Aussielicious

Every now and then you see a fashion editorial in a magazine that just stops you in your tracks. There is a lot of great photography going on in the fashion world, as well as a whole bunch of rubbish. Having only done a couple of tiny bits and pieces of fashion photography myself I know how hard it is to get something original and it’s a very competitive field.

The whole point of getting a celebrity involved is to add something extra to a shoot. A name like Nicole Kidman adds star power and credibility to a campaign. When that celebrity is someone like Tilda Swinton, you know it’s going to be different.

Tilda is one of those actresses that people love or loathe. She played the Ice Queen to chilling perfection in The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe, and has reveled in offbeat roles for years. This fashion spread in W Magazine was clearly a true creative collaboration between photographer, stylist and Tilda. They are edgy, creative, interesting and just a little bit mad. Not mad in the sense of Gaga where she might staple an albatross to her breast while doing trapeze above bubbling lava, but interesting fashion driven dramatic creativity. Gorgeous.

Large Tony, he of the big cock and beautifully written blog featured last week, has decided that he wants us to all be wearing his cock on our chests. Well graphic interpretations and allusions to his cock anyway. He’s just launched the LT-Shirt company with a range of simple, graphic tees with a focus on what men seem to spend most time thinking with. Tony is a great guy, go show his company some love!

For me, fashion photography isn’t always (or even often) about selling garments. For me it’s about creating and image and selling an image or a vibe. Photographer Miguel Suarez and model Tony Apollo have created an amazing fashion editorial with these images.

Tony has a killer look with a real edge, the styling is impeccable and Miguel has captured it all flawlessly. THIS is the kind of fashion photography I’d love to do. Thanks to Ohlala for the images.

The Abercrombie and Fitch Quarterly publication has been missing for some time now after basically being declared porn but it’s coming back! Sadly we can’t order it here in Australia which is a bit of a bummer. I still have 3 old A&F catalogues full of hot people not wearing much. Those of you in the areas where it’s available should definitely get your hands on one.

Premonition is a menswear label that has been gaining a very strong foothold in the Australian market over the past few years, with wearable, stylish and sexy pieces. After getting my hands on these images from the recent Australian Fashion Week here in Sydney and browsing their latest collection in store on the weekend there are some looks I could seriously get into.

Looking at their website it’s hard to say if the look is best described as a geek letting his inner bad boy out, or a bad boy connecting with his inner geek, but I think it’s working. Personally I’m coveting several pieces from the shots above, the shorts on the far left, the shorts and shirt third from the left, the trousers on the far right and the freaking hot boots in all the shots!

Premal Patel is the brains behind the label and he consistently hits the nail on the head staying current, cool and clearly in demand.

Everynow and then I wish I was more brave with my fashion choices. I blame my conservative provincial city upbringing and perhaps even my love of not wearing clothes at all, but I see clothes like these, from Commonwealth Utilities, and wish I had the balls to wear some of it.

I don’t think I’d ever wear long-johns down the street, but the plaid trousers or even the white three-quarter trousers are a really hot look but I just couldn’t pull it off. I think that kind of fashion is best left to the 20-somethings or those that have the attitude to wear it. Otherwise you look like that old queen that works with Anna Wintour at Vogue that doesn’t play tennis without a full matching Louis Vuitton ensemble.

One day I’ll stop fawning all over Bruce Weber I promise. That will be when he stops making cool imagery. This is a video from an YSL (Yves St Laurent) season promo. I don’t think there’s very many YSL clothes in it but that’s not important. This is the guy that gets all the Abercrombie guys out of the Abercombie clothes.

The way he captures the three guys chilling out nude and diving into the waterhole so un-self consciously is beautiful. Most guys I know, even my nudie friends would be a little self conscious in front of a camera like that.

Last night after several wines and a good meal, I watched a documentary on Karl Lagerfeld. Designer at Chanel and fashion legend, Kaiser Karl as he’s known seemingly projects an image of a fastidious and eccentric older gay man and pretentious fashion icon. Keep in mind, that is from my very limited knowledge of the man. Watching the documentary provides you with a totally different view. Eccentric, hell yeah, the man doesn’t like his hands so always wears TRUCKLOADS of rings or he wears gloves. He has 11 iPods on his mantle in the first scene alone. But even Karl seems to find his eccentricities amusing himself.

As with most creative people it’s a fine line between genius and lunatic but if having gorgeous men around you constantly as aides and assistants or security is an eccentricity then I want to be mad. The hot guy in the “Karl Who?” t-shirt on the far left is his ever present assistant. The t-shirt alone proves Karl doesn’t take it all too seriously. Karl comes off looking very approachable and fun in this documentary. Nicole Kidman makes a brief appearance at a runway show and in a photoshoot and does nothing to dispell her ice princess with immobile forehead reputation.

Years ago women were the only one’s being objectified in advertising. These days it’s open season and who am I as a voyeuristic gay man to complain that men are being paraded around as a piece of meat? Granted, we are now under almost as much pressure to live up to airbrushed unrealistic ideals as women but with fashion shoots like this, I’m easily distracted from the serious concerns and drawn to the pretty shiny naked man in the photos. Click to see him in more frustratingly obscured detail.

Someone just sent me this video from Onitsuka Tiger, which is the streetwear brand of ASICS. It goes with the launch of their new “Zodiac” range of shoes. It’s a Japanese brand and this feels like it’s come straight out of Harajuku with it’s totally over the top bizarreness. Imagine if Western Astrology symbols had to fight it out to be included in the zodiac. I think my crumby scales would have been left out.

I just saw this video of a photo shoot for Junior and thought it appealed to my tastes in fashion shoots. I like quite heavily styled and a bit over the top shoots, they are a bunch of fun to look at. Kind of an assault on the visual sense, in a good way.

It’s a strange world we live in where the guys we all ogle and lust after on blogs like this are usually the beefier muscle boys who would never score a high fashion modelling gig in a million years but underwear and swimwear, they are the first call.

A guy I’ve met recently and hung out with a bit is a model but for the fashion end of the spectrum and he’s lost 20 pounds of muscle from his competitive swimming days to maintain the lean figure required for high fashion. Why is it we portray a style of clothing as ideal but the people who we portray as ideal can’t wear the clothes in the right way?

James Demitri has just shot this hot spread for Culture magazine using the incredibly striking Michael Whitaker from DNA Models. James has photographed me a couple of times and while very talented is also a very nice guy. We like seeing nice guys do well so I’m more than happy to feature James’ work here.

This model is so striking and the fashions are great, including the Aussiebum and Teamm8 gear. I love the styling but I just can’t get past the incredible look of the model. He must be very young but what an intriguing face! Stunning.

Spain is the place in the world where I felt most attractive. I was in Barcelona and Sitges for just over a week and had more sex than I’ve ever had I think over the same period of time. The men were, not only friendly, but incredibly hot as well.

So when these images arrived in my email from the new Spanish swimwear label Nitswim with this absolute adonis modelling some very hot swimwear, I had flashbacks to some very fond memories. This swimwear is fun, cheeky and a whole bunch of sexy, especially on this guy! I think I’ll have to keep an eye on these guys for a while and see what else they come up with!

Finding the right pair of jeans has always been a dilemma for me. Years ago at the end of high school I was a loyal Levi 501 boy. Now, I’ve tried many different brands and most of them feel like they are up around my nipples somewhere. While trying not to look like someone desperately clinging to their long-gone youth, I also don’t want to be wearing the kind of jeans my father could wear.

I had a fantastic pair of Diesels that I bought about 5 years ago but they finally gave up the ghost about two years ago after intensive wearing, I just wore them out. I’ve had another pair of diesels that I bought on sale, because I just can’t justify that kind of money on jeans, but they were the ones that ripped recently and needed replacing. SO, I found a style that fits me really well, I like them, and, heaven forbid, they aren’t as expensive as my car, which isn’t as much of a stretch as it sounds. I had a pale wash pair of Lee L2′s, and today I bought the same style in a different colour. It’s such a personal thing with jeans, we wear them so much, they have to make you feel good or you are going out feeling less than your best.