In between shots on our recent denim shoot, we grabbed model Shannan Click for a quick chat…

Where are you originally from?

California.

What has been the most glamorous modeling job you have ever done?

A shoot in the Maldives. Blue water and light sand = heaven for me.

Modeling puts skin and hair through a lot. How do you ensure both stay in good condition?

I really like to use Egyptian Magic whenever I think my skin needs a little love. I get it at Rickys. I like to use all natural products where possible so I also like SKINFOOD. For my hair, I love to use a bumble and bumble hair masque.

What are your travel essentials?

A hoody, my airplane pillow and Ray-Bans.

How would you describe your style?

Laid back; I love jeans and a thin T-shirt, quite like what we’re shooting today –  and tennis shoes.

What are you currently reading?

I just finished Steve Toltz’s A Fraction of the Whole and have started Freedom by Jonathan Franzen.

What do you like to do when you are not working?

I love to paint. I like doing abstract landscapes. They’re my versions of Life on Mars!

Where is your favorite New York hangout?

The Bowery HoteI – I’m there all the time.

What do you like most about New York?

That I can be a hermit yet still be surrounded by people – I’m naturally really lazy so having everyone around makes it very convenient.

What do you miss about California?

My family, the sun, the space, swimming and nature.

Are you looking forward to anything in particular this summer?

I’ll be doing a sculptor and portrait painting class at the The New York Academy of Arts in Tribeca. I’ve taken classes there before in the summer. Ultimately, I’d like to do something in the arts; maybe direct or paint.

Do you have any vacations planned?

I don’t really plan them – they just come up, but I’m probably going to visit my boyfriend (Boardwalk Empire star Jack Huston) in Portugal where he’s shooting a movie called Night Train to Lisbon. He literally had a day off after finishing the film Kill Your Darlings in New York before he had to fly to Portugal, so it’s been a busy time.

On Monday Marcus and David accompanied supermodel Candice Swanepoel to the 2012 Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. rag & bone dressed Candice, who previously appeared in our DIY Project, and New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony for the prestigious event.

Check out some behind the scenes shots of Candice getting ready for fashion’s biggest night at rag & bone’s Meatpacking HQ…

Last Thursday, the first stateside retrospective of legendary fashion/commercial photographer Brian Duffy launched at Clic Gallery in Soho.
Dubbed ‘The Man Who Shot the ’60s’, Duffy along with peers David Bailey and Terry Donovan formed the ‘The Black Trinity’ who shaped the Swinging 60s, giving London a visual identity to mod culture. During his brief reign as a voice of his generation, Duffy, as he became known, amassed an impressive body of work, from game-changing spreads for likes of Vogue, iconic album covers (he shot three for David Bowie) and intimate celebrity portraits to award-winning advertising campaigns. In 1979, he dramatically quit the profession – burning many of his negatives.
His son Chris, however, managed to uncover some archive footage and convinced him to return to his craft shortly before his death in 2010. Chris, also an acclaimed photographer, discusses his beloved late father’s work…

Can you tell us a little about growing up with your father and what you recall about his work as a child?

Duffy started working for British Vogue in the late fifties and at that time there was a handful of young people who were ultimately going to make a huge change in British society. Britain had come out of the Second World War and there was an austerity in 50′s that a new generation were about to rebel against and Duffy was at the front of this wave of change. There was a small clique of like-minded people that hung out together, people like Mary Quant, David Hockney, Len Deighton, Michael Caine, Peter O’Toole, Vidal Sassoon, David Bailey, and Molly Parkin. Even Ron and Reggie Kray, London gangsters, became part of the new London scene often hanging out with photographers and actors in trendy London restaurants. As a kid growing up in 60′s London there was always a flow of people dropping into see Duffy and it all seemed very normal. I remember meeting the Beatles in Duffy’s studio when I was 11.

You became an apprentice for your father at a young age, didn’t you?

I approached him and asked him for a job, initially he turned me down but I kept pestering him and although he already had 2 assistants he agreed that I could come and sweep the floors and make coffee. I did that for a year until finally the 2nd assistant left or got fired and I moved up the ladder. I ended up working for Duffy for 7 years and became his 1st assistant and traveled the world with him, in that time I learned everything there was to know about cameras, lighting and the darkroom. Duffy was the ultimate technician and had an encyclopedic knowledge of cameras and lenses.

Did your father enjoy taking celebrity portraits?

In Duffy’s era celebrity photography didn’t exist as we know it today. Duffy saw himself as a tradesman and approached every commission in the same way whether that be a portrait, a beauty shot, a still life, a landscape, a record cover or a fashion spread. Duffy’s photographs reflected his controversial and abrasive attitude to life.

Can you share the story behind David Bowie’s iconic album cover Aladdin Sane?

Duffy had known Tony Defries, David Bowie’s then manager since the late 60s, when Tony got David signed to RCA  records in 1972 he asked Duffy to shoot Bowie’s next album cover. Duffy met with Bowie to discuss ideas for the shoot and asked what the  album was to be called. Bowie said “A  Lad Insane”  but Duffy misinterpreted this and heard it as “Aladdin Sane”. Defries had wanted the shoot to be as expensive as possible based on the theory that the more the record company paid for the shoot the more likely they would get behind promoting the album. In 1972 Duffy had shot his second Pirelli calendar with artist Allen Jones and he decided to implement some of the techniques utilized in producing this series of groundbreaking images on the now renamed Aladdin Sane album. The 1972 Pirelli calendar utilized the talents of an airbrush artist called Philip Castle and created a hybrid of hyperreal and surreal images that were far ahead of their time. Each image was individually airbrushed on a dye transfer colour print which was extremely time-consuming and expensive process, today this would be a piece of cake in Adobe Photoshop. Bowie had been fascinated with Elvis’ motto “Taking Care of Business in a Flash,” represented in his personal logo by the letters TCB and a lightning bolt and on the day of the shoot Duffy produced a National Panasonic rice cooker (given to him by his Mother) from the studio kitchen who’s logo at the time was a red and blue flash and presented this to Bowie suggesting painting it across his face. Bowie loved the idea and Duffy took the lead and taking a red lipstick from make up artist Pierre Laroche’s kit and started to draw the outline of the flash on Bowie’s face. Interestingly enough, as far as I am aware, this is the only time that David ever sported this make up look, for live gigs it was always the circular “third eye” make up so I guess the Aladdin Sane look was just too complicated to reproduce for every live show. Duffy then went on to enhance the image with Phillip Castle’s airbrushing wizardry and also designed the typeface for the album and finally putting an Aladdin’s lamp symbol over the “i” in Aladdin Sane. There was only ever one original print of this image made from which every other image produced has come from and it is currently on display in London at the Victoria & Albert Museum in their summer show “British Design 1948 -2012”. I read somewhere that it has been dubbed “The Mona Lisa of Rock”.

Duffy studied fashion design. Did this background help when it came to fashion photography?
Duffy originally wanted to be a painter and went to St Martin’s Art Collage in London but after a short time realized that the talent in his year was exceptional and moved over to dress design. He quickly learnt the techniques of how a garment was made and with an innate ability to draw and design excelled in this medium which in later years, when he became a photographer, gave him a distinct advantage in his fashion pictures. Duffy always said that a fashion photograph had a responsibility to show how a garment worked but his real trick was making the model look like she owned the clothes too rather than just being a mannequin. This was a winning combination and with an acute command over his photographic technique defined the Duffy “look”. When Duffy started working for French Elle in 1962 it was art director Peter Knapp’s vision to break away from the aloof and posed fashion photographs that were currently seen in the pages of Vogue and create a much more fluid style that would resonate with a wider female audience.

After your father finished with photography, he turned to furniture restoration. Was this something he had previously done?
Duffy always had a deep interest in furniture and was also a very accomplished craftsman with a passion for wood. He had a workshop at the back of his studip complex and even during his photographic career spent a great amount of time in the workshop designing and making things. On studio shoot days he would come in and direct what lighting and camera set up he wanted and then disappear into the workshop only to re appear when everything was ready to shoot. After Duffy’s photographic career he went on to become a member of an elitist restoration association called BAFRA (British Antique Furniture Restoration Association) and ultimately went on to lecture.

Can you tell us about the documentary The Man Who The 60s. Was it hard to convince your father to return to photography?
In 2005 Duffy was diagnosed with a degenerative lung disease called pulmonary fibrosis. On reflection Duffy said that he thought that he had got this through smelting gold and mercury while working in his restoration business. The prognosis is varied for this disease and a patient can survive a year or maybe ten. Over the years I had said to Duffy that he should do something with his remaining archive - I felt it was important to him to give me the information if I was to do anything with it. In 2008 we were approached by Chris Beetles Gallery in London to put together Duffy’s 1st ever exhibition. I had also approached several television companies about producing a film of Duffy’s life and work. The BBC were very interested in this project and so we started filming in the spring of 2009, but at this time Duffy’s health had started to decline. Duffy had not taken a photograph for nearly 30 years but he got right back in the saddle and was totally comfortable picking the camera again.

As this is your father’s first US retrospective, do you know if he spent much time in New York?
Duffy actually lived in New York in the mid 80’s but had been a frequent visitor from the late fifties and in fact he shot for Glamour Magazine here in the early sixties. Duffy had a handful of close friends in New York but always kept in touch with his great mate photographer Jerry Schatzberg who introduced him to Bob Dylan in a coffee bar in Manhattan; “Hey Duff, meet Bobby, Mrs Zimmerman’s little boy”.

Brian Duffy Photographs at Clic Gallery run through till June 3, 2012

www.duffyphotographer.com

chrisduffyphotographer.com

We chat to Marina Larroude, STYLE.COM’s chic Market Director, about style and her
favorite NY spots…

Has your style changed since you moved from Brazil to New York?

I don’t think I wore high heels before I moved to New York, now I wear them about five or six days a week. I also dress up more during the day here than I used to when I was living in Sao Paulo.

I feel best wearing…

Two opposites: high-waisted trousers or miniskirts.

My favorite beauty products… 

Have been same for over a decade now; Cle de Peau Concealer, Shiseido Sun Protection Compact Foundation, MAC blush, and Lancome mascara.

For my hair, I go to…

Rita Hazan in the city. Adrian Wallace does the best highlights and Andre Rodman is my favorite hair stylist.
My favorite piece of jewelry is…

My Wilfredo Rosado cameo ring.

The best style advice I ever received is…

Always wear good shoes. My favorite shoe designer is Gianvito Rossi. His shoes are edgy, chic and sexy. All women want a pair of his shoes. But rag & bone do the best casual booties!

I would never wear…

Midriff tops. Never!

My preferred way of exercising is…

A long walk over Central Park.
The most stylish women I know are…

Laure Heriard Dubreuil and Giovanna Battaglia. Maybe it’s because of their European heritage - they are not afraid of wearing color, do not take it so seriously and always look chic.
My favorite New York haunts are…

Bar Pitti – it’s definitely my favorite restaurant. The ice-cream at Sant Ambroeus is beyond delicious and The Waverly Inn’s Waverly Lemonade is by far my favorite drink in town. Brooke Alexander’s gallery is one of my recent discoveries and they have so much good stuff, it deserves a visit!

This summer, I’m looking forward to…

Taking my little daughter to Disney World, wearing bright cut-offs over the weekend and having my friends over for a Brazilian barbecue.

To celebrate Frieze, a block party will take place in Chelsea this Saturday, then on Sunday there’s a special Frieze Downtown Night. We’ll be checking out MoMA PS1′s Frieze New York Kick Off Party on Wednesday (May 2), with a performance by Martha Wainwright and a DJ set by Mark Ronson. Tickets are just $25 and on sale at MoMA PS1.

Last Friday, Marcus and David celebrated rag & bone’s new store in Boston with a special event in their Newbury Street premises.
The guys were joined by local pals such as Gisele and Tom Brady and Tom’s fellow Patriot Julian Edelman. Good friend Andrew Rosen also stopped by after appearing on a panel at Harvard Business School.

Here are some photos from the evening…

Malian photographer Malick Sidibe’s captivating black and white images inspired FW2012′s Arrow Print.

One of the only photographers to document the youth culture of Bamako during the 1960s and ’70s, a selection of Sidibe’s work is currently on display at agnes b gallery in New York. For those of you who can’t make it, you can savour his photos in the new book The Portrait of Mali (Skira).

Earlier this month David and Marcus jetted into Miami to celebrate the launch of a rag & bone boutique inside Saks Fifth Avenue, Bal Harbour.

Ocean Drive Magazine and Saks Fifth Avenue joined forces to present the Spring 2012 collection at Soho House where over 300 guests enjoyed our first ever pool-top runway show.
With Spring 2012 awash with bright colors and light fabrics, we think the poolside setting and balmy weather worked perfectly to showcase the collection.

Check out some photos from the night…