Backstage Moments - New York and London

During fashion month pictures come at us so fast and in such high quantity that I think we can miss out on some really great ones amid all the excitement. So, once shows end I always make sure to look back throughout the season in order to catch the backstage moments I might have missed the first time around.

The following are my favorite of those moments from New York and London. Milan and Paris will come later in succeeding posts. All of these pictures come from various sources whose names you will find in the image file label. There is no common thread to these, other than Freja's presence. Some of them I like because I find them to be humorous. Others I like because I find the friendship moments captured to be endearing. And others I like simply because I think the capture a beautiful moment. Regardless of my reasons, I think they all warrant another look.

NEW YORK:

LONDON:

Image Credits: catwalking, cobrasnake, dazeddigital, eastnews, elle, elle.fr, hobogestapo, imgmodels.blogspot, modelinia, style.it, vmagazine, wireimage, wwd

Saturday Morning Videos

In a follow up to yesterday's post about Freja and Alexander Wang, here's a video that shows us Alex has indeed been an admirer of Freja for a very long time now. Thanks to commenter parisxsummer for the heads up!

At 2:14 you can see pictures of Freja's Fall 2005 Self Service editorial on Alex's "mood board" for his FW0809 show. Fittingly enough, Freja ended up opening that show in a very memorable sheer number with a downtown death stare on her face that summed up the mood of the show perfectly.

This was arguably the show that put the Alexander craze into full throttle, so it's nice that Freja was a part of it in more ways than one.

And now here's a completely unrelated, but highly adorable video of various rehearsal clips from the past season. Some of the models' faces and reactions are priceless. This is the type of stuff I always look forward to--when the glossy facade gets taken down and we get to see the reality behind the runway.

Freja @ 1:30, 1:40, 2:38 and 2:48

I love that we get to see bits of the girls' personalities. The human element really comes across and reiterates to us that these models are just regular teenagers/young women with irregular jobs. It's relatable and fashion can use more of that, especially in this recession.

Anyway, watch the whole video because there are so many hilarious moments. I was laughing so hard at how Kasia misdirected Alla at the end. And I think Mirte and Amanda's reactions at the Missoni rehearsal were endearing. That Missoni show seemed like a pain to rehearse!

Image Credits: style.com

Freja Fridays

Yes, I know it's not friday today but I wanted to take this time to point out the beginnings of an internet revolution called "Freja Fridays." Ok, maybe it's not exactly a revolution but I think it should be. :) A few blogs have turned fridays, arguably already the best day of the week, into Freja Fridays thus making the day even better.

Skinny Intern was the originator of the idea, and now it's caught fire over at Nova Style. You + Eye even took part yesterday, but probably more out of coincidence because I don't think Freja Fridays is a regular fixture over there...yet. Maybe with some encouraging it could be?

What a great way to end the work week, right? I thought about adopting the moniker on fridays too, but then I remembered this whole blog is about Freja so everyday is already a Freja day.

Alex Joins the Fan Base

We know Freja loves Alexander Wang as she's been seen wearing his T by Alexander Wang line and carrying his black Donna Hobo bag everywhere during fashion month. She's even been known to stop by his sample sales in NY. Well, now we know the feeling is mutual.

You can add Alex to the growing list of Freja fans in the industry, which already includes the Rag & Bone boys and Stella. At his Barny's trunk show yesterday afternoon, fashionologie got the scoop on Alex's favorite look from his SS10 show:

I feel like everyday I change my mind. But I always seem to come back to Freja's look, she really knows how to bring an outfit to life, which is so important in a model for me.

And the look in question:

Alex has made no secret about how he is inspired by models off duty. So it should really come as no surprise that he admires the coolest one of them all. :)

Image Credit: style.it

Tribulations of the Job

Think modeling is all fun, games and free clothes? Take a look at these backstage makeup and hair pictures from this past season and you might change your mind. They are simultaneously hilarious and horrifying. Hilarious in the way they can capture certain comical moments, expressions and situations.

Horrifying in the violation of personal space and feeling of irritation they can evoke.

Ok, maybe it's just horrifying to me (I'm sure many people would revel in this kind of "pampering" and attention) since I value my personal space a lot, so seeing some of these pictures makes me cringe. I doubt those hair stylist are super gentle when they've only got 15 minutes to get the job done. Not to mention that people coming at my face with pointed objects would most definitely freak me out.

But it's all just part of the job, right? As a model you learn to deal with it in different ways. Maybe you listen to music.

Or you talk to the person next to you.

Or maybe you just try to relax and zone out.

Sometimes you begrudgingly concede and accept the situation at hand.

And then again, sometimes it's all just too much and you simply want to curl up and protect yourself from the onslaught.

Even though they really do make me cringe sometimes, I love seeing these types of pics precisely because they're illustrative and evoke so much feeling.

You can really imagine the frenzy surrounding a girl the second she arrives to a show, especially if she's coming from another one. You can visualize the small army of people waiting to tackle her and wipe her completely clean of her previous look, only to do her back up again. It's a panoply of hands pulling on that, tugging on this, taking that off, putting that on. And many girls go through the process multiple times a day. That's layers of makeup being put on and rubbed off. Pounds of hair product being applied and washed away.

This is probably one of the few times when I'll say that models aren't like the rest of us. Yes, they're human, but the majority of them also have wonderful genes giving them abnormally great skin and hair. And that explains why they look so radiant off-duty despite the constant wear and tear their faces and hair go through during show season. That explains why they can still have flawless, zit-free skin and light, flowy hair at the end of the day. Well, that and moisturizer...lots and lots of moisturizer.

Image Credits: chloe, corbis, dazeddigital, eastnews, elle, elle,fr, elle.it, elle.ru, style.it. zimbio

On the Casting Horizon

With fashion shows now over and campaign season around the corner it seems like everyone has casting on the brain. The Imagist recently posted a very interesting piece on the model outlook for the upcoming campaign season.

He tells us that the "circle of power photographers who decide which models cross over from all that runway traction into blue chip work seem to be holding back on their campaign shooting. There is not the usual feeding frenzy to lock up those hyped new faces . No epic "New Faces" edit yet at W, no New Prada Contingent marching through Vogue Italia...yet. This is an indicator that the campaign castings are going to run even more conservatively than in recent years, skewing back to the Raquels, Sashas and Natashas, if there is even a model on the premises. Celebrities are going to continue to take a huge chunk of those choice bookings..."

And take this quote photographer Nick Knight gave in a recent interview: "To make money, the industry is increasingly catering to the lowest common denominator and, as far as the people who run the big companies are concerned, anything even slightly out of the ordinary frightens people. But anyone with a brain knows that it is the quirkiness and imperfection in a person that attracts other people. That is completely obvious to human beings; it's just when it gets to a corporate level that it all falls apart."

Reading all of this made me more than a bit disappointed. For one, I can't stand seeing the current crop of celebrities in ad campaigns. It's already bad enough that I have to see them on the covers of American fashion magazines month after month--leave modeling to the professionals please. Secondly, this season I really took notice of and a liking to many of the new girls so it will be sad to see most of them ravaged and tossed aside by the industry. Especially since they are so young and all so gorgeous in unique ways. They looked different enough that I could actually tell them apart for once.

Anyway, it's during times like these I'm so grateful that Freja has Karl firmly in her corner. Even if I complain about it sometimes, and even if she's just going to be relegated to his entourage, at least she's getting new work that we'll be able to see. And who knows...we might even see her in a few other campaigns despite the dire outlook for models. After all, she made a killing last season coming away with 5 campaigns, and she's coming off one of her stronger runway seasons in a long time. Hopefully Freja can channel all this momentum into some more results. And hopefully Karl will let her go long enough so that she can work with some other people.

All things considered, Freja is in a great position having just shot the Chanel campaign. And with her quirky and palatable looks to draw upon (providing a nice compromise between the corporate and creative sides of the industry), I think she could be poised for more. Unfortunately, that probably won't be the case for your other favorites. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Karmen and Karolin, and hoping that my new girl favs like Mirte and Lisanne emerge unscathed. What about you?