New York Living

After hearing about it a few weeks ago in the interview below, we now have official confirmation that Freja has moved to New York.

@ 1:10

Here is the direct quote from her official site:

She has moved to NY earlier this week and hasn't got any Internet connection up running yet, so unfortunately she can't monitor this board right now.

When I first heard about it in the interview, I thought maybe Freja was talking about getting a second apartment. You know, a place to land whenever she's in the city for work, which has been quite often of late. After all, she's made no secret of her love for Denmark and her satisfaction living there. So it's a little surprising to me that she would make this move now.

For the past five years Freja has successfully managed to do her job very well, all while maintaining a home base in Copenhagen. Her career is totally established and she's well known and (I'm assuming) well paid enough to live wherever she wants to. So why would she choose to make this move now?

Only Freja can answer that question, but that's not going to stop me from mulling it over and coming up with some reasons as to why I think she moved now.

1. We've seen a very steady uptick recently in the amount of work Freja has put out. Perhaps things reached a fever-pitch and the move was a necessary, common sense response for her heath and sanity's sake. Constantly traveling across the globe definitely takes it's toll on the body and it's circadian rhythms.

2. In addition to dressing the part now, Freja is finally committing to the fashion industry and fully accepting her role within it. This move is just the last piece of the puzzle. Most girls move within a few months after starting their career so Freja's situation is definitely an anomaly. She stayed true to her "rebel" reputation and did things her own way. Simultaneously, this move could also be seen as a sign of maturity in that she's growing out of this rebel phase and into adulthood. Which brings me to....

3. Freja's reached that point in her life where she wants more independence and freedom. She wants to live completely on her own terms, to see if she's strong enough to survive in a new city. She has matured into young adulthood and moving away from home is the most tangible expression of that. I think we all feel something similar when we transition from our teens into our twenties, so maybe it's no coincidence that this move coincides with her 22nd birthday. It also helps that...

4. All her model friends live in NY and hang out together. Maybe Freja just didn't want to be apart from that any more. Yes, she has her family and childhood friends in Denmark, but there comes a point in one's life when you just want to strike out on your own. And friend geography helps you determine where that should happen. I know that I'm living where I am because of my friends.

5. The lure of the city that never sleeps was just too strong to deny any longer.

6. Her motivations are none of the above and not professionally related at all. If this is the case, then it's none of our business. :)

Do you think I'm missing anything? Even though I can't figure out why Freja moved now, this is exciting for us fans because of it's implications. New York is one of the centers of the fashion industry, so Freja's move to it implies that we'll be seeing even more work from her. It also implies that she'll be sticking around a lot longer than any of us thought.

Proof positive that things can and do change for the better. If you told me one year ago that Freja was going to start an official site, have one of her best campaign seasons ever and move to NY I would have called you crazy. Knowing that all this has actually happened in the past year, I'm excited and a little scared to see where we'll be one year from now.

BTW, thanks everyone for the wonderful comments yesterday about the anniversary of this blog and Freja's b-day. You would think a few words from people you don't know wouldn't make a difference, but they do. They make all the difference in the world.

Morning Video Roundup

Now that the shows are over, don't forget to check youtube for all the videos that are uploaded/will be uploaded in the next few weeks. There is a plethora of great stuff out there, and for most of us this is closest we'll ever get to being backstage ourselves.

After Karl Lagerfeld @ 1:15 (Freja Speaks)

Valentino Backstage @ 1:38

Versace Backstage @ :45, 3:00, 4:28, 4:50

Most of this footage consists of very quick glimpses, but hopefully we'll get a proper FTV interview later on. Those usually take a lot longer to pop up...sometimes not even until next season, but they're definitely worth the wait. Fingers crossed...

Happy Birthday Freja!

Today is Freja's 22nd birthday and the one year anniversary of this blog. Yes, I started this all as a 21st birthday present to Freja one year ago.

Cut to one year later and I never thought I'd still be doing this. I never thought people would actually care enough to read my words and hear my rambling analysis. I never thought Freja would make a resurgence and log one of her best years in terms of campaigns, editorials and runway appearances. I never thought she'd start an official site complete with a blog. It's pretty clear I never thought about a lot of things, but I'm glad they have all happened.

So thank you so much for your time, attention and all your enthusiastic comments. I started this for Freja but now I continue on for you, the Freja fans. And thank you so much, of course, to Freja for being this blog's inspiration and muse. Her uncompromisingly cool attitude, laid-back personality and rebel approach towards fashion keeps us all on the edge of our seats wanting more.

I'm sure Freja doesn't read this blog, much less know of it's existence; but I'm fine with that because it was never my intention. So I hope I can keep this running for as long as she has a career; and let us hope that that's a long time coming. But more than this, I hope that all of you continue to find solace, escape, happiness and whatever it is you are searching for, in our favorite model. Because isn't that what brings all of us back to her work? Isn't that why we just can't get enough?

I hope this upcoming year brings you as much satisfaction, enjoyment and creative release as the past year writing this blog has brought to me. And lastly, I hope that Freja has another year full of professional success, but more importantly, personal health, growth and happiness because she deserves it.

Happy Birthday Freja! Let's commemorate this occasion by taking a look at her very first runway appearance as a FW0506 Prada semi-exclusive at the ripe old age of 17.

@ 0:15

Amazing what four years experience and confidence can do. She really has matured into a beautiful, self assured young woman.

The Spectace of Chanel

Some of you were asking for this, so here it goes...

Chanel shows have always been about a spectacle. Each one is centered around some grand concept and set piece. Karl doesn't just give you models walking down a runway; he gives you models set in a completely different world each season. For his SS10 show, this different world was located in the country...perhaps on a farm in the Vermont countryside. It's no secret Karl has had a fascination with Vermont of late. He bought a farm house there where he shot the past two Chanel campaigns. And for many of us who live in cities, Vermont can seem very otherworldly. Keeping this in mind, I think it's also pertinent to point out the larger context of the economic recession that we are living in. As much as it may seem like it, fashion does not exist in a vacuum. It's creative ideas are not immune to the dips and crests of the outside world. In fact, fashion must react to them quickly if it wants to stay afloat. And so the analysis that follows is couched within these two ideas of spectacle and recession. With any other designer and any other design house, these two ideas would seem antagonistic. But since we are dealing with Karl and Chanel, they make perfect sense.

Karl knew he had to deliver something memorable in this climate where everyone else is scaling back. So he went all out and set up a barn complete with dirt floor, grass and haystacks. I believe this was his most outlandish effort to date. After all, hauling in truckloads of dirt, reconstructing a country barn, and building a stage that rises out of the ground can't be cheap. It seems like he was turning things up a notch in the hopeful attempt to compensate for any negative effects of the downturn.

The ending scene with Freja, Baptiste and Lara was just one part of the entire spectacle. I think people were making it out to be more of a big deal than it actually was. (If you watch the video, you see the kiss is just a tiny peck.) Karl was already moving in this direction when Lara and Baptiste kissed at the end of the Chanel Haute Couture show in July. And we don't even know if he instructed Freja and Lara to kiss at the end, or if they acted on their own impetus inspired by the moment. It could have been an improvised move by the two girls who are obviously friends and comfortable with each other. After all, they did kiss again as they were walking off the runway in what looked like a display of spontaneous and genuine affection between friends.

Whether it was Karl's plan or not, that final scene got people talking and made the Chanel show one of the more memorable and critically praised ones in Paris. (Read through the critics' quotes and you'll see that everyone enjoyed the levity of the show.) And so the spectacle battles against the recession. Some of you might consider this exploitation and I can see where you are coming from. But I don't think we can make this judgment because we simply don't know all the facts. Like I said before, we don't even know if Karl mapped out that final scene move by move, or if he just gave free reign to Freja, Baptiste and Lara to have fun. After all, the mood of the entire show was such with all the girls smiling, dancing and hamming it up, and with Lily Allen performing. And if the models acted out of their own will then it's not exploitation.

I also don't think Karl was outing Freja either. Everyone who knows the truth about her sexuality knows about it. Everyone who doesn't still won't after the Chanel show. (I think it's important to note here that the rumors about her sexuality have never been confirmed or denied, one way or another. We seem to forget that and just assume we know.) To the casual observer (who made up most of the audience) there was really nothing there to suggest anything about Freja's personal life. Because we are Freja fans, we take things like this and read our preconceived notions into them--we make suppositions based on what we think we know, and not on common sense. So no, I don't think this tells us any more about Freja or gives us any more insight into who she is and who she loves. I think it would be ridiculous to assume otherwise, just like it would be ridiculous to assume that Baptiste practices polygamy just because he was with two women. Or that Lara is a lesbian just because she kissed Freja back.

I don't have much else to say about the show. I think it was supposed to be a fantastic spectacle that transported the audience to a different place where problems of the real world didn't exist. I don't think Karl was exploiting anyone or trying to make some sweeping statement on sexuality. Maybe he was playing with androgyny a little bit, as he's been prone to do recently. (If he can dress his male muse Baptiste in women's clothes, why can't he dress his female muse Freja in men's?) Overall I think he just wanted for everyone to have fun and for everything to be as whimsical and over-the-top as possible; and recession be damned, I think he succeeded.

Feel free to disagree. :)

Image Credits: eastnews.ru, zimbio

Walking and Talking

If you're too busy during all the fashion month chaos, I guess the runway can be another good place to catch up with your friends, right? Here are Freja and Marina during the Sonia Rykiel final walk at 8:00:

And here are Lara and Freja during the Hermès final walk at :58.

Maybe this is something you only perfect and feel comfortable doing after a few seasons on the catwalk. After all, you have to be able to talk over all the noise and not lose focus so that you fall in your heels. :) It kind of breaks the fourth wall though, don't you think? Nevertheless, people do say that fashion should be more accessible, so I guess this is one way of doing it. And I wonder what was so interesting in either instance that couldn't wait till backstage...

And off topic, but this warrants a mention: Congrats to Freja for moving up the models.com rankings! A four spot leap up was bound to happen sooner or later with the help of those five FW0910 campaigns. If she keeps it up this season, I think she's in the running for top three! Maybe even top two once Raquel vacates the number one spot and moves to the icons list.