the lost btw with kim kardashian

Thanks to my friend Russ Einhorn, who I've known ever since he owned a photo lab on Beverly Blvd, he arranged to have behind-the-scenes footage taken of our shoot with Kim Kardashian. The shoot took place in 2009 with photographer Marc Baptiste. On that day, I asked Russ to let his paparazzi pals know that we'd be shooting Kim in front of the Luxe Hotel on Rodeo Drive, and boy, did they come out. They were the perfect backdrop for the fashion shoot with the reality star.

I wanted Kim to have a disconnected look on her face. Like she was in a bubble—within her own world, inside her own world. The challenge was there was so much going on—so much excitement—it was hard for her not have an excited look on her face. We did about seven takes on this, until the final take when she has this beautiful relaxed and disconnected look on her face. She was pure joy to work with.  

you'll never know what you'll find on eBay.

Pretty cool to see what I just found on EBay! A poster that my father designed way back in 1973 for the 7up company. It was one of a series of posters that were created using famous graphic designers of the time. This one measured 5 feet wide by 3 feet tall. My father was the best at color and is responsible for creating the colors on the Apple logo. Yep, that was my pops! : )

okay, who is on our genlux fall fashion issue cover?

Today is all about our nailing down all of the people for our Genlux fall fashion issue cover that shoots next week. Our cover model is the stunning actress Paula Patton who starred in Mission Impossible and also stars in the new Warcraft movie. 

My friend Robert Steinken is going to be the photographer. Robert is a double threat. He is the BEST hair stylist and is also a brilliant shooter. Our wardrobe stylist is Julie Matos. I worked with Julie a few years ago when we shot Maria Menounos with photographer Marc Baptiste at Smashbox Studios in LA. Julie's repped by Celestine Agency. Coincidentally,  I just had lunch with Frank Moore and Victoria Daniel from Celestine yesterday. They are gems in the world of creative talent. Easy to work with and super reliable. I've known Frank since we first launched Genlux over 10 years ago and he's never let me down...ever! 

This cover came down to two possible stylists who both happen to be with Celestine. Julie and Bruno Lima. Paula worked with Julie before so in the end, it basically came down to that. There are a few rules that we have at Genlux: 1. I get final approval of the glam team; and 2. I have final photo edit approval. In some cases I'll go back and forth with the PR teams over hair, makeup and stylist, but it's a rule at the beginning of the process that I get final approval rights. Rule 3. Nobody that's being photographed or their PR peeps gets to see the images until the magazine comes out. All of these rules aren't to keep others out of the creative process as they are to keep the process moving along quickly. One thing I've learned is the more decision makers there are, the more time it takes to get anything accomplished. You know the saying, too many cooks spoil the broth. 

because, yes, you can judge a book by it's cover

Many moon ago I had this sideways bookshelf built so I could see my magazines and books, not from the side but from the front. Having a love for magazines, I'd originally designed it to accommodate the size of W and at that time, the larger Interview magazine. This worked out perfectly for nice coffee table books which are often times 10 by 13 inches. Now, it pretty much houses part of my collection of coffee table books. Some monster books like Valentino, Private from Giancarlo Giammetti, Dior from Assouline are too big to fit—those really do have to go on the coffee table. The only challenge with this bookshelf concept is earthquakes, and yes, there have been some casualties due to seismic activity. My prized box set of Herb Ritts fell and broke apart and my CHANEL book by creative director Jacques Helleu. The good news is there's always more books to add—like the SUPERMODEL book I'm designing with the photography of Robert Steinken. Wait for it.