Closing Moments

This great candid shot comes to you courtesy of Bobby who runs the blog Fotovalise. He was kind and thoughtful enough to share this with me, and now he's letting me share it with you. If you love model candids you most definitely have to check out Fotovalise, especially since Bobby just posted some of his shots from Paris. Lots of models there that you'll recognize but also some that you might not, which I love. I feel like most photographers tend to ignore the lesser known models which is really a shame, but Bobby does a great job of capturing a wide and diverse swath of the fashion flock.

This picture of Freja impeccably captures her unbridled joy moments after finishing Miu Miu, her last show for the FW1011 runway season. Can't you just feel the relief and sense of accomplishment shining through on her face? The perfect picture of someone ready to celebrate, utterly at ease, and without a care in the world. Bobby has tons of more pictures like this one on his blog, including another one of Freja whom he likes to call the "mighty Freja Beha." No arguments there. It certainly takes a mighty model to walk 46 shows and put out 12 editorials in the span of 2 months. Thanks so much Bobby! Also, please respect his wishes and do not repost his pics at tFS. Thanks!

Anyway, to go along with the "final moment" of Freja's season captured above, I thought it would be fitting to post some final show moments from throughout the rest of the season. Sorry for all the themed posts recently....chalk it up to a by product of my humanities educated, tendency to search out broad, connecting concepts....

The final moments of a show, where all the girls come out in one last processional walk, serve as a functional last look for all the buyers and press sitting in the audience. Makes sense because it accords people the opportunity to solidify their ideas and discern the broader theme of a collection and a designer's vision. When captured, these moments make for beautiful pictures (check out the stunning location for Dries), and cute instances if you pay attention. Proof that it ain't over until the last girl steps off the catwalk.

So much of how we view shows is one look and one girl at a time, but the final runway promenade gives us the rare opportunity to see the total vision and complete cohesion. I love it even more in videos because you also get the see the looks from behind when the girls turn around to walk back. We wear clothes in 360 degrees and designers design clothes that way too. Pity that we can't see them that way on style.com as well. Maybe one day....

Another thing I love about these final runway moments is that we can see how all the girls compare to each other in terms of height. It's only when I look at these types of pictures that I remember things like Amanda Norgaard is only 5'8", and Karlie Kloss, Frida Gustavsson and Ylonkal Verheul are veritable giants who make other models look short.

Is anyone else as fascinated with model boards and final walk pictures as I am? Or am I kind of being weird here? I guess that to me, these type of things show us glimpses of fashion's inner workings, and I just love trying to figure how things work.

Image Credits: candid via Bobby at Fotovalise, cobrasnake, corbis, coutorture, fashionologie, style.it, vmagazine