Vogue UK May 2011 Cover
Ph: Mario Testino
Styling: Lucinda Chambers
Mediaweek.co.uk shares the concept of the issue with us:
"The 382-page issue, which hits newsstands on Thursday (7 April), has 152 ad pages – an increase of 40 ad pages compared to last year's issue.Vogue is offering readers a choice of three covers featuring models Freja Beha Erichsen, Lara Stone, and Natalia Vodianova dressed as brides. The images are shot by Mario Testino.
The issue carries the coverline "Catherine Middleton, the making of a modern princess" and looks back at the magazine's 95-year history of covering royal weddings.
Alexandra Shulman, editor of British Vogue, said: "We spent a great deal of time discussing what our tribute to the marriage of Catherine Middleton and Prince William should be, and we came up with a delicious confection of all things matrimonial, a portfolio of white fashion and a completely indulgent trio of bridal covers with Natalia Vodianova, Lara Stone and Freja as the figureheads for this commemorative issue."
According to latest figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations, Vogue had an average net circulation of 211,277 for the six months to December 2010, which was up 0.4% year on year."
I make it strong habit not to talk about Freja's personal and private life on this blog. But I do want to very lightly touch on it right now if you'll allow. To have a woman like Freja represent a modern bride, a "figurehead for this commemorative issue" as Alexandra Shulman puts it, is such a wonderful and symbolic occurrence. Even though most of the mainstream public isn't privy to Freja's personal life and preferences, enough people are that having her on the cover of this issue shows a great sign of acknowledgment, progress and acceptance. Modern brides come in all different shapes, sizes, forms and lifestyles. So it's only fitting to have such three different models representing for the "royal wedding" issue, as the new royal couple seem so modern themselves (as far as British royal couples go). I could go on about the significance and meaning of it all, but like I said, I just wanted to lightly touch upon the subject.
Freja has come such a long way in the past year and a half. For a really long time she was pigeonholed and stereotyped into a modeling persona that I didn't really like at all, and I'll admit that it was frustrating to see certain tropes and characters of hers repeat over and over again, while other aspects of her potential were left untapped. But now things have changed drastically and I couldn't be more thrilled. Who would have ever thought Freja would be one of the three models picked to stand for a modern bride on the Vogue UK issue coming out on the eve of the biggest wedding in recent times? It even boggles my mind.
And with Vogue UK circulation up for the year (a year that included Freja's solo cover), it's just more and more good news for Freja, her marketability and her ability to sell. She has really come into her own as a model and a true contemporary icon for this current generation. It is of course too early to tell how indelible her mark will be on the long strands of history, but for the time being we can revel in Freja's successes and what they mean for our modern times, right here and now.
Image Credits: mediaweek.co.uk, vogue.co.uk via tFS memer IAmLordZen
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