing yet another hideous outfit. After the horrendous silver catsuit that she wore last week, I didn’t think it could get any worse, but she totally out-did herself on Friday by flashing both bum cheeks and boobs at the same time, in the cheapest, tartiest ‘dress’ she could possibly lay her hands on.

The perm-tan model showed of most of her tattoos in the piece of fabric that was draped around her neck, with the ‘tail’ her seemingly newest unsightly addition.

Why does she do it? She got her hair cut, dare I say it, nicely, and then dresses herself up as a lap dancer to step out the door. She probably has the potential to scrub up pretty well, and yet she insists on wearing monstrosities like this one.

She appears to be at war yet again with Jordan to see which one can go out in the worst outfit. She donned the eye-watering skin-tight silver and black catsuit to BB8 winner Brian Belo’s 21st birthday. Then there was Jordan, never to be outdone in the awful clobber stakes, despite the slightly more demure look she has been sporting lately , who turned up to her new book launch wearing a ridiculous sequinned, feathery, jewel encrusted, boob squashing outfit, which could only have been designed to grab the headlines.

Riley Keough, granddaughter of Elvis Presley keeps the legend of Elvis alive.

Elvis was the embodiment of newness in the 1950’s, trying something that had never been done before and revolutionised music as we know it today. People were entirely in awe of his raw talent and his naive charm proved he really was someone who had that something extra, as Simon Cowell would call, the X-Factor. And he was, of course, tremendously good looking, and with all this combined, he was worshipped by people the world over and became a legend.

But it is , granddaughter of the biggest mega star to have ever graced the planet, who is keeping the spirit of Elvis alive. She has been pictured at a Hollywood event, and she just has something about her that demands you look at her. There are plenty of stunning girls out there who are models, cover girls, catwalk models, but occasionally there will be one, that makes you stop and think, ‘my god, she is amazing’. There is something about Riley that makes you unable to take your eyes off her. Could it be her eyes, her enchanting face, her mesmerising expression, or maybe she has what her legendary grandpa had, a certain extra something, a je nes sais quoi. So Elvis does live on, for those non-believers out there, in the form of this 19 year old girl.

La Senza has scored (pardon the pun) by enlisted Danielle Bux, Gary Lineka’s girlfriend to front their new ad campaign.

Bux, a former air hostess, is set to model the new range of bras and knickers from La Senza for women with fuller figures.

Lineker, 47 has been dating the 28 year old year old since October. He split up from his wife of 20 years, and mother of their four children, in August 2006. The former England International and Match of the Day presenter met Miss Bux when a friend set them up on a blind date.

Lineka has taken Bux on several luxury holidays, where pics of her on bikini clad on the beach are likely to be the reason she caught the eye of La Senza bosses. Also the reason why Lineka appears to have a year round tan! La Senza have previously used Gemma Atkinson of Hollyoaks fame and Czech model Petra Nemcova to front their ad campaigns.

So you will be able to a face to the name of the brunette model in the windows of La Senza in future months. She will also be fighting off strong competition from ex Spice Girl Mel B, who is now the face (and body) of Ultimo.

Older girls are in demand for modelling agencies - proving that grey is the black. More mature faces are being chosen to to front major advertising campaigns from cars to perfumes. Claudia Schiffer, 38 has been selected for Chanel and Ferragamo, and Christy Turlington, 39 for Escada. Naomi Campbell, 38, recently replaced Kate Moss, 34 as the face of Yves Saint Laurent. But these ladies aren’t exactly ‘unknowns’ - they are all former supermodels, famous for modelling all over the world and have earned millions doing so, so should we be surprised by the fact that they are still getting work?

But it isn’t just the super-duper models in the older age bracket that are getting the work, apparently the market has exploded across the board and thanks to far more women these days in the work force, they have the spending power and want to see people more their own age advertising the products. This age-group of models is now the fastest growing with designers and marketing experts desperate to snap them up for ad campaigns, catalogues and magazines, at both ends of the high-end low-end fashion scale.

Elle Macpherson has already successfully defended her title ‘The Body’ from the likes of Heidi Klum, but now Jessica Simpson is stepping up to steel her lingerie label.

Macpherson has built up a multimillion dollar underwear business over the past 20 years named Elle Macpherson Intimates which has become one of the most successful celebrity fashion lines ever. Simpson is planning on launching her own lingerie range called Jessica Simpson Intimates.

So Simpson is hoping to cash in on what has made ‘The Body’ so much money, and with Macpherson’s lingerie business now worth $150 million who can blame her? The Simpson range is due to be in stores in the US next year and has projected targets of making $30 million in it’s first year.

Poor Elle, Jessica has muscled her way in on her drawers, by basically copying Elle’s business model of bra’s, undies and nightwear, and only coming up with a couple of new pieces that weren’t in Elle’s range - girdle shapewear. I suppose when you are nicknamed ‘The Body’ you never have to think about fat pants!

Kate Moss has the face of and spokesperson for Rimmel for a few years now, and we are used to seeing her Kalyani covered body karate chop mirrors with her perfectly painted fingernails and saying the Rimmel tag line ‘Get the London Look’ with her quaint and slightly posh sounding, Cotswolds accent. But Moss, the UK’s leading super model, is no longer going to flying the Rimmel flag by herself.

Kate will be joined by fellow English models/actresses/singers Sophie Ellis-Bexter and Lily Cole to represent the cosmetics company.

Lily Cole, now aged 20, got into modelling at age 14, after having spotted by modelling scout Benjamin Hart. She has worked all over the world as a catwalk model and has been the face of many advertising campaigns, including the Moschino perfume ‘I Love Love’. She has worked for major fashion houses Chanel, Christian Lacroix and Hermes and was named Model of the Year in 2004.

Twenty-nine year old Sophie Ellis-Bexter rose to fame by providing vocals on Groovejet single If This Ain’t Love in 2000. She has since won awards for her music.

Moss will remain the main face of Rimmel.

Geisha makeup is making a comeback!

In the past, tourists would have to wait for hours to catch a glimpse of a lone geisha on the streets of Japan on her way to an appointment. Now they are ten to the dozen. Well nearly, last year, there were 100 maikos (trainee geishas) in Kyoto, the highest number in forty years.

The recent surge of teenage girls wanting to enter the floating world of performing arts, extravagant ceremonies, and er, flirtatious exchanges with clients is said to demonstrate a cultural shift in Japan, renewing the respect for their traditional culture. There was a time where Japan would try and appear more Western to be accepted by the western world, but these days that concern has dimineshed, to make way for a revival of traditional cultures and values.

Then came the cyber-geisha. The girls combine their studies with learning the traditional arts, and writing blogs that capture thousands of visitors who soak up even the most menial accounts of a geisha or maiko’s day.

The recent adaptation of Arthur Golden’s best seller ‘Memories of a Geisha’, into the Hollywood film in 2005, also helped increase the interest in the profession by teenagers in Japan.