The Progression of a Moment

I think by now pretty much everyone has already seen these pictures taken by Donald J outside the Dolce & Gabbana show. After all, they were posted several times on tFS. So you might be asking yourself, "why the heck is she posting these now?"

Well, I got an e-mail from Donald J with the images (hello and thanks Donald!), which made me take a closer look at these pictures that I had previously only taken a cursory glance at. And what I saw was the progression of a moment, made all the more beautiful and forlorn because it shows an antagonistic juxtaposition of a personal moment against a very public situation. If for some reason you're unfamiliar with Donald J, please be sure to check out his tumblr and his facebook. He has some really beautiful candids up.

I guess these images struck me harder this time because I could see a narrative and context. I'd previously seen them in bits and pieces, posted and reposted, rendered away from their context and each other. But aggregated together like this in a series, these pictures become so interesting. Perhaps I'm alone in feeling this way, but I don't get as excited by candids anymore. I kind of feel like if you've seen one you've seen them all. Yes Freja looks nice, oh look she's wearing black, but that's about it.

But with these I see personal and public spheres in conflict. A moment between friends looks oddly strange set against the chaos taking place outside of a show. Models are just regular girls (granted, with amazing genes) yet they increasingly live under more scrutiny from people like you and me, perpetuated by blogs like this one. Some might argue that this is the inevitable result of (and riffing off of Walter Benjamin here) living in the age of digital reproduction. But I still don't think it's necessarily fair that we judge their private lives based on small moments captured by cameras. So when I look at this progression of a moment I see a microcosm of all the issues and conflicts that fame and recognition bring.

I'm not really sure where I'm going with this...if anywhere at all. I guess it's just important to be cognizant of the constructs we take part in. And it's also important to remember that any picture we see is nothing but a small fragment of time, separated from both it's past and future. If we're lucky we'll get a progression like this, giving us some more substance to chew on; but most of the time we're left in the dark. And the danger comes when we don't realize it.

Sorry if you think I'm being too "contrived," or if you think I'm just making all this shit up. I guess I am....but aren't we all? Frankly it's why this blog exists. It's a way to help me understand the why and the how, instead of just settling merely for the who, what, where and when.

Image Credits: donaldj.tumblr.com, facebook.com/DonaldJPhotography

Campaign Rumblings

Edit: Apparently it is not Freja in Balmain or IM. Sorry for the false alarm. I should know better by now than to perpetuate unsubstantiated rumors, but it's hard not to get caught up in the frenzy. It still doesn't change the way I feel about campaign distribution. Anyway, continue along with your saturdays.....

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Three names, one model......two more campaigns? Balmain and Isabel Marant if you believe the hints and sly suggestions.

And I definitely do. Just take a look at the opening and closing exits in the FW1011 shows, and keep in mind who led the final promenades.

Also remember that Max Mara is already a given....just another brand with strong connections to Carine, Emmanuelle and the VP universe. Need I mention that both Balmain and IM are in that universe too?

Now take a look at the Vogue Paris Collections Cover, and the pieces begin to fit into place.

So the only thing I'm left wondering is, which month can we expect to see Freja on the cover of VP?

But for the sake of covering all the bases, there are lots of other models with three part monikers: Abbey Lee Kershaw, Anna Maria Jagodzinska, Caroline Brasch Nielsen, Hanne Gaby Odiele....but my mind keeps returning to just one: Freja Beha Erichsen.

Am I happy? Yes. But do I have reservations? Of course. I just never think it's a good thing when one model has a ton of campaigns because her work tends to lose impact when it's spread out over so much. And there is a lot of truth to the saying "you have to leave them wanting more." Over saturation usually leads to disappearance of the product or apathy from the consumers soon enough. So I guess we'll just see how this all plays out. Yeah, I know I'm not a very good fan because I should be all like "omg, this is amazing and the best thing ever." But I can't help feeling the way I feel....

Count It

So I haven't been as motivated or inspired to post much the last few days. Maybe that's because there's really not much to post about right now? Although I have to admit that lately I've been feeling the pressure (from no one but myself) to update every day or so, which was leading me down the path of posting for posting's sake. But then I had an epiphany: the world won't stop if I go a few days without updating. My "followers" count won't dwindle down to single digits just because people's RSS feeds stay silent. I can take some time, gather my sanity, refresh my eyes and renew my thoughts and no one will notice. (And while I'm at it I can use my free time to catch up on RAFW shows instead of writing long, babbling blog posts like this one is sure to be.)

All of this got me thinking, how did I managed it before? Why am I having so much trouble coming up with something to write about now? And then another epiphany: the reason I've been able to blog so much and so easily these past few months is because Freja's had an amazing, absolutely stellar year so far. She's basically been working non-stop since the Fall of last year and we've seen the results in editorial after editorial, month after month. Not to mention a successful FW1011 show season in the middle of it all that caught enough attention to warrant a Vogue Paris Collections cover dedication. Only now are things showing signs of slowing, leaving me to to rack my brain for other topics to yammer about.

But enough about me and back to Freja's amazing year. To put it into perspective, I've counted up and broken down the number of editorials and covers that Freja has had in the first five months of each year of her career. We're talking a year by year comparison of her work for the months of January through May (reprints included), with the exception of 2005 where we only have (iffy) records for August through December.

(I didn't use the scientific process to come up with these counts, so there's bound to be some errors but you should get the general idea.)

2005 August - Dec: 16 editorials, 5 covers
2006 January - May: 13 editorials, 2 covers
2007 January - May: 11 editorials, 1 cover
2008 January - May: 7 editorials, 1 covers
2009 January - May: 8 editorials, 2 covers
2010 January - May: 18 editorials, 5 covers

So you're looking at the numbers and the gradual decrease seems natural, especially in the modeling world where the younger and newer the girl, the hotter the commodity. Longevity is rare, longevity at a high level even rarer. 16 to 13 to 11 to 7 to 8 and then bam, 18! Freja's seemingly had a better run these last few months than she had during the first few months of her career. The numbers don't lie. Someone is having a huge moment.

I am even going to go so far as to say that Freja is unmatched by any other model this year in terms of the quality, proficiency and sheer prolific nature of her work. (Can you name anyone else who comes even close to Freja's counts for the year so far?) Of course, only the passage of time will truly tell us how indelible her impression will be upon the annals of fashion history, because we all know how easy it is to get caught up in the moment. But for the time being, I think it's ok for us fans to revel in that moment. For it's turning out to be a pretty big one.

So let the counts marinate in your mind, acknowledge the accomplishments, and wish like hell that these next five months are just as good to us and Freja as these last have been.

Aussie Love

Freja seems to have a knack for connecting with Australians. Not only is she good friends with Abbey Lee, but it appears that she's also taken newbie Aussie model Julia Nobis under her wing. Julia made quite the impression this past season with her laid-back, tomboyish demeanor when she debuted as a Calvin Klein exclusive in New York. Watch the following interview with her starting at 1:00 for the Freja shout out:

Stuff like this makes me happy. I always love hearing good things about the models I admire, and I'm just so glad that Freja isn't too jaded or apathetic after half a decade of modeling to care about guiding the younger generation. After all, I'm sure she's just a well of knowledge considering all her experiences at such a high international level for all those 5 years. Lucky Julia. Lucky any new model who gets to pick the brain of a successful model like Freja.

We hear so many stories about how hard it is for young models to start out, how hard it is to adjust to the crazy lifestyle, how hard it is to keep the momentum and hype going without losing your head, how hard it is to keep your feet on the ground. I'm super relieved and glad that some of the veterans are watching out for the young ones because somebody has to. Makes you wonder what other mentoring relationships exist out there. I think I've heard Anja and Karlie? Have you heard of any?

Anyway, speaking of Australia...if you miss the excitement that comes with fashion week and you need your model fix, you can take comfort and solace in the fact that Australia's Rosemount Fashion Week has started. So check it out. Lots of girls are walking. Granted they're not huge model names, but girls who made impressions during FW1011 like Lauren Brown and Ali Carr are there. If you're interested you can see looks from the shows at vogue.com.au. And maybe it will tide you over until May 11th and the Chanel Cruise show. :)

Dedicated?

The FW1011 issue of the Vogue Paris Collections is seemingly dedicated to Freja. At least that's what you can surmise by looking at the cover above. Army of Frejas in the foreground, huge Freja face looming in the background. All Freja, all the time. I'm not complaining, but I do find it very strange. The cover images for these issues are usually divided between many different models, so I wonder why this one is all Freja?

Perhaps we can expect something else big coming up? Like a cover? Perhaps Carine et al are anointing Freja as the new Daria and so we can expect to see her shot by Inez and Vinoodh for every issue? Perhaps someone at VP is a huge Freja fan like we are? Or perhaps they're just trying to capitalize on the Freja-mania that seems to be so prevalent of late? Am I missing any "perhaps's"? What do you think?

Image Credits: vogue.fr via tFS member CrisGalaxy