In Magazines: HelloMagUK #1188, 22 Aug 2011

HelloMagazineUK #1188, 22 Aug 2011

Clipping: Best Dressed

"The Style Awards: We reveal the best-dressed celebrities

DailyMailUK, 11 Aug 2011

Fashion editor Laura Craik casts her eye over this summer's social scene and gives her verdict on the leading celebrity trend setters 

Who are the most stylish women of the summer? That depends on who you ask. 

Style is, of course, subjective, and everyone's an expert these days. 

Think you dress pretty well and have an eye for a bargain in Zara? Why not be a stylist? everybody else is at it.

Gok Wan, a man who dresses like a car crash, has a prime-time TV show telling women what to wear, and they lap it up and kiss him in their gratitude. 

So he must be doing something right. here's our pick of who dressed best this summer and tips on how to create their style on the high street. 

We chose them for their individuality, and because they didn't use a stylist. Although I'm not so sure about Gwyneth: such a radical transformation must surely have had a little help along the way ..."

Clipping: Model philantropy

"Mood Board

Aug

03

Natalia Vodianova’s Model Philanthropy

Best known as the face of countless covers and ad campaigns, this mother of three has also devoted her life to a cause dear to her heart. Vodianova talks to D’NA about giving back to her native Russia and her first trip to the Middle East. 

Why did you decide to establish a foundation? 

I’ve been very fortunate in my life and career, and I wanted to make a positive contribution to my country. I founded the Naked Heart Foundation five years ago to give underprivileged children in Russia the gift of play. The idea came to me after the Beslan school siege in 2004.

The Naked Heart Foundation believes that playing is a necessity, not a luxury, and that every child should have a secure environment in which to play. To date the foundation has built 54 playgrounds in 38 Russian cities, including facilities in orphanages, rehabilitation centers and children’s hospitals. The need for such facilities in Russia is enormous, where more than 25% of the population has salaries below subsistence level. Furthermore, the authorities don’t provide play facilities in a country where the poorest are typically families with children.

Any future plans for the Naked Heart Foundation? 

This year we’re launching a new program called Every Child Deserves to have a Family, providing essential support to families of children with special needs. This is a cause that’s particularly close to my heart. My sister Oksana has cerebral palsy, and I’ve experienced firsthand how little support there is for children with special needs in my country. Without support many of these kids are often abandoned in state institutions where they languish. 

How do you generate funds for the foundation? 

Our main fundraiser is the annual Love Ball. The first one was held in Moscow in 2008, and raised $5 million. It was the most successful charitable fundraiser in the history of Russian philanthropy. 

This year’s fundraiser, The White Fairy Love Ball, was our most spectacular to date. It was held on July 6th at the couturier Valentino Garavani’s Chateau de Wideville in Paris and offered a rare opportunity to visit his archives. The gala dinner brought together some 450 friends of the foundation, including international celebrities from the worlds of fashion, business, film and art.

The highlight of the evening was a fashion show featuring more than 40 custom-designed dresses created by the world’s top designers, which were auctioned that same evening, with 100% of the proceeds benefiting the Naked Heart Foundation.

Have you ever visited the Middle East? 

My first trip to the Middle East was last November, when the Naked Heart Foundation was invited to be a beneficiary of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Ball. That particular visit left a big impression on me. It was almost like landing on another planet, with Yas Island’s fantastical architecture and its multi-cultural inhabitants. Unfortunately it was a very short trip, and there was so much of the culture and country I still wanted to explore. I hope to visit again someday."

Source: DNA 

Clipping: Stella McCartney FW 2011-12 Ad Campaign

"Memo Pad: Stella McCartney Gets Social... 

Posted WEDNESDAY JULY 27, 2011

From WWD ISSUE 07/27/2011

STELLA GETS SOCIAL: Stella McCartney is out to woo her customers with a ramped-up Web site, a second edition of her iPad app with personal touches and a first look at the new fall ad campaign by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott.

The designer has added 28 European countries to her e-commerce business which launched last year, and will preview the ad campaign, which stars Natalia Vodianova, on stellamccartney.com starting today. Her enhanced e-commerce site offers customers special functions such as a 'reserve in store' option that allows customers to set aside an order online and pick it up in the store of their choice. There is also a private in-store shopping service that customers can book online.

The new app features a gallery of images from the recent 'Linda McCartney, A Life in Photographs' show in London and accompanying book published earlier this year by Taschen. The images have been personally selected by McCartney. The app also includes a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the ad campaign for McCartney’s Team GB line of Olympics-inspired sportswear, backstage footage from the designer’s fall 2011 show in Paris, a preview of the 2012 resort collection and a 'making of' video of the dresses that McCartney created for the Met gala in May.

The fall campaign was shot in a private Oxfordshire home, in a topiary garden. The campaign will break in the September issues of magazines including British and American Vogue, Harpers Bazaar in the U.S. and Interview."

In Magazines: HelloMagUK 1183, 18 Jul 2011

HelloMagUK 1183, 18 Jul 2011

In Magazines: TatlerUK, Aug 2011

Clipping: The White Fairy Tale Love Ball, 06 July 2011

"From Natalia, With Love

Vodianova's Over-the-Top Evening Raises Over 2 Million Euros for the Naked Heart Foundation

The White Fairy Tale Love Ball had it all and then some. Cocktails at sunset on the grounds of Valentino's Chateau de Wideville, complete with a helicopter depositing guests in the meadow. A Caviar Kaspia-catered dinner of smoked salmon blinis and caviar-smothered baked potatoes and plenty of vodka to wash it all down. Fake snow-covered topiary and tables and a very real carved ice bar courtesy of Alexandre de Betak. A fashion show of one-of-a-kind dresses modeled by the cream of the catwalk. And Anne Hathaway for a mistress of ceremonies. Way after this reporter and many others called it a night, Bryan Ferry performed, fresh off Kate and Jamie's wedding. He was followed by a Groove Armada DJ set.

The evening's slow pace tested even the most philanthropic of souls, but the cause, Natalia Vodianova's Naked Heart Foundation, was worth it. Until now, the five-year-old charity's mission has been to build playgrounds in Vodianova's native Russia; going forward, it will focus on helping families and children with special needs. Over €2 million were raised; 'wallets encountered an enemy tonight', Hathaway joked, referring to the supermodel in her Valentino-designed Little Red Riding Hood dress. For many, the highlight of the evening was ranking the white and silver dresses that the dress code required. Stella Tennant's Chanel and Mariacarla Boscono's Givenchy both stood out. Daphne Guinness, always a law unto herself, came as an Alexander McQueen rainbow.

— Nicole Phelps" 

Source: Style.com

Clipping: The White Fairy Tale Love Ball, 06 July 2011

"Valentino Creates Breathtaking Red Gown For Natalia Vodianova

8:09 PM 7/7/2011 by Liana Diamond

The supermodel's White Fairy Tale Love Ball at the designer's French chateau raised over $3 million dollars for The Naked Heart Foundation.

On July 7, Anne Hathaway, Tommy Hilfiger and Christian Louboutin were among the guests streaming into the The White Fairy Tale Love Ball, a fundraiser thrown by model Natalia Vodianova. Fashion designer Valentino Garavani hosted the event at his Chateau de Wideville just outside of Paris.

The event benefited Vodianova’s Naked Heart Foundation, a nonprofit charity that creates playgrounds for children in Vodianova’ s mother country, Russia. Guests could bid on 45 dresses donated by a slew of international designers including Balmain, Balenciaga and Valentino himself. Vodianova also designed jewelry for the auction. The ball, an annual event since 2008, raised $3.3 million dollars for the charity. 

The dress code for the fairy-tale themed event was elegant silver and white only. The guests entered into a spectacular ballroom while fake snow alighted upon them to create the feeling of a winter wonderland. The surprise of the evening? Valentino created a jaw-dropping floor-length bright red gown for Vodianova so she would be the only one in color. Vodianova also wore a stunning pearl and diamond tiara that she designed with friend and jeweler Yulia Fosty to look like snowflakes.

Jewelry designer and guest Loree Rodkin said: 'The fairy tale event was a big snow globe and of course it is hard for Natalia to look anything but spectacular and last night she was Red Riding Hood Valentino style', said Rodkin

At the end of the evening, the Vogue cover model proudly announced that the Naked Heart Foundation would take on a new mission to provide support centers for families with children that have special needs."

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Clipping: Carpets

Secret Hobbies

NATALIA VODIANOVA – “I am an excellent embroiderer - and I’m great at laying carpets. Honestly.” 

"Secret Hobbies

LAURENMILLIGAN 07 July 2011 

CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN is a trapeze artist. He has two trapezes in his studio - put there after the trapeze club he went to closed down - which he practices on between meetings. So, inspired by what is quite possibly the most stylish vision our minds can conjure, we asked fashion's key players to reveal their secret, even strange, hobbies.

Which Vogue cover girl loves chopping wood? Which international supermodel is an expert carpet-layer? Which photographer loves capturing pictures of rubbish? Which designer is a fire dancer, and which a budding pianist?"

Source: VogueUK

Clipping: White Fairy Tale Love Ball, Paris, 06 July 2011

"07.07.2011

Hamishsphere: Natalia Vodianova's Fairy Tale Love Ball

by Hamish Bowles

Valentino Garavani’s seventeenth-century Château de Wideville is a castle out of a fairy tale. Arriving in the dimming light of ten o’clock, after a long summer’s day, there it lies at the bottom of a hill framed by allees of immemorial trees forming curtains of green that suggest a magical forest beyond. Takes the breath away every time.

It was the perfect setting for Natalia Vodianova’s Love Ball, The White Fairy Tale Love Ball. Guests were bidden to wear white or silver, and while not everyone got the memo (Daphne Guinness wore McQueen’s vintage rainbow-painted kimono for Givenchy couture, with full kabuki hair), the effect suggested Tsarist Saint Petersburg, when ladies wore spangled white gowns for the balls during the city’s White Nights. And of course, there was an embarrassment of beautiful Russian women swelling the ranks of pan-Atlantic lovelies, for Natalia’s charity raises funds to create playgrounds for children all across her country.

Natalia herself was ravishing in sweeping red taffeta created for her by the Russian designer Ulyana Sergeenko, and a parure of diamond snowflakes and pearls that she designed with Yulia Fosty Jewellery House. (She later changed into a red tulle and feather dress designed by Valentino, with a tiara by Yulia Fosty Jewellery.)

In the converted stone barn, where guests congregated to find their table names (which were based on fairy-tale characters), Patrick Kinmonth and Antonio Monfreda had curated ‘A Tale of Hoffman,’ an exquisite mini-exhibition of iconic black-and-white dresses by Valentino, based on the spectacular Vienna Secession–inspired collection that he showed in Rome in 1989 (I remember it as though it were yesterday, which is rather aging, is it not?). The effect resembled an Op Art take on the Cecil Beaton–designed Ascot scene in My Fair Lady: a very stylish prelude to the evening’s festivities.

Natalia had worked for more than two years to persuade 45 international designers to create unique pieces for the event, and she collaborated with Alexandre de Betak on the ravishing mise-en-scène. The giant marquee was transformed into a scene from Doctor Zhivago, lit by crystal chandeliers dusted with snow, and twined with ivy and fading winter leaves. The romantic set, with antique sleighs and conversational sofas and nineteenth-century antler chairs (draped in the patterned wool shawls that would prove useful accessories when chilly night finally fell), evoked the atmosphere of an aristocratic pre-Revolutionary dacha, all seemingly lost in a blizzard of faux snow. Perched on these seats in their frosty finery, Tatiana Santo Domingo (in a pale lace Philip Treacy mask), Eugenie Niarchos (in a diamond coronet), Coco Brandolini and Margherita Missoni (all dressed in current or vintage Valentino) looked like so many Chekhovian sisters.

De Betak also created the evocative videos, blending scenes of Anna Pavlova dancing with moody snowstorm moments from the movies. Caviar Kaspia provided the appropriate victuals—blinis and smoked salmon, baked potatoes and caviar, and wild raspberries and vanilla ice cream for dessert. Nestling in the frosted tablescape of turn-of-the-century wooden toys and matryoshka dolls were snow-globe party favors that could be shaken to reveal an image of Wideville.

Anne Hathaway, mistress of ceremonies, wore the exquisite white satin ruffled evening dress tipped with crystal teardrops that fans of Valentino: The Last Emperor will remember the designer’s team laboring over. ‘This is a night where dreams come true,’ she announced. ‘Take an exhale and let the magic in.’

Natalia gave a profoundly moving speech which explained at length her charity’s current and future missions—to provide imaginatively designed and inspiring play areas for children across Russia. As a child, Natalia admitted that ‘my life was all about survival . . . I didn’t have time to dream.’ Her beloved younger sister was born with developmental disabilities and as a result, her father left her mother, who worked four jobs to make ends meet and keep her challenged daughter at home, rather than consigning her to the uncertain care of state institutions. Natalia was so moved to discover on recent trips that the majority of children in state care today in her country still have families—and thus, her new goal, essentially, is to bring them back home. 

Hathaway got it right when she said of Vodianova that ‘her drive, her humanity, has been a great lesson for us all.’ ‘I’m not going to rest until it happens,’ said Natalia, and no one in the room could doubt her words, for her ethereal looks—pre-Raphaelite flowers in her powdery hair, forget-me-not blue eyes in that heartstoppingly beautiful face—belie the tigress within.

The evening finally moved on to frocks and frivolity, with a spectacular fashion show styled by Giovanna Battaglia, and live and silent auctions to swell the Naked Heart Foundation’s coffers (110,000 euros alone for Valentino’s red tulle puffball worn by Vodianova, and nearly the same amount for Diane von Furstenberg’s starry midnight gown). Then the sand artist Xenia Simonova did her rather miraculous thing—sprinkling handfuls of sand onto a lightbox to produce ever-changing images that were projected onto screens at either end of the room. Sounds odd, but let me tell you, it was mesmerizing.

The agelessly compelling Bryan Ferry hit the stage and the room hit the dance floor (a circle of snow), Hathaway thanked Valentino for his fairy-tale generosity (and gave me a shout-out—’Hamish Bowwwwwwles! I saw you rocking out on the dance floor!’—friend for life?) and then Groove Armada kept the party going till . . . oh, I couldn’t possibly tell you.

Source: VogueUS

Clipping: The White Fairy Tale Love Ball, 06 July 2011

"Special Report: Fashion

Fashion's Naked Heart 

Published: July 7, 2011 

PARIS — Like white birds against the green lawns, fashion’s high society migrated to Valentino’s chateau outside of Paris. The summer dress code of silver and white was designed to blend into the snowy scene, as the transparent tent under towering trees was opened for the White Fairy Tale Love Ball. 

Natalia Vodianova, the Russian model and dedicated fund-raiser, made her entrance in a blood-red Valentino gown, the better to underscore her Naked Heart Foundation. The charity, dedicated to building playgrounds for impoverished children, mainly in Russia, raised €2.3 million, or $3.3 million, from the festivities Wednesday. And an emotional Ms. Vodianova announced that her charity would take on a second role: developing play places for special needs children like her own sister. 

Couture designers blessed the event with dresses expressing their vision of a fairy tale, outfits worn by models on a the runway sprinkled with fake snow and later auctioned off. 

Many of the designers had gathered earlier in the evening, first at the Élysée Palace, where President Nicolas Sarkozy presented the award of Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur to Anna Wintour, the editor of American Vogue; and afterward at the reception at the U.S. Embassy in Paris, where the lineup of guests was a who’s who of fashion. 

A version of this article appeared in print on July 8, 2011, in The International Herald Tribune with the headline: Fashion's Naked Heart."

Source: The New York Times

Clipping: The White Fairy Tale Love Ball, 06 July 2011

"A White Fairy Tale

Anne Hathaway transform into a fairy for Valentino during the event ‘Love Ball’ supported by Natalia Vodianova and the famous designer

A midsummer night’s dream. The setting for the event was Château de Wideville, Valentino Garavani’s fairytale-like residence in the outskirts of Paris, where the couturier, together with model Natalia Vodianova, greeted the few selected guests, designers and celebrities, invited to the White Fairy Tale Love Ball.

The charity evening, set to benefit the Naked Heart Foundation (of which Vodianova is founder and president), had its star in Oscar-nominee Anne Hathaway, who arrived at the venue in a pure fairy-style gown, created by Valentino himself.

A not so casual choice: to help children in Russia, a selection of international designer, among which Riccardo Tisci, Calvin Klein e Olivier Theyskens, have created 45 gowns worthy of a fairytale for the NHF, which will be sold during an auction hosted by Christie's.

In attendance many known faces, like Giancarlo Giammetti, top models Eva Herzigova e Maria Carla Boscono, socialites Bianca Brandolini d’Adda, Margherita Missoni and Eugenie Niarchos, Tommy Hilfiger, businessman Matthew Freud and designer Philip Treacy.

Alessandro Badiali

Published:

07/07/2011"

Source: VogueItalia

Clipping: The White Fairy Tale Love Ball, 06 July 2011

"COUTURE STARS

Julia Neel

07 July 2011

Updated Thursday July 7, 11.50am:  Natalia Vodianova hosted the White Fairy Tale Love Ball in Paris last night and everyone who was in Paris for the couture shows was there for the party, which took place  next to a grand chateau in marquee designed by French fashion show producer Alexander de Betak. ‘Fashion's finest were there, ‘ said Vogue's Harriet Quick, who was one of the night's guests. ‘Riccardo Tisci; Maria Carla Bosconi in a new couture dress; Andre Leon Talley; the Chapmans; the Newsons; Peter Dundas; compère Anne Hathaway; oligarchs and heiresses; [and of course] hosts Valentino Garavani and Natalia Vodianova.’

Under chandeliers dusted with snowflakes, supermodels walked down a mirrored catwalk in couture gowns that were then auctioned to raise money for Natalia's Naked Heart Foundation. Dinner consisted of salmon blinis and baked potatoes with caviar, and wild raspberries. (...)"

Source: Vogue UK

Clipping: The White Fairy Tale Love Ball, 06 July 2011

"A White Night at the White Fairy Tale Love Ball

Posted THURSDAY JULY 7, 2011

From WWD ISSUE 07/07/2011

PARIS — Dress codes are made to be broken.

‘It’s good to be different. We’ve just had Kate Middleton’s wedding, Kate’s and Charlene’s [Wittstock]. I would have felt like a bride,’ Eva Herzigova said as she arrived at Valentino’s spectacular Château de Wideville on the outskirts of Paris for Natalia Vodianova’s White Fairy Tale Love Ball, which called for white or silver gowns.

Dressed in black, with a black feather in her hair, the model said she just shot the latest Duran Duran video with a bunch of her model peers, including Helena Christensen.

Daphne Guinness came dressed like a Technicolor geisha, chopstick headgear and all, in an Alexander McQueen kimono. She said she’s gearing up for an exhibition devoted to her kooky style that will open Sept. 16 in New York, with Valerie Steele curating.

‘I always wear red to my events,’ said Vodianova, clutching her long braid and posing for photos amidst the wintry, fantasy decor, tables strewn with snow and frosted candelabra.

Guests flowed into the party, many in dresses right off the couture runways, and in the right shades.

Anne Hathaway was a vision in fluttering vintage Valentino with a floral tiara by Stephen Jones. ‘I asked him to put little charms on it,’ she said, twirling to show off a butterfly, tiny clock face and miniature fork jutting out the back. ‘Isn’t that cute? It’s very whimsical. My favorite fairy tale is ‘Alice in Wonderland.’ I feel like a rock-star, elfin princess.’

Dinos Chapman was grasping for a favorite fable. ‘‘101 Dalmatians?’’ he proposed. Told it’s not technically a fairy tale, the artist retorted, ‘Yes, but it involves dogs being skinned.’

Tommy Hilfiger quickly identified the one he’s most tired of, having indulged his children with ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.’ ‘After reading it too many times, you feel like Dumbo,’ he laughed.

Giancarlo Giammetti said he’s been knee deep in the world of 3-D and digital. During Paris Fashion Week, he plans to unveil a ‘virtual museum’ for the Valentino archive.

The centerpiece of the night was a fashion show of more than 40 custom-designed dresses, all inspired by fairy tales, that were auctioned off by Christie’s. Participating designers ranged from Agent Provacateur and Chanel to Vivienne Westwood and Yves Saint Laurent. The evening benefitted the Naked Heart Foundation, a charity that aids underprivileged and special-needs children in Russia. To date, the foundation has built 60 play parks in 44 Russian cities."

Clipping: The White Fairy Tale Love Ball, 06 July 2011

"The White Fairy Tale Love Ball

From Amy Hopkinson on July 7, 2011

Closing Paris Haute Couture fashion week, The White Fairy Tale Love Ball was a stunning affair of fashion’s elite. Held within Valentino Garavani’s spectacular French Castle, in Crespieres,  supermodel Natalia Vodianova, Anne Hathaway, Olivia Palermo and beau, Eva Herzigova and Daphne Guiness amongst others, travelled the 30 minutes outside of Paris for the fundraising event.

Following suit on catwalk style, Stella Tennant shone in Chanel Haute-Couture ss11 whilst Lucy Yeomans opted for Emilio Pucci. Paris socialites Caroline Sieber, Vanessa Traina and Claire Courtin-Clarins all wore Louis Vuitton.

Akin to the luxury style, no expense was spared when it came to the food. Guests enjoyed an exquisite dinner within the Louis XIII castle before biding on a unique collection of 45 dresses designed by Riccardo Tisci, Calvin Klein, Olivier Theyskens and Ulyana Sergeenko amongst other. The money raised will be donated to the Naked Heart Foundation."

Source: GlamUK

Clipping: White Fairy Tale Love Ball, Paris, 06 July 2011

"FASHION

Mr. Valentino Puts the Finishing Touches on Natalia Vodianova's Love Ball Dress

by SarahMower

Vogue was witness to a magical moment behind closed doors yesterday afternoon. The rendezvous at the Musée Nissim de Camodo, was between Valentino Garavani and Natalia Vodianova, meeting in secret to make final tweaks to the fantasy dress the grand couturier has made for her to wear tonight. Guests invited to Vodianova’s White Fairy Tale Love Ball have already scoured Paris and their vintage wardrobes to adhere to a ‘Silver and White’ dress code, as they get ready for an evening at Valentino’s country residence at Wideville, credit cards flexed, to bid on 45 dresses donated by an A–Z of international designers.

Valentino has lent Vodianova the gardens of his Chateau de Wideville, for an assembly of the super-rich she intends to entice to meet the five-million-euro record she set in Moscow, at the 2008 launch of her Russian playgrounds-for-children project, The Naked Heart Foundation. ‘People are coming from all over—Moscow, Saint-Tropez, Tuscany,’ she said, fielding calls about table placements as she walked in. ‘They’re breaking their holidays for this. It’s amazing.’

As it quickly transpired, though, Vodianova and Garavani have plotted a little surprise for the white-clad guests. ‘This,’ she said with a laugh, as Valentino’s assistant zipped her into acres of vivid red tulle and feather, ‘will be the only dress in the entire evening in color.’ It’s the first dress Garavani has made since his retirement in 2008. He gently adjusted a swath of the net veiling, and placed it over her head. Russia’s most beautiful young philanthropist is to appear in the finale of the evening's fashion show as Little Red Riding Hood.

Something, however, had been forgotten. ‘Where’s the tiara?’ cried Garavani. Oops. Vodianova had left it in her hotel. A couple of calls later, a pearl and diamond circlet arrived in a navy-blue box. ‘You see, I designed it myself with Julia Frosti, a Russian jeweler friend of mine,’ she explained, as Garavani directed its placement and fluffed her fringe forward. ‘Look closely,’ he said. ‘She made it look like snowflakes.’ 

The relationship between the the designer and the model was cemented, as Valentino related, a decade ago, when Vodianova, arrived in Paris at the age of eighteen, to walk in his couture show. ‘She’s a phenomenal girl. Four years ago, I went to her first Love Ball in Moscow, and when she asked me to do this, I said yes. She has lots of charm and personality, and such a sweet and lovely way of speaking to people. But she’s very tough, too, and knows how to get what she wants.’

The fairy-tale theme of the ball (Alex de Betak has constructed a set in Valentino’s garden its owner describes as ‘huuuge’) is not just an excuse for fashion escapism. It underlines Vodianova’s campaigning determination to improve the life chances of underprivileged and handicapped children in her home country, a responsibility fired by her own background, and the struggles of her sister, Oksana, 22, who has cerebral palsy. ‘We already have 60 playgrounds built—but we want 500. So far, the Love Balls have raised over 10 million euros. So,’ she said with a smile, ‘we need quite a little bit more.’ The red Valentino dress, an exceptional one-off piece, will be sold, of course, right off Vodianova’s back tonight. White Fairy Tale Love Ball–goers, please take note.

See the slideshow above for images of Vodianova's fitting and a few of the dresses up for auction".

July 06, 2011 12:00 p.m"

Source: Vogue

Clipping: Dress for a fairy tale princess

Source: Stylefile

Clipping: Fashion's Summer Soundtrack

"Fashion’s Summer Soundtrack

EllaAlexander

05 July 2011

THERE'S nothing like an upbeat song to get you in the mood for the summer, so we've asked fashion's finest and our most famous friends to tell us what they like playing on sunny days. From designers and models to Hollywood actresses, we've found out who's been listening to what - with contributions from Manolo Blahnik, Christopher Bailey, Kate Hudson, Natalia Vodianova, Prince and Lily Allen, to name but a few.

Whether you're into Rihanna (a la Roland Mouret and Daisy Lowe) or Ke$ha (like Zac Posen), or share Gemma Arterton's long-term love of Pulp, this is fashion's summer soundtrack."

Source: VogueUK

Clipping: Givenchy FW Ad Campaign

"Memo Pad: Givenchy's Fall Ad Campaign... New Editor at Whole Living...Memo Pad: Givenchy's Fall Ad Campaign... New Editor at Whole Living...

Posted Monday June 27, 2011

ROARING AHEAD: Riccardo Tisci’s fall collections for Givenchy — which featured snarling Rottweiler prints for him, panthers for her — inspired a campaign with equal ferocity. Naomi Campbell and Natalia Vodianova are among models who posed on printed cushions — one at a time, not in a gang as Tisci usually prefers — and roared for the lens of Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott. Tisci described the women’s spots as 'dark 1950s pinups', while the men’s campaign has a touch of 'Jerry Lewis combined with American sportswear'. The media buy is described as on par with last season, with the images breaking in select September fashion titles.

— MILESSOCHA (...)"

via WWD

Clipping: Having a ball

"Having a ball: is there anything Natalia Vodianova can't do?

Laura Craik

24 Jun 2011 

Natalia Vodianova lives in a converted mill house in West Sussex with a stream running through its grounds, less big or grand than you might expect, more homely. The only jarring note in this bucolic idyll is the six cars parked in the drive, a reminder that this is no ordinary country-dweller, but an empress with an empire. 

Early, I wait on a bench, listening to the brook babbling, and willing myself to take root so that I might never have to leave. After roughly the time it takes to read 15 tweets, her PA fetches me and we walk over to a lawn spread with a picnic blanket. The blanket is minuscule, which would be awkward enough were you sharing it with a friend, let alone a Russian philanthropist supermodel widely regarded as one of the most beautiful women in the world. 

Unfurled from beneath their tiny lace Topshop shorts, Natalia's legs take up most of the blanket; I perch timidly on the edge, as though her beauty might be contagious. Which it is, when you consider the good it has effected. It has spread from person to person like laughter, getting things done in ways that we unbeautiful people could never manage, with our workaday faces and our hopeless inability to sell Calvin Klein knickers, Louis Vuitton handbags or Guerlain scents to the world. 

If beauty were a less powerful tool, Gisele Bündchen would not have amassed a personal fortune of $45 million. Unlike many of the other models on Forbes Magazine's Supermodel Rich List, however, Natalia (ninth richest this year) hasn't merely scooped up the lucre from her modelling contracts and reclined into a mink chair. Instead, she has used her beauty for a greater good. Since its inception in 2005, her charity, the Naked Heart Foundation, has raised over €8 million enabling 60 play facilities to be built in 44 towns and cities throughout Russia. 

It is the profits from Natalia's legendary Love Balls that provide the bulk of the fundraising for Naked Heart. Previously held in Moscow and London, the next one will be in Paris during haute couture week in July, and will take place at Valentino's summer residence, Chateau de Wideville, which he is lending Natalia for the occasion (as you do). Last year's ball, at The Roundhouse in Camden, had an art theme and was curated by Dinos Chapman. Tracey Emin, Jeff Koons, Marc Quinn, Peter Blake and others donated works to be auctioned, raising a total of £1.2 million; Ruby Wax compered, and Yusuf Islam, Paloma Faith and Leona Lewis provided the musical entertainment. This year, 47 designers have made couture dresses to be auctioned on the night, which will include the usual rich-boy entertainment of dinner, dancing and the opportunity to throw your money around publicly while gazing at pretty girls. The guests have a wonderful evening, guilt-free because their largesse will change lives. 'It is a big challenge to live up to their expectations, but I'm so grateful for all the trust, love and support,' says Natalia.

Ask what she is most proud of and she says the trust she has built up over the past six years. 'In Russia this is not a common strength. Trust is something that is really hard to obtain and very easy to lose.' Natalia speaks with the natural cadence of a seasoned speech maker, light years away from the 'erming' inarticulacy of your average model. Fiercely intelligent, her responses are considered and genuine: transcribing our interview I cringe at my blundering questions and woeful knowledge of Russian history and politics. She's telling me about her traumatic childhood (her sister, Oksana, now 22, has cerebral palsy, and as a child Natalia helped bring her up) and I'm thinking, 'Oh-my-God-she is-so-beautiful-look-at-her-legs-in-those-tiny-shorts.' 

It doesn't take a genius to link Natalia's playground initiative with a desire to create for other Russian children the childhood of which she herself was robbed. Her early life is well documented, though not always correctly: she grew up in the industrial town of Nizhni Novgorod, but she was not discovered on a fruit stall; modelling lessons came courtesy of a boyfriend, which then led to her being talent-spotted and summoned to Paris. Despite the father who left home before she was two, the three wicked stepfathers who followed ('They have all done horrible things'), and the trials of being main carer for a sister with special needs, Natalia is no martyr to her past. 'I call my struggles in childhood a gift, almost, because they made me a really sensitive person towards other people's struggles. When you are at the bottom, you find beauty in such little things, and goodness in such little gestures. When I compare any struggle today to ones that I may have had in my childhood, there is nothing that can bring me down.'

More playgrounds will be built but Natalia's charity is now expanding its remit to include a new and more complex initiative, which is to provide increased support for families of children with special needs. Would that David Cameron had her on his side. 'In many ways, it is harder for the carers than the child. It can be very isolating and lonely,' she says. 'My mum is a very brave, strong woman, but it has affected her life a lot.' As well as her own family's struggles with Oksana, Natalia was also inspired by Alan Philps and John Lahutsky's book The Boy from Baby House 10, for which she has written a foreword. 'It's heartbreaking but talks of the reality of life for children who are abandoned in institutions.'

You sense that Natalia, who turns 30 next year ('I'm so excited, I can't wait!') isn't a great one for delegation; to say she is hands-on in her charity work is an understatement. Going around orphanages, witnessing children who have been strapped to their beds, jetting back to Sussex to hang out with her three far more fortunate children and then hopping on another plane to Shanghai to fulfil her contractual obligations to Guerlain (she also has contracts with Etam and Calvin Klein), gives new meaning to the term 'multi-tasking'. It must be hard to cope with the contrasts, the pace and the pressures. 'In a way one has to switch the emotions off - not that I do completely, but what is important is that you see a situation and think "What am I going to do about it?" If I started thinking, "Oh, I can't be a model any more," what good would that do? My appearance gave me access to a particular kind of world and I'm really grateful for it. It would be hard if I had any guilt trips, but I don't; I'm doing my utmost best to change the situation. We all have our own purpose in life and I feel very strongly that I have a bigger purpose than giving to just my immediate family and friends.'

Between her charity and modelling commitments, there is less time to hang out at the mill house than she might wish. She has also just completed her first lead film role alongside Jonathan Rhys Meyers, in Belle du Seigneur, due out next year. 'I really enjoyed the process. It's beautiful, very liberating,' she says, adding that she will definitely do more acting if time allows. 'I just pile on and pile on.' She describes Lucas, nine, Neva, five, and Viktor, three, as 'happy children, thank God' and we have a moan about the exhaustion of mothering small children (actually, I moan; she just smiles beatifically). 'They come into my bed and sleep with me quite often, but I love it,' she says simply. 

She is now separated from their father, Justin Portman. While the rumour mill has long whirled with possible reasons (jealousy, infidelity - the usual suspects), Natalia won't be drawn. 'It's really sad. It has been a while. We didn't want to talk about it. We still don't. Our children are very much aware of it. It's OK. We're still in a very sensitive position right now, and trying to do things as amicably as possible, so I wouldn't want to talk about it at all. I don't think I ever will want to, because it's strictly between my husband and me.'

It has been lovely sitting with this flawless, faultless woman, who I imagine charms everyone she encounters. But I have to ask about her personal life, at which point it feels as though a cloud has travelled across the sun. 'This is not really something to discuss at the moment. It's sensitive,' she says, with a faraway look. 

'You're in love!' I crow excitedly, as though she is my best friend, even though I never have, and never will, meet her again in my life. 

'Mmm-hmm,' she says, looking to the side. 'Yes, definitely.'

'How did you meet?'

'You're such a journalist.'

I may be a journalist, but I am not a very good one, since I would feel guilty if I named the recipient of this love (and no, it is not Scott Douglas, with whom she has been linked). If you are that interested, Google it, and wish her well. ES

To make a donation to the Naked Heart Foundation and for more information on this year's Love Ball, visit nakedheart.org"

Source: EveningStandard