Charlotte & Emily for Italian Vogue

Charlotte Benson

We’ve been waiting a long time for these images to hit our inbox...Elite London rising stars Emily Smith and Charlotte Benson take to the pages of Italian Vogue’s September Issue, shot by Solve Sundsbo and sporting some gorgeous 60’s inspired looks. Both girls are heading to NY for the shows as we speak and with shots like this in their portfolios we predict an amazing Season.

Emily Smith

Saying goodbye is never easy

Today is the last day of August. I guess I have no choice but to say good-bye to summer. I always find it hard because I never want this season to end. What my summer was about...

The Mediterranean... What's not to love about this picture?

Waking up to this view in the south of France. The trees, the morning sun, the fresh air, the pool and the sound of birds singing...

The refreshing drinks (they're all non-alcoholic, by the way!). The one in the middle was the most delicious watermelon cocktail!

Outdoor festivals and desserts (here: crepe with Nutella).

Discovering nature with the family. The boys built a dam / useless bridge across a stream and I built a stone path, which led from our little picnic mat to the edge of the water. I really got into it and was busy for at least an hour, collecting stones - it felt strange but good to concentrate on something like this! (do you know the feeling?) 

And simply enjoying those warm, sunny days.

I will miss you, summer! 

p.s. I wanted to post more photos but had trouble uploading them. I've been having quite a few problems with blogger recently (including google friend connect). Anyone else?

Chanel fall collection 2010: Enigma, Inimitable Intense, Paradoxal

I finally went to pick up my reserved goodies... and I must say, I'm rather pleased with my latest Chanel purchases.

I picked up the Enigma (19) eyeshadow quad without even swatching it, which (thinking about it now) is usually a silly thing to do but I wanted it. That's a good enough reason, right?

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I also got the new Inimitable Intense mascara, this simply being the technologically more advanced, more intense version of the already existing Inimitable. It holds the curl all day and gives my lashes a dramatic boost. Yes, I really like it! (and how gorgeous is/are the model(s)? Not sure if it's the same person?)

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And I picked up Paradoxal (509), obviously. It's usually more purple than grey but it depends on the light. I applied two coats. (On the right: with a ham, cheese and mushroom crepe.)

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I got some samples of the Beauté Initiale skincare. Has anyone tried it?

R.I.P. Corinne Day

You will be missed.

The Boys of London In Motion (one for the girls...)

Happy Bank Holiday weekend everyone! Here at Elite we thought we would brighten your day with this brilliant video, courtesy of our friends at F-Tape and featuring three of our boys. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do and by the end are already planning your own version...Staff of Elite London In Motion...maybe not!


'The Boys of London' by Justin Wu for co:lab (FTAPE.COM) from F.TAPE on Vimeo.


Can you spot Nick Gardner, Michael Bamber and Korrel Kennedy?

Barbie the Fashionista

I used to love Barbie... (I never had a Ken but that didn't bother me). She was the gorgeous all American girl with the beautiful long blonde hair, big blue eyes, perfect lips, dainty feet and stunning figure. (These days I would also add: no split ends, no wrinkles, no spots, no sagging. Ever). Who didn't / wouldn't want to be like her?

Fast forward many years and... Barbie has black hair! And darker skin! And designer clothes! Wow! Starting with 'around the world', just have a look at the modern Barbie... "Barbie for grown-ups"!

Around the world: Japan, Italy, Spain

Brides: Badgley Mischka, Carolina Herrera, Monique Lhuillier

Brides / Designers: Vera Wang (first two), Dior

Designers: Kate Spade, Versace, Burberry

Royals: Empress Josephine, Marie Antoinette, Queen Elizabeth I

Hollywood: Audrey Hepburn, Scarlett O'Hara, Marilyn Monroe

And now I have another reason to be jealous of Barbie: her amazing Louboutin shoe collection!

So um... who wants to join the Barbie Fan Club with me?!

The Chanel villa

Welcome to the Chanel boutique in St Tropez, an 18th century villa...

In the gardens there is this charming swing... with a Chanel cushion, of course. (I wonder if these cushions get stolen often?) 

Dream equipment for the sporty Chanel girl...

Here is the terrasse of the Chanel villa.

Step inside... and I couldn't take my eyes off these beautiful necklaces!

Ok, so I also found a Chanel item I would never wear (the black and gold outfit on the left) but that's irrelevant.

Because it felt special just to be there!

Elite ♥ Bora Aksu

For the second time in as many Seasons, Elite girls took to the catwalk for designer Bora Aksu in an exclusive...this time round as part of Istanbul Fashion Week. We think our girls looked incredible in the now distinctive Bora Aksu designs and would like to take this opportunity to thank our good friend, super producer Luke Foy for making all this happen again!

Left-Luke

Beauty on the streets of Paris

We can’t keep up with the stream of September issue gems featuring Elite models that are flooding in! Our latest favourite comes in the form of Constance Jablonski’s beauty story for Vogue Paris, shot by Inez van Lamsweerde and co-starring some rather fabulous Dior and Buccellati diamonds. Following her captivating Estee Lauder campaign, Constance lends her face once again to beauty as she demonstrates A/W’s most dramatic makeup trends as she travels through the streets of Paris...not even Vogue can resist a cheeky Eiffel Tower tourist snap!

Turkish delights

That's right. We've descended upon sunny Turkey with an army of Elite girls, ready to take over Istanbul Fashion Week. Helen, Sadie and Laura (above) will join seven of our other finest faces for the Bora Aksu show this evening. Stay tuned for all the footage.


www.boraaksu.com / www.ifw2010.com

Meeting Claudia Schiffer

Happy birthday, Claudia! (she is 40 today)

It was at a flamenco show in Paris (must have been in 1998?) when Naomi Campbell was dating Joaquín Cortés, a flamenco dancer:

"He famously dated Naomi Campbell – despite neither of them speaking the other's language – with her reportedly taking a drugs overdose when he ended their relationship (one acquaintance tells me that it only lasted as long as it did – just under a year – precisely because he could not understand what she was saying)." (Telegraph)

Anyway, the two supermodels were there. I'm guessing that they were in Paris for fashion week and Naomi begged Claudia to come along to the show...

It was embarrassing... but I asked Claudia for her autograph (and I'm glad I did!). Here it is:

Zooming in on the signature... 

Have you met any famous people?

1 - via google images

Elite London's on a Scottish manhunt

Following the success of soon to be Topman campaign star Louis Galloway, Elite London will be supporting our friends over at The Model Team in Glasgow who are on a mission to reinvent the image of a Scottish male model. Yes we will be helping them move away from the stereotypical kilt wearing, porridge eating images that we are so used to seeing and get more Scottish boys on the catwalk and into campaigns through The Model Team’s Male Model Competition which launched last week in association with Harvey Nichols Edinburgh. Inspiration for all applicants comes in the form of Elites rising star Louis Galloway who is taking the first steps in transforming the face of the Scottish modelling scence by landing the Topman campaign which will be revealed next week. For more info on how to enter visit http://www.modelteam.co.uk/

you can take the boy out of Scotland....but we failed to remove the tartan...

A downpour and Petit Bateau

Kindergarten doesn't start until next week and my husband has this week off (but no holiday planned because we thought we were going to be moving house; more on that some other time) so we are doing fun 'family stuff' every day (and I have less time for blogging - boo). We've been doing a lot of swimming, cycling, going to playgrounds, eating ice cream :-) and today we decided to go for a walk. 

We went to a big park and walked aimlessly for about 20 minutes until we came to a lake. I sat down on a bench to enjoy the view (normally there would be a picture of that but I didn't have my iPhone with me! Shock horror! I'd run out of the house with the wrong iPhone: the first generation one with the crappy camera that nobody at home actually uses but just happened to be on the table...). 

But then we heard noises. A constant rumbling noise... like an airplane that wasn't going anywhere. Within seconds the sky had darkened and rain started to fall over the lake. We started running... and I swear there was one black cloud - just like in a cartoon - that was chasing us. We could hear its 'footsteps' as it got closer and closer... 

Anyway, we got soaked. I was wearing flip flops. I wish I'd had sensible shoes on like this cute little piggy because walking back through the mud was disgusting.

(source unknown)

And next time I'll have to be better prepared... with these matching raincoats from Petit Bateau!