11 AM
New York Fashion Week at Lincoln Center.

Lacoste show finale at Lincoln Center. Alex de Betak’s snowy set mimicked outside.

12 PM
Marc Camille Chaimowicz at Andrew Kreps Gallery.

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Photography Inez & Vinoodh

Fashion Nicola Formichetti
Text Patrik Sandberg

BUSTING OUT OF THE 212 WITH RAW RAP TALENT AND A STUNNING SINGING VOICE TO MATCH, AZEALIA BANKS ISN’T OUT TO TAKE ANYONE’S TROPHY—SHE’S HERE TO CHANGE THE GAME. GET READY TO BECOME OBSESSED WITH B-A-N-K-S

Catching up with Azealia Banks might run you ragged. Brought to V’s attention late last summer via a Russian social networking site, we made several attempts to get in touch with the 20-year-old Harlem rapper and singer to little avail. When teased that she’s tougher to get ahold of than Britney Spears, she laughs. “I’m usually at home, in the studio, or at a photo shoot,” she reasons. “I don’t go out. When NME said I was the coolest artist of 2011, I was like really? I’m not that cool. I, like, read my Kindle and eat sushi rolls and hang out with my boyfriend. I stay home and play with my cat.”

There’s also a brand new record deal with Universal Music, the ink on which has barely dried at the time of our conversation. “They offered me a deal! And I got a lawyer,” she says. “It’s happening.” A week earlier, she had charmed everyone on the set of her V shoot, including photographers Inez & Vinoodh and style mastermind Nicola Formichetti. The magnitude of her connection with the latter is evidenced by what immediately followed: she joined him in Paris to debut a track at his Mugler menswear show and days later he directed her second music video—his first—for the song “Liquorice.” (In between, Banks managed to squeeze in a private performance at Karl Lagerfeld’s house.) For Formichetti, it marks the most significant artist collaboration since his work with Lady Gaga. ”I love Azealia because we have the same birthday,” he says. “Double Gemini!”

To see the full story from March V76, CLICK HERE!

One of the more ubiquitous items you may see out and about during the shows at Lincoln Center this week will be this minimal and aptly designed Club Monaco backpack, conceived in collaboration with the always on-point photographer, Tommy Ton. On the heels of the brand’s past collaborations with artists like Ryan McGinley, Peter Lindbergh, and Richard Avedon, it’s great to see one of the masters of street style photography elevated in this way—not to mention the fact that the bag itself is virtually flawless. Tommy will be shooting the bag on his closest friends all week, but try to curb your jealousy—the bags aren’t on sale until March 20.

clubmonaco.com

Photography @VMagazine Instagram

8 AM
I have 1 and 1/2 hrs of peace and quiet at Visionaire for concentrating on developing concepts. It’s my favorite time in the office…before the mayhem.

1 PM
Brainstorming session with the Visionaire team.

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FOLLOWING THE WELL-RECEIVED DEBUT COLLECTION FOR KENZO, ACTOR AND MUSICIAN JASON SCHWARTZMAN—WHO PERFORMED A LIFE SET AT THE SHOW—CHECKS IN ON THE BRAND’S NEW CREATIVE DIRECTORS, CAROL LIM AND HUMBERTO LEON

Photography Anthony Maule
Fashion Jay Massacret

JASON SCHWARTZMAN Who taught you the most about fashion?
CAROL LIM Our mothers. Not only did they teach us about quality, but also how to wear clothing that fits you perfectly, no matter what your budget is.
JS Do you ever disagree about new things you want to make?
HUMBERTO LEON The problem is less about disagreeing than about which items we need to edit, because we end up loving so many things!
JS How much does music fit into your creative equation?
HL Music is our way of expressing to people what we are trying to create. What’s amazing is that it is a universal form of communication. It’s like when you meet someone you don’t know, but say “Don’t you just love that Cocteau Twins song ‘Cherry Colored Funk’?” and that person nods with excitement—you know that you are on the same wavelength.

To read the full interview, CLICK HERE. V75 The Music Issue is on sale now!

Galleries may be a dime a dozen in New York, but few can lay claim to melding art and technicolor commerce as vibrantly as Melissa. Yesterday, the Brazil-based purveyor of candy-hued, PVC jelly shoes opened Galeria Melissa, its first U.S. store on Soho’s Greene Street. Though not a gallery in the traditional sense—no gloomy self-portraits or lumpy, inexplicable sculptures—the bi-level concept space allows art to play a vital role nonetheless. A shiny white coats the spare, modernist interior, where installations will be housed on a rotating basis. First up: Eli Sudbrack (Assume Vivid Astro Focus), the Brazilian artist responsible for Gaga’s Workshop at Barneys, who created a trippy, animated video mural that served as the colorful backdrop for yesterday’s opening party.

Though conceived as an “urban cave” and retail respite from busy city streets, the store, where Portuguese flowed as freely as cocktails, saw plenty of action last night. (A DJ platform was even erected for two song spinners, one male and one female, both clad all in white.) Brazilian bombshells Jeísa Chiminazzo and Alessandra Ambrosio made the rounds, as did Ryan McNamara, designers Marc Jacobs and Alejandro Ingelmo, and actress-cum-models Elettra Rosselini-Weidemann and Dita Von Teese. Jason Wu, Melissa’s latest guest collaborator (a club that counts Vivienne Westwood, Jean Paul Gaultier and Gareth Pugh) was on hand to chat and check out his ladylike, owl-logo’d flats. Like the rest of the store’s mold-injected plastic wedges, heels and thongs, they sit atop pedestals. But unlike works of art, these goods are begging to be touched. More photos below.

Galeria Melissa, 102 Greene Street, 212.775.1950
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For the duration of New York Fashion Week, Cecilia Dean will be keeping a fashion diary for New York Magazine. Here are some extended tidbits for VMagazine.com:

11 AM
Here, I am being interviewed by Brazilian journalist Lilian Pacce at Visionaire Gallery (above).

12 PM

Just following this, I was going through emails at my desk and got some good news. YAY! Sorry, I can’t share it, but you’ll see it in the next issue of Visionaire.

1 PM

Louisa eyeing my lunch at Visionaire. I got my lunch from the newly-opened Smile 2 on Howard Street.

2 PM
On my way to a meeting with Visionaire creative director Greg Foley.
- Cecilia

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Bambi Northwood-Blyth

Models on Mercer Street

VFILES, the new social-media platform coming soon to a browser near you, is almost ready to show you their MODEL FILES. Following some of the biggest names to rule the catwalk for the Fall 2012 shows, the web series will introduce casting director Preston Chaunsumlit and shed light on what goes into being a top model in NYC. View the trailer below!

VFILES.com

V kicks off New York Fashion Week with Twitter and Instagram, where Stephen Gan posted this never-before-seen image that he took on his phone of Lady Gaga and Karl Lagerfeld. To stay in touch with the most up-clos-and-personal fashion coverage, stay tuned on both networks to @Vmagazine!

Photography Stephen Gan

V are pleased to premiere these images of our very own Cecilia Dean as the star of jewelry designer Eddie Borgo’s latest ad campaign. Inspired by the work of occultist Austin Osman Spare and the non-photographic work of Robert Mapplethorpe, Borgo plays with elements of mysticism and geometry, captured perfectly by photographer Paul Maffi and stylist Keegan Singh. For more images from the campaign and a video from Style.com, see below.

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