My favorite model of all time is Linda Evangelista — and I especially like her Harper’s Bazaar covers from the 1990s, when the late Liz Tilberis was editor in chief. The September 1992 issue electrified the industry. I still have the January 1995 cover framed and hanging on my wall. It’s appropriate that the first…
magazines
Recommended: New York Magazine’s Fashion History Issue
Love history? Love fashion? Love fashion history? Then I hope you can still grab New York Magazine’s “What We Wore” special issue (May 16-29, 2016) from the newsstand. At least some of it is online starting here, but this is one of those editorials that works fantastically in print. The cover line’s subtitle is “Centuries…
Meet Tifa, the Dancehall Queen
Check out gorgeous “singjay” Tifa wearing my infamous swear rings! On the @wendybrandes tip!!!? Loving my rings?… #workflow ??Giving thanks for another day & life! #grateful #happy #blessed A photo posted by Tifa ??? (@itsthetifa) on Dec 15, 2015 at 8:43am PST Tifa is a big star of Jamaica’s dancehall music scene. Late last year,…
What Wendy Wore: Halloween With Ringo Starr
I like to catch Ringo Starr‘s show whenever he’s in town, so I got tickets for his October 31 concert at Kings Theatre in Brooklyn. I figured I’d dress the part of a Beatles fan in the “Mod girl” outfit I’d worn once before for Halloween. It wasn’t until last week that I realized I’d…
Pet Peeve: Celebrity Profiles and SANS FARDS
I’ve been wondering if it is possible for a writer to profile a famous woman for a magazine without mentioning in the first paragraph that the woman in question is SANS FARDS (without makeup). The answer: It is not possible. Here is the first paragraph of Lynn Hirschberg’s profile of model Gigi Hadid, who is…
Recommended Reading: The Children of Strangers
I have all kinds of work to do, which means I am, instead, procrastinating by catching up on August issues of the New Yorker. (I will read yesterday’s Wall Street Journal story on procrastination tomorrow. I swear!) The August 3 New Yorker has a beautifully written, happy/sad story by Larissa MacFarquhar about Sue and Hector…
An Inexplicable Magazine Cover
Sometimes, you look at a magazine cover and just think … That’s how a number of people reacted when they saw the September cover of the new Spanish Vogue, featuring Penelope Cruz. Seriously, the magazine didn’t do her justice. But I’ve been pondering the matter of the totally inexplicable magazine cover since last month when…
Told You So … You Need Leg Jewelry!
Last month, when I officially introduced my 18K gold and platinum barbed wire ankle bracelets, I said it was time for leg jewelry to heat up. I wrote: “While anklets have been around since ancient times and are still a perennial in some cultures, in the U.S. they’ve gone in and out of fashion. I…
Mom, Linda Evangelista, and the Week in Review
Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there! Believe it or not, Mother’s Day wasn’t created by Hallmark. It wasn’t even created by a mother. A child-free woman named Anna Jarvis organized the first Mother’s Day services with her own mother in mind in 1908. Activist Julia Ward Howe had proposed a similar idea…
Wendy Brandes Jewelry on ScarJo in W Magazine
I’m thrilled to say that gorgeous actress Scarlett Johansson is wearing my barbed wire rings in the March issue of W Magazine. Admittedly, you may need a magnifying glass, a microscope or the Hubble telescope to see the rings on ScarJo in the photo, but they’re there, I swear! I have a credit and everything….