Brad Walsh

The Secret World of Alex Mack

Thursday, January 29th, 2009

A Public Affair

Thursday, January 29th, 2009

Ashlee and others are biting back about the headlines that Jessica Simpson has been making recently, which is fine because no, Jessica is not fat. Not in any sense of the word. I agree with that, and I agree that anyone calling her fat and meaning it is warped in the head. I don’t know if I agree with Ashlee’s assertion that Jessica is a “size 2,” but I can only judge based on specifically released photos, so I really have no valid idea. But by no means is Jessica a fat girl, she’s just bigger than she used to be. But apparently even commenting on the change and the setting is forbidden, which is annoying. What I said yesterday was that Jessica gained some weight, and her return to the public eye after some time out of it was in tight, high waisted jeans at a festival celebrating the mass consumption of chili. Someone should have advised her against that whole situation. Not because holy shit she’s a fucking whale and she’s disgusting and fat and look at fatty fatface, but because it’s the easiest backdrop for caricature of a person who’s spent the last ten years selling us her body as a major part of her celebrity package. She basically drew herself into a NY Post comic. Not to mention that when Jessica lost a bunch of weight, her father Joe shopped the story to the tabloids, putting it forth as an item to be discussed. And now that she’s gained some weight, we’re all assholes for noticing? As Kathy said yesterday, either it’s on the table or it’s not.

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

I’ve taken lots of photos of Sarah over the years but none really in a formal setup, so we finally did it this weekend. She has some funny internet moniker – Ultratrrrd or Yentagrrrl or something – maybe you’ve heard of her. She likes to hug old ladies and feel them up, is what I hear.

I’ve made a list of things that everybody needs: 1) A month off from life to get life itself sorted out. Passport, DMV, cable, internet, that table that wobbles. A month off to do nothing but take care of the little things to make your return to life more convenient. 2) Their Susan Miller monthly horoscope. She’s dead-on. 3) A Thneed. Or a Snuggie, because they are basically the same thing. 4) A bosom for a pillow. 5) A friend to tell you when Ur Doin It Rong. I’m kind of surprised that nobody told Jessica Simpson that she shouldn’t play a chili cook-off in skintight jeans when she’s gained 30 pounds since we last saw her, because she’s writing the joke herself.

Cerie Crews

Monday, January 26th, 2009

Here’s Miss Katrina Bowden in her specially made dress by Christian for the Screen Actors Guild Awards last night. She walked away with a statue for Best Ensemble in a Comedy Series for 30 Rock. I took a few photos for the book at the final fitting at her apartment a few days ago. The dress is a bit like one from his S/S collection, more along the lines of the one he made for Nicole Scherzinger when she hosted the American Music Awards red carpet, but in a custom color and more form-fitting at the hips.

This weekend I took some photos of Sarah that I will probably post tomorrow, Christian moved his work studio out of the house and into Manhattan and then flew to LA for the SAGs, I watched an Oscars screener of Burn After Reading with Geneva, Kathy and Jes came over and we watched the second episode of The United States of Tara (which I just don’t love so far), and Topper peed all over the floor and himself and then whined his way through a thorough bath in the sink.

Shake Me

Friday, January 23rd, 2009

The Pussycat Dolls Doll Domination album is so awesome. I wasn’t coaxed into saying this. The rhythm and low end on “Bottle Pop” are what every producer kills themselves to achieve. The singles (“I Hate This Part” and “When I Grow Up”) are exciting. There’s lots of good weirdness all over the place, like “Whatchamacallit.” The bonus disc with five solo tracks – one for each of the girls – is like time travel. Obviously Nicole’s booming voice is a huge strength for them, but I can’t get over Jessica’s retro sorta Apollonia solo “If I Was A Man.” She’s the Rachel Stevens of the group, and someone needs to schedule her a meeting with Richard X.

Speaking of people with single letter surnames, I photographed Michael K, the writer of Dlisted.

Everybody I know reads his blog, including my mother. I first met him when Sarah asked me if I wanted to join them for lunch probably about a year ago. I think the way he does his thing is really funny and different… and how would I know about Phoebe Price without him? More photos after the jump. (more…)

Ge-Ge-Geneva is a Female Version of a Hustla

Wednesday, January 21st, 2009

Okay, after watching yesterday’s inauguration, I say Malia Obama is poised to become a Beyonce-level diva in just a few short years, in a good way. In the way that everyone interested in fashion and celebrity will be completely, madly obsessed with her. She’s ten years old now, which means Obama’s second term will exactly cover her high school tenure, her inevitable fashion streak, and she will become the style icon of the Obama family.

Malia is truly a daughter of the documentation generation. Girl sat up there in row two at the inauguration of the effing President of the United States of America staring into her digital camera screen and taking pictures! So focused on that screen that her mouth hung open. CNN showed that shit and I gasped… “oh my God, she’s me.” Does she have a friends-only Facebook album called “Dad’s Party” and does she tag only the unflattering photos of the Bush twins? Did she take Myspace angle shots of herself in different outfits that morning to see how she would look, while singing “been the number one diva in this game for a minute?” You know she’s going to have a book. A collection of behind the scenes digital photos, compiled by some publisher with stars and dollar signs clouding their field of vision, nary even a desire for a word of caption… just photos and a cover. It will be the Misshapes book, only with less Kelly Osbourne and more Jill Biden.

Speaking of the documentation generation, every few months Geneva and I do some photos and she always has some sort of character. She’s been an arctic witch, a spy, a zombie prom queen, and a horror victim. This time she’s a 1920’s madam.

You pay the bill and you get your hour. A minute over and you pay for the next. Don’t mess with one of her girls or she’ll make sure you’re never seen in this town again. You think the sheriff isn’t a client? The mayor? The governor? Shall we continue climbing the executive branch? There is no such thing as credit in this house.

Breakfast at CBGB’s

Tuesday, January 20th, 2009

Today is Barack Obama’s inauguration, and in the spirit of change, I present: Lisa (again)! Wearing the same Christian gown that two other people have already worn in my photos! But she looks amazing and somewhat like Audrey Hepburn, so I couldn’t sit on these and let them go unnoticed…

Anyone who knows Lisa knows that these are out of character for her; she’s not a colorful flowy gown with matching organza gloves and hairpiece kind of girl, as evidenced by her giant tattoos. But Christian dressed her up and she went along with it, and I think it’s great. As for the Chanel scarf, I asked her when she got it and she said “Christmas.” “From Josh?” I asked, since he’s the only straight boy I’ve ever known to have a Chanel tattoo and three iterations of the Chanel book all at once. “No, from Nicole.” As in, Richie. Oh, okay. Yeah, Madonna gave me these knee-highs. I got this depression glass from Ann Jillian.

I have about 30 e-mails that need actual attention today, and I don’t want to start in on them. I haven’t even begun working on the music for fashion week, and the show is in the tents on the 19th. What’s funny is that every time I feel overwhelmed I for some reason think that sitting down with some coffee is going to calm me down. And then I sweat and run to the bathroom.

At Least I’m Not Cross-Eyed

Monday, January 19th, 2009

Lisa Graham took this photo of me. I love it. Even though she’s a bitch.

Judgy Wudgy Was a Bear

Friday, January 16th, 2009

A couple nights ago I was a judge at the Supima Competition for Emerging Designers, which is… well, exactly what it sounds like. It’s a competition put on by the Supima cotton brand, consisting of three sections: knit, denim, and shirting. The venue was Gotham Hall, which is beautiful (all photos by Tom Concordia):

I’ve sat through a number of student and smalltown fashion shows, and with the prospect of having to rate purported couture pieces made out of blue denim… I was expecting to have a difficult time finding a winning piece. But in fact there were several that wowed me with their innovation, and I was truly surprised by some of the shapes and cuts that the designers managed to deliver given ten yards of basic fabric to work with. Some of the dresses were really very cool and sophisticated, especially those by Kimenna, who won Best in Show.

The other judges included Jocelyn Yap, President of Issey Miyake USA; Glen Hoffs, Men’s Design Director at Brooks Brothers; Parsons design professor David Leung; and Katrina Bowden from 30 Rock, who I also sat with at Christian’s show in September last year. She and her publicist Lisa Goldberg are great. Katrina came over yesterday to look at some of Christian’s stuff, and Lisa set me up to shoot another of her clients for something cool that will be out soon!

An Eve With Adam

Thursday, January 15th, 2009

My friend Adam lives in LA kinda close to where we were staying last weekend, so he came over around the same time Ollie did, and we had a little party and took some photos!

Adam and I worked together in college. We were both RAs in a dorm. Yes, I was an RA, and for a long time, actually. I was a regular RA my sophomore and junior years at Oberlin College in Ohio, and then my senior year I was an SRA with my own staff. I was very important. Still am. The year that Adam and I were on staff together, we recorded a song for our then-departing (graduating) SRA Leila, set to the tune of Britney Spears’ “Lucky.” Adam is straight, by the way.

He’s starting a pretty cool music blog, too, so go bookmark it. The banner at the moment is a photo he took of Ollie and me on this very night. Because as we all know, if you didn’t blog it, it didn’t happen.