Count It

So I haven't been as motivated or inspired to post much the last few days. Maybe that's because there's really not much to post about right now? Although I have to admit that lately I've been feeling the pressure (from no one but myself) to update every day or so, which was leading me down the path of posting for posting's sake. But then I had an epiphany: the world won't stop if I go a few days without updating. My "followers" count won't dwindle down to single digits just because people's RSS feeds stay silent. I can take some time, gather my sanity, refresh my eyes and renew my thoughts and no one will notice. (And while I'm at it I can use my free time to catch up on RAFW shows instead of writing long, babbling blog posts like this one is sure to be.)

All of this got me thinking, how did I managed it before? Why am I having so much trouble coming up with something to write about now? And then another epiphany: the reason I've been able to blog so much and so easily these past few months is because Freja's had an amazing, absolutely stellar year so far. She's basically been working non-stop since the Fall of last year and we've seen the results in editorial after editorial, month after month. Not to mention a successful FW1011 show season in the middle of it all that caught enough attention to warrant a Vogue Paris Collections cover dedication. Only now are things showing signs of slowing, leaving me to to rack my brain for other topics to yammer about.

But enough about me and back to Freja's amazing year. To put it into perspective, I've counted up and broken down the number of editorials and covers that Freja has had in the first five months of each year of her career. We're talking a year by year comparison of her work for the months of January through May (reprints included), with the exception of 2005 where we only have (iffy) records for August through December.

(I didn't use the scientific process to come up with these counts, so there's bound to be some errors but you should get the general idea.)

2005 August - Dec: 16 editorials, 5 covers
2006 January - May: 13 editorials, 2 covers
2007 January - May: 11 editorials, 1 cover
2008 January - May: 7 editorials, 1 covers
2009 January - May: 8 editorials, 2 covers
2010 January - May: 18 editorials, 5 covers

So you're looking at the numbers and the gradual decrease seems natural, especially in the modeling world where the younger and newer the girl, the hotter the commodity. Longevity is rare, longevity at a high level even rarer. 16 to 13 to 11 to 7 to 8 and then bam, 18! Freja's seemingly had a better run these last few months than she had during the first few months of her career. The numbers don't lie. Someone is having a huge moment.

I am even going to go so far as to say that Freja is unmatched by any other model this year in terms of the quality, proficiency and sheer prolific nature of her work. (Can you name anyone else who comes even close to Freja's counts for the year so far?) Of course, only the passage of time will truly tell us how indelible her impression will be upon the annals of fashion history, because we all know how easy it is to get caught up in the moment. But for the time being, I think it's ok for us fans to revel in that moment. For it's turning out to be a pretty big one.

So let the counts marinate in your mind, acknowledge the accomplishments, and wish like hell that these next five months are just as good to us and Freja as these last have been.