Great Last Minute Gifts, Part 2: The Juicy, Sexy, Chic Read That Is "One Flight Up"

I've been meaning to write about this book for MONTHS. (But as we all know, bad blogger...) "One Flight Up" is a novel by Susan Fales-Hill. This woman never fails to astonish me. Wickedly funny, terribly nice, whip smart, a terrific writer, a devoted ballet patron (wonder what she thought of "Black Swan"?!), fab wardrobe, and most thrilling of all, a long-time Lancome fan!



I can't remember how I met Susan, but I had read about her from time to time in magazines like Vogue. Then her memoir "Always Wear Joy" was published. (The title refers to the legendary Patou fragrance and her mother's advice.) Someone sent it to me when I was working at Harper's Bazaar. It was a beautiful read about a beautiful family and made this person I only knew as a one-dimensional fashion magazine fixture so much more in my mind.



So, of course, I was excited to hear Susan was working on her first novel. I read "One Flight Up" earlier this year and couldn't put it down. It's a juicy, sexy, girly read that manages to be poignant and heartbreaking at the same time. It will make you question your moral compass. What should a woman put up with? Or not? You might be surprised what--and whom--you root for while reading "One Flight Up."



If you need one last gift for your favorite fashionista bookworm, brave the malls and the masses tomorrow and pick up one or both of Susan's books. As for me, I'm going to try to magically transport myself to a beachfront chaise lounge at some Caribbean resort so I can re-read "One Flight Up" while slathering on the Lancome sunscreen and sipping a tropical drink. Or two.



PHOTO SWIPED FROM SUSAN'S BLOG

VOGUE: More or Less ~ Fashion Model Kim Noorda Journals Her Struggles with Weight

That of which we do not speak ...

Fashion model Kim Noorda braved a year of emotional, mental and physical ups and downs and journaled her experiences for Vogue magazine.  This is a story that can't help but tear at the heartstrings.

When the beautiful dutch model began this process, she was, at five-feet-ten-inches tall, 110 pounds.

In January 2009, 22-year-old Kim Noorda visited the office of Vogue's Sally Singer to discuss her relationship with food. Kim had been identified by her agent at DNA as a worthy candidate for an intervention underwritten by the CFDA Health Initiative.

The CFDA Health Initiative was founded in 2007 to combat anorexia and bulimia in the fashion industry, to provide information and resources to models in the throes of these diseases, and, more generally, to change the aesthetic on the New York runways from extreme skinniness to a more realistic, fit ideal.

What appears below are excerpts from the article appearing now in the April 2010 issue of Vogue and also available online at Vogue.com.

~Sally Singer (Vogue)

She has a soulful grace to her, a certain introspective elegance that has endeared her to such houses as Balenciaga, Prada, and Chanel. But what was apparent by fall of 2008 was that Kim was now very thin—very thin for a statuesque Amsterdam beauty who should have been coming into her own as a woman instead of shrinking to the proportions of a naturally scrawny fourteen-year-old. Our goal, I told her, was to help her see how she could diminish the centrality of food in her thinking to ultimately have a richer and more fulfilling adult life, in and out of fashion—to, in a sense, learn to be “a little more.”  Kim agreed ... off she went to a four-week outpatient program at the Renfrew Center, a facility in New York (among other locales) that has for 25 years been treating patients with eating disorders through a multipronged therapeutic approach. This was the start of Kim Noorda’s journey of self-discovery and wellness.

Extracts from Noorda's Journals

Kim Noorda - Lanvin Fall RTW 2009 L and R

January 2009
Yesterday I went to see my doctor for medical clearance. I told him that I did not have an eating disorder, but that I also believe that I do not take care of myself well enough and that I will learn something through the treatment. I am actually afraid of telling people that I am about to do this. I do not want people to see me as someone with an eating disorder. I want them to see the underlying reasons why I do not take good enough care of myself ... my BMI is too low.

I told her (the Renfrew nutritionist) I would try to agree to (gain one pound per week) because my agents have also told me that they would like me to gain an extra five pounds. She told me that five pounds is not that much, and probably no one would even see it. I told her that people in the fashion industry see every gram of fat. . . .


I have an appointment with the nutritionist and learn that I had lost weight. I was convinced that I had gained. That was the reason I had consciously started to eat less. Surreptitiously I felt somewhat relieved. According to the rules, she had to do a weight-gain contract with me with sanctions if I had not gained at least one pound per week. I was slightly upset.


February 2009
Every season I gained a little weight, and every time it felt like I was doing fewer shows. During the shows the pressure caused me to lose weight, and people complimented me on that.... Not a single person has told me that I have gained weight since the start of the shows. Not during the castings, and not even my European agent has said anything. Everything fit. This confused me, because I thought people could see every gram. Then again, no one has said that I look good, either, or commented on my appearance otherwise. When I started looking at pictures from the first show, there were still some things I disliked. My legs and cheeks have become fatter. I really need to do something about that. Exercises. On the Internet there are no positive reactions to how I looked.

Kim Noorda - Chanel Cruise, Resort 2010 L and R

Spring 2009
I avoid scales and mirrors. Only my jeans make me aware of my weight gain. My skin is getting worse; I don’t have my period (except that one time during the shows); I don’t fit into nice clothes, don’t sleep well. So what is good about it?

At the end of April I take a job in London and stay on an extra day for castings. I call up my friend Iekeliene, who lives there, and she invites me to come along on a trip to Devon in the camper van she and her boyfriend have just bought. We listen to music, go for walks in the countryside, and talk a lot about all sorts of things, including modeling (it is good to speak with someone who knows that world). Being with them on holiday shows me how relaxed and fun it can be having lunch or dinner all together.

Now I feel quite well in myself, but it has taken a while. There were things that made me start doubting myself again. For example, the Chanel cruise show. It was my first show since prêt-à-porter. I asked my agent several times if she was sure I could do the show given the way I now looked.... I was not 90 hips anymore. My agent called me back and said the 90 hips are a bit stupid. They were going to change it on all the girls’ cards to what it really was. At the show everyone was really nice, though. They specifically said I looked good like this. From then on I got more confident.

Kim Noorda - Alberta Ferretti Lookbook, Resort 2010 (L) and Lanvin Resort 2010 (R)

Summer 2009
I travel in and out of Amsterdam for jobs and quite like it this way. I go to Pilates weekly and go swimming.

I do work for three look books. At Alberta Ferretti I can’t help noticing or imagining that they think I’m too big. Not what they wanted. I just try to do my best. At Lanvin I get canceled on the second day; they want a blonder girl. Next is Givenchy, with two models who are a lot skinnier. I try, but the shoot does not seem to work..... Halfway through the day I wanted to leave and felt I really shouldn’t be there, being this size. So I apologized and left.

Kim Noorda - Stella McCartney Lingerie S/S 2010 

I did a lingerie shoot for Stella McCartney, which was something new to me. I had never dared to do something like that before. It was strange at first but fine after all. I was happy I was not so scared anymore.

Kim Noorda w/ Iekeliene Stange backstage Chanel Haute Couture (L), @ Armani Prive' Haute Couture (Center), @ Jean Paul Galutier Haute Couture (R)

Haute couture in Paris: I expected not to be booked at all. I rent a room with Iekeliene.... I admire how independent Iekeliene is, making her own decisions, looking after what she thinks is important.

Then, before the summer holiday starts, I fly to Milan for one more job. This worries me a little, since it is with a stylist who has always complimented me when I have been really skinny. Indeed, I feel she is not too happy with how I look now. The other model has some difficulty with weight as well. She seems not really happy and at one point asks me if I am happier “like this.” When I try to speak with her more directly about it, she stops the conversation. I got kind of sad about that.

Kim Noorda - Oscar de la Renta Spring RTW 2010 (L), Proenza Schouler Spring RTW 2010 (C), backstage at Lanvin Spring RTW 2010

Fall 2009
In New York I want to be enthusiastic about the shows, but I can’t seem to: I keep being unsure about my weight. By the end of it I want to go home. Skip London. But my agents advise me to go there. Then I let go again and just do my best.... Milan, The shows do not go great, and people definitely made me feel I was too big .... at Bottega I am offered the choice at seven in the morning to bleach my eyebrows or leave, I just want to go. I am crying.... I decide to watch my weight again a little.

Kim Noorda - Nicole Miller Fall 2010 (L) and Emanuel Ungaro Fall 2010 (R)

~ Sally Singer

Just before Christmas, Kim does a flurry of work in London and Los Angeles. She studies for exams and then flies off to Thailand for a vacation with friends: “two vegetarians, one omnivore, one vegan.” When she returns, she feels “energetic and good”; she has not lost any weight.

January 2010
I was in doubt whether to write this article, thinking it should be a success story. The success is not that food and weight are never on my mind anymore, but that the influence of these thoughts has become a lot less. I watch my weight, but I do not want to compromise my health, or my happiness. ...  I see a lot more of my friends. It really feels like my life is getting some more shape.

 
The full feature article may be read in the current issue of Vogue.  You may also check out more on this feature online at Vogue.com.  It's a compelling, heartfelt and thought-provoking story for all women. 


source: vogue; images: fashionspot, style.com, rades

VOGUE: Enter to Win "The September Issue: Anna Wintour & the Making of Vogue"

As the cover implies ... "if fashion is a religion, THIS is the bible!"

Director: R.J. Cutler

Cast: Anna Wintour, Grace Coddington, Andre Leon Talley, Thakoon Panichgul

Editorial Review

Vogue has been the most powerful and best-respected fashion magazine in the world for decades, and each year the journal devotes a fall issue to the designs and designers that the editors feel will be influential in the coming year. The September 2007 issue of Vogue, that year's annual Fall Fashion issue, became the biggest single issue in the magazine's long history, and filmmaker R.J. Cutler was given unprecedented access to Vogue's creative team as the issue was being prepared. The September Issue is a documentary which focuses on Vogue editor Anna Wintour as she visits the annual Fashion Week shows, accepts or dismisses the latest creations of the biggest names in fashion, works with the models, photographers, and writers who help bring her vision to the page, and labors with her staff to determine what the world's fashionistas will be wearing for the next 12 months. The September Issue received its world premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, where it received an award for excellence in documentary cinematography.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The September Issue offers unprecedented access to the inside world of Vogue. It documents extraordinary talent working under demanding circumstances to publish an editorial product that consistently delivers the uncompromising vision and creative rigor you have come to count on month after month.

Vogue has teamed up with Barnes & Noble to give away 50 DVD sets of an exclusive edition of The September Issue -- complete with 90 minutes of new footage, including never-before-seen scenes from the annual Met Ball -- the fashion party of the year.

Click HERE to enter to win The September Issue special DVD 3-disc set

VOGUE: The Women of Nine

Judi Dench, Marion Cotillard, Kate Hudson, Fergie, Nicole Kidman, Penélope Cruz, and Sophia Loren, at London's Shepperton Studios, photographed by Annie Leibovitz for Vogue, Nov 2009.

Here's a peek at Vogue's November cover story featuring the uber-talented and exquisitely beautiful women on Nine!

"One by one, six of the seven leading ladies in Guido's life appear through a doorway high up in the rafters and slink down the stairs, positioning themselves languorously around the set. First, to the grand orchestral music of the "Overture Delle Donne," the singer Fergie, who plays Saraghina, a prostitute, appears in a gray, corseted frock, all cleavage and russet hair, her eyes kohled into a smudgy, sexy mess. She is followed by Kate Hudson, perky as ever, in a white fringed sixties minidress and go-go boots, her blonde tresses teased into tumbling curls. The outfit perfectly suits her character, Stephanie, a Vogue journalist. Next, Judi Dench, playing costume designer Lily, appears clad in black and smoking a cigarette.

Then comes a saucy Penélope Cruz, as Guido's mistress, Carla, in a polka-dot cocktail dress that gives her the silhouette of a fifties pinup. Nicole Kidman follows, striking a powerful pose in a nude-colored strapless, sparkling gown as movie star Claudia, Guido's inspiration and obsession. Finally, an astoundingly well-preserved Sophia Loren, playing Guido's mother, makes her entrance, leaning over the balcony and shooting a stern but loving look toward Guido far below. (Marion Cotillard, who plays Guido's long-suffering wife, Luisa, is not in this scene.)

"You could call it an iconfest," I scribble in my notes. Then, rather unimaginatively, I add "razzle-dazzle-pizzazz musical great antidote to misery-gloom-doom of credit crunch" before, thankfully for the reader, I am diverted by the whisper "Ciao! Plume!" from behind me. I turn to see a vision of toffee-colored Loro Piana cashmere before me—Mr. Valentino and his partner, Giancarlo Giammetti.

"We're here to see Sophia," explains Giammetti. "She said to me, 'It's the best movie I've ever done.' " Mr. Valentino adds, "She said, 'It's the most expensive movie I've ever done.' " From the rear, producer Harvey Weinstein, dressed in a white shirt and black pants, booms, "Judi Dench said to me, 'I have to make Ten and Eleven!' " Just then, Pedro Almodóvar walks by, plus entourage, in search of Penélope Cruz's dressing room. I scrawl "icon overload" on my legal pad.

Nicole turns to Kate, who has covered her costume with a white terry robe. Her feet are now clad in a pair of UGG boots. "Kate should be on Broadway," says Nicole. "She should be the lead." Kate's eyes sparkle with excitement when she talks about her number "Cinema Italiano," which was written especially for her by Yeston. "I spent most of my childhood singing and dancing and just never had the chance to do it professionally. So when I got the chance to work with Rob, I was so excited, I was out of my mind."Hudson tells me that rehearsals felt like "being at summer camp," although she adds, "I don't think there is any actress who looks forward to missing those days with her kids. But at the same time there is no one who wants to stop acting." Nicole admits, "I had no desire to work after I had my daughter, but to lure me back, this movie was the only way."

In the makeup studio, I meet Peter Swords King, Oscar-winning hair and makeup designer, who has a team of 28 working with him. The walls are covered in inspirational black-and-white photos of sixties stars like Monica Vitti, Brigitte Bardot, and Julie Christie. "Those girls always looked like they just got out of bed—in a good way," says Peter, confiding that authentic bedroom hair is achieved by running your fingers through your hair instead of brushing it, after you curl it. "I was completely inspired by the Italian New Wave-film look—Sophia Loren and Claudia Cardinale." As for the makeup, think false eyelashes, eyeliner, and pancake foundation. "There's something incredibly sexy about the dark eyes and the pale lips," says Marshall. "That era worshipped the beauty of women."

~ excerpted from the feature article written by Plum Sykes, Vogue

Read more about the movie, the women, the actresses, beauty, wardrode and more in Vogue's November issue on stands now.