What the beautiful people Want for christmas

plus: the gift of meloni mitchell

In Vietnam: US$5 - VND80,000east-westmag.com

December 2009

6dec 2009

contributors

Vi Le is a freelance journalist interested in travel, fashion, popularculture, and novel uses for rice cookers. Her work has been published in Pathfinder and Fleet Street News; she has also produced broadcast news and television programs for Vietnam Television. She enjoys Alan Ball, Rahmin Bahrani, Jhumpa Lahiri and the idea of surfing.

US-born sociologist and musician, Don Morgan, is often asked how he became a travel writer, and he typically replies, “Like excellence at pool, it is a sign of a misspent youth.” He has contributed to several travel publications, most extensively to the back-packer website Travelfish for Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and, in particular Vietnam, covering the length and breadth of the country by motorbike over the course of a year. He is based in Hanoi, 46 years old, 5’8”, and fond of long walks on the beach and romantic dinners. He can be contacted at DHMorgan@aol.com.

Sara Lando, 31, lives and works between Bassano del Grappa and Milan as a portrait and fashion photographer. She studied photography at Rhode Island School of Design but owes the Internet all she knows. Sara has worked for Nokia, Samsung, and Canon. Her pictures have been published in several Italian and international magazines: Vogue Gioiello, Pig, Trip, Aria, Fotocult, and Digital Lifestyle.

Lolita Guevarra returns to writing after working for a few years in publishing. Deeply rooted in academia, she left journalism to work as a research assistant at Hoover Institution only to be persuaded to work in marketing at Stanford University Press. Granted a promotion at the University of California Press, she took it and relished at the accessibility of the gourmet ghetto in downtown Berkeley. She has since left the food haven to travel. She is based in Hanoi and writes primarily on the environment, fashion, gastronomy, and travel. Her curious insight to the world can be found at tuesdayzgone.blogspot.com.

58dec 2009

live beautiful

During rare, auspicious moments an individual surfaces in a life and their appearance manifests as a possibility—and the possibility glistens, beckons in the darkness like an exposure of destiny.

Meloni Mitchell: A retrospective. The photographs that inspired my March 4th email

59dec 2009

27 November 2009, 10:08 pmHo Chi Minh City, VietnamOn Wednesday, 4 March 2009 I scripted the email. I hit the send button. Within moments the

message reached the inbox of Meloni Mitchell, a model whose online portfolio I spied while doing fashion-related research for a European magazine.

We are now on the cusp of December, embedded in the reflective part of the year that sends most of us cascading back through memory, recalling that which worked or didn’t work, was wonderful or not so wonderful--and if we are a member of an elite lucky club, that which shone exquisite.

I am sitting in the East & West editorial office in Ho Chi Minh City. Minh our genius graphic designer sits opposite me. We have just completed the cover for our December issue. Or should I say he has? I have simply been standing over him dancing between dictatorial and awestruck. He is infinitely patient and thankfully good-humored. Every now and then we strike a cord of the heaven sent. Our December cover is one such example. In the next few paragraphs, I will explain why.

Nine months ago, I was leading a rather morose life in San Francisco. After spells in Europe and Africa, the Bay Area felt like a bit of a province. I wanted to leave the States and work exclusively as a writer.

I had just completed a novel, a dramatic, rehashed tale of an affair which crept to a mortifying end. In search of a shift in focus, I began writing for an online magazine that covered European trends and culture. I had an idea for their fashion section. I wanted to interview models working in Europe. I pitched the concept. I harbored hopes of a regular column. All I had to do was string together a list of captivating faces who would consent to an interview. After several red-eye nights looking at online model portfolios, I put together a list of models I wanted to write about. Meloni Mitchell--a relative unknown who divided her time between Milan, Los Angeles and Tokyo--was one of the girls at the top of my list.

Meloni had something unusual. There was a twist of exotic burning in the pale blue eyes, the near transparent skin, and these cheekbones which surfaced as a throwback to a seemingly ancient Native America. Buried within the pages of her portfolio was an eccentric lightness. Refreshingly absent of the vamp persona, Meloni possessed the look of an actress whose name laid frustratingly on the tip of one’s tongue, yet whose visage one could not easily forget.

Meloni was my first model interview. She opened a door. She gave me the excuse to walk through. She got me writing something different after the bloodletting of the first novel.

During rare, auspicious moments an individual surfaces in a life and their appearance manifests as a possibility—and the possibility glistens, beckons in the darkness like an exposure of destiny. In hindsight, the individual is recognized as a gift. With courage, one lays apprehension aside, fingers the velvet ribbon, takes a deep breath, pulls the bow--and bares enough bravado to tear open the wrapping.

Thank you, Meloni Mitchell.

tHe Gift Of MelONi MitcHellText by: Isabell Seraf in. Photographs by: Lenka Ulrichova, Ron Goldstein and Sam Hessamian

60dec 2009

MoDel MoMents:

Photographer, Sara Lando

and Meloni Mitchell get festive.

Dresses by Dorafalù.

61dec 2009

MoDel MoMents:

Photographer, Sara Lando

and Meloni Mitchell get festive.

Dresses by Dorafalù.

62dec 2009

63dec 2009

65dec 2009

66dec 2009