In the Pages

Freja may not be fashion's current it girl a la Lara Stone, and she may not be Inez and Vinoodh's muse of the moment a la Anja Rubik, but that doesn't mean we won't be seeing her in the pages of magazines.

If you pick up the August issue of W Magazine featuring Ms. Stone herself on the cover, you'll spot Freja three times throughout the issue. The benefits of having a great campaign season! Even if editorials and covers are slow, we have the ads (and a lot of them this time around).

I must say that all three shots are much better in real life. There is still something to be said for traditional print media, and this is why I hope magazines never become obsolete. Digitalization and the internet are great for quickly disseminating information and democratizing access, but you definitely lose something in the translation. Images just seem to pop more when you're holding them on paper in front of you.

That being said, here are the images digitally. :) We've seen them all before, but hopefully you'll get a better sense of how great they are in higher quality. Still doesn't compare to seeing it on paper though.

Chanel:



This one is really gorgeous on the page. The mood and tone of the image definitely sticks out among all the other campaigns. The anachronism of Chanel clothes in a bucolic setting really make you pause. (Sorry for cutting Heidi out. It's hard to scan double pages in W.)

Pollini:



Again, just stunning on the page. Freja's expression and face really make this ad for me.

J Brand:



So colorful and cheery. Seeing this ad just makes me smile. This is on the back inside cover of the magazine. Notice that they photo-shopped some, but not all, of Freja's tattoos out. Why the pick and choose? And also notice the double piercing in her ear lobe. New? I don't recall Freja having that before. Sometimes it's like "Where's Waldo" with her. You always have to keep your eyes open for new tattoos, piercings, haircuts, etc...

Take a good look at all three images. They're all in the same issue of W, but I just love how different Freja looks in all of them. The uninitiated masses probably can't even recognize that it's the same girl in all three ads. Chameleon-like versatility is the sign of a good model. No matter how many times Freja is labeled as the androgynous, tough girl, I'll always know that she's much more than that. This is why she's survived so long in the very fickle fashion industry.

Image Credits: My scans

Tally It Up!

Freja is having an amazing ad campaign season. Last season she only had Karl Lagerfeld and she shared campaign duties with Daria for Roberto Cavalli. This season the tally looks quite different:

Gucci
Chanel
Gap
J Brand Jeans

And now we get to add Pollini as well!

Freja walked on their FW0910 runway for the first time in her career, but she only had one look and she neither opened nor closed the show. Consequently, it's quite a surprise to see her in the ad campaign.

Last season the honor went to Elise Crombez, but that was a little more expected because she made a special appearance on their SS09 runway. These days Elise is pretty much retired from the catwalks except for the occasional Prada stint, so when we saw her walking the show an ad campaign made sense. Runway shows are generally (but not always) a reliable indicator of what to expect model wise in ad campaigns.

Pollini is a show that usually relies on newer models to walk its catwalk. After all, it is a more obscure and smaller label in the fashion scene and so you can't expect all the big name models to come out like they do for Gucci. Freja's appearance on their catwalk was surprising, but it didn't raise any flags for me as a few other established girls like Raquel, Marina and Kinga walked the show as well. I'm quite happy to be taken off guard though!

Jonathan Saunders designs for Pollini in addition to designing under his eponymous label shown in New York. Just in case you forgot, Freja also walked that show for the first time this past season.

I think we might have another Freja fan on our hands here. And if this is the case, then perhaps it's more likely that Freja will make the trip out to London fashion week this upcoming season.

By the way, I think the ad is wonderful. I find the busy, colorful, whimsical background very endearing. It's a nice change of pace and it provides a good foil to the clothing. I hope we get to see more images, but I think Pollini only does one shot. Freja does hard-edged glamour so well that she has the market absolutely cornered in that look. However, I'm looking forward to seeing some of her other sides in her other campaigns for this season.

Image Credits: Scanned by tFS member Luxx, scanned by tFS member sedirea, style.com