I'm so proud of Hailey Clauson and her meteoric rise in the modeling world. In 2008, her dad Larry Clauson brought Hailey to Genlux to see if we'd be interested in photographing her. As soon as she stepped in the door I knew she'd be a star. I immediately called Meg Day, who, at the time was over at Ford Models, and told her she had to see this girl. Meg signed her on the spot. On January 28, 2009, we photographed Hailey for Genlux, though, for whatever reason, the shots didn't turn out well, and we didn't run them. Even so, we've all remained friends through these years, so it's great to see Hailey leaping way past Genlux to make it on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week! She's also been in ads for Gucci and Dsquared2, Plein Sud, Topshop, and Mavi Jeans. Such a sweet girl who deserves all of the success.
that hitchcock girl
I had the chance to interview Tippi Hedren today.
Hers is a tremendous story of three lives. Her first was as an actress whose debut role was starring in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. Not a bad start—though it came with it's challenges. In an interview where she opened up about Hitchcock's obsessive controlling relationship with her, Tippi claimed Hitchcock not only ruined her career (he wouldn't let her out of her studio contract thus refusing to let her work on other films), but that he was "evil."
Her second life came in 1975. After the war, Vietnamese were coming to the United States as refugees and she was the international relief coordinator for a charity called Food for the Hungry. In one of the refugee camps, she came in contact with Vietnamese women who loved her long beautiful nails. Like the Chinese proverb about teaching a man to fish, she is responsible for putting Vietnamese women on their career path as manicurists—a path that has led to an astounding 80 percent of California's current mani/pedi artists pool that are Vietnamese Americans. Recently, Bellacures nail salon in Brentwood and OPI products honored Tippi for her humanitarian efforts. They screened, "Happy Hands," a documentary directed by Honey Lauren that tells the story of why you see so many Vietnamese women in the nail art biz.
Tippi's third life is centered on her Roar Foundation that she founded in 1983 to support Shambala, the animal preserve outside of LA that cares for large wildlife like elephants, tigers, lions, cougars and more. She lives on the preserve and hosts "safaris" for guests to help fund the foundation. shambala.org
My final question to Tippi today was, 'What animal would you like to come back as?' "A Liger!" she answered. A cross between a tiger and a lion, and yes, she once had a liger at Shambala named Patrick.
Capturing the Moment
Some of the best photos are those taken when the model or actress is unaware that she's being photographed. They capture that "relaxed" state of mind—when the subject isn't "on." So why, I thought, don't we try to shoot the entire story that way. The challenge was, how do we make that happen. So I had an idea. I asked Darren Stone, our videographer, to shoot a fashion video of the models. He would direct them as he would any video while Robert Steinken (our hairstylist and very talented photographer) would be shooting stills—without the models knowing. My thought was that they would be relaxed most of the time and we'd be able to capture some cool images. It worked...well, sort of, Let me explain.
All of our glam team members were aware of our photoshoot behind the shoot. We had Cecilia Moreno on makeup. Robert was doing hair and then pulling out his camera to capture images. He was assisted by Jennifer Baker. The shoot was brilliantly styled by Hazel Pepper. Allison Burns was our manicurist for the day.
But as the day progressed, Robert started to forget that he was "behind" the scenes and started to emerge as the photographer. The cover was blown but the shots still worked. I added some effects to the shots to bring that "film" quality we all love so much. Things like "grain" and double exposure and film edges.
Beverly Johnson in Genlux! Unretouched!
If I do say so myself, the new issue of GENLUX is gorgeous! Especially because on the cover is my friend Beverly Johnson, who at 63 looks flawless! So flawless, I decided to run her photographs UNRETOUCHED. Tell me what other woman could we possibly run unretouched at 63?
We shot Beverly at the Luxe Hotel on Rodeo Drive. It's the only hotel in Beverly Hills with a Rodeo Drive address. A luxury boutique property that is about as convenient for out-of-town shoppers as can be. Want some coordinates? Okay. There's Geary's to the north where you can buy his and her Rolex watches. Just north of that is Tory Burch, and just north of Tory is Cartier. Cross the street to and you're at CHANEL. To the south of the Luxe Hotel Rodeo Drive is Michael Kors, and then Bally (which is going through renovation), and then you hit Tom Ford. You get the picture. In all of the rooms is a copy of GENLUX magazine.
On the second floor of the Luxe Hotel is a boardroom where we set up hair, makeup and styling. i brought on some of my favorite people on set. (This is where is sounds like a rock 'n roll band). We had the brilliant photographer Tracey Morris on camera. We had the unbelievably talented Uzo from Tracey Mattingly on makeup; Johnny Stuntz from Celestine (such an easy-going and super talented guy) on hair; A newby, Allison Burns from Crosby Carter on nails; and our talented French girl, Santa Bevacqua on styling.
It's on days like this that I feel so blessed. Blessed to be given the gift of creating art with so many wonderfully talented people.
Beverly had suggested Santa who just arrived in town from New York. She pulled some really chic pieces that had the Genlux elegance factor. Want a peek?