Magazine Mentions

Freja definitely gets more work in European magazines, but that doesn't mean you can't find her in the American mags. I gotta say, it was definitely surreal to flip through the November issue of Harper's Bazaar and see this in person.......surreal, but nice:

With a smile like that, it's a wonder how Freja ever got so entwined with tough androgyny in the first place. Anyway, I'm glad the Harry Winston campaign is turning out to have a bigger roll out than I initially thought. Silly me, thinking it was only for Asian markets. Now it seems like all markets will have the opportunity to see the bright and bubbly side of Freja. My fingers are crossed that this leads to some more similar work because I think seeing Freja in a totally commercial, mass-market kind of way is just the change of pace I need right now. She's a high fashion model no doubt, but I want to see her out of her comfort zone more often.


So with Harper's Bazaar covered, let's now move on to US Vogue. It's clear Anna isn't much of a fan, but at least we know that she and the other editors know who Freja is:

It's nice to see Freja get some sort of shout out, however minuscule. I guess it's better than nothing? Although now that Meisel has warmed to Freja, is it just a matter of time before Anna and US Vogue do? Seriously though, it is a bit ludicrous that Freja has only been in US Vogue once (in a multi-girl editorial) considering her status within the industry and her popularity among fans and industry insiders alike. Sasha, Raquel, Daria, Lara and other models who occupy/ied the top positions on models.com's list have all been featured many times, some even on the cover. So what gives? Maybe we'll just have to live with the fact that Freja and US Vogue weren't meant to be. But if that's the only publication that chooses to ignore her, than I think we're ok. We'll just take our five consecutive appearances in Vogue Paris, and covers of VI and UK and go elsewhere! Anna's loss for sure.

Image Credits: My scans

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

New Editorials and London

Here are two of Freja's March magazine madness editorials:

Chic Mystique
W Magazine March 2010
Ph: Mario Sorrenti

Love At First Sight
Vogue US March 2010
Ph: Steven Meisel

I'm just so happy to see Freja in US Vogue that I can't really say anything substantive or meaningful about the editorial. Usually I'm apathetic towards standard studio edits, but this one is special, obviously. And the rest of the cast is so great that I don't mind that Freja only has three shots. I like to think of this as a stepping stone to bigger and better things, hopefully. Finally US Vogue is changing up their model casting. In addition to Freja, this issue also boasts debuts for Abbey Lee, Patricia van der Vliet, and Mirte Maas! If Anna Wintour keeps this up I'll actually be looking forward to getting my copy of Vogue in the mail every month. Now...if we could just get her to do something about those awful celebrity covers....but even that might be changing in the near future. I swear, this entire month has seen the fashion world turned upside-down and inside out, especially for us Freja fans.

Anyway, as you all know by now, Freja is in London and she's already walked two shows, one of them a debut for her: Julien MacDonald and Acquascutum. The craziness continues, so if you thought this week was going to be a nice break between New York and Milan, think again. London is the place to be right now as a lot of models are walking there this season (think Anja, Abbey, Freja, Karlie, Sigrid, etc). I think this is great for a city that's generally overlooked. Collections have been strong so far so take a look when you get the chance.

Oh, and thanks to tFS member s'gnac, we have a preview of Freja's SPUR cover. I guess that means it's out in Japan and hopefully we'll be able to see some scans of the story eventually.

Image Credits: My scans, amazon.co.jp via s'gnac @ tFS

Freja by Meisel for US Vogue

Yes, you read that right. Pigs are flying, hell has frozen over, the fat lady has sung; employ whatever other cliche you can muster up to describe the situation because it's happening. Freja is in the March 2010 issue of American Vogue, shot by Steven Meisel. It's a studio shoot also featuring Lara, Liya, Karlie, Mirte and Rianne. (What a cast!) The biggest surprise of fashion week (for me) isn't happening at all on the runways, but in the pages of magazines.

I guess it was a matter of time before this happened though. We had inklings that more could come when Freja worked with Meisel twice in a row for Vogue Italia at the beginning of the year. And some of us knew an upcoming collaboration was imminent. Thanks to the excellent sleuthing by commentator Amber in the comments section of this old post, we saw this tweet nearly a week ago from a "model mole."

I didn't want to believe it at first because anyone can say anything on the internet. But they were spot on about the March collaboration. About the zero beef? Well, I don't know if I buy that part yet. But that's all water under the bridge now.

Maybe this editorial is the stepping stone to an only-girl editorial? A vogue Italia cover? A Meisel lensed ad campaign? The possibilities seem endless now, don't they?

On the Webpages Of

Freja may never appear in the pages of Vogue (other than in ads) but at least she makes the occasional appearance online. Funny that they would chose that picture to illustrate that news clip. Especially since, if I'm remembering correctly, Freja had a friend cut her hair for her back in July of 2007. God, was it really that long ago? Time flies.