This summer I went to the Tohoku region on a grant from the Japan Foundation; a few American journalists also came along in order to report on the destruction that remains in the northern areas after the earthquake and tsunami hit on March 11th.
The first thing you notice is the smell of rotten tatami mats. Upended, lying supine, in stacks on the fetid ground, these mats are in various places along our walk, along with shards of wood that break up the landscape — creating tawny waves of rubble. It reminds me of Katrina. In “Goodbye to All That“ John Jeremiah Sullivan writes this about New Orleans: “It looked contrary to the laws of physics, to the point where you saw it in miniature, a toy box overturned by an angry child.” Northern Japan looks the same, with ships cast ashore and left there, and houses that exist in name only.
New York Fashion Week begins today, and according to the Wall Street Journal, in a rejection of “the air-brushed perfection of the digital age,” one of the most sought after looks at model casting calls was gapped teeth. Frankly, we couldn’t be more excited. We’ve always found it refreshing when celebrities embrace what makes them unique — instead of paying to get it fixed — and to see this kind of thing happening on the runways can only mean good things for gap-happy youths everywhere. Imagine fashion-minded young girls deciding not to get braces! After the jump, we present 10 of our favorite gap-toothed beauties, from old school favorites like Lauren Hutton to young upstarts like Ed Westwick. Leave anyone we’ve missed in the comments.
Photographer David Bailey began working for Vogue in 1960 and it was there that his lens helped shape and capture what has become known as “Swinging London.” Actors, musicians, supermodels, and royalty were his subjects and social pals. His iconic images of Mick Jagger, Michael Caine, Paul McCartney and John Lennon, Jane Birkin, Jean Shrimpton, Andy Warhol, and Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski defined the decade.
Bailey was such a popular figure of the time that film director Michelangelo Antonioni based the character of Thomas, a sexy fashion photographer in the 1966 movie Blow-Up, on him. Dubbed the “Godfather of cool,” when he was named a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for his contribution to photography in 2001, Bailey is now being honored with an exhibition of his celebrated ‘60s photos in the exhibition Pure Sixties. Pure Bailey, which runs through April 7, at Bonhams in London.
