Bailey, copyright ©1965 by the Condé Nast Publications (UK)

BBC/Kudos

Compare the pair. Top Jean Shrimpton, as she appeared in Vogue shot by Bailey in 1965. Above Karen Gillan and Aneurin Barnard as Jean Shrimpton and David Bailey in a publicity shot for We’ll Take Manhattan, which aired last week on BBC4.

The visitor stats have been very clear: one of the most searched-terms at Lucire has been David Bailey and Jean Shrimpton over the last few days.
   Presumably, it’s due to BBC4’s We’ll Take Manhattan, a TV film about a ground-breaking New York shoot by David Bailey and his model and lover, Jean Shrimpton. The shoot defined, according to the programme, the 1960s.
   As previewed in Lucire, the BBC4 film starred Karen Gillan (Doctor Who) and Aneurin Barnard as the couple. While it took a little while to get going—it begins with the pair boarding a jet to head to New York, then goes into flashback—with the charged arguments between Bailey and Vogue fashion editor Lady Clare Rendlesham occupying a great deal of the action once the story gets back on track. The centre of the argument: that it’s the 1960s, that Bailey wants to catch more liveliness, and that the stuffy portraits shown in British Vogue—which had, of course, covered the Coronation the decade before with HM the Queen and aristocratic ladies-in-waiting—were a thing of the past.
   Of course it’s idealized, but it’s not too far from the truth when the film claims that Bailey and the Shrimp defined the decade.
   The forces had been coming in for a while, but perhaps not with the youthquake that the Bailey represented after national service was abolished in 1962 and there was plenty of youthful energy around Britain. Technological changes in the 1950s and the telephoto lens already meant fashion photographers were experimenting with more lively shots, and Vogue photographers such as Irving Penn, Norman Parkinson and Antony Armstrong-Jones (later Lord Snowdon) were capturing moments that the magazine’s readers would not have seen the decade before. While staged, they appeared to be casual moments, with the model seemingly living her life in the editorials.
   What Bailey did was take this into raw sexiness, tapping correctly into the Zeitgeist. Starting at British Vogue in July 1960, Bailey had in fact met Shrimpton while she was being shot for a cornflakes advertisement by Brian Duffy. And unlike the film, Bailey was actually very grateful for the gig and knew what British Vogue was: ‘When Vogue offered to pay me to photograph beautiful women all day I thought I was on a dream-boat.’
   Gillan captures the innocent country girl that Shrimpton was at that point, which makes the transformation into ’60s sex icon all the more poignant. Never mind posh locations with Bailey: the Shrimp was on the floor, legs akimbo, complete with teddy bear or another prop. Skirts got shorter, progressively so till 1966, and Jean Shrimpton and her long legs modelled plenty in the decade. It might not be inaccurate to say that Shrimpton was the 1960s supermodel, along with Twiggy—certainly they were two of the most recognized women in Britain.
   Vogue had gone from being a magazine read by the well-to-do lady to one that reached the masses—and for the first time, its pages even became pin-ups.
   Bailey has remained in the public eye with his ongoing work, though Shrimpton has opted for a quieter life, running a country hotel. Both had reportedly approved of the script, which showed them in a positive light—though given Shrimpton’s silence over the years, we’re guessing it must have had some verisimilitude for her to give it the nod.
   There were some glaring mistakes—a 2005 Chevrolet taxi zooms by in a 1962 scene in New York—and Mad Men it was not, neither in feel nor in execution. Where Kudos was once known for lavish productions—Life on Mars springs to mind—some corners felt cut, probably thanks to the recession and the difficulty of securing locations that still looked “’sixties enough” in New York. It lacked the pace of another winter BBC film around this time last year: Eric and Ernie, covering the pre-fame period of Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise.
   But, on the other hand, period Vogue covers were faithfully re-created, the wardrobe department did extremely well securing period costumes, and Frances Barber stole the show with her portrayal of Vogue editor-in-chief Diana Vreeland in the New York scenes. And it summed up the period well: while a telemovie will take liberties with history, there was no denying that Bailey and Shrimpton were influential and very deserving subjects.—Jack Yan, Publisher

TF1
Above Delphine Wespiser soon after being crowned as Miss France. Our article on her win was the most-read this year.

Last year, quite a few readers were interested in the most visited news articles on the Lucire website. This excludes the features we have on the main part of the site. Nevertheless, it gives us a fair idea of what people were interested in during 2011.
   Our most popular article of 2011 was about the new Miss France, Delphine Wespiser. It might have helped that Lucire was the first English-language publication to break the news, though traditionally we’ve noticed there has always been a healthy interest in Miss France.
   Our Honor Dillon article was next. This was a 2010 piece, but with Dillon marrying fiancé Dan Carter earlier this year, people were curious. The fact Dillon was modelling underwear will have prompted some extra searches that we didn’t anticipate.
   Unsurprisingly, given how much coverage this got at the time, Scarlett Johansson gets into third place with our story on her modelling for Moët & Chandon. In fact, each time we run a story on Johansson, there’s a good amount of public interest.
   The wedding of HSH Prince Albert and Charlene Wittstock gave royal-watchers their second major celebration of the year, after HRH Prince William and Catherine Middleton. But, with more media covering the British event, Lucire netted a slightly larger share of the Monaco one to get it into fourth place.
   And in fifth, Keira Knightley’s Coco Mademoiselle campaign got plenty of fashionistas and fans popping by, initially to get a preview.
   Stories on Vanessa Paradis, Miss New Zealand 2011 Priyani Puketapu, Brooklyn Decker, Bar Refaeli and Miss Prestige National 2012 Christelle Roca take us to 10th place.
   For actual search terms, the patterns were similar, though we can add Princess Catherine or the Duchess of Cambridge, Miss Nationale 2011 Barbara Morel, Aishwarya Rai, David Bailey and Jennifer Garner into the mix.
   Any bets from our readers on the top celebrities of 2012?

Summer Rayne Oakes, who has a long association with Lucire, tells us that her short film, Extinction (eXtinction to give its official capitalization) can be viewed for a very limited time (a total less than two days from the time of this post) on Dailymotion. You can view the film at this link.
   This important work highlights what we realistically face on our planet in our lifetime, and why looking after it sustainably and sensibly is the only hope for humankind. Beautifully photographed, Extinction puts forth powerful arguments in its short running time—and we would be wise to heed its message.
   In the beauty department, Billie Goat Soap has launched a natural soap range made from goat’s milk, with a pH level close to our own skin. Goat’s milk is high in vitamin A, B6 and B12, while it naturally contains a high amount of antioxidant selenium and lactic acid. Both the plain and milk and honey soaps retail for NZ$13·50 each.
   Meanwhile, Stanley Moss has reviewed another very fashionable Parisian hotel—pop over to the main part of the site to see his story on 7Eiffel, located in the vicinity of the École Militaire and Invalides.

TF1

Top Delphine Wespiser with her first words upon being crowned as Miss France: ‘36-37’, the number for France’s Téléthon. Above Christelle Roca, Miss Prestige National 2012, crowed at Divonnes-les-Bains in Ain.

While Sunday was a record day for traffic this year at the Lucire website, thanks to the Miss France pageant, Monday remained relatively healthy thanks to the rival Miss Prestige National, founded by Geneviève de Fontenay.
   But it’s interesting to note just how much of the public interest each of the pageants has.
   It is unfair to give direct comparisons between the two. Miss France enjoys a live telecast in France and public voting from the TV audience. Miss Prestige National might make French news, but lacks the terrestrial network backing of its rival. Early photographs of both Delphine Wespiser and Christelle Roca were passable and fuzzy respectively, making it hard to give the second pageant the sort of visual prestige that its name implies in this publication.
   So it is no surprise when I say that for both the 2011 and 2012 pageants, more people read our articles about the Miss France winner.
   However, the gap was much larger this year in terms of reader numbers.
   It’s our policy not to give out exact reader numbers—plus they are constantly changing for these particular articles anyway—but the ratio between readers of the Miss France and Miss Nationale 2011 pieces is currently 2·7. It would have been roughly the same in December 2010.
   Through the past 12 months, Miss France 2011 Laury Thilleman has enjoyed more press than Miss Nationale 2011 Barbara Morel, though some media have grouped the two together in articles. Morel herself became better known for her personal relationship with basketballer Tony Parker, former husband of actress Eva Longoria, more than making up for any lost profile.
   However, the 2012 pageants have the ratio at 8·6. In other words, nearly nine times as many people were interested in Miss France as than were interested in Miss Prestige National. Other than the home page and sectional pages in Lucire’s online edition, no other web page has had as many readers in the past few years.
   One factor at play was that this year, we had the Miss France 2012 results as they came to hand through the wire services, whereas last year, there was a delay. But even halving the ratio—and that is being particularly generous to the newer pageant—we are still looking at 4·3.
   These stats might help the organizers of the newer pageant look at why they haven’t done as well for the 2012 edition.
   One logical place to lay blame is the eleventh-hour name change. Until November 2011, and despite a trade mark opposition, de Fontenay had stayed firm and refused to change the name of the pageant. It was only when the legal noises got too loud, both from Miss France owner Endemol and prior Miss Nationale trade mark registrant Michel le Parmentier, that the organizers, sans Mme de Fontenay, hurriedly retitled their pageant.
   It’s also not helped by non-Francophones searching for the wrong name. Based on searches in Duck Duck Go, Google and other search engines, Miss Prestige Nationale (with the adjective in the feminine form) outnumbered the correct Miss Prestige National here, which would have limited the number of hits we had for the search term. Granted, many of our readers would not have been French—having said that, on Sunday and Monday, we noticed that there was a nice jump from l’Héxagone.
   One big difference may be down to the absence of Geneviève de Fontenay herself, who, in order to save the pageant, stepped down. Endemol had cited a non-compete clause that prohibits la dame au chapeau from running a rival pageant until December 2013. Much of the news labelled la guerre de Miss was fuelled by interest in de Fontenay, herself an iconic figure in France thanks to her decades-long involvement in the original Miss France. The committee that runs Miss Prestige National has no high-profile head that has caught the public’s imagination.
   Even if you look at a non-French publication like Lucire, much of the coverage is tied to de Fontenay. Without the “battle of the pageants”, Miss Nationale and its successor would not have had the same level of coverage. The public enjoys a story that has a personality, and who better than a pageant director who felt so embittered with the direction of the one she sold that on principle she began another? You almost want to see the underdog win.
   It is hard to say how 2012 will pan out for the newer pageant. Given the sort of TV audiences Miss France commands—typically in the region of a 40 per cent share—the French have quite the appetite for beauty pageants. There is, in other words, plenty of room for two without there being conflict, just as Miss World and Miss Universe occupy the same space in countries as small as New Zealand. They coexist amicably most of the time.
   France can cope with two, but it seems Miss Prestige National needs a figurehead, perhaps its own Sylvie Tellier (a former Miss France now heading the senior pageant) to be its face, with the endorsement of de Fontenay.
   When the 2013 pageant rolls around again, there can be another media frenzy.—Jack Yan, Publisher

Mischa Richter/Universal Island Records

Above Amy Winehouse as she appeared on the cover of Back to Black in 2006.

The late singer Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black dress, designed by Disaya Sorakraikitikul, has exceeded all estimates, going under the hammer at Kerry Taylor Auctions for £43,200.
   The higher estimate for the dress was originally £20,000.
   The Museo de la Moda in Santiago, Chile, was the successful bidder.
   The Passion for Fashion auction took place earlier on Tuesday at La Galleria, 30 Royal Opera Arcade, Pall Mall. Winehouse’s father, Mitch, was present.
   Audrey Hepburn’s Roman Holiday dress, which was tipped to sell at between £40,000 and £60,000, remained unsold.
   Amy Winehouse’s next album, Lioness: Hidden Treasures, featuring her unreleased tracks, will be released on Monday (US buyers click here; UK buyers click here for the CD, and here for the vinyl LP). One pound from each album sold will go to the Amy Winehouse Foundation.

With charms very much part of the jewellery Zeitgeist over the past few years, Dodo has found an opportunity to extend its wings, opening its flagship store in Sloane Square, London.
   Andrea Morante, CEO of the Pomellato Group, the company behind Dodo, says, ‘Dodo is a very successful Italian story. We wanted to turn it into a successful global story, and I think that London is the obvious place where we would start.’
   In the release, he added, ‘The opening of the Dodo store in London is a key and strategic step in the process of the internationalization of the Dodo brand. London has become a truly international city and perhaps one of the best platforms in the world from where to commence a serious global expansion.’
   The new store is a collaboration with Central St Martin’s. Sián Evans, senior lecturer at the college, called its task a ‘rebrand’ for London.
   Designed by renowned architect Paola Navone, the building has what Dodo calls ‘an organic architectural twist’. The entry of the store features a bed of pebbles, while grass grows from the ceiling, and the walls have a wet sand effect, creating what the company calls a relaxed effect. The façade features a semi-circle arch encased in crystal, covered in a green silicone lawn.
   The basement will play host to private events and exhibitions.

Hot on the heels of his double MTV VMA win in Belfast, Justin Bieber has switched on the lights at two Westfield malls at Shepherd’s Bush and Stratford City.
   Bieber turned the lights on at Shepherd’s Bush first before being ferried away by helicopter to Stratford City.
   He was joined on stage by the Wanted, Reggie Yates and teens from the Teenage Cancer Trust, which the events benefited.
   In a follow-up interview, the teen pop idol talks about his new Christmas album, Under the Mistletoe, and how he was never told about Santa Claus as a child.
   He plans to spend Christmas with his family.

Day three of the Kardashian–Humphries split: Kim Kardashian speaks to a Sydney radio station during one of her promotional commitments to the Kardashian Kollection.
   Among a sea of ‘You knows’, Kardashian defends her 72-day marriage to basketballer Kris Humphries and insists it was not a sham.
   ‘I do want to make clear that I would never marry for a TV show, for money, for anything like that.
   ‘That’s really ridiculous that I have to even … kind of defend that, but … I guess that’s what comes what’s … when you film your wedding for a reality show,’ the celebrity exclusively told the Kyle and Jackie O Show on 2Day FM.
   She hinted that her trip Down Under was a temporary escape from the US and told DJ Kyle Sandilands that she was not ready to date yet.