Over the weekend, make sure to pick up the September edition of W—Christina Ricci is one the cover and the issue weighs about 10 pounds. Bruce Weber, the legendary homoerotic photographer best known for his Abercrombie campaigns, went to the Motor City and shot an absolutely brilliant 40 page fashion editorial.
The editorial captures the best of old and new Detroit, featuring supermodel Kate Moss, new faces found in boxing gyms, and, some of the Detroit's rising stars in the gay community and on the ball scene. This is 18 year old J'eon Love, an amateur middleweight and one of the more prominent models in the editorial. As a few others have recently noted, Madison Avenue has an ongoing love affair with black boxers and homoeroticism.
Above: Cortez Travion Epps is a hair stylist and dancer, Von Jour Reece, a noted local fashion designer. Detroit is legendary for its extraordinary hair and nail salons, and, local designers. Glad to see that Weber captured many of them.
Below: Toi Alexzandried. By day he works at the MAC counter in the Northland Shopping Center, by night he becomes Black China Doll, a celebrated local drag queen. Toi's "bodyguard" models at Dolce & Gabbana; Toi's hat and wool coat are also D&G. The handbag is her own creation. Toi gets plenty of exposure in this feature.
Above: Seventeen year-old Aungelique Patton-James says she began wearing men's clothing in the ninth grade. Last year she attended prom with her longtime girlfriend. She is seen in Hugo Boss at top and Martin Margiela and Hugo Boss below, in the group shot with Kate Moss, Toi, Cortez and many others.
Seventeen year-old Jeremy Marek works in an auto repair shop and models Gucci and Moschino. Weber has signed him for several more modeling assignments.
There are many more splendid photos in the issue, including a great series of B&W candids of Cortez and J'eon dancing alone and with Kate Moss.
Finally ... how can you travel to Detroit without paying homage to the queen?
Previously:
Bruce Weber for VMan (Rod 2.0) Undergear De ja Vu (Rod 2.0) Lenny Kravitz: Vogue Hommes (Rod 2.0) Electric Avenue (Rod 2.0) Boy from Ipanema (Rod 2.0) Kennie Franklin in "Out" (Rod 2.0) Diddy + Penelope = America (Rod 2.0) Quincy Jones for Jimmy Choo (Rod 2.0) First Look: Pharrell for Louis Vuitton (Rod 2.0) "Blue" Boxers (Rod 2.0) L'Uomo Chad (Rod 2.0)
Ooh, I love "W" going to Detroit and shooting layout with the children. That's really hot.
Posted by: greg | 01 September 2006 at 10:33
Bruce Weber has such a great eye for male models. Thanks for pointing this out, as usual we would not ahve seen it elsewhere.
That J'eon is to die for.
Posted by: patrick s | 01 September 2006 at 11:23
wonderful.
Posted by: johnozed | 01 September 2006 at 11:53
This is a beautiful fashion spread. I have never bought W but will pick up a copy this weekend.
Posted by: Brandon | 01 September 2006 at 12:06
The first three pictures are soo hott, sexy and everything else.
Posted by: Dex123ter | 04 September 2006 at 20:10
Bruce Weber is bullshit... his entire career he has shot a handful of black models, none of them ever showing up in any of his publications...and none of them in any ad campaigns fashion or otherwise. I'm sure he was thrilled to travel to Detroit to shoot darkies in their element and their freakdom... notice, he must have had Kate Moss along for the ride to keep him focused and grounded because it obvious he's not accustomed to shooting black folks, because that's the only thing missing in his career.
Posted by: antiweb | 15 September 2006 at 03:17
damn, Damn, DAMN! How did i miss this one? Now i gotta go see if someone has a copy of that W. It was shot in my hometown, after all...
Thanks, Rod.
Posted by: malik | 29 October 2006 at 06:24