Black 11 - The Schwartz Report #4 - Hannah Holman

Today in New York, Michael Schwartz, Valery Gherman and Elizabeth Sulcer will be shooting our fourth cover girl for Black 11. Hannah Holman is a relative newcomer compared to Heidi Mount, Constance Jablonski or Siri Tollerod but she is definitely on the rise. The Elite New York girl has recently shot the new global campaign for Miu Miu with Mert and Marcus and also just shot Vogue Nippon with uber stylist Joe McKenna. She has a fabulous face and a hell of a 'look' - watch this space...

Talking Pictures

Above: Marrissa Findlay's lovely flamingos

Mobile phone technology is developing so quickly that anything may soon be possible with the power-packed communication devices; changing channels, blocking police radars, opening the garage door - our world is the personal communication device's oyster. Yet it is the camera component of the phone which is here and now. Recognising this Samsung have teamed up with some of Aotearoa's most creative people to celebrate the launch of the new Samsung Ultra Touch staging an exhibition and auction of images taken on the phone's 8 megapixel camera with dual power LED flash. The selection of collaborators is quite inspired too: brilliant film-maker Taika Waititi, artist Otis Frizzell, Front Row Diary editor Anna Fitzpatrick, TVNZ make-up queen Michiko Hughes, actress Madeleine Sami, George FM breakfast host Nick D, fashion photographer Marissa Findlay and media personalities Tee Twyford and Josie Steenhart. The exhibition takes place at the new Zambesi store in Newmarket on September 16 and will raise funds for one of the best charities around, Youthline. Judging by these first pics in - which can be seen online here on a regularly-updated basis, it will be a fascinating mix of creative capture.

Above: Anna Fitzpatrick knows a good pair of shorts when she sees them.
Below: Michiko Hughes snaps the fashion TV.
Bottom: Otis Frizzell takes one of an E.

Black Showcased On F-Tape

Black collage courtesy F-Tape

We have been honoured by inclusion on London fashion mega resource F-Tape's independent magazine special which has been created to coincide with the upcoming London Fashion Week. The site decided to pull together their choice of the best 20 or so indie fashion titles in the world and have included Black Magazine on that list. Considering the list includes such venerable titles as S., Tokion, Wonderland, Volt, Hercules, Zink, Dansk and many more, we are pretty excited - and for the contributors whose work was chosen by the F-Tape crew from the images supplied.

Thanks F-Tape!

Seductive Lens

We weren't able to make it along to the Plaything Gallery recently to witness the Derek Henderson film for Stolen Girlfriend's Club Weapons of Mass Seduction first hand. Luckily Luke Harwood flicked us the link to the film online at Curious Films as it is a lovely thing. Featuring a bunch of SGC's friends and associates never quite starting - or finishing - their sentences, the film is set to a lilting music track by Milan Borich and it's an hypnotic way to see the current range. There are a few musos including Borich, Rebekah Davies and The Check's Jacob Moore (above). Here's the link...

Vision On

Children Of Vision launched their online store this week and judging by the post (above) on the front page of influential UK fashion blog Kingdom Of Style, it had an immediate affect...

Flying Finn

Some people hate pigeons. "Flying rats!" they say indignantly while shooshing them away from park benches, statues and river banks. Not so artist Finn Fair who rather charmingly describes them as "a proud, heroic icon of the downtrodden and disenfranchised" and has incorporated the winged creatures into his recent body of work Shine On Dirt. The artist sees a parallel between pigeons and the under class and says the work draws on this parallel and celebrates his "friends, the artists, musicians, labourers, workers, beneficiaries, the ill, the eccentrics and misfits." Shine On Dirt is "an obvious sign of adoration for the beautiful personalities I have surrounded myself with." As long time fans of the outsider, we can only agree.

Shine On Dirt opens at the COCA gallery in Christchurch on September 22.

Alastair Makes Good

Image: Models.com

We have some fond memories of Air NZ Fashion Week and perhaps no more so than 2003 when a young I.D magazine stylist called Alastair McKimm came to New Zealand and hooked up with Nom D. Alastair ingratiated himself with the locals although he very much became 'The I.D guy" rather than Alastair McKimm. At that stage he was a freelancer who had been fashion editor on a number of I.D shoots rather than being on the staff payroll. He returned to style Nom D's show the following year and has strong ties to the New Zealand fashion scene. The Churchword had been trawling Streeters.com recently and was very impressed to see the quality of work the stylist has been delivering of late, so it came as no surprise to see his cheeky face on the front page of Models.com overnight. Having just been made fashion director of uber cool New York mag The Last Magazine, let's hope he is on the list of media targets for next year's Air NZ Fashion Week.

Below: Alastair styles Aggy