The Many Faces Of

My recent post got me thinking about the upside of Freja's deluge of work, and pictures can say it better than words can:

With so much work to be seen, we get a true sense of how versatile Freja really is. In many cases her reputation precedes her and people write her off as only belonging to the tough and edgy category. But all of this work, side by side, really reveals the often underrated subtlety and quality of her transformative abilities. Freja is a model who is capable of giving people what they want, when they want it. She is simultaneously all things to all people, and yet utterly true to herself for we never lose sight of her individuality amidst all the makeup, styling, concepts and characters. She is both chameleon and persona. Malleable and distinct. Once again toeing the line between extremes, existing in the space between where the paradox resides.

This paradoxical quality makes her instantly intriguing, captivating and mysterious. How does she do it? How does she go from punk to glam so effortlessly? This is one of things about Freja that has grabbed a hold of me and will never let me go. So no matter how I much I complain or whine, I could never walk away from a model this talented and hardworking. Can you imagine any one else being able to take on all these different roles so thoroughly and successfully? Any one else who could do it with both aplomb and humility? No? Neither can I.

Image Credits: All credits are in the image file name

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

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.

A Matter of Perspective

For me, one of the more notable things to emerge from this past fashion season was the blossoming friendship between Freja and Karmen Pedaru. I've been a fan of Karmen's for quite some time now, and have even tried sneaking her onto this blog multiple times. ;) Needless to say, I was thrilled when I started seeing two of my favs hanging out backstage this season. Before this September, and to the best of my knowledge, Karmen and Freja had not been photographed together before, even though they initially met all the way back in September of 2006. Yes, that's right--September of 2006, nearly three years ago when they both walked the Marni SS07 show where they had looks 45 and 46 right next to each other.

When I realized this, I was quite surprised as I've always thought of Karmen as a newer girl. Her breakout season was only just during FW0809 when she was named a Top 10 Newcomer by models.com, so I just assumed that she's only been around since then. But it turns out Karmen started hitting the high fashion runways only three season after Freja did. So this got got me thinking about the perspectives we have that go into defining a new model, an established model and the role that success plays.

Freja made her runway debut in February of 2005 when she walked for Prada in Milan. Karmen made her debut in September of 2006 when she walked for Christopher Kane in London. Karmen only started a year and half after Freja but I believe most people think (like I did) that she's one of the newer, younger models on the scene because her career seems to be taking off only now. She's definitely not as well known and she doesn't have any major covers or blue-chip campaigns on her modeling resume yet. When you compare her to Freja, the differences are so stark that it's hard to believe they started only three seasons apart.

Yet, things are finally beginning to happen for Karmen after all this time. More people are recognizing her as I've never seen so many new people posting in her tFS thread. She recently starred in the Gucci Eye Wear campaign for FW0910 and she was a semi-exclusive at the show in September. I don't want to jinx things, but being an exclusive is great and usually indicative of future campaign prospects.

I guess if you can take anything away from this, it's that time is only one factor in determining a model's success. Unlike more conventional jobs where you nearly always climb your way to the top by putting in years of work, I would argue that modeling is more dependent on other factors like agents, trends, the whims of photographers and designers, the look of the moment, and good old fashioned luck. I think the career trajectories of Freja and Karmen speak to this. Freja became successful nearly overnight with a Prada exclusive in Milan and bookings at all the top shows in Paris during her first season. Karmen was more of a late bloomer and worked her way through her first three seasons by walking mostly in London before she finally broke through.

Freja and Karmen traversed on two different paths to success, and I think it's interesting how these paths can affect the perspectives we have on each one's experience level and status within the industry. Even though both have been modeling for a few years now, I still think of them in entirely different ways. To me Karmen represents a young, fresh model full of untapped potential. Much like the brands she's modeled for (Y-3, Jill Stuart, Derek Lam, M by Missoni), she's well-respected but definitely flying under the radar. On the other hand, Freja is the established veteran who I feel has been around for so long that I can't even remember a time without her, much like the brands that she's modeled for (Balmain, Balenciaga, Chanel, Gucci, Chloe).

They are both successful in their own rights, and both seem to have career longevity in that they've been around longer than 2 or 3 seasons. When they started hanging out this season I thought it was so cute that Freja was hanging with a newbie instead of just the other vets like Lily and Heidi. Well, my perspective was a little off and after some adjustment, I now see both Freja and Karmen as veterans and true colleagues in every sense of the word. Now I only wonder what took them so long to become friends....

Image Credits: models.com, imgmodels.com, style.com

Editorial Comparisons

What's Glam Now
Harper's Bazaar November 2009
Ph: Karl Lagerfeld

If I'm going to be honest, I feel quite apathetic towards this editorial. I don't think it's horrible, but I don't think it's that great either. It just kind of exists, so I don't really know what to say about it. Freja looks good (although it's pretty hard to make her look bad) but I hate that they've airbrushed her face so that it's nearly unrecognizable in the 5th picture. I think this was shot in Venice, probably at the same time the Chanel Cruise show was going on back in July. (Edit: my bad, it was shot in Monaco. Thanks anonymous commenter!)

The sparse backdrop, singular focus on clothes and use of full designer looks did make me pay more attention to the fashion being highlighted. In fact, I even started to recall other editorials featuring the same or similar looks. (Note: All the following editorial and scanning credits can be found in the image file name.)

Louis Vuitton

I love seeing how the same pieces can end up looking so different from editorial to editorial. Fashion is really about transformation. Models have to transform and so do the clothes. So if you think about it, photographers and stylists are just the manipulators of external factors.

Fendi

I also love doing these comparisons because it puts things into perspective. For example, I think this editorial's shortfalls become more evident when you see it next to others.

Dolce and Gabbana

The setting is incongruous with the concept, which is itself underdeveloped in my opinion. Just because you shoot in Monaco doesn't automatically mean it will be glamorous.

Givenchy

I would almost rather have seen this shot in a studio. At least then all the empty space would make more sense. The setting already looks fake in some shots anyway.

Giorgio Armani

I think Freja is a competent poser, but we all know it's never really been her strong suit. Perhaps I'm just having a Karolin moment, but I really think she puts everyone else to shame.

Marc Jacobs

It's the subtle details like her hands that make me stop in my tracks. Attention to detail like that comes with an innate sense that's really difficult to teach.

Chanel

It's ok Freja. I love you for so many other reasons that more than make up for your posing. Plus I'm sure it was hard to do a good job with Baptiste awkwardly holding you. And really, who wouldn't look just ok compared to this?

Thank you for indulging my Karo obsession. Moving along now...Freja also has an editorial in the October issue of Numero. You can see the full thing here.

I haven't been able to get my hands on this issue yet, but it's a must buy in my opinion. In addition to Freja's editorial, two of my other favorite models have editorials. So with Freja, Karmen and Karolin, this issue is like a dream line up for me. Numero has always been amazing in this aspect. Each issue is jam packed with editorials featuring girls at all levels--from ones just starting out to established veterans--so you're guaranteed to find at least one ed that's to your liking.

Image Credits: My scans, frockwriter, scans by tFS members AngelLover, Diciassette (17), Luxx, achAT, Melange and helligirl.