NOW IN TOWN: JULIA JOHANSEN

Welcome to London to beautiful Julia Johansen. The 20 year old from Finland will be meeting London clients for the next few weeks, and with those pretty freckles and perfect pout we're sure they're going to fall for her straight away!

ONE TO WATCH: KELLY MOREIRA

ANOTHER amazing girl from Elite Model Look? Yes please! Meet Kelly Moreira, who sent her photos in for the contest just 3 months ago. When the SS10 show season got underway she was preparing for the Elite Model Look France Final, and by the time the circus rolled into Paris she was the must-book new face of the season, racking up appearances at Lanvin, Yves Saint Laurent and Dries Van Noten. Absolutely one to watch, and we can't wait to see her in London soon...

Kelly rocks Lanvin in her debut season

AMY for NIVEA

Hot on the heels of her work with Bourjois, The Body Shop and Avon, Amy Hanson's latest beauty campaign is for Nivea's cosmetic collaboration with luxury lingerie giant Chantal Thomass. Our very English Amy pulls of this very sexy campaign in style... and we love that trademark Chantal Thomass wig!! Have a look at the print campaign on Nivea's mini-site HERE and see the TV commercial below.

A BIG NIGHT IN CHINA

ELITE MODEL LOOK WORLD FINAL

The contest started with 350'000 worldwide applicants... the final 70 spent two weeks at model boot camp in beautiful southern China and after were eventually whittled down from 70 to15. On the night of the final show, the top four new faces for the Elite network were named... congratulations girls, and especially to our Emily!

The girls can look forward to an exciting future at the very top of the fashion industry, after all they are following in the footsetps of supermodel greats Cindy, Gisele, Christy and Linda, who all got their big break at ELITE MODEL LOOK. And current campaign queens Sigrid, Constance and Denisa all started here too... the future looks bright!

BLANKA'S AUTUMN TV CAMPAIGN FOR DEBENHAMS

We love our beautiful brunette Blanka's slinky new TV commercial for Debenhams, currently airing across all major channels....

OUTI IS ONE 2 WATCH

It doesn't seem possible that just a couple of months ago 16 year old Outi Ranua was finishing school in a village in Finland, but after we snapped her up in that scout's paradise of Topshop Oxford Circus, this glacial new face hasn't looked back. See her now at The Ones to Watch where she features in Nadya Wasylko's story - It's Not What She Said... it's How She Said It.

ELITE MODEL LOOK - THE WINNERS

17 year old Julia celebrates her win

We've already been shouting about the brilliant Emily Smith's podium placing at the Elite Model Look World Final in Sanya at the weekend, but we met so many great Elite girls of the future at the event that we couldn't wait to start sharing some of them too...

L-R: Manon, Caterina, Emily & Julia

We loved all 4 of the winners - 1st place went to classically elegant Julia Saner from Switzerland, 2nd to the elfin Caterina Ravaglia from Italy, and 3rd jointly between our Emily and the amazonian Manon Pieto from France, all perfect examples of the kind of girls we expect from Elite Model Look. Our team also liked the Serbian contestant Simona, Spanish girl Gracia, and Sarah J from the US. 


Keep an eye on our FACEBOOK PAGE for full photo albums of the 2 week event...

A DOROTHEA DOUBLE BILL!

Dorothea for Burberry Blue Label

Given Dorothea's flood of current editorials - see her in Love, Vogue Japan (both ph. Willy Vanderperre), Vogue Italia (ph. Steven Meisel), and W (ph. Paolo Roversi) all out now - it's amazing she had time to fit in anything else, but somehow she's squeezed the Burberry Blue campaign into her schedule. Photographed by Lachlan Bailey and styled by Elliott Smedley, we think she bears more than a little resemblance to Burberry girl Emma Watson in the new shots. She's also seriously in-demand in her home market of Sweden too, and with work like this new advertorial for H&M, we can see why.

H&M for Elle, ph. Andreas Sjodin

ELITE GIRLS SHINE IN PARIS

We love a good bit of fashion spectacle, and for SS10 the showdown was surely a dead heat between Alexander McQueen and Viktor and Rolf. McQueen's digitally printed minidresses were almost outshone by the incredible shoes, apocalyptic backstory and film prequel, while Vicktor and Rolf showed pretty much the most architectural pieces on the schedule, offset with a giant globe and the seasons' top musical cameo from Roisin Murphy. With 6 Elite London girls in McQueen (Constance, Charlotte, Kate, Yulia, Egle and Anastasija) and 3 in V&R (Olga, Constance and Egle) our loyaties are divided - we're just pleased that nobody did a Naomi on those terrifying heels!

Yulia Lobova at Alexander McQueen SS10 and Olga Sherer for Viktor & Rolf SS10

See the full McQueen show on the SHOWstudio website and watch the Viktor and Rolf show on their own site HERE 

MELO ON THE RISE

Matthew Williamson SS10

Melo Dagault's busy year looks like getting even more hectic after a stellar show season... some of our favourite London moments for this sweetest of the new French girls included turns at Matthew Williamson and Louise Goldin - whose architectural shapes suited Melo's powerful look perfectly. She's already been shot by the likes of Demarchelier, Bruce Weber and Emma Summerton, and with Numero (shot by Greg Kadel) and Pop (with Tung Walsh) out now we are predicting a manic end of the year for this much in-demand madamoiselle.

Numero 106, Sept09 ph. Greg Kadel

Louise Goldin SS10

EMILY DOES UK PROUD AT EML WORLD FINAL

Just in from China - great news that one of our UK contestants, Emily Smith has won the 2nd runner up spot at the Elite Model Look World Final.

15 year old Hampshire girl Emily impressed the jury over 2 weeks of photo shoots and events, culminating in the showpiece final in Sanya tonight. Her incredible skin and hair and classic English look won over agents from across the entire Elite network – some of the guests at the event loved her so much that they even booked her for her first editorial and shot it the day after the final! We’ll be looking out for her in the January issue of Flavor…

Congratulations Emily, and also to our two other Elite London contestants Beth and Nyasha, who also did the agency and themselves proud.

KATE STRIDES UP A STORM

Kate Somers knocked out a serious sleeper season, quietly sneaking up every casting director's wishlist and turning in an SS10 featuring a bunch of top drawer shows. She started off with the Marc Jacobs double in New York, booked her way through the likes of Luella and all the hot one-to-watch shows in London, turned in a slick stride for Moschino C&C in Milan, and rounded things off with a major Paris - Comme de Garcons, McQueen and Louis Vuitton all featured in this girl's busy October diary. With 3 Dazed editorials and a couple of classy campaigns already under her belt, we can't wait to see what this quirky Canadian will do next...

ELITE ♥ CHINA

It’s a busy week for the network as Elite agents and scouts from all over the globe descend on southern China for the Elite 26^th Model Look World Final. After the success of our inaugural Elite Model Look UK this August, we are thrilled to have 3 girls representing Elite London at the World Final. We wish all the best to Nyasha Matonhodze, Emily Smith and Bethany Leader (below, left to right), who have spent the last 2 weeks with the rest of the contestants preparing for the final in the beautiful beach resort of Sanya. We’re also keeping an eye out for the Czech contestant Marketa Fridichova – we liked her so much when we saw her pictures from her national final that we snapped her up straight away.

Follow the contest at the Elite Model Look World Final website HERE


GOOD LUCK GIRLS!

CONSTANCE IS SS10’s MOST WANTED WALK!

Of the moment Constance Jablonski booked the most shows of any girl across the SS10 season, according to the Fashion Spot’s seasonal rundown. With a staggering 72 shows across the 4 cities, the appetite for Miss J shows no signs of slowing down, and after seeing her through as many as 7 shows in a single day in London we couldn’t be happier to see Constance and her killer stride out there in front. Her highlights included (New York), Paul Smith (London), (Milan), (Paris).  Other Elite girls who made the magic 10 included Charlotte di Calpyso (number 6) and Dorothea Barth-Jorgensen (number 10).

HELLO FEI FEI!

We are pleased to welcome our first Chinese model to the board at Elite London - Fei Fei Sun joins us from Elite China, having won the Elite Model Look China contest last year and placing 3rd in the 2008 World Final. She's already on her second Shanghai Tang campaign and has Vogue China hitting newsstands very soon. In the meantime this fab new editorial on her is just in...

Welcome, Fei Fei!

ANASTASIJA'S HAIR RAISING SEASON

Anastasija Kondratjeva wound up her show season this weekend with yet another incredible hairstyle at Louis Vuitton, topping off a season of epic hair. From a Japanese style topknot at Marc Jacobs to architecural cones at McQueen and the giant bleached wig at Vuitton, Anastasija has pulled off a string of fabulous looks. But not only can she rock the most extreme of the coiffeurs fantasies, she was just as great in the elegant 1930s look at Dries Van Noten and in Sophia Kokosolaki's tousled style as well. This girl is versatile! We're sure that like all the show girls, her hair is ready for a rest though!

SESSILEE GETS HOTLISTED

Grazia's review of London Fashion Week was good news for Sessilee Lopez, who they named as their top model to watch for the SS10 season. Eagle eyes from their fashion team then, as Sessilee went on to book some big-hitting catwalk appearances in Milan and Paris, including Dolce & Gabbana, Hermes, and the opening slot at Jean Paul Gaultier.

Read the full story HERE

Silk Lingerie Comfort

Silk is one of the most unique, and one of the oldest fabrics in the world.

Much of the silk produced today is made from the cocoons spun by the larvae of the Bombyx mori moth, the mulberry silkworm. When a silkworm hatches from it’s egg, it ravenously consumes fresh mulberry leaves for just over a month, growing from a tiny speck to a fat caterpillar. The silkworm then begins spinning a cocoon of silk filament. In 2-3 days the silkworm can spin a continuous thread up to one mile long around itself, at which point it plans to begin it’s metamorphosis into a moth.

The silk producers have other ideas: they boil the silkworms in water, and the cocoons are unreeled onto spinning wheels which twist several filaments together to make fibres. These fibres are then woven into silk fabric.

This, clearly, is not a happy ending for the silkworm, and that’s just one of many issues with wearing silk.


One mile of filament sounds like a lot, but it takes thousands of silkworms, and many pounds of mulberry leaves to make a dress. 1 acre of mulberry trees produces over 11 tons of leaves, which will feed 240 lbs of silkworms and their cocoons, and will yield just 37 lbs of raw silk.

Like other commercial crops, the mulberry trees occupy land, consume water, and require “a plentiful supply of fertilizers” to produce a high yield of leaves. And growing a plant that bugs love to eat means controlling the bugs that you don’t want to eat it. Mulberry trees are sprayed with pesticides to kill the many other insects who also think that they are tasty.

Chemicals can also be used on the silkworms to increase the amount of silk produced. Methoprene is an insecticide and hormone disrupter which may be applied to silkworms to slow their growth rate and extend the time they spin silk.

Once a luxury fabric reserved for Chinese empresses and emperors, today silk is an mass-production industry with intense pressure on prices. While high-quality, handmade silks are still used for gowns and high-end designer clothing, most silk manufacture is a maximum-output-for-minimum-input business. Most silk production takes place in China, and a significant amount in India; neither country is known for workers rights. When Forever 21 can turn out pure silk dresses for under $30, labor concerns come to mind for the people working in the silk factories.



As well as labor concerns, health issues also afflict silk workers. Silk workers who process raw silk often suffer from asthma and respiratory diseases caused by a fine dust from the gum that binds the strands secreted by the silkworm, and a host of unpleasant skin problems.