SHOWstudio’s latest fashion project covers the behind the scene’s making of Nick Knight’s cover shoot for Vogue UK’s March featuring Lily Donaldson. The film, Fringed, is a flirty, fun celebration of fringe - so imagine lots of leaping, jumping and hip-shaking. As fashion is turning to film as its media of choice, Nick Knight’s SHOWstudio is definitely leading the pack. View Fringed below.

Agent Provocateur always does a great job at bringing their collections to life through their ad campaigns and they recently made a Valentine’s Day “PSA.” I must say, this is not my favorite, their newer campaigns haven’t come close to last year’s White Wedding campaign starring Kate Moss, and shot by Nick Knight. Their newest video, Love Me Tender . . . Or Else, is definitely amusing, but unlike their other campaigns that highlight the lingerie in an artistic way, I felt this video was made by boys for boys. Nonetheless, the lingerie is sexy as ever and with Valentine’s Day so close, you may want to start saving your pennies for some new A.P.

The International Center of Photography is hosting yearlong series of exhibitions, “The Year of Fashion,” focusing on fashion photography from the 1920s to the present. The series sets out to highlight the relationship between art and fashion and will feature the works of Richard Avedon, Nick Knight, Steven Meisel, Mario Sorrenti, Steven Klein, Paolo Roversi, Michael Thompson, Edward Steichen and Miles Aldridge. Upcoming shows include “David Seidner: Paris Fashion, 1945,” and in May, Richard Avedon’s photos will be the central focus on an exhibition.

The first exhibit opens on January 16th and features the photography Edward Steichen. A few months back I saw the Vanity Fair exhibit at the LACMA while I was visiting LA and my favorite photos were those taken by Edward Steichen. He was Chief Photographer for Condé Nast Publications so his work was regularly featured in Vogue and Vanity Fair. The exhibit was quite amazing because it included videos of photo shoots that Steichen conducted and what made it so impressive what the kind of photography that was popular at the time.  You know those old accordian-type cameras where the photographer covers himself in black velvet cover to take the picture?  Each individual slide/negative is inserted before each shot:   It was a very tedious and painstaking process, but watching a master of light such as Steichen, he made the process look very easy, with cigarette in hand the whole time, of course.  The show opens on January 16th and includes 175 photos by Steichen, with many of the photos from the Condé Nast archives from 1923 to 1937.

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Back in August, we let you in on a little rumor about a possible M.A.C. x Hello Kitty collaboration.  We’re happy to say that the rumors are true and this collection is a reality!!  The new collection will release on the M.A.C. website on February 10th, in U.S. stores on February 12th and overseas in March.  There’s an expected high demand for these products and M.A.C. will begin taking preorders on the items beginning January 7th on the M.A.C. site.   The collection is split up into 2 subcollections: Hello Kitty Colour Collection and the more high-end Hello Kitty Kouture.  The collections include eyeshadow quad palettes, blush, lip glosses, eyeliners (with glitter of course!), as well as non-cosmetic items like a tote bag, cosmetic bag, Hello Kitty plush doll, mirror and make-up brushes.  The in-store visual displays were shot by none other than Nick Knight.  I can’t wait to see his images, they are always so amazing!  And, I can’t wait for this line to drop!  I think I’ll be putting in my pre-order on January 7th . . . the early bird gets the worm!

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Agent Provocateur, puts together some of the most innovative, beautifully made interactive experiences from White Wedding (created by Nick Knight) to their new collection, Pirate Provocateaur.  Inspired by pirates plundering booty at sea, the Pirate Provocateur collection features lingerie pieces in black with splashes of red.  The collection leather hot pants, to structured corsets and lacy slips.  The website was updated, complete with mini interactive film where you get to choose your way throughout the story.  It features naughty pirates clad in sexy Agent Provocateur lingerie.  Kate Moss is not the face of this campaign, instead, Helena Christensen is playing her “wicked games” for AP this season.  The collection is beautiful, and as always, I want it all.  I also really admire the way they market each campaign - it’s more than just pretty pictures.  They find great models and celebrities to be the face of their campaign, and AP always pushes the edge of technology.  View the Pirate Provocateur story here and check out a preview of the film and my favorite pieces after the jump.

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We’ve been following Nick Knight’s impressive work for some time now from his “White Wedding” campaign for Agent Provocateur to Nike’s “Art of Football” competition.  Knight’s most recent work includes shooting the new Autumn/Winter 2008-09 campaign for Bottega Veneta, a brand known for working with artistic photographers including Annie Leibovitz and Philip-Lorca de Corcia.  When asked how Knight was chosen as the campaign’s photographer,

Bottega Veneta’s creative director Tomas Maier chose Knight for his “sense of adventure”, explaining that: “Nick emphasises the process of creating images, which is similar to the way I approach design.”

As Nick Knight is known to do, the images are “digitally manipulated to create a striking composition that hints at a narrative” and can be see online this fall along with a short video.

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The worlds of music and fashion have always collided and SHOWstudio and Swarovski have teamed up to present Fashion DJs.  For three days, July 9 through July 11, from midday to midnight you can expect to hear the likes of Naomi Campbell, Stephen Jones, Gareth Pugh and Giles Deacon on deck.  The guest DJs will play their selections at the Abbey Road Studios where there will also be live art and music performances.  In true SHOWstudio fashion, Nick Knight will be filming and you can catch the broadcast live on SHOWstudio, swarovskisparkles.tv and via radio for London listeners on 87.7FM.

For the launch of it’s new bridal range, White Wedding, Agent Provocateur chose SHOWstudio to develop and create the narrative advertising campaign. Based on a six-part script that AP founder Joe Corré wrote about “the demise of a bride’s ‘big day’ and . . . the unravelling of the religious organisation behind it”, SHOWstudio created photo stills and an experimental series of films “depicting Kate Moss running the gamut from demure virgin bride to dangerous, Lynchian siren.” Each day, one of the parts of the film series are publicized here. I’ve seen the first two and they are enchanting and haunting at the same time. Kate Moss looks beautiful as ever, though it is funny to see her as a bride. As a whole the I think the campaign is a huge success and I’ve always thought AP has done an excellent job of conveying the image and meaning behind their brand. The eagle-eyed among you will note that these are not the first AP films that Kate Moss has starred in: Back in 2006 we reported that Ms. Moss was featured in the Dreams of Miss X. I’ve seen a lot more “fashion/advertising” films lately and I think they are a great new way to give life to the clothing and the brand behind it. I’m excited to see more! The films release each day here from Friday 2nd–Wednesday 7th May 2008 at 18:00hrs UK time.

You should also explore the AP site as there is a forum, and wallpaper downloads. You can even live webchat with Agent Provocateur’s Co Founder and Creative Director Joe Corré on May 12th, 2pm-3:30 pm (UK time) at agentprovocateur.com, or send in your questions in advance to webchat@agentprovocateur.com.

All the stills after the jump . . .
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