ANDREA JANKE Finest Accessories: March 2011

Saturday, March 26, 2011

The Seventies by Roberto Cavalli

Roberto Cavalli Donna Summer 2011 showed a kind of über-Cavalli, it definetly connected with spring's major driving force - the seventies. But not the color-blocked, longer, looser, keep-it-clean decade. Specifically, it was the hipster-fleared-wearing, shark tooth and bead-strung fringe-purse-carrying, poker-straight hair variety idea of hippiedom.

Basically, the look Cavalli worked went two ways. On one hand, there was a multitude of sheer, floor-trailing hem dresses - there wasn't a single short variation in everything from delicate knit crochet to a crocodile-scale-effect dévoré silk chiffon, many of them slipped under shrunken, skinny-sleeved jackets patched out of crocodile, leather, and ostrich. On the other, there were tops with laced seaming atop low-slung trousers that ran along the curves of the leg till they kicked out over the ankles.

Both of these looks were very Cher-in-the-dating-Gregg-Allman-era, complete with soft, squashy shoulder bags swinging with so many she-strung tassels that it was often difficult to separate which were on the bags and which were on the clothes.

Roberto Cavalli SS 2011

Milan Fashion Week

Source: VOGUE

Photography by Marcio Madeira

'Gold, Copper, Bronze ... Roberto Cavalli'

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Harry Winston: After the Ads

In the modeling world we make such a big fuss over campaigns, but rarely do we get to assess how effective they are. So imagine my delight when I came across this article from WWD about Harry Winston jewelry sales. As we all know, Freja fronted their most recent ad campaign.

For the fourth retail quarter ending on January 31st, Harry Winston reported a 60% sales gain and a net income of $9.9 million dollars. Thing were already looking up for the company when they reported their third quarter results back in December. But sales stayed strong throughout the fourth quarter and beat analysts' expectations. So why am I talking about this? Because Freja's ads hit market saturation during this fourth quarter period (Nov-Jan).

Am I saying that Freja is the only reason why sales were so good? No, of course not. Yet I can't help but to think she certainly played a part. After all, she's been proven to sell as Franca has showed us:

"On July, 2010, three fashion magazines used the same Miu Miu dress, Vogue Uk, Elle Uk and W in America. Vogue UK had a model on the cover, Elle UK a singer - Lily Allen - and W Eva Mendes. In England sales were higher. Freja is the new icon for models. Eva Mendes didn't have an impact on W."

And where is a large majority of Freja's fan base located? Asian countries like China, Japan and Korea. Freja seems to have an unexplainable and ferocious appeal over there that perhaps no other model has. Her Asian fans are voracious when it comes to her and you can see that in the sites, forums and blogs that they've set up. Coincidentally (or not), Harry Winston sales in Asia were up 138% while sales in the US and Europe were only up 79% and 27% respectively.

Yes, everyone knows that Asia is the emerging market right now, but since Freja appeals to so many fans in Asia, I'm going to propose that she has great appeal to general consumers in Asia as well. So picking her as the face of the campaign made commercial sense (even though it didn't necessarily make the most fashion model sense at first), and it certainly seems to have paid off as well. Fourth quarter gains, good numbers, increasing sales; Freja and her ads did what they were supposed to do.

Of course, I don't really claim to know much about sales analysis. This is just where my mind went when I read the WWD article. I do consider myself somewhat of a Freja expert though, so that has to count for something, right? ;)

Some day, I'd love to get my hands on some Chanel sales figures......anyway, we should be proud of our girl. And we should also hope that some head honcho of a major cosmetics brand is putting as much thought into the matter as I am. High fashion campaigns. Check. Jewelry campaign. Perfume campaign. Check. Big time beauty contract? To be determined......

Monday, March 21, 2011

A Construction Worker Who Collects Rocks

Since we're sitting firmly in the quiet that comes post show season and pre campaign casting frenzy, I thought I'd share this snapshot of Freja from five years ago:

"Has been modeling for a year. Would have been a construction worker in a nother life. Lives in Copenhagen, Addicted to shopping and sleeping. Collects beach rocks. Q: Which three things would you take with you to a desert island? A: My lover, my bed and a private jet, so I could leave if I got bored."

File this under things I didn't know: Freja used to (or still does?) collect beach rocks. I love digging up old stuff like this because it's so interesting to think of how a person develops and what changes they go through in a lifetime, or even in a matter of a few years. And with models, it's so rare that they're actually around long enough for us to fondly remember their "early years" and look back on their career trajectory with such nostalgia. In this context, 2006 seems like ages ago, doesn't it?

If this snapshot were done today, I wonder what things would change and what things would remain the same? Everything would probably change, because that's what humans do; we change. Even if we look the same on the outside, our daily experiences shift us little by little until we're new versions of ourselves. So I'm going take a venture and propose that this snapshot would read something like this today:

"Has been modeling for 6 years. Would have been a musician in another life. Lives in New York. Addicted to her Balenciaga leather jacket and cigarettes. Collects Guitars." :)

As for the question of things to take to a desert island, your guess is as good as mine. In another five years, maybe things will read in an entirely different manner. But that's all just part of the fun; because in the end, the change and uncertainty is what keeps things relevant and keeps all of us tuned in for the ride.

Image Credits: My scan

From Color-Blocking To Hyperrealisme

My Favourites Summer Accessories -
Color-Blocking Allure by CASADEI

On my latest Promenade through Milano, Via Sant'Andrea, I adored this wonderful CASADEI-window - beautiful color-blocking allure and subtle, fashionable Orange. - I felt in love with those shoes!

The Surreal Genesis by Mary Katrantzou

Mary Katrantzou , - "I thought I was going to do a collection about the seventies photographs of Guy Bourdin and Helmut Newton: all those women incredible rooms. But the I started to look at the rooms more, and suddenly, I was putting the rooms on the women instead!" That explains the surreal genesis of Mary Katrantzou's Spring 2011 collection.

- All printed with images of lavish hotel and steroom interiors, and embellished with interior-deorator braid, tassels, and fringe trimmings. She'd digitalized fragments of pages from copies of Architectural Digest and The World of Interiors, amped up the color to hyperrealist level, and the started thinking about the possibilities of what she could do with curtains, chandeliers, wall sconces, and lampshades ...

CASADEI SS 2011, Via Sant'Andrea , Milan,
Photography by ANDREA JANKE

Mary Katrantzou SS 2011

New York Fashion Week

Source: Vogue

Photography by Marcio Madeira/firstView

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Lagerfeld Loyalty

For three years in row now, Freja has been the face of Karl Lagerfeld eyewear. So even though the clothing part of Karl's namesake line has folded, the eyewear component is still going strong as evidenced by these new SS11 campaign images:

Ph: Karl Lagerfeld
Styling: Felipe Mendes
Other Models: Baptiste Giabiconi

It's refreshing to see this kind of loyalty. Yeah I'm biased, and yeah if it were another model I'd probably be annoyed as hell. But there is something to be said for this type of devotion, reliance and familiarity. Especially when everything else in fashion seems to change faster and faster with each passing season. Change is good, but we do need some constant anchors keeping us grounded with our heads on straight. Otherwise, we're just flying about all over the place with nothing to cling on to. So for me, Freja by Karl is a constant. It's a soothing comfort. It is always good? No. Does it always make me feel good? Yes. It's like mac and cheese, chicken pot pie, ice cream sundaes or any other thing we indulge in whenever we just want to shut the world out. Your "comfort food" might not always be good for you, but it always makes you happy. And when (heaven forbid) the day comes that Freja and Karl stop working together, I will be crushed. So let's just hope that day is a long way off into the future. For at a time when the fate of Dior, Givenchy, and possibly a few other design houses lie in such uncertainty, I want my constant now more than ever before.

SS09

SS10

So I say thank you Karl! For your impeccable taste in models, and for your loyalty and support of said models. Now may Freja get the Chanel F/W 1112 campaign....amen.

Image Credits: designscene.net, karllagerfeld.com, 2b Management Facebook via tFS member tentalicious

Thursday, March 17, 2011

'Manhatten Winter' by CHANEL RTW 2012

My favourite collection for the up-coming Winter 2012 - especially I loved the detailed art-work of accessories, Baby Doll dresses, windswept gowns in textural mixes that evoked a thounderous sky ... and, and ..

Here I'd like to showcase you my selections of CHANEL stret-styles before the show, - which was amazing (!), backstage candids, and CHANEL fashionshow-styles.

"Steam heat rose from the sultry volanic lava rocks bounded by the CHANEL boardwalk and it was obvious, even before the twin drawbridges at either end of the runway slammed open to reaveal two Amazonien armies, that we were very far from the romantic French garden imagined by Karl Lagerfeld last season." (By Hannish Bowles)