Posts with tag TyraBanks

Even when we're getting dressed up, lately we're still in the mood to keep it simple and elegant. Charm necklaces have been catching our fancy as the perfect way to add some character to an outfit without getting too...well, fancy.

A couple of months ago, we filled you in on the first transgendered contestant on "America's Next Top Model." Well, Isis King is now back in the spotlight, because Tyra Banks is making Isis' transformation complete -- she's hooking her up with gender reassignment surgery.

I recently had the opportunity to get made up by Catalina Ceballos, a makeup artist and teacher at DEX New York, a salon frequented by Tyra Banks and Posh (Victoria Beckham). This is me before, rockin' my pink hair for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Catalina took off all my makeup except my eyeliner, which she liked (it's a dark brown Lancome shadow applied with water). She trimmed my eyebrows, and brushed on a special shade of Tinted Hydrator, SPF 20, which she created for me by blending two shades. DEX New York's Tinted Hydrator has ginkgo biloba and ginseng to increase circulation.

Catalina then applied loose and pressed powder, again using two shades blended with a kabuki brush. She used a mineral illuminator auto-pen on my undereye circles over the powder.

Then came the color. Read on to see the "after" picture and see what she used on me! Also note: Most of the products she used are available on the DEX New York website.

Tyra, you've got some competition.

While America's Next Top Model is officially out of session, there is another fashion reality show vying to takeover ANTMS's Wednesday night prime time spot:

From Merriam Webster, a definition of fierce: "wild or menacing in appearance."

We feel that adequately describes "fierce," even in its newer, Tyra-fied incarnation.

And so, eBay sellers, we ask you to curb your incorrect usage of this word, such as for the shoes you see above, the "fierce" Aerosole suede wedges.

After an intense jet-set themed competition that sent the squeaky-voiced Stacey Ann home, the America's Next Top Model contestants will be heading to Rome this week for their next major challenge.

Like any viewer who is addicted to America's Next Top Model, I can tell you that Gilles Bensimon is the famed fashion photographer who put Tyra Banks on the cover of Elle when she was just breaking into the industry. He also shoots the winner of ANTM in a fashion spread for the magazine each season as well.

Well, if the rumor WWD is reporting is indeed fact and not fiction, Miss Banks is going to have to revise her little prize speech for panel.

Apparently, Elle magazine's new creative director Joe Zee is finally ending the relationship between the mag and legendary photographer -- who has shot the covers of Elle for the past 20 years.

Sources tell WWD that Bensimon may shoot a couple more covers before his contract expires in December, but this glossy unity is pretty much done-zo.

Proof:

Zee hired Carter Smith to shoot Natalie Portman for April's issue and Tom Munro just came back from Los Angelas after snapping Madonna for the May cover.

Sad, but you can't keep a good man down for long. Bensimon's advertising campaigns for Sears, Kmart, J.C. Penney, and Iconix are breaking into fashion magazines this spring.

It was real while it lasted.

I'm all for celebrities using their fame to bring attention to good causes. And I understand that Tyra's theme for Season 10 of America's Next Top Model is about giving something back. But, last night with the homeless photo shoot things were a bit over the top.

Let me back up and explain what happened. The weekly photo shoot for this episode featured the model contestants dressed down in "homeless" clothing (which it really wasn't, at all). Then they shot a scene with girls who were actually homeless dressed in couture clothing.

The idea behind the photo shoot was a great one. And maybe what the camera showed us last night in a one hour episode isn't the whole story. But, in essence the girls who were truly homeless were used as props. Most of the models barely said a word to any of the homeless girls or tried to get to know them and their stories. Meanwhile the models tried to tap into the emotion that someone on the streets might feel, when they just don't have the slightest clue what that would be like. Well, aside from Marvita and the girl from Somalia, Fatima, both who have actually experienced time living in shelters -- Tyra does love to pick a girl with a good sob story!

Watch the models try and be homeless in the clip below.



The whole thing just felt way too phony for my liking.

Anyways what did you think of last night's ANTM episode? Are there any clear favorites emerging? I like Claire. Who do you think should go all the way?

I hate to indulge TV personalities when they pull dumb stunts just to get ratings. So, I'm happy to report that Tyra didn't fall into that trap. Instead, she decided to pull a really dumb stunt that involves her ripping her pants off -- that ought to work right?

Tyra, along with the front row of her studio audience, ripped their jeans off on Monday -- to be fitted with jeans that fit a woman more naturally. I guess it was meant to be some form of protest against the tyranny of blue jean designers. Somehow, I think the message might have been overshadowed by the fact that Tyra was awkwardly whooping it up in front of the camera without any pants on. Plus the fact that dudes will be the ones watching this video on repeat.

I probably got a little overly excited when I read the headline for this video -- but hey -- Tyra does flash the camera for a second. Too bad the cameraman was way too far back. Nice going cameraman, ruined it for everybody.

[via PerezHilton]

We are on -- what? the seventh or is it the eighth? -- season of America's Next Top Model? Out of all of those seasons, I have yet to see any "top models" come out of the show. Apparently I am not the only one who feels this way. In this week's Answer Bitch section on eOnline, a reader asks the question about the "Tyra curse" and why her models never seem to get any work after the show.

Answer Bitch went to his big time fashion industry insiders and got this juicy nugget for us:

The fashion industry doesn't take the show seriously. Clients are finicky about choosing their own faces. People like to select their own girls, and to be handed a girl that someone else has deemed fabulous -- that equation doesn't really work out."

Makes total sense. That's like me telling Anna Wintour to take my fashion advice instead of using her own instincts. Sure I have some great advice but Anna doesn't want to hear that crap.

Note to Tyra: You are not a Hollywood starlet. I repeat you are not a Hollywood starlet. You may be a Hollywood star but you are no starlet.

For some odd reason Tyra banks felt that it was okay to dress like a girl ten years her junior and half her size. Now before you all jump down my throat (which I know you will do anyway), there is nothing wrong with Tyra's size. There is, however, something wrong with what she decided to wear for her size.

Leggings aren't for everyone (everyone should know that by now). Leggings are to be worn with a top that covers your near end, like a tunic or a mini dress. Tyra has failed to do that by opting for a shirt that barely covers her stomach. The second issue I have with the leggings is that they are barely leggings. In fact, they look like tights to me. Am I alone here? I can practically see through them.

Leaving the leggings alone for a moment -- the boho look? Even the real Hollywood starlets have started to abandon that look. Tyra it's time to start dressing like the powerful Hollywood star that you are. You have your own talk show and a popular (ish) television program; you're better than this Tyra. I know you are.

What could possibly be better than watching Oprah, Tyra, or Rachel Ray on TV? Being there in person, of course!

But before you can laugh, cry, and shout "You go, girl!" with a couple hundred of your fellow daytime-TV-obsessed compatriots, you may need to take a long, hard look at your wardrobe. It turns out all of the major talk show divas have more in common than good looks and matriarchal sass -- according to WWD, each one insists on a dress code for their audience.

Tyra and Rachel say no to flip-flops, shorts, white t-shirts, velour sweatshirts, sneakers, ripped jeans and tanked tops. Ladies sitting in on Martha Stewart should think "dressy and fun,"' while guys should shoot for something you could wear to your local country club.

So that's why everyone in the audience of those shows looks frumpy and lame!

According to producers, these guidelines keep the audience looking "camera-ready." But I have a sneaking suspicion that they just don't want anyone dressing better than the host.

Who's most at risk from being upstaged by a fashionista in the audience? Check out our gallery to see which of these daytime TV icons has the best fashion sense, then vote for your favorite!

How could Tyra allow this to happen? I know the finale of America's Top Model is old news, but these new pictures of winner Jaslene, are pretty disturbing. She looks like an over accessorized, drag queen skeleton, in a yellow dress. Scary!

I have a love/ hate relationship with Tyra (or as I call her "big Ty"). Tyra is a beautiful woman, a big woman, but a beautiful one all the same, who appears to have some form of talent beyond looking beautiful. Which is a good thing, especially based on her recent weight gain (her modeling days are over). All of those late night snacks cost her one hot body and a whole lot of torment from the media.

But Tyra, being the "bigger person", launched her So What! campaign. The So What! campaign was designed for woman of all shapes and sizes to love their bodies and not succumb the pressures of being a size zero. Makes you wonder why Tyra picked Jaslene to hold the coveted crown of America's Next Top Model. The girl looks like a gust of wind could send her halfway across the country. Perhaps this girl is naturally thin, or perhaps she crept up from the dead, slipped on a dress, and worked the hell out of the runway.

Is Tyra a hypocrite or do we think the ultra-thin Jaslene still deserves the title? I honestly don't know. I will just let you all duke it out in the comments section.

Last night I caught the encore airing of America's Next Top Model Episode 5. By this point in the competition, most of the riff-raff has been eliminated and the remainder of the contestants either start figuring out what to do in front of a camera or brace themselves for impending departure.

The highlight of episode five had to be the brief appearance of Benny Ninja -- a dancer and choreographer who specialized in the great art of vogueing. (Vogueing is what happens when you combining posing with movement.) He was fantastic to watch on screen, plus he also reminded us that there is actually something physically challenging about the profession.

This time the photo challenge was an editorial shoot in which the girls were portraying crime scene murder victims. Slightly macabre as you'd imagine, but the photographs turned out much stronger than I would have expected. Why? Well, high-end editorial is actually a lot easier to pull off than you might think. (Smiling without looking ridiculous or wrinkled like they do in catalogs? Not that's something that not every girl can do.)

In the end, Renee took the top honors for her portrayal of a poison victim. The photo was pretty good, even if she didn't look particularly dead and had creepy man hands. The producers tended to focus a great deal of the show's narrative on her, which is kind of unfortunate because she's totally melodramatic and self-involved. But then again as Naomi Campbell proves, fashion loves prima donna drama queens.

Last night, fashionfans around the country enjoyed the first installment of Top Model.

For the photo challenge, models were asked to pose in shots inspired by varying political outlooks: pro-life, pro-fur, pro-death penalty, pro-gay marriage and the opposing positions. None of the shots were particularly inspiring, and it's clear that most of the ladies haven't quite figured out how to emotionally connect with the camera. No worries, though, since that can be developed with time and good art direction.

What can't be developed with time, however, is a brain.

During the critique, Tyra asked Kathleen (pictured at right in the anti-fur photograph) how she felt about animal furs in real life to which Kathleen responded by saying, "I think fur makes you look hot."

Twiggy promptly jumped in to set the record straight on fur industry cruelty. Kathleen immediately countered with the brilliant response, "I don't think people should kill animals for their fur. But if they're already dead, why not? I mean, animals die like people. Sometimes they bite each other, too."

Brilliant, huh? Imagine the fur industry following packs of chinchillas through the woods as they wait for them to either drop dead from old age or be bitten to death by their comrades.

Needless to say, our little sparkplug Kathleen got the ax.

I'd also like to say that I was shocked to find out that my pick, Natasha, appears to be a mail-order Russian bride. (She's 18; her husband is 40; she's Russian; he calls Dallas home.) At first, this sort of horrified me a little (I don't know why), but now I'm actually kind of into it. Heck, a mail-order bride deserves this just as much as the next girl, so don't worry, Natasha, I've still got your back!