Focus: “Exposing photographers,” says New York Post’s Richard Johnson
In today’s New York Post, gossip King Richard Johnson reveals a tid-bit from the opening pages of Focus, telling how King of the Selfies, photographer Terry Richardson, was dissed by the often naked pop princess Miley Cyrus. “The book, exposing photographers from Richard Avedon to Richardson, is out July 5th,” Johnson writes.
Calvin Klein comes clean?
Word comes via WWD that retired designer Calvin Klein is “writing” a book, though he adds, “I’m not big on looking back.” For those who would like to look back, Calvin Klein’s masterful advertising is discussed in depth in Focus, out July 5th. Meantime, here is my controversial profile of the designer from 1988 that […]
How Safe is Your Hotel in the Age of Daesh Terror?
The latest issue of Departures presciently addresses terror and travel in a special section. It’s a subject that seems all the more urgent after this week’s Brussels attacks. My story on the latest in hotel safety is here. The illo is by Owen Freeman.
Focus is “equally delicious and deeply informative,” says Sheila Weller
“Michael Gross‘s FOCUS is that rare thing: an equally delicious and deeply informative book, a news-breaking romp through the world of fashion photography, from its beginnings early in the last century to the recent controversial exploits of super bad boy Terry Richardson,” says Sheila Weller, the bestselling author of GIRLS LIKE US and THE NEWS […]
Focus is “Fabulous…amazing,” says columnist Liz Smith.
Liz Smith devotes her entire column to an advance peek at Focus today. “It is a phantasmagoria of gossip, history, fabulous times, terrible times; the men (and a couple of women) who turned their creative lenses onto runways, clothes, models and (as in the case of Richard Avedon) onto America itself,” the columnist writes. “If […]
Weekend Dose of Donald: How the Angry Populist feathered a nest of Happy Plutocrats
In which I return to the Daily Beast to tell the tale of how Republican front-runner Donald J. Trump invented the Billionaire’s Belt, or as the Beast puts it, “New York City’s crass luxury hell.” A strange-but-true story based on the book House of Outrageous Fortune.
Nino Cerruti lauds Focus
Nino Cerruti, the renowned Italian fashion designer and red carpet favorite of Hollywood’s elite, is the latest early reader of Focus: The Sexy, Secret, Sometimes Sordid World of Fashion Photographers. “Focus is the ‘House of Cards’ of fashion,” Cerruti says.
Tim Gunn on Focus: “Enthralling”
Project Runway star and former Parsons School of Design chairman Tim Gunn says, “I thought I knew practically everything about the fashion industry, but Michael Gross has corrected me. His thoroughly absorbing narrative dazzles with the most profound investigation and research. Focus is an enthralling and riveting read!”
Daily Dose of Donald: This is Populism?
In June 1990, for his forty-forth birthday, Donald J. Trump missed a deadline for a $42 million payment on the bonds that financed one of his Atlantic City, NJ, casinos, Trump Castle, and a $30 million payment on a personally guaranteed loan, and Moody’s Investor Services downgraded the ratings of bonds for the Taj and […]
Daily Dose of Donald: Marriage=Boredom
“I went from one marriage to another, which was a mistake,” Donald J. Trump says in a 1999 interview first reported in My Generation, at last available as an e-book. “Marla [Maples Trump] is a good girl, and I had a good marriage with her, but it’s just that I get fuckin’ bored. One of […]