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Fabien Baron

Interview Keeps the 40th Anniversary Celebration Going with a Little Subbasement Revelry
Mary-Kate Olsen

Interview Keeps the 40th Anniversary Celebration Going with a Little Subbasement Revelry

>> Two floors below the ground level entrance to the Hudson Hotel, Interview celebrated its 40th anniversary last night by christening Good Units, the hotel's new club.  The space still had remnants of its past life as a 1930s YMCA — wooden bleachers sat in the middle of the main room, providing seating for the likes of Subversive Jewelry's Justin Giunta and Edita Vilkeviciute — and above, where the room's indoor track used to be, party-goers got an eagle's eye view of the dancing going on below.  Archival Interview covers and graffiti by Brian Ermanski on the room's four walls gave the party a '90s vibe.
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>> Two floors below the ground level entrance to the Hudson Hotel, Interview celebrated its 40th anniversary last night by christening Good Units, the hotel's new club.  The space still had remnants of its past life as a 1930s YMCA — wooden bleachers sat in the middle of the main room, providing seating for the likes of Subversive Jewelry's Justin Giunta and Edita Vilkeviciute — and above, where the room's indoor track used to be, party-goers got an eagle's eye view of the dancing going on below.  Archival Interview covers and graffiti by Brian Ermanski on the room's four walls gave the party a '90s vibe.

The crowd was teeming with notables, ready to kick-start Fashion Week.  Vena Cava's Lisa Mayock and Shipley and Halmos's Jeff Halmos found a less crowded corner near the bar to chat by while Halmos's design partner Sam Shipley fetched drinks.  Becka Diamond and Keegan Singh, arms linked, navigated the crowd and later, Singh's boyfriend Eddie Borgo appeared. Giovanna Battaglia, in a red and black leopard-print minidress, grooved to the music, while Derek Blasberg and Kate Bosworth, nearby, animatedly broke it down before scurrying off into the crowd.  Mary-Kate Olsen, who's gearing up for her first The Row presentation, as styled by Marie-Amelie Sauve, and Chloe Sevigny both chatted with Lazaro Hernandez.  A dark-haired Martin Cohn teetered in those Nina Ricci platform heels. And Dasha Zhukova, fresh off the purchase of a $19.5 million home in Los Angeles last month, flitted by in an emerald fitted coat.  All in all, not a bad way to start out the week.

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Fashion in 50 Seconds 11/12/09 Lara Stone for Louis Vuitton
Louis Vuitton

Fashion in 50 Seconds 11/12/09 Lara Stone for Louis Vuitton

Louis Vuitton president almost confirms Lara Stone will replace Madonna in the spring campaign.
by coutorture

Louis Vuitton president almost confirms Lara Stone will replace Madonna in the spring campaign.

The new Prada book contains a chapter which reproduces comments of people selling Prada merchandise on eBay.

InStyle magazine launches a trippy December cover and video ads.

Net-a-Porter and Neiman Marcus—two of the only major shopping destinations to carry Emanuel Ungaro—have dropped the line for spring 2010.

Alexander McQueen considers organizing a charity auction to sell his 10-inch alien shoes from the spring collection.

Stuart Weitzman's million dollar shoe is commemorated on a Spanish postage stamp.

Fabien Baron is working on a coffee table book with Madonna—"a massive retrospective of the queen of reinvention as photographed over the years by everyone from Herb Ritts to Steven Klein."

Source: Getty

Lindsay Lohan and Estrella Archs's First Emanuel Ungaro Collection for Spring 2010: The Reviews Are In (And Not Pretty)
Lindsay Lohan

Lindsay Lohan and Estrella Archs's First Emanuel Ungaro Collection for Spring 2010: The Reviews Are In (And Not Pretty)

>> Three weeks after they were tasked with designing the Spring 2010 Emanuel Ungaro collection, Estrella Archs and artistic advisor Lindsay Lohan took their runway bow — the former dragging the teary latter by the hand — yesterday to a beefed-up photographer's pit and an audience, many of whom just came because of the expected spectacle.
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>> Three weeks after they were tasked with designing the Spring 2010 Emanuel Ungaro collection, Estrella Archs and artistic advisor Lindsay Lohan took their runway bow — the former dragging the teary latter by the hand — yesterday to a beefed-up photographer's pit and an audience, many of whom just came because of the expected spectacle.

The result wasn't pretty: the collection's super-short minidresses and heart-shaped pasties peeking out of blazers and on the models' foreheads were ruled "a bad joke of a fashion show" by Style.com. Lohan's involvement was compared to "a McDonald’s fry cook taking the reins of a three-star Michelin restaurant" by the New York Times's Eric Wilson. Fabien Baron's take? "Call the fashion police!”  And Harper's Bazaar's Glenda Bailey wouldn't even comment: “You know, if you don’t mind, I have to run out the door.”  Even Dree Hemingway weighed in: "the first half might as well be alex wang last spring and i did see [Lohan] sporting that hot pink blazer of his..."

Lohan, who is reportedly being paid millions by Ungaro, called the show "the hardest thing I've ever done."  Beforehand, she selected $150,000 worth of Ungaro clothes at the Paris flagship with CEO Mounir Moufarrige's blessing, supposedly cancelling an interview with Suzy Menkes.  Some expect her to be gone before next season — even though she already said she was sketching for the next collection — but her contract is multiyear, and Moufarrige said his main goal in hiring her was to generate publicity, noting that he was suprised criticism hasn't been more negative.  And even after the wave of bad reviews came out yeseterday, Ungaro's owner Asim Abdullah was defiant that either Lohan reignites the long-struggling Ungaro, or “we go down in a blaze of glory. Or unglory."

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Interview

>> INSIDER WIRE —Even more shifts are happening at Interview in the wake of Fabien Baron's comeback: editor-in-chief (and V alum) Christopher Bollen, left, is to be editor-at-large, and executive editor Stephen Mooallem, who has been at the magazine for six years, is to be installed as editor.
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>> INSIDER WIRE —Even more shifts are happening at Interview in the wake of Fabien Baron's comeback: editor-in-chief (and V alum) Christopher Bollen, left, is to be editor-at-large, and executive editor Stephen Mooallem, who has been at the magazine for six years, is to be installed as editor. Meanwhile, Karl Templer's return as creative director is still said to be imminent. [WWD]

Interview

>> INSIDER WIRE —Some are surprised that Fabien Baron is being welcomed back at Interview, given the magazine's financial state and that Baron was originally let go because he was going over budget.  Apparently, fashion director Joe McKenna — who is expected to leave — cancelled a recent shoot on grounds of nonpayment, creative directors Michael Amzalag and Mathias Augustyniak of M/M Paris quit because they are owed three months pay plus expenses, and a number of retouchers and photographers are owed, including Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, who have not been paid for their August 2009 cover story.
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>> INSIDER WIRE —Some are surprised that Fabien Baron is being welcomed back at Interview, given the magazine's financial state and that Baron was originally let go because he was going over budget.  Apparently, fashion director Joe McKenna — who is expected to leave — cancelled a recent shoot on grounds of nonpayment, creative directors Michael Amzalag and Mathias Augustyniak of M/M Paris quit because they are owed three months pay plus expenses, and a number of retouchers and photographers are owed, including Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, who have not been paid for their August 2009 cover story. [FWD]

Interview

>> INSIDER WIRE —As rumored, Fabien Baron is coming back into the Interview fold as editorial director, replacing former co-editorial director Glenn O'Brien.
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>> INSIDER WIRE —As rumored, Fabien Baron is coming back into the Interview fold as editorial director, replacing former co-editorial director Glenn O'Brien. Baron was originally fired in January and took creative director Karl Templer with him.  After he left, the logo revamp he did was replaced and Mathias Augustyniak and Michael Amzalag of M/M Paris were brought in as creative directors. Baron is said to be talking to top talent about coming back with him — M/M Paris do not appear to be currently working on the August 2009 issue and are expected to leave the magazine  — will he revert the logo as well? [WWD, FWD]

Interview

>> INSIDER WIRE —If editorial director Glenn O'Brien leaves Interview as rumored, Fabien Baron might be back to run the show.  While the magazine's owner Peter Brant is embroiled in a messy divorce, his son, Brant Publications' new president Ryan Brant, is said to be running the show and wants Baron, who was popular with advertisers, back.  Discussions between Baron and Brant have gone far enough that Baron has approached top talent about returning to Interview with him.
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>> INSIDER WIRE —If editorial director Glenn O'Brien leaves Interview as rumored, Fabien Baron might be back to run the show.  While the magazine's owner Peter Brant is embroiled in a messy divorce, his son, Brant Publications' new president Ryan Brant, is said to be running the show and wants Baron, who was popular with advertisers, back.  Discussions between Baron and Brant have gone far enough that Baron has approached top talent about returning to Interview with him. [FWD]

Interview

>> BLOWING THE COVER —M/M Paris's revamp of Interview, complete with new handwritten logo (influenced by the one used in the '70s) and new layout (which supposedly includes less model-heavy fashion editorial), debuts with the April 2009 issue featuring Zac Efron.  There seems to be no hard feelings between Fabien Baron and one half of M/M Paris, Michael Amzalag, but the graphic design duo, together with newly-named fashion director Joe McKenna (who replaces Karl Templer) have their work cut out for them: ad pages dropped 27 percent in 2008, and another 38 percent in the first quarter of 2009.
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>> BLOWING THE COVER —M/M Paris's revamp of Interview, complete with new handwritten logo (influenced by the one used in the '70s) and new layout (which supposedly includes less model-heavy fashion editorial), debuts with the April 2009 issue featuring Zac Efron.  There seems to be no hard feelings between Fabien Baron and one half of M/M Paris, Michael Amzalag, but the graphic design duo, together with newly-named fashion director Joe McKenna (who replaces Karl Templer) have their work cut out for them: ad pages dropped 27 percent in 2008, and another 38 percent in the first quarter of 2009. [WWD]

Interview

>> INSIDER WIRE —Despite Interview going under a full revamp from Fabien Baron's design for its May 2009 issue under the care of new creative directors M/M Paris, all seems amicable between the two — Purple's Olivier Zahm snapped Baron wishing half of M/M Paris, Michael Amzalag, luck backstage at Prada.
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>> INSIDER WIRE —Despite Interview going under a full revamp from Fabien Baron's design for its May 2009 issue under the care of new creative directors M/M Paris, all seems amicable between the two — Purple's Olivier Zahm snapped Baron wishing half of M/M Paris, Michael Amzalag, luck backstage at Prada. [Purple Diary]

Cost Cutting, Mainstream Pressure Caused Fabien Baron's Interview Exit
Interview

Cost Cutting, Mainstream Pressure Caused Fabien Baron's Interview Exit

>> Now that the news of Fabien Baron and Karl Templer's departures from Interview has had a chance to sink in, a little background on the breakdown.  According to sources close to the magazine, Baron, who also owns agency Baron & Baron, spent too little time in the office and too much money on shoots.  Fabien's co-editorial director, Glenn O'Brien, seems to confirm these reports: "Fabien is a busy man.
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>> Now that the news of Fabien Baron and Karl Templer's departures from Interview has had a chance to sink in, a little background on the breakdown.  According to sources close to the magazine, Baron, who also owns agency Baron & Baron, spent too little time in the office and too much money on shoots.  Fabien's co-editorial director, Glenn O'Brien, seems to confirm these reports: "Fabien is a busy man. We haven’t seen him a lot up here.  We have to have our needs met here.”

That, in addition to the fact that "he comes with a big price tag," especially in a time of falling ad pages, did not bode well.  His pricy fashion spread expenditures did not mesh well as Interview's bottom line went lower than expected, and supposedly, Baron began to feel pressure from Brant Publications to cut costs, "take the magazine more mainstream, popular, and Hollywood."  Although Baron hung up on WWD when asked for a comment, he and Templer, who chose to leave when Baron was pushed out, "tried to come to terms and were very disappointed at having to leave."

According to Glenn O'Brien, the parting wasn't so pretty: “In any creative enterprise, there’s always screaming."  But until April, when M/M Paris take over creative direction of the issues . . .
*image: source