On a Roll

It seems like nearly every brand Freja is associated with these days turns to gold. According to WWD, Valentino has reported increased sales:

"Valentino sales in the first quarter are up at least 40 percent and wholesale sales of the fall collection improved 35 percent over last year."

If you're keeping track, that's three brands so far who's sales have gone up since Freja has been featured in their ad campaigns. The first was Harry Winston and the second was Georg Jensen. All the brands represent fairly diverse product sectors and target audiences, which is a good thing because it indicates that Freja's appeal cuts across a wide swath in the high-end market. She's a high fashion model no doubt and her image seems to sell high-end goods very successfully.

It's such a paradox because we usually don't associate an image like Freja's tattooed, rebel one with expensive goods. But I guess the rest of the world that exists outside the model-obsessive bubble doesn't know a thing about Freja other than that she looks good in print.

Oh, and it should be no surprise to anyone that the region where Valentino is seeing the most growth is China. No wonder they went with Freja for the new Valentino perfume campaign. But will they go with her a third time for their ready to wear campaign? I have no idea, but they'd be ridiculous not to.

Money Maker

In a continuation from my last post about Harry Winston and strong sales coinciding with Freja's ad campaign for the brand, Freja seems to be on a roll as Georg Jensen has just reported turning a profit for the first time in a decade. As you all know, Freja stars in the Danish Jewelry brand's first major ad campaign. Some choice bits from the WWD article:

"Georg Jensen, the Danish homeware and fine jewelry brand, has turned a profit for the first time in a decade."

"The privately owned company said profit in the fiscal year ended Dec. 31 was 8 million Danish kroner, or $1.5 million, compared with a loss of 128 million kroner, or $24.7 million, in 2009."

"Growth was driven by Asia, not including Japan, and the Scandinavian markets. Growth in the U.S. was in the double digits, the company said."

"The company’s first major ad campaign was unveiled earlier this year, and Garde Due said it would run for the duration of the year. It features the Danish model Freja Beha Erichsen, partially nude and adorned with the brand’s jewelry in a stately looking dining room filled with fruit, cheese, flowers — and silver Georg Jensen tableware."

Ok, so I know Freja's ads didn't appear till the beginning of this year when the brand was already well on it's way towards turning a profit; but still, this is great news. Freja was indeed the perfect choice for their campaign as she both symbolizes the Danish heritage aspect of the brand, and capitalizes on her appeal in rapidly growing markets i.e. Asia. I'm confident she can take the brand's success even further this upcoming year. As a model, part of your job is to sell, and if you're the face of two brands who have managed to have a very successful year, then there's no telling what come next.

Freja has proven her worth in high fashion time and time again, and now she's proving her appeal and worth in a more commercial, more mass market venue. It's the usual transition for a model of Freja's status and level, but I have to admit that even I never saw it coming. If you've been reading this blog you'll know that I hoped for it.....boy did I ever hope for it. But everyone hopes their favorite model will reach industry pinnacles; in reality, few ever do. So for a skinny tomboy with multiple tattoos, an intensely guarded private life, an aversion to public events and parties, and a seeming refusal to play the typical fashion game and typical fashion model role, Freja has sure beat the odds and exceeded everyone's expectations. She managed to come out on top by staying true to herself, and as a fan I could not be more proud.

Harry Winston: After the Ads

In the modeling world we make such a big fuss over campaigns, but rarely do we get to assess how effective they are. So imagine my delight when I came across this article from WWD about Harry Winston jewelry sales. As we all know, Freja fronted their most recent ad campaign.

For the fourth retail quarter ending on January 31st, Harry Winston reported a 60% sales gain and a net income of $9.9 million dollars. Thing were already looking up for the company when they reported their third quarter results back in December. But sales stayed strong throughout the fourth quarter and beat analysts' expectations. So why am I talking about this? Because Freja's ads hit market saturation during this fourth quarter period (Nov-Jan).

Am I saying that Freja is the only reason why sales were so good? No, of course not. Yet I can't help but to think she certainly played a part. After all, she's been proven to sell as Franca has showed us:

"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."

And where is a large majority of Freja's fan base located? Asian countries like China, Japan and Korea. Freja seems to have an unexplainable and ferocious appeal over there that perhaps no other model has. Her Asian fans are voracious when it comes to her and you can see that in the sites, forums and blogs that they've set up. Coincidentally (or not), Harry Winston sales in Asia were up 138% while sales in the US and Europe were only up 79% and 27% respectively.

Yes, everyone knows that Asia is the emerging market right now, but since Freja appeals to so many fans in Asia, I'm going to propose that she has great appeal to general consumers in Asia as well. So picking her as the face of the campaign made commercial sense (even though it didn't necessarily make the most fashion model sense at first), and it certainly seems to have paid off as well. Fourth quarter gains, good numbers, increasing sales; Freja and her ads did what they were supposed to do.

Of course, I don't really claim to know much about sales analysis. This is just where my mind went when I read the WWD article. I do consider myself somewhat of a Freja expert though, so that has to count for something, right? ;)

Some day, I'd love to get my hands on some Chanel sales figures......anyway, we should be proud of our girl. And we should also hope that some head honcho of a major cosmetics brand is putting as much thought into the matter as I am. High fashion campaigns. Check. Jewelry campaign. Perfume campaign. Check. Big time beauty contract? To be determined......

The Final Tally - FW1112

What month it's been. The fashion season is officially over and what started out on such a down beat for Freja fans ended on a high note with a great turnout in Paris! Arguably the most important and most meaningful of the four cities when it comes to impact, important impressions and future bookings. That's up for debate of course.

I'm a little sad that there's no need for a detailed recap like previous seasons since Freja walked so few shows, but oh well! More time to play the campaign guessing game. If you're interested, previous season recaps are here: SS10, FW1011, SS11

FREJA BEHA ERICHSEN
FW1112 TOTAL: 14
FW1112 MILAN/PARIS: 14
OPENED: 3 | CLOSED: 2

London: No shows walked

Milan: No shows walked

New York: No shows walked

Paris:
Alexander McQueen (O)
Balenciaga
Balmain
Celine
Chanel (O)
Chloe (O)
Givenchy
Haider Ackermann
Hakaan
Lanvin
Louis Vuitton
Miu Miu
Valentino (C)
Yves Saint Laurent (C)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of.....

• Cities walked: 1
  
• Shows walked: 14
  
• Shows opened: 3
  
• Shows closed: 2
  
• Outfits total: 23
  

In order of appearance...............

Biggest surprise of the season for me was seeing Freja open McQueen. Show I was most happy to see her at is a three-way tie between Haider Ackermann, Celine and Chloe. The former two because I love the clothes so much, the later one because it was absolute heaven to see Freja open and Aymeline close. Best look was Freja's stunning YSL closing number. Talk about breathtaking. Anyway, another successful season down. I feel like Freja made the right choice by taking some time off early in the season and coming back for the important shows. Standard supply vs. demand. :) And it would have been awkward to see her not walk for Chanel, Louis Vuitton or Valentino since she's in all their current campaigns. For me, not seeing her at her usual NY and Milan shows made me miss her and realize I was taking her a bit for granted. I suppose there is a lot of truth to the saying "absence makes the heart grow fonder."

In any case, much like how there's no crying in baseball, there's no rest in fashion. You can bet all the models are now jetting off around the world trying to secure their placements and bookings for the very fast approaching campaign rigmarole. That being said, I hope Freja scores Chanel again. That dark, masculine collection was tailor made for her. And yes, as much as I'm over the masculine side of Freja, I really can't think of anyone else who would be as great a fit for the collection as she is. Don't let us down Karl. Not now. Lets go for a record 5 times in a row, 7 times over all! I'd also love to see her for Chloe again, and something like Miu Miu. Lots of wishful thinking I know; but with Freja anything's possible.

Image Credits: vogue.it

A Record Falls

Most of you know that Marc Jacobs showed his F/W 11/12 collection tonight. What most of you may not know is that tonight also marks the first time in Freja's career that she did not walk down Marc's runway. Yes, a record falls tonight.....and another will fall tomorrow night at Narciso Rodriguez.

Marc and Narciso are the only two shows that Freja has walked for every, single season; eleven times in a row. Every September and every February, we could expect to see her grace those designers' catwalks, but her NY absence this season breaks the consecutive appearances. In a small way, it's like the end of an era. Maybe era isn't the right word.....whatever the word is, I find myself swimming in bittersweet nostalgia and lamenting a record broken. But instead of being sad or disappointed, we should reflect on the amazing feat. Eleven. Seasons. In. A. Row. In an industry that likes to change itself every few months, for something to last this long is truly amazing.

How many models do you think have come and gone during that time? How many brands have shuttered? How many new faces have been heralded one season only to be forgotten the next? How much change has happened in these 6 years? I'm not as intimately acquainted with any other model's career, so I don't know what the record is for consecutive seasons walked for a particular designer, but I have to think Freja's 11 for Marc (and Narciso) is pretty high up there. So lets take a walk down memory lane, and appreciate the 11 seasons that we already got, instead of frowning over the one skipped tonight:

SS06


FW0607


SS07


FW0708


SS08


FW0809


SS09


FW0910


SS10


FW1011


SS11 (C)

You were missed tonight Freja, but we'll be looking forward to next season. :)

Image Credits: style.com

The Year 2010 in Editorials

It's that time again. With December already here, and January 2011 (!) fast approaching, it's time to take a look back at the year in editorials. So brace yourself....it's going to be a loooooong list.

Last year's recap is here. It's pretty hilarious to re-read the stuff I wrote back then. I got my wish of Freja appearing in the big three Vogues, and she totally exceeded all my expectations this year in terms of the quantity and prestige of her work. But my one wish for this year is for Freja to show some more range and diversity in her work, just like she did at the very beginning of her career. If Freja continues to work this much in 2011, hopefully she is less pigeon-holed into one role and one "type" of modeling. (And maybe she'll even model some actual clothes and change her hair style too? A girl can dream....)

JANUARY
1. Interview, "Tomas Meier" by Craig McDean, also featuring Hanne Gaby Odiele and Siri Tollerod
2. Vogue Italia, "Runway" by Steven Meisel, MG*

FEBRUARY
3. Vogue Paris, "Vogue-a-Porter" by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, MG

MARCH
4. Purple Magazine (Spring), "Purple Naked" by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, OG**
5. Numoro Homme #19 (Spring), Cover and "Predateurs" by Karl Lagerfeld, also featuring Abbey Lee Kershaw and Heidi Mount
6. Vogue Nippon, "Generation Dreamers" by Terry Richardson, OG
7. Vogue UK, "Cyber Tribe" by Josh Olins, OG
8. Vogue China, "Karl's China Fantasy" by Karl Lagerfeld, also featuring Du Juan, Heidi Mount and Shu Pei
9. Vogue US, "Love at First Sight" by Steven Meisel, MG
10. W Magazine, "Chic Mystique" by Mario Sorrenti, MG
11. Vogue Italia, Cover and "In Grande Stile" by Steven Meisel, OG

APRIL
12. SPUR Magazine, Cover and Style Feature by Martha Camarillo, OG
13. Vogue UK, "Urban Renewal" by Patrick Demarchelier, OG
14. Vogue Germany, "Tango" by Karl Lagerfeld, OG
15. W Magazine, "New York, New York 10021" by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, also featuring Raquel Zimmermann
16. i-D (Spring), Cover and "Freja Beha, The Rock N' Roll Star" by Emma Summerton, OG
17. Vogue Italia, "Shrink to Fit" by Steven Meisel, MG
18. Interview, "Tough Ballerina" by Craig McDean, OG

MAY
19. Vogue Paris Collections (Spring), Cover
20. Vogue Mexico, "Vogue-a-Porter" by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, MG (R)***

JUNE
21. W Magazine, "Best in Show" by Craig McDean, MG

JUNE/JULY
22. Vogue Paris, "Collection Privee" by Terry Richardson, also featuring Lara Stone

AUGUST
23. Vogue Nippon, "The Untold Crime" by Terry Richardson, OG
24. Vogue UK, Cover and "Colour Shock" by Josh Olins, OG
25. Vogue Paris, Cover and "Winter Before Winter" by David Sims, MG
26. W Magazine Korea, Cover by Craig McDean (R)
27. Interview, "Modern Love" by Craig McDean, OG
28. Vogue Mexico, "Love at First Sight" by Steven Meisel, MG (R)

SEPTEMBER
29. Vogue Portugal, "The Untold Crime" by Terry Richardson, MG (R)
30. Vogue Korea, Cover and "Poetics of Body" by Rafael Stahelin, OG
31. Allure Korea, Cover by Josh Olins (R)
32. Vogue Paris, "Neo Belphegor" by Mikael Jansson, OG
33. V Magazine #67, "Uptown and Downtown" by Mario Testino, also featuring Anna Selezneva, Carmen Kass and Sasha Pivovarova
34. Dossier #6 (Fall), Cover and "Cinnamon Girl" by Cass Bird, OG
35. The Last Magazine #5 (Fall), Cover and "Freja and Anja" by Maciek Kobielski, also featuring Anja Rubik

OCTOBER
36. Vogue Paris, "Bal Masque" by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, also featuring Crystal Renn, Daphne Groeneveld, Lara Stone and Mariacarla Boscono
37. Vogue Paris, "Think Punk" by Mario Sorrenti, OG
38. Rolling Stone, "The Hot List" by Theo Wenner, OG

NOVEMBER
39. Vogue Paris, "Temps Libre" by Heid Silmane, OG
40. Vogue Paris, "La Geisha" by Terry Richardson, OG
41. Vogue Mexico, "Colour Shock" by Josh Olins, OG (R)
42. Vogue Italia, Cover and "Venus in Furs" by Steven Meisel, also featuring Alla Kostromicheva, Iris Strubegger, Iselin Steiro

DECEMBER
43. Vogue UK, "Star Girls" by Mario Testino, MG
44. VMAN #20 (Winter), "Patti + Robert" by Christian Brylle, OG
45. Pirelli Calendar 2010, "Mythology" by Karl Lagerfeld, also featuring various other models
46. New York Times T Style (Holiday), "Moonstruck" by Alice O'Malley, MG

*MG=Multi Girl
**OG=Only Girl
***(R)=Reprint

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
23 Editorials and 3 Covers in 2009 VS. 43 Editorials and 13 Covers in 2010 (20 more eds and 10 more covers, best year by far with 2006 coming in second)
Most Prodigious Month: March with 8 editorials and 2 covers
Most Prestigious Month: August with covers of Vogue UK and Vogue Paris

Photographer Breakdown:
-Meisel (5) (Never thought I'd live to see the day)
-McDean (4)
-Richardson (4)
-Lagerfeld (4)
-Inez and Vinoodh (3)
-Olins (2)
-Sorrenti (2)
-Testino (2)
-Demarchelier, Jansson, Mert & Marcus, Slimane, Sims, and Summerton (all 1)
(Seeing these names written out like this is SO impressive. You go Glen Coco Freja! Though I'd love to see Roversi and Luchford listed again.)

Vogue Breakdown:
-Vogue Paris: Editorials (8), Covers (1)
-Vogue Italia: Editorials (4), Covers (2)
-Vogue UK: Editorials (4), Covers (1)
-Vogue Korea: Editorials (1), Covers (1)
-Vogue Nippon: Editorials (2)
-Vogue US: Editorials (1)
-Vogue Germany: Editorials (1)
-Vogue China: Editorials (1)
(Tsk, tsk Vogue Russia. You're missing out.)

Others:
-W Magazine: Editorials (3)
-Interview: Editorials (3)
-i-D Magazine: Editorials (1), Cover (1)
-Dossier: Editorials (1), Cover (1)
-The Last Magazine: Editorials (1), Cover (1)
-Purple Magazine: Editorials (1)
-V Magazine: Editorials (1)
(To count Vogue Paris, Vogue Italia, Vogue UK, W, and Interview as some of your best clients is no small feat. Four for you Glen Coco Freja!)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Whew! If you catch any mistakes above, please let me know. And huge THANKS to all the hardworking scanners over at tFS. It is because of their dedication and generosity that we have images of all of Freja's work this past year. It's a tedious, time consuming job so the least we can do is say thanks and give credit (I'm looking at you tumblrs)!

2010 was most definitely Freja's year and she has completely cemented her status at the top and ensured her longevity in the industry for as long as she wants it. Isn't it amazing what can happen in just a year's time? But as happy and proud of Freja and her success as I am, I think we should all be sensitive to the fact that change goes both ways. Who knows what I'll be writing this time next year? And that's why I think I'm so hard on Freja sometimes. I just want to see her doing diverse work because I think that's the best for her career longevity at this point going forward. Sure, it's great to have a persona and a trademark that you're known for. But that can only go so far. So Freja, I think it's time to change it up a bit, get away from your comfort zone, and expand into the full range that we all know you're capable of. And maybe it's time to change the hair as well. Going blond might just be the thing to inject some newness and freshness into your image. Eeek, dare I even say that? Maybe that's too drastic. I don't know. I just think 2011 is the time for something new. Agree? Disagree? What changes would you like to see Freja make this upcoming year, if any at all?

Anyway, congrats on your year Freja. Your hard work, dedication, passion, indefatigable drive, and talent have finally paid off. Now may you land a multi-million dollar beauty contract so you can be comfortable for the rest of your life. Amen.

Exposed

So I was looking at the latest VMan #20 preview shots of Freja and Christian Brylle, and one thing stuck out to me. I guess the 1-2-3 punch of these images, the style.com video, and the Vogue Italia images have put nudity at the forefront of my mind, so I couldn't help but to notice a trend here with Freja's work. An inordinate amount of her recent editorials have featured prominent boobage (or lack thereof....however you want to consider it). Basically, I feel like I've been seeing topless Freja A LOT lately, and way more than usual. I'm not sure if this is actually the case, or if it's one of those things that just seems more prevalent the second you're acutely aware of it. You know how that goes; someone mentions pumpkin ravioli to you for the first time, and suddenly everywhere you go you see pumpkin ravioli on every menu, on every food program, in every magazine. What do you call this phenomenon? The sudden proliferation of otherwise unknown concepts? The sudden realization of dormant ideas?

Anyway, I digress. Back to the boobs. I decided to do some good old fashion counting and break it down by the numbers. Here is my not so scientific method. I broke the year into two segments: January through June, and July through December. Then I counted how many times Freja appeared topless/exposed her breasts in editorials that fell within those respective months. Simple as that. I didn't count covers or reprints, and I counted the June/July issue of VP twice. This gives us the Freja exposure rate:

January - June: 3 out of 19 (15.79% exposure rate)

vs.

July - December: 8 out of 18 (44.44% exposure rate)

So I wasn't being crazy and just imagining things. Freja has been more exposed recently. In the first half of the year, we only had Vogue-a-Porter, Purple Naked, and In Grande Stile. In the second half of the year we had Winter Before Winter, Modern Love, Poetics of Body, Rolling Stone Hot List, La Geisha, Temps Libre, Venus in Furs, and Patti + Robert. Notably, the last five editorials came within the past three months. That high level of concentration suggests we've reached the nudity critical mass.

As for the significance of my findings, I really have no idea of their potential significance or reverberations for the scientific...er, I mean fashion community. Perhaps nudity is a trend that comes and goes just like all other trends in fashion: plaid shirts, biker jackets, clogs, camel coats, nudity. Perhaps Vogue Paris is behind all of this, as Freja's exposure rate did increase in tandem with her appearance rate in VP's pages. And we all know how VP loves a good measure of breast. We may never know the exact cause, but the effects are more measurable in terms of fan reaction. Speaking only for myself as a fan, I find all of this nudity to be tiring. But then again, I get tired of things pretty quickly. (I have no idea how I've been able to run this blog for so long. It's literally a miracle.) Heck, give me Freja in three feminine editorials in a row and I'll be calling for the androgyny faster than you can say "tomboy with 16 tattoos." Freja has great range and I would just like to see it utilized more.

I hope you know this post was written with tongue firmly in cheek. I thought it would be pretty obvious, but with the internet you never know. Sometimes you have to spell out things like sarcasm and jest because they don't come across very well in blog form. So......s-a-r-c-a-s-m and j-e-s-t. There, that should make it pretty clear so don't be sending me hate mail about how I'm biased against nudity or something. Because I'm most certainly not. But I am looking forward to seeing Freja model some clothes for once. :)

Image Credits: designscene.net

The Final Tally - SS11

I guess this has kind of become a tradition for me, although I don't know how many of you actually care at this point after the shows are already over. Regardless, I do this because it helps me digest a month's worth of information and it's kind of fun. Yeah, I might be a little OCD in that I find compiling statistics and data "fun." Anyway, my old recaps for FW1011 and SS10 can be found here and here.

FREJA BEHA ERICHSEN

SS11 TOTAL: 37
SS11 MILAN/PARIS: 24
OPENED: 6 | CLOSED: 6

London: No shows walked

Milan:
Alberta Ferretti (C)
Bottega Veneta (O) (C)
Dolce & Gabbana
Emilio Pucci (O)
Etro
Fendi
Gucci
Jil Sander
Marni (O)
MaxMara (C)
Prada
Versace

New York:
Alexander Wang (C)
Anna Sui
Carolina Herrera
Derek Lam
Diesel Black Gold
Marc Jacobs (C)
Michael Kors
Narciso Rodriguez (C)
Oscar de la Renta
Ports 1961 (O)
Rag & Bone (O)
Tom Ford
Vera Wang

Paris:
Balenciaga
Balmain
Celine
Chanel (O)
Chloe
Isabel Marant
Lanvin
Louis Vuitton
Miu Miu
Stella McCartney
Valentino
Yves Saint Laurent

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of.....

• Cities walked: 3
• Shows walked: 37
  
• Shows opened: 6
• Shows closed: 6
• Outfits in New York: 24
• Outfits in Milan: 29
• Outfits in Paris: 21
• Outfits total: 74
• Show walked for the first time ever: 2 (Ports 1961, Tom Ford)
• Cities walked last season that were not walked this season: 1 (Poor London)
  
• Shows repeated from last season: 30
• Shows walked last season that were not walked this season: 16
• Shows walked this season that were not walked last season: 7
• Skirts/Dresses vs. Shorts/Pants: 41 vs. 33
  
• Bags/Clutches carried: 15
  
• Sunglasses worn: 2
  
• Headpieces/Hats/Headbands worn: 5
  
• Overly floppy hats obscuring the face: 1
• Tummies bared: 1
  
• Journalists simultaneously scared and thrilled: 1
• Runway requests left unfulfilled: 1
• Publications who fell in love with Freja: 1 (that has publicly admitted it)
• Working fountains: 3
• Animals harmed in the making of the LV show: Unknown
• All white looks: 11 (white is the new black apparently)
• All black looks: 8 (white really is the new black)
• Belts worn: 26
• Necklaces worn: 7
• Citrus jackets: 1
• Times I mentioned femininity: too many to count...
  

In order of appearance:

Et voila! The past month signed, sealed and delivered in one tiny post. How many hours did we all spend pouring over information that could be summed up so easily? Don't remind me. :/ Another successful season under Freja's belt, and her twelfth overall. She really shows no signs of slowing down, and that's amazing for any model, much less a model nearly six years into her career. I don't know how Freja manages to do it season after season, but she commands attention from all the right people, walks in all the right shows, and changes up her look ever so slightly enough to remain fresh, new and desirable. There's both a stability and unpredictability with Freja that makes her exciting yet reliable at the same time, and that probably explains why she's always in high demand. Now we only have 5 months to wait and see if she can keep it up for FW11/12!

Image Credits: style.it, contributormagazine.com