>> For a man who has made a career out of fashion -- snapping ads for Marc Jacobs, shooting editorials -- Juergen Teller sure has an interesting view on the fashion world.  Kate Moss in particular:

I am astonished about the Kate Moss story, and not just the recent drugs affair. I'm astonished about the Kate Moss story, full stop. I don't quite understand it. I have known her personally very well, for about 16 years, since she was 15. She is an extraordinary woman, so much fun and so energetic. But to get to be such an icon, to have exploded like a rocket - I don't really get it. She is beautiful, but so are many others.  I don't think she looks any good in any photos of the past five years. In fact, she looks crap in all of her recent huge advertising campaigns. Chanel, Burberry, Rimmel. She looks awful. It's as if it's enough just for her to look something like Kate Moss. It's a dreadful life for her, to live in this position. And cocaine? What a surprise that was.

I have to agree with him on the wealth of disappointing Kate photos lately -- the Cavalli ads, the Marilyn Monroe editorial for W... all yuck.  In any case, if you happen to be in Paris, there's an exhibit on Mr. Teller's work at the Fondation Cartier from March 4 - May 21.

>> I dug up some old Chanel ads from the early nineties -- they are awesome.  I mean that, in a they're-ridiculous-and-I-laughed-out-loud kind of way.  First off, the famous French commercial for the men's fragrance Egoiste. 

The sequel to the Egoiste commercial:

And finally, Vanessa Paradis, the bird, for Coco Chanel: