And The Oscar Goes To... Nine Awesome (and Official) Academy Award Evites!

Planning on throwing an Oscar Party? Got you miniature statuettes? Your ballots? Your deli platter and your booze? What about the invites?





I always designed my own in the past, but with this wonderful new and well-designed online collection, I don't have to. And neither do you. Ranging from Pop Art to the Golden Age of Hollywood, these nine new invitations and matching envelopes were designed for Evite's new premium site by the actual designer of the Academy Award winners' envelopes.





Marc Friedland, the designer of the Academy Award winners’ envelope has designed the first-ever collection of Academy sanctioned invitations for Oscar Sunday viewing parties, which is now immediately available to download exclusively on Evite's new premium site, Postmark.





The nine unique premium Oscar party invitation designs are being made available online complimentary for party hosts to personalize and have digitally delivered as a way for Friedland and Evite to announce their association and preview Evite’s new premium site Evite Postmark











The Oscar Collection by Marc Friedland has something for everyone, from classic golden age of Hollywood to modern, fun takes on Oscar as well. There’s the nod to glitz and glam (complete with “Swarovski studded Oscar,” shown below) to mid-60’s inspired chic. Each design begins as an individually hand-crafted original, and then is magically transformed to be digitally delivered on Evite Postmark, making this the online debut of Friedland’s high-end signature craftsmanship work.




Each invitation in the collection has a matching designed envelope, custom stamp, and features the never before available Oscar statuette, use of Academy archival photos and images, and the use the of the “official” Academy Awards title.






“Partnering with Marc and The Academy to launch Evite Postmark in time for the biggest celebration in Hollywood not only perfectly captures Evite Postmark’s spirit, but it presents a huge opportunity to capture the imaginations of customers looking for new and fun ways to bring the Academy Awards into their own homes,” said Mr. Woolley.

Last year Friedland introduced the first-ever envelopes and announcement cards bearing the names of the winners for the telecast. It was the first time the Academy had a specially-designed envelope and card to announce the Oscar recipients. Friedland will be recreating them again for this year and next for the 85th annual broadcast. He will also be writing a blog titled “Oscar Party Confidential” offering party tips (complete with free downloadable Oscar Bingo cards for everyone to play at home) and suggestions for www.Postmark.com as well as. www.Oscar.com



“In 2011 when I designed the first Academy Award winners' envelope, I wanted to create a modern icon imbued with a rich air of luxury, reminiscent of the glamorous golden age of Hollywood,” said Friedland. “And while it was only touched by a handful of winners—yet seen by millions—I wanted to see how I could make this piece of Oscar history part of the tradition of Oscar Party Sunday. With the support of both the Academy and Evite Postmark, this collection was designed to inspire those who love to celebrate the Oscars by way of a really fun, personal experience.”

Evite Postmark and Friedland are planning to roll out the full line of invitation and correspondence categories later this spring after more than a year in development. Evite Postmark is a premium online service featuring stylish invitations and correspondence for life’s special occasions. Reminiscent of traditional fine stationery, Evite Postmark offers its users a wide range of high-quality custom and personalized designs on a user-friendly, advertising-free interface, providing them with a modern way to stay in touch without sacrificing taste or etiquette.

Direct links to Evite Postmark will also be available at www.Oscar.com and www.marcfriedlandinc.com

Friedland is a Los Angeles-based custom invitation designer creating stationery arts for high-end clients. This year marks the 25th anniversary of his namesake business along with Creative Intelligence, his experiential branding agency counterpart.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live on the ABC Television Network beginning at 4 p.m. PT/ 7 p.m. ET. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

Charisma's Valentine to The Public. A New Sexy Spring Ad Campaign With Eddie Cibrian.

Admittedly, this is a totally gratuitous post. Pure eye candy. I don't even know who the photographer is for this campaign and I'm not even sure I care. This is an ad campaign that goes straight for the hormones, once again proving the old adage that sex sells (or at least receives social media attention). Think of it as a Valentine for my readers.



Tanned and taut, 38 year old actor Eddie Cibrian (most recently of the cancelled network TV show The Playboy Club) is the new body...er, face for Charisma's Spring 2012 ad campaign. The Bloomingdale's luxury brand of housewares has enlisted the handsome celeb (and husband to singer LeAnn Rimes) for a second time to bare his bod while wrapped in the brand's linens and towels.






Shot at a private residence in Los Angeles, the hunky star wears his wedding band in the shots...



... and that's about it. Thank you Lord.

The ads and catalog covers claim the double entendre "Eddie Cibrian has Charisma." As if I cared about his personality:



This is the second ad campaign for the brand featuring Eddie. Last July, the actor represented Charisma by posing sexily between the sheets:



Here's a look behind the scenes of the photoshoot with Eddie Cibrian:


And yes, Happy Valentine's Day to us all. Thank you Charisma.

Charisma

Harper's Bazaar Undergoes Redesign & Launches With Double Gwyneth Paltrow Cover.

above: 2012 Harper's Bazaar March double cover design by Robin Derrick

After ten years, the US version of Harper's Bazaar has undergone a redesign to be unveiled on newsstands February 14th.

The new March cover is a double cover featuring Gwyneth Paltrow shot by photographer Terry Richardson. It was designed by Robin Derrick, who was the Creative Director for ten years of British Vogue until last June.

I wish they'd had to the courage to simply run the clean cover featuring the obscured Paltrow, but alas, they felt the need to include the more traditional looking one featuring content titles and the face of the blonde beauty- undoubtedly thinking that would sell more issues.

They've returned to their original elegant Didot font for the article titles on the cover and the feel of the stark cover is reminiscent of the timeless work of Harper's Bazaar legendary creative director, Alexey Brodovitch.


above: 1956 Harper's Bazaar July cover design by Alexey Brodovitch

The new clean look of the front cover is also similar to my personal favorite cover of theirs from the past few decades designed by Fabien Baron for the September, 1992 issue featuring model Linda Evangelista shot by Patrick Demarchelier and shown below:


above: 1992 Harper's Bazaar September Cover design by Fabien Baron

Here's a look at the Gwyneth Paltrow editorial photos shot by Terry Richardson for the newly redesigned March issue:






above: Terry Richardson photos of Gwyneth Paltrow for the new March issue

WWD reports:
Glenda Bailey clutched the magazine close to her chest, like a Giants running back about to charge the Patriots’ defensive line. It was the first copy of the first redesign of Harper’s Bazaar in a decade, and she was understandably possessive of it.

“Let’s wait a minute,” said Bazaar’s editor in chief, taking a seat in an otherwise empty conference room on the 16th floor of Hearst Tower. “I just returned from the collections. How are you?”

The March issue finally lands on the table and it’s the cover that subscribers will receive. It shows a leggy blonde, wearing a skin-baring, long black dress from relatively new designer Anthony Vaccarello. Her long, wavy hair is covering her face. Is that a model?

“It’s Gwyneth Paltrow,” Bailey proclaimed. “It’s a very daring thing to do, where you don’t immediately see her face.” Bailey added, “As you know, I was the first to develop this two-cover approach.”

Here’s how the new Harper’s Bazaar can be summed up: it’s like the party guest who you recognize when she enters the room, but you know she’s had work done — a lot of work.

The magazine is larger by one inch, the paper quality is noticeably thicker and there is new cover typography. Inside the issue, the pages look less cluttered and thrown together, with more white space, while sections are more tightly edited. So far, there’s less celebrity and the related popcorn stories that can come with that. But in some ways, it still feels like the old Harper’s Bazaar. The black logo is the same. The emphasis is still on high fashion.


above: an example of an interior editorial from the newly redesigned Harper's Bazaar

“It’s going to take a while to get through it,” Bailey said with some pride, paging through all the advertisements in the front of the book. “It’s up 15.5 percent in ad pages, you know. We’re going to be here for a while.”

These are the results of new publisher Carol Smith, who has called March her first issue even though she joined last May. The turnaround in March ad pages is significant. The prior year, ad pages fell 12 percent, to 235. New advertisers include Tom Ford Fashion, Hervé Léger, David Webb, Alberta Ferretti, Alexis Bittar, RéVive, Nexxus and Lucky Brand.

But while the redesign gives Smith and Bailey a new tale to tell, Bazaar still has a lot of ground to make up — it remains the fourth fashion title in terms of ad pages, behind Vogue, InStyle and Elle.

Bailey landed on the first new section, “The List.” Almost every new section starts with the word “the.”

“This is the ultimate list of things to be aware of this month,” Bailey said. Paltrow has also produced a list of her own, “The A List.” Next up, the first of several “exclusives,” in the issue, beginning with a bracelet from Cartier that was originally designed by the brand in the Seventies. Editors at the magazine had been asking about it for years and it’s been reissued. “It really will be the must-have piece,” she said.

A few more tidbits from the issue: Derek Blasberg’s “Best-Dressed List,” an online feature, has become a monthly magazine column. Another story covers 24 hours with Tom Ford. He woke up at 4:30 a.m., took four baths and ate two doughnuts. The beauty section has been expanded, from four pages to 10 in every issue. Bailey has introduced a monthly travel section, “The Escape.” She plans to report on more news every month, to include the latest on art, film, books and trends. And she has kept the monthly feature “Fabulous at Every Age.” Bailey has even expanded upon it, in the beauty section.

Terry Richardson, a longtime contributor, photographed Paltrow for the cover. Karl Lagerfeld, Dan Jackson and Karim Sadli also shot features in the issue. Artist Liu Bolin painted designers including Alber Elbaz and Angela Missoni. “I just saw Alber and he told me there is still paint on his glasses,” Bailey added.

Mark Halperin and John Heilemann wrote a piece about Sarah Palin, pegged to the HBO movie of “Game Change,” based on their book. Lisa DePaulo has a piece about Stephanie Mack, the daughter-in-law of Bernie Madoff, while Vicky Ward wrote about Bernard-Henri Lévy.

When plans for the redesign were revealed in November, many observers were surprised to hear Robin Derrick, former creative director of British Vogue, was hired to consult. He ended up spending about a month on the project, not just working on the magazine but also on all of Bazaar’s social media. Later this year, the magazine will launch e-commerce — the latest move in the ongoing transformation of magazines from merely editorial and advertising vehicles to brands that literally sell the products they cover. “We’ve started to redesign online and we will see that continue,” Bailey added.

She said the new design approach can be summed in one sentence: “It is Didot Caps, Didot Italics and also an introduction of Gotham,” she said, talking typography and taking the magazine back into her hands.

A reporter asked if she could take the issue with her. Bailey replied: “I wish you could but I’m afraid you can’t. These are extremely rare. The team hasn’t even got a copy yet.”

With that, Bailey took hold of the issue and headed to the elevator. The fashion world will have to wait until it hits newsstands on Feb. 14 to see the new look.

images courtesy of Harper's Bazaar