It's Going to be a Good Year

No time for excessive words, other than to say that we're being spoiled with a wonderful start to the new year:

The new model of the moment and the veteran model of the moment, together on the cover of Vogue Italia shot by Steven Meisel. Old school, vintage, and nostalgia are just some of the words that come to mind. So how perfect to combine those ideas with two models whose features stand out for their modern sensibilities.

Anyway, no time for over analysis today! Just enjoy the cover and the feeling that Freja isn't going to fade away anytime soon. And enjoy your New Year celebrations! It's the last time to let loose before real life and real responsibilities return on Monday.

Image Credit: vogue.it via IAmLordZen @ tFS

Unstoppable

Vogue Italia November 2010 by Steven Meisel, also featuring Iselin Steiro

Beautiful, fresh, alluring, enchanting, intelligent, arresting....employ whatever adjective you want, but for me this is the best of Freja's covers this year. I love everything about it. I love the pairing of Iselin and Freja, I love the contrast of their hair colors, I love the way their bodies are interwoven, I love how their poses seem so haphazard but you just know everything was planned right down to the placement of their fingers, and I love the combination of leather and fur--two fashion trends that never seem to fade away.

I really can't stop looking at this image. Every time I glance at it, I feel like I see something new. I'm dying to get this in my hands so I can turn it up side down and right side up again. This is breaking stereotypes and giving us a new view of Freja (literally and figuratively), and I love Meisel because of it. He broke stereotypes with Freja and her March VI cover, and he does it again with this cover. Through his lens we finally get to see Freja in a new way, and I just hope the editorial lives up to the expectations this cover has set.

Image Credit: vogue.it via tFS member Pedro

Changing Tides

I know I seem to be stuck on this subject (considering I just wrote something in the same vein two posts ago), but I think it's a pretty huge deal. Especially to all the longtime Freja fans out there. So what's the big deal? Freja is officially a modeling icon, or about as close as one can get to becoming a modeling icon these days under modern circumstances. She's no longer obscure, fringe or merely a cult hit. The tide has changed and she's mainstream, well known and recognizable now. I know, I know, we'll never return to the era of the supermodels. But at the same time, we shouldn't use that as the barometer against which we measure all subsequent modeling successes by. For the past is past, and we are firmly in the present. That past can never be replicated so long as the world evolves and things change. And if there is one certainty in life it's that things do change. The fact that a heavily tattooed, spotlight avoiding, tomboyish model sits at the top of a modeling industry predicated on long held feminine ideals of beauty should tell you as much. It's hard to imagine such a thing happening 10 years ago or even 5 years ago. But it's happening now.

We do get modeling waves: the Brazilians, the Russians, and (currently) the Dutchies. But the remarkable thing about Freja is that she doesn't belong to any of those waves. She didn't ride on the coat tails of an industry wide modeling trend. She started out when doll-like, blond models were all the rage. And so she got to where she is based on her uniqueness, personality, likability, authenticity and genuine appeal. That's what makes her an icon in today's fashion climate. That, and the fact that her career is stronger than ever five (almost six) years in.

Most of us had the fortune of witnessing the turnaround Freja's career has gone through this past year. She was a big name within the industry before, but now she's an even bigger name who has begun to transcend the boundaries that usually limit models like her to the high fashion sphere. So along with her high fashion cred, Freja has slowly earned commercial viability and mainstream appeal. She isn't a household name, but everyone seems to know her. And the work she's getting is beginning to reflect that.

Even Vogue Italia's editor in chief Franca Sozzani recognizes and write about it in her editor's blog on vogue.it:

"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."

Freja can sell magazines! In a time where all American publications (cough, US Vogue, cough) tell us that celebrities are the only people who matter or who can move units off the newsstands, Freja is proving otherwise. Imagine that....a fresh, appealing face who isn't so completely overexposed that you're actually intrigued enough to see what she might have to say. Wow....I'm shocked (insert sarcastic smiley here). Anna Wintour take note; the general public might actually want to see someone besides a typical Hollywood starlet a la Blake Lively on the cover of Vogue. And to hit home on the idea of Freja's broader appeal, she'll be selling jewelry now as well.

Harry Winston Jewelry
Ph: Patrick Demarchelier

It's a bold move for Harry Winston, but a great coup for Freja. If I were her, I'd be going around to everyone I know saying "whatnowbitches...booyah!" But that's just me. I think that to a certain extent we've all underestimated Freja. Whether we think she can't pull off femininity or that she can't ever reach a high level of popularity, this campaign proves us all wrong. This is the type of campaign I've been waiting for. It gives her a completely new image, but one I always knew she was capable of. The irony of the images will not be lost on ardent fans, and the absence of tattoos might disappoint others; but the significance of this campaign is what's important here. And if all goes well, I think we could see Freja transcending even more boundaries in the future. So congrats to her. As she turns 23 and enters into a new stage of life, it's only fitting that her career should grow and mature as she has so beautifully done before our eyes.

Image Credits: bbs.sfileydy.com, twitter.com/amandaweiner, passionluxe.com via tFS member candlebougie

An Issue of Size

Shrink to Fit
Vogue Italia April 2010
Ph: Steven Meisel
Styling: Karl Templer
Other Models: Abbey Lee Kershaw, Amber Valletta, Angela Lindvall, Geidre Dukauskaite, Gwen Loos, Monika "Jac" Jagaciak, Joan Smalls, Lara Stone

Here is an editorial where the concept and casting completely win me over. In what could have been a predictable and boring studio edit, Vogue Italia and Meisel give us something quite enchanting, whimsical and beautiful. The idea of doing a shoot where the clothes are too small, even for the models, is hilariously ironic. Perhaps a slight nod to the model size debate that seems to wage on endlessly without accomplishing any sort of institutional or ideological change?

If you've been following along, all the different camps like to point their fingers of blame at each other with no one group willing to take on even the slightest bit of responsibility. Designers say that agencies send them girls who are too thin. Agencies say that designers make sample clothes so tiny that they need thinner and thinner girls to fit into them. Both say that the general public does not want to see bigger girls in magazines and advertisements; for fashion is about fantasy and aspiration, and not reality and the truth. Who's to blame? Everyone? No one? Me? You?

I feel like Meisel is kind of thumbing his nose at the whole issue here, poking fun of things in a subtle but subversive way. Ok, so maybe "thumbing his nose" isn't the right phrase. Whatever he's doing, I feel like he's trying to say something about the debate, but I'm just not sure what. Or perhaps he was merely inspired by the debate and took it as a jumping off point for this story. Regardless, when I see this editorial in its entirety, I start thinking about the eternal conundrum, "what came first, the chicken or the egg?" Or in this case, "what came first, thin models or small sample sizes?" Try wrapping your head around that one.

At first glance, this editorial looks very similar to the one Meisel did for the March issue of Vogue US (also featuring Freja). Same studio setup and plain, drab background. But upon further inspection you begin to notice that the two stories couldn't be more dissimilar. The execution and underlying motivation of each really shows you how different Vogue US and Vogue Italia really are as publications in terms of creative freedom and expressive risk-taking. One's purpose is to showcase clothes for general mass consumption. The other's is to contribute to a larger, relevant fashion discourse and make you see and think about clothes in a new way. Amazing how all the same elements can result in such two different outcomes, for the context and the words "US" and "Italia" really do have that much of an impact on what an editorial by Meisel will look like.

Anyway, I really do enjoy the casting here. It's a little bit unpredictable, but at the same time it feels comfortable. I like seeing new girls get their chance, and if any older model needs a comeback it's definitely Amber. The styling is rather ingenious with no detail overlooked, even down to the models' too small shoes. (In Freja's last shot you can see her heel jutting out over the edge of her loafer. So brilliant.) I know that the hair styles have gotten a lot of flack and most people find them to be too distracting. But for me, the hair contributes another degree of charm to the whole story. I can just picture all the models getting pushed into the wash, and here they have all just emerged with their hair wet and disheveled, and their clothes shrunk.

Kind of makes you wonder, what size are those clothes if they look too small even for models? Quadruple zero? Size negative (does that even exist) ? Just another testament to the great styling and an overall great editorial concept. These images might not strike most people as being beautiful, but that doesn't mean that they aren't. For me they posses a beauty that goes beyond surface appearances down to ideas and the intellectual statement. And the way they challenge conventional fashion norms is also a beauty in and of itself.

Agree? Disagree? Did you get another reading? Let me hear it! :)

Image Credits: Scanned by tFS member Diciassette (17) @ tFS

On Repeat: Freja, Meisel, Vogue Italia

For the second month in a row, Freja is featured in the main story for Vogue Italia photographed by Steven Meisel. If you're keeping track, Freja and Meisel have now collaborated five times in as many months; four times for VI and one time for Vogue US. To go from zero to one hundred like this is simply mind-boggling if you've been following Freja since the early years. All the evidence points to the fact that she's now become a Meisel favorite, but I still can't help but to think "this will be the last time," every time I see them working together.

Maybe I just don't like to count my eggs before they hatch. Maybe I'm just too weary and overly cautious in my age. Or maybe I'm just a pessimist. I should probably just shut up and enjoy the ride, but knowing that Meisel can be very fickle in terms of models (Daria and Elise immediately come to mind) is holding me back from completely embracing the fact that Freja is now a Meisel girl. Is anyone else having the same problem? Or is it just me?

Anyway, there are other girls in the story, but each seems to have been shot individually. It's a great mix of old and new: Amber Valletta, Angela Lindvall and Joan Smalls, Gwen Loos. I'm also thrilled to see Geidre Dukauskaite, a previous Meisel fav, return to prominence!

Now that Freja has been in plenty of Meisel editorials, it still remains to be seen whether she'll be in a Meisel campaign. I don't mean to get too ahead of myself and entirely contradict what I just said above, but with editorials in back to back issues of VI, maybe it is more likely that she'll land in one of the campaigns he shoots. The question is, which one? And even if she doesn't, I'll be so happy with her campaign season as it stands: Chanel and Max Mara. Besides, I never like it when you see the same model in 10 campaigns. After all, variety is the spice of life, and there are too many other girls who I want to see have some taste of success.

Video Credit: vogue.it

A Grand Style Five Years in the Making

Sometimes you just can't beat an editorial that's beautifully conceived and executed. Regardless of the fact that this was 5 years in the making and marks the first major collaboration (in every sense of the word) for Freja and Meisel, it's a beautiful set of images that any model and photographer would be proud to include in their body of work. This partnership has lived up to my expectations and that is perhaps the greatest and most difficult task to accomplish.

In Grande Stile
Vogue Italia March 2010
Ph: Steven Meisel

The thing I find most interesting and striking about this whole piece is the dissimilarity between the cover and story inside. After all, the cover connotes ideas of elegance, feminine beauty, and delicacy. You're led to expect a main editorial story much in the same vein; but what you get instead is delightfully surprising in that it's the antithesis of everything the cover stands for. Inside, you get an electric and tumultuous story replete with sexual perversity, passion, rage, tenderness, derision, apathy, comfort and reconciliation. Mathias and Freja go through nearly every possible stage of a relationship in a mere 16 pages, and it's quite a whirlwind.

Compare this to the cover with Freja's calm and perhaps mischievous stare, and you're left reeling. Our expectations are turned upside-down and and I feel like this is the larger theme at play here. As fans, we never expected Meisel to work with Freja because we heard all the gossip and knew that they had never done anything together (up until the beginning of this year). We never expected her to land a Vogue Italia cover because it seemed like if she didn't have one by now, she wouldn't be getting one 5 years into her career. We never expected to see her styled femininely again because she seemed to be stuck in the role of the androgynous model. Yet, take a look at where all those "expectations" stand now.

I'd like to think Meisel was aware of all of this, and so it's no coincidence that he choose Freja for this story concept. He's playing with our expectations in real life and within the magazine, and everything is made the better for it. Once you see how perverse and dramatic the story is, the cover comes to mean much more than what you initially thought. It's a cyclical relationship that continues to build upon itself. Just take a look at the cover, then the story, then the cover, and then the story. At least for me, each time I look I see new meaning because the context and how the two components relate to each other create a whole new dimension of possibility.

Another thing I enjoy about this editorial is how kinetic the images seem to be. You can almost feel Mathais' hands around your wrists as he grabs Freja. You can almost hear the discordant notes emanating from the piano as Freja bangs away while Mathias crouches in reproach down below. In each image, you can feel what Freja and Mathias are supposed to be feeling. You see something as powerful as this and you can't help but to draw from your own reserve of similar emotions and experiences. I've always thought that the best images and editorials are the ones that establish a rapport like this with their audience.

This type of editorial is what I live for and look forward to. For me, this is Meisel at his finest. When he sets his work to a cohesive narrative, the results are always electrifying (Side Note: my favorite ed in recent memory is his "Cottage by the Sea" with Katrin and Toni for the Nov08 VI, as seen here and here.) Yes it's beautiful and yes Freja and Mathias are perfectly cast, but the beauty is derived just as much from context and our inferences as it is from the clothes, models and settings.

It also nice to see two mature models who are comfortable and confident in their roles. I do love new girls, but sometimes you just need a veteran to do the job right. And as much as I hate to admit it, I don't think Freja would have been capable of carrying out this editorial at the beginning of her career. I think it really did take a few years of life experience for her to deliver what Meisel wanted from her. Either that, or perhaps I'm just trying to justify why it took so long for this to happen. ;) But Freja is in wonderful form here. She looks utterly natural, alluring and so confident. When she delivers something like this and shows just how versatile she is, I'm reminded of why I started this blog in the first place--to celebrate that in a meaningful manner instead of dwelling on petty matters like her personal life. I hope I'm not in the minority, but to me, her work is far, far more interesting.

I really think that we've only skimmed the surface of what Meisel and Freja are capable of as collaborators, and so I hope with all my heart that they will continue to explore this working relationship. I just have to say how proud I am to be Freja fan right now. She's earned her success and status through steady perseverance and hard work, all on her own terms while staying true to herself, yet still maturing and changing with the years. All of her accomplishments and all that she stands for have really made Freja into a force all her own. And this is a force that can't be resisted....not even by Meisel.

Image Credits: Beautiful scans by tFS member Diciassete (17)!!

The VI Cover

I'm still in a daze. A wonderful, dreamy daze.

The word classic comes to mind. There's just something to be said for a beautiful cover with a beautiful model. Yes, beautiful. Even if you're not a Freja fan it would be ludicrous to say that she isn't beautiful. I know it's subjective, but please let's be real. I know it's too early to say, and of course I'm biased, but I hope this cover becomes an iconic one in the history of VI, simply for what it stands for and for what it means to models. After all, Freja is a model who has seemingly defied all norms and odds to reach the pinnacle of success in her field.

No frills (except for the clothes), no thrills; just clean, straightforward, feminine beauty. Thank you Meisel for getting over whatever qualms you had and finally making this happen. Freja fans around the world are rejoicing right now for sure. And thank you fashion industry for showing everyone that hard work, perseverance, dedication to craft, and steady evolution CAN win out in the end sometimes; that luck and fickleness are not always the major determining factors in a model's career. Speaking for all the long time fans out there (and there are many), I can say that we're absolutely elated and that this couldn't have happened to a better more deserving model. I'm sure everyone reading this is a fan, but if you're not you have to at least respect what Freja has been able to accomplish over half a decade in an industry notorious for treating models like they literally are a dime a dozen.

Anyway, the features of Freja's face are unique in that they are both strong and delicate. This explains why she can go from doing androgynous editorials like this one, to feminine ones like this one. It's a very rare face that can handle both types of styling and aptly express such two different sides so well. Some people may not understand this feminine Freja, but it's something I've been hoping to see again for a very long. It's something who's lack of I've complained about countless times on this blog. Perhaps Freja's personality and off-duty street style have created an overshadowing persona, inhibiting some people from seeing anything else but androgyny? Well, it's their utter loss. And no matter, because the people who count can see it too and this cover is proof positive. Bravo Meisel. Brava Freja. Your fans have never been more proud!

Image Credits: vogue.it via tFS member tarsha

The News We've All Been Waiting For!

We were anticipating it, expecting it, demanding it. And now it's here and it's true. Freja has the March 2010 cover of Vogue Italia shot by Steven Meisel!

"We welcome spring through the intense gaze of Freja Beha Erichsen, the 22-year old Danish top model, clad in a white lace dress by Dolce e Gabbana. Behind the camera the skillful eye of fashion photographer Steven Meisel. This is the cover look for the new issue of Vogue, at your newsstand on 3 March. The magazine, with its photo shoots, interviews and cult features, will tell us about the month of March, dictating the latest trends in fashion and beauty but also in art and music. Always focusing on events and celebrities. "

For Freja fans who've been with her for years (like myself) , this is the news we've always hoped for but never thought to be in the realm of possibility. In fact, hearing it now still seems a little surreal. Like a fuzzy dream that leaves remnants in your memory after you wake up. But this IS real.

How very fitting that we end the last day of Milan Fashion Week with this news. During one of her best runway seasons ever, we get the proverbial cherry on top; icing on the cake; having our cake and eating it too. Truly, truly unbelievable in the best possible way. I feel like words just aren't adequate enough to express how happy I am for this. I guess it just feels nice to have all the time and effort we've put in over the years as fans finally pay off to the fullest.

Thanks to tFS member slow_hands for breaking the news!!!! Now we celebrate! :)

Meisel's Runway

Thanks to the hard work of tFS member Diciassette (17), we now have complete scans of the mega 80 page Vogue Italia editorial. If you want to see the whole thing, it's broken up into six parts: 1 2 3 4 5 6. For the sake of brevity and staying true to the topic on hand, below is just Freja's contribution.

Runway
Vogue Italia January 2010
Ph: Steven Meisel

Leave it to Meisel to push boundaries and get people talking. After all these years, he has still maintained his edge, freshness and knack for innovation. It's an amazing feat that demands respect regardless of whether or not you like his work. We also have to give huge credit to Franca Sozzani for consistently providing a place where Meisel is free to indulge his creative whims.

I think I'm a little overwhelmed at the sheer enormity of the editorial because I don't really know what to say. So many models, so many looks, so many great moments captured...or rather, constructed. I love the black and white backstage shot of Freja being assaulted by hair and makeup because it's so realistic. It would have fit right in with this old post I did about actual backstage moments from past fashion weeks. I also love the last two shots that show us all the people who worked on this editorial. Meisel blurred the line between reality and fantasy by constructing backstage situations that usually depend on spontaneity, but he brought us all definitively back down to earth by showing us his real staff behind the scenes.

As for Freja, I'm delightfully surprised at how much she's featured here. She looks like...well...like she usually looks backstage. But that's good because it's what we should expect from an editorial called "Runway" where the models are essentially playing themselves. You even have her requisite smoking picture, but sadly no middle fingers. Nothing too special, yet very special at the same time because it's Meisel we're talking about. This isn't like the last editorial where she took her own picture. He's actually working with Freja now. And like all of you are thinking, and like I've said before, I hope he photographs her for an ad campaign or solo edit so that we can see what magic he'll really draw out from her.

Even if this doesn't happen, I hope they at least continue to work together for these huge, multi-girl editorials because it's something new and different for Freja. (As much as I'm grateful for all the work he gives her, there's no Karl in sight!) For this to happen at this stage in her career is pretty amazing and can only increase her fashion currency even more. And frankly, it's the thing I've been hoping for--the thing that might possibly reignite that feeling of excitement that I lost towards the latter half of last year. So even if Freja kind of gets lost in the model shuffle, at least she'll be a part of the relevant conversation.

Image Credits: Scans by tFS member Diciassette (17)