Rankin on Desert Island Discs

Photography is he says "like a seduction. It's a relationship compressed into a moment."

Any regular readers will know that I am a TINY bit obsessed with DID and have long been enamoured of Rankin's photography so imagine my delight when I heard that he was going to be on the programme. If you missed it, it's available here and also will be repeated on Radio Four at 9am this Friday. I won't ruin any of it for you suffice to say that he's made some corking music choices (Morcambe and Wise anyone?) and seems like a thoroughly lovely chap.

John Rankin Waddell born 1966, is an English portrait and fashion photographer and that's putting it mildly. He's been photographing the great, good and interesting for over two decades ( deep breath - Britney Spears, Kate Moss, Kylie Minogue, the Spice Girls, Madonna, David Bowie, Björk, Juliette Binoche, Lily Allen, Cheryl Cole, David Gandy, Kevin Spacey, The Rolling Stones, Vivienne Westwood, Cate Blanchett, Damien Hirst, Queen Elizabeth II, Tony Blair - could go on!) started Dazed and Confused with Jefferson Hack and in December 2000 launched his own quarterly fashion magazine, RANK. He also publishes Another Magazine, Another Man and more recently HUNGER. As well of all of the above, he does heaps of charity work, has his fingers in some very well known ad campaigns (Dove's Real Women for example) AND makes documentaries and music videos. Phew! Enjoy listening.

Hermione Granger

Monica Belluci

Lizzie

Dove's Real Women

All images OBVIOUSLY by Rankin.

Dance Pony Dance!

Mondays aren't always the best so if any of you missed this fabulous ad, I guarantee you it will brighten your day. It’s by ad agency Wieden + Kennedy for mobile company Three. An TV spot of such excellence that I laughed my head off, immediately attempted to moonwalk then promptly you tubed it straight away afterwards. If this wasn't enough as a genius add-on to the main film, you can go to theponymixer.com, and in seconds art-direct your own dancing pony film…and it can even involve UNICORNS. Yes, UNICORNS!

Because the silly stuff matters guys. Have a good Monday!X

Ri-Ri for River Island

It's definitely been a tumultuous couple of days for Rihanna since she debuted her River Island collection during London Fashion Week on Saturday so apologies for this post being a bit behind the times. She used Jourdan Dunn and Charlotte Free to showcase her first ever collection. Other featured models included Tao Okamoto, Ataui Deng and Bambi Northwood Blyth.  I LOVE the name Bambi #justsaying

At the after-party following her fashion show, the singer slash designer got a bottle thrown at her by a heckler outside the club, which resulted in her bodyguard getting his leg injured and RiRi getting a bloody scrape on her knee, poor love.

Now, the reviews for her collection are in and let's politely say they are mixed.  Tom Sykes of The Daily Beast called it "a horror show," saying:
"Rihanna's show was a tiresome, underwhelming and uninspired marketing exercise. The clothes were hideous and without an ounce of panache or style between them. It was like Fright Night in Kmart."

On the other hand, Elle magazine was rather kind, with fashion editor Anne-Marie Curtis saying:
"The collection is an ode to all things high fashion. Think Eighties Norma Kamali meets Alexander Wang luxe sportswear. From fluid jersey dresses to sweatshirts to all-in-ones and varying length skirts almost exclusively in a navy, black and white palette, there are myriad options here for even the most discerning fashion eye. Stand-out items include a black jersey column evening dress, a brilliantly cut bra top, a navy cropped sweatshirt, and a properly fabulous denim jumpsuit."

I'm just going to point out that Rihanna is the April cover girl for Elle, so maybe this isn't exactly an unbiased review..Good and bad reviews aside, however, RiRi's laughing all the way to the bank!  The range lands in stores on March 5. Let me know your thoughts...