Celebrity Magazine

Friday, 10 December 2010

My Weekend Crush

Harvey Milk was right: You’ve gotta give ’em hope. Now, hope for shippers is an ephemeral thing. Here today, dashed tomorrow. Brittana fans have seen their hopes recently beaten nonsensically the big crazy rock that is Bartie (Barfie, more accurately). Wait, what? This Brittany and Artie thing is actually happening? I don’t. I can’t. Wait, what? Stop eating glitter, Ryan Murphy, and start making sense. But then Santana herself comes down from on high and gifts us with this.

Now, say what you will about the character of Santana (she is mean, she is promiscuous, she is calculating – and those are just the reasons I love her), but Naya Rivera has proven in her interviews and fan interactions to be a sweet, thoughtful and prodigiously talented young woman. She has encouraged and supported the LGBT fans who have showered love on the Brittana pairing. She has made no attempts to distance herself from the sexual fluidity of her character or her close off-screen friendship with co-star Heather Morris. She has even said that Brittany is really Santana’s soulmate, which seems to be apparent to everyone except the “Glee” writers themselves. Also, wow, is she ever easy on the eyes.

Granted, hoping two fictional characters on a television show where characters randomly break into choreographed song and hoping for full equality for all LGBT people may not seem on the surface like comparable dreams. But sometimes something small can matter in ways we can’t even quite understand ourselves. So thank you, Naya, for giving us hope. Thank you for making a million little lesbian hearts flutter with anticipation of your every cocked eyebrow, withering glare and intertwined pinkies. Thank you for your grace and your voice. We will keep dreaming about The Beckoning Finger and keep our fingers crossed for the rightful return of our favorite Queerios. Happy weekend, all.

Thursday, 9 December 2010

Gender Fuck Thursday: Red Carpet Attire

So in the last week or so I’ve noticed a lot of ladies showing up on the red carpet in full men’s wear. I’m not talking just a petite blazer over a pencil skirt, but a real formal suit. Obviously, I’m all for this. And, being driven by the unwavering pursuit of scientific excellence, my next step was naturally to conduct my own thorough research into this phenomena. And because no scientific finding can be verified without a thorough peer review, I present my findings to you. If science was always like this in high school, I would have become a nuclear physicist.

Leighton Meester

This is a full-on traditional men’s suit. I approve.

Olivia Wilde

This is a full-on traditional 80s suit. I disapprove.

Winona Ryder

This looks like she stole it from Marilyn Manson’s closet. But, it’s Noni and she does an amazing job with her small but crucial part in “Black Swan.” So, um, forgiven.

Jane Lynch

This looks like she stole it from the set of “Night at the Roxbury.” But, it’s Jane fucking Lynch. So, forgiven forever.

Julianne Moore

Fifty is the new OMFGHOWHOTISTHAT?

Christina Hendricks

That thump you just heard was the sound of lesbians everywhere hitting the floor after passing out.

Diane Keaton

Ladies look good in white suits, too. Usually, better than men.

Janelle Monae

Sometimes a lot better than men.

Tilda Swinton

Sometimes there is no gender, only Tilda Swinton.

Ellen DeGeneres

Hell, Ellen doesn’t even need a suit jacket. She already has the most beautiful life-size boutonniere you could ever want.

I think all these lovely ladies may have blinded me a little with their science. While I try to regain sight, tell me which of these specimens you find the finest. Science, it’s irrefutable.

Wednesday, 8 December 2010

bundled

very excited for my San Fran / Santa Cruz trip in January, but have realized I need way more warm clothes...

Never cross a dame

Helen, Helen. Even when you’re cross you’re hot. You’re right to be cross. In fact, I like it when a lady is a little cranky sometimes. It shows she cares enough to hate what’s wrong with the world. Or, you know, just people in general. I totally get that. So when you answered The Hollywood Reporter’s question about how it makes you feel to be a role model for having sex appeal in your 60s like this, I can’t help but swoon.

“A bit cross, actually. We have to let go of this crap. It creates even more pressure on women, and I certainly don’t want to be a part of that. I’m not beautiful; I clean up nice. Why don’t we talk about the fact, for example, that I just did Arthur, and the cinematographer was a woman, the film operator was a woman, the whole camera team were women? That’s where we should be putting our attention. The fact that I look good at the age I am is bloody irrelevant.”

True and hot. I agree, the never-ending focus on women’s appearance at every age adds to the pressure to be, look, conform to some kind of idealized, unattainable beauty standard. But I also think it’s great to celebrate beauty in all its forms: any size, any age, any race. And, sometimes you just can’t fight the hot.

At The Hollywood Reporter’s annual Women in Entertainment breakfast yesterday, Helen took home the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award. Coincidentally, this is the same award Jodie Foster won in 2007 and finally publicly thanked her then longtime partner Cydney Bernard as “my beautiful Cydney.” Helen accepted her speech with her normal saucy humor and take-no-bullshit attitude. But first, she had to hike up her Spanx.

Helen, Helen. What is hot is not just the fact that you clean up well but that your mind is so clear. OK, it’s also hot when you SGALGG a little with Halle Berry. But mostly the mind thing. Mostly.

Trust us, Helen, no one here will ever “worship at the altar of the 18 to 25-year-old male and his penis.” But we will happily worship at yours. Always.

Tuesday, 7 December 2010

Telly Time

What do tea, taxicabs, buses, bookstores, church spires, cobblestone streets and lavish lesbian period pieces have in common? If you said, “Things that are better when British,” then reward yourself with a lovely biscuit (the British cookie kind, naturally). So imagine my delight at the news from last week that the good old Beeb will be producing yet another Sarah Waters lesbian bodice ripper. The BBC will adapt “The Night Watch,” Sarah’s most contemporary novel to date, into a 90-minute film. For those unfamiliar, “The Night Watch” is set in 1940s London, during and after the Blitz of World War II. It opens in 1947 and is told largely backwards – sort of like “Memento,” but with lesbians and without tattoos.

After “Tipping the Velvet” (for sentimental reasons), “The Night Watch” is my favorite Waters novel. In the film version mysterious, trouser-wearing Kay will be played by Anna Maxwell Martin from “Becoming Jane” and “Bleak House,” match-making agency runner Helen will be played by Claire Foy from “Little Dorrit” and her straight assistant Viv will be played by Jodie Whittaker from the TV series “Accused.”

[L-R: Anna, Claire, Jodie]

I have to say, the three women all look a bit like British doppelgangers for American actresses. Anna looks like Annette Bening’s younger sister, Helen looks like Alexis Bledel after four years at Oxford and Jodie has a Rooney Mara meets Elisha Cuthbert feel. I’m not super familiar with any of their work, since most of it is from across the pond. But the good old Beeb has an impeccable track record when it comes to sussing out fresh talent.

So, let’s raise a pint to those wily Brits for bringing more lesbian action to the telly. The country that gave us “Tipping the Velvet,” “Fingersmith” and “Lip Service” makes me seriously consider ex-pat status sometimes.

Monday, 6 December 2010

take a plunge

Stephanie Seymour

Stephanie Seymour first came to my attention way back in January 1989, when she appeared on the cover of Mademoiselle magazine in a photo taken by the late Herb Ritts. The image was mesmerizing and I remember being rendered speechless by her natural beauty.

Stephanie was discovered at the age of fourteen in the Elite Look of the Year competition in 1983, alongside Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista and Tatjana Patitz. Though she didn't win, Stephanie was promptly signed by Elite and sent to Paris and Milan before moving to New York from her hometown in San Diego.

The early years of Stephanie's career were spent grunt modelling, gaining experience working with the most influential French and Italian photographers including Hans Feurer and Antoine Verglas. Stephanie's career went into overdrive when she was photographed by Herb Ritts for Rolling Stone and Playboy magazine. In an interview for Pop magazine issue no. 18, Stephanie describes how "Herb really changed everything for me. I did many pictures with Herb completely naked but that was Herb Ritts. I considered him an artist and that was very serious to me. I started working with Herb constantly. And I think that really, really changed my career."

Stephanie was also a great favourite of the late Richard Avedon who photographed her for the first time for an American Vogue cover in 1988. In the same interview for Pop magazine Stephanie recounts how "he (Avedon) really saw how eager I was, and he liked that. And he saw that he could really take me anywhere and that I was able to do anything he wanted me to do. No matter how many times I would fall on my face, I would get up and do it again. And I would try anything he wanted me to try. So it was always an artistic experience. I totally trusted him." The admiration was mutual with Avedon praising Seymour; "she combines a perfect body with a dynamite brain and a heart that's always in the right place."

In an interview for US Hello magazine in 1996, Seymour attributes her success in part to how "In my case, I think I was lucky to be photographed very young by great photographers like Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton, Michel Comte and Herb Ritts. They force you to move better, to really bring out the best in yourself." This sentiment was reiterated again in Pop magazine; "There's a really big difference between being a great model and a pro, and really knowing how to move and be photographed. You learn and you train yourself to know exactly what things look like even without a mirror in front of you."

Stephanie has had an astonishing modelling career spanning over two decades and is one of the few models of her generation who has been able to combine commercial success with more creative projects. Stephanie's roster of clients include the likes of Victoria's Secret, Sports Illustrated, Playboy, and beauty contracts with Maybelline, Almay, Helena Rubenstein and L'Oreal as well as advertising campaigns for Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, Helmut Lang, Marc Jacobs, Versace, Louis Vuitton, Valentino, Allessandro Dell'Acqua, Salvatore Ferragamo and the GAP. She is a longtime muse of Azzedine Alaia and was the subject of a photographic book lensed by Juergen Teller. The book entitled MORE was published in 2002 and was photographed over a two year period. In 1996, L'Egoiste magazine (issue no. 13) published an entire portfolio of images of Stephanie, photographed by the legendary Avedon, representing women through the ages. POP Magazine also dedicated an entire issue to Stephanie Seymour with accompanying interviews and editorials as well as accolades from fashion industry key note players. The following collection of images of Stephanie speak for themselves.