Freja is Back for Balenciaga

Add another brand to Freja's campaign count this season! The news comes from vogue.it (via tFS), so it's legitimate and confirmed instead of just speculations and hearsay:

"A bevy of top-model beauties and top-notch photographer: these are the ingredients behind Balenciaga's Fall-Winter 2010 campaign.

The legendary maison under the creative direction of Nicolas Ghesquière for more than a decade, features some of today's youngest and most successful supermodels: Freja Beha Erichsen, Stella Tennant, Mirte Maas, Karen Elson, Julia Step, Meghan Collinson (sic), Eliza Cummings and Iselin Steiro.

Steven Meisel, who photographs regularly for Vogue Italia and Vogue America, has already photographed the ads for a lot of French brands.

The styling has been overseen by Marie Amelie Sauvé, Ghesquière's friend and muse, along with being the stylist for the Italian and American editions of Vogue."

It will be great to see Freja modeling for Balenciaga again, along with the likes of Iselin, Karen and Stella (talk about flashback to the early 2000's!) As for the rest of the cast....I'm definitely apprehensive. On an individual model basis, my feelings run the gamut from absolute love to strong dislike. So I really don't know what to expect from a campaign combining all these girls with such differing aesthetic appeals. To make this more digestible, pictures arranged in alphabetical, first name order for those who don't know their models:

Now imagine how they will all fit into one campaign. Can you see it? I'm having a hard time discerning an overarching vision and cohesion here. Then again, maybe they'll be shot separately like the models were for SS09. Regardless, I'm happy that Freja has finally landed in a Meisel Campaign. Even though her two previous Balenciaga campaigns were both shot by David Sims, I still have high hopes for this one. The strange combination of models all put together might actually just work. Don't let us down Meisel. You have a lot to live up to, because it would literally be heaven to see something as good as these again:

SS06


FW0506

And talk about being at the top of your game. Congrats Freja on being both a Chanel and Balenciaga girl this season. You're as in demand as you ever were and finally making up for all those skipped seasons. :P

Image Credits: style.com, bwgreyscale

Prada and Milan

Freja walked Prada today as expected:

Unexpectedly, Sasha and Ymre (who was assumed to be Muiccia's current favorite) did not. Iselin made a return and the rest of the cast (minus Lara and Natasha) was full of new names and up-and-comers including Mirte Maas, the beauty who opened the Alexander Wang show and who had an impeccable New York showlist. Also unexpectedly, two Asian models and one black model walked the show. This is a big departure, albeit a good one, for Prada in that it has never been known for racial diversity on it's runway.

Miilan has officially begun! It's only day two and we're already shaking things up. Now let's see if the other shows will follow suit.

Image Credits: catwalking via tFS member Nils, fashionologie