A Tribute to the Godfather, my idol: Steven Meisel

Steven Meisel: World-renowned photographer (Take that Nigel!), Classmates and Best friend of Anna Sui, Maker of fashion's top models, Best-friend and father figure to most of the A-List models, Introduced Madonna to the idea of reinvention, and Photographer for all Italia Vogue's cover since 1988.

He was exactly what I want to be. Except for the fact that I want to be a journalist in fashion and not a photographer. Then again he did do magazines before becoming a photographer, Womens' Wear Daily for one.

Reading through the coverage of him by Jonathan Van Meter in Vogue was inspiring and in a way a pretty big 'LUCK' that I found this treasure.

It is on sheer luck that I found THE GODFATHER (dubbed from Vogue May 2009) and idolizes him as fast as a lightning flash pass. But the difference of it from lightning is that lightning flash pass and disappear without a trace in a mere second and he was stuck in my head till now.

It was a unplanned day out with my bud, Joey. I called, she picked up and in 10 minutes I was on my way to fetch her out. When we met, the big question of all young adults popped, "Where should we go?" Making a snap decision, we went to The Curve for Borders as we both wanted to look at some reference books, her was Designing (Graphic and Adv) whereas I obviously was looking at fashion design (predictable huh?).

We went to the wrong carpark when we reached (Cineleisure instead of The Curve). Smart! As usual (can't blame me for not driving in Malaysia for half a year). So, we parked in the 'wrong' parking area and went up to the 'wrong' shopping mall. As we scale up the escalator, there was rows and rows of magazines lying on long tables across the Cineleisure concourse. I whizzed pass, stealing a glance over the pile and saw old magazines. Most from last year and the year before. I dismissed the idea of stopping and decided to come after the Borders salvage.

Okay... now to speed up the story
>>>>>> Two hours later>>>>>>>
Back to the magazine pile up, I ran through the stuff, I saw Vogues, W, Elle, Times,Mens' Health, Womens' Health, Golf, and it goes on. Main point, I saw piles of Vogue from last year. Have most of it already and was planning to leave. That was the moment, the cover of Vogue May 2009 caught my eye. The Model Issue. There it was, sitting neatly next to a pile of "I already have those". Pick it up and saw Natalia Vodianova, one of the three girls on the front that I recognize.

I flicked open the magazine and it was a spread cover with some of the most noted models. Still wondering why they didn't place Gisele there. Hmph! The issue was focused on Models, duh? The Model Issue.

So I bought and read it. Meisel's story was pretty damn interesting. It was more of an fashion epic than an biographical article. From how he used to visit Saks and Bergdorf and how he always teams up with Anna Sui and go around town picking random girls, dress em' up and take fabulous photos - It was all captivating. I understood how models and people in the fashion industry adores him. He was like a Guru enlightened with wisdom of the above. A Holy Saint, I must say. Looking through his works of art was definitely breathtaking especially one of the ads from 2009, Lanvin Fall 2009 ad.

I am so grateful how things turn out that day and I got my hands on the book. Loved it till the very last bits including the article on Lynn Yaeger surviving after losing her job. I have to say this is the best issue of Vogue I've ever read.

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So there you go, my tribute to the mighty Meisel.

You're my Idol. Standing in line with Anna Wintour. Both have all that I want. Hopefully one day I would join your ranks in the Vogue Hall of Fame. Fingers crossed and work hard!

Boarding on Fashion Airlines F0509. Final Destination, Vogue US. New York, Here I come!