04-11-09
Where we go, where we don't, where we're lost and found
Anastasia Krivosheeva @ Women Direct (NY), Ksenia Kahnovich @ IMG (NY)
Time goes by. Too fast and too slow at the same... time! Too sweet, too harsh. Always wrong as it seems but life is a neverending imperfection for whoever is striving for his own vision, lost somewhere then found exactly on the opposite path. Pictures can take us away from that quest (sometimes close to nonsense), pictures relax us and brought some new questions on the table. The same picture can be delightful and painful at the same time as we can't see them through the present moment's lens. We watch them with the past sweetness and the bitterness of any lost moment. Praising for it to come back, knowing it won't. Fear of the future with a teaspoon of exicitement calling for a second one. Pictures bring troubles. Thanks to pictures. Thanks a lot.
Stylist Peju Famojure recently worked on the October issue of L'Officiel Maroc (as the name tells you it's the Moroccan version of L'Officiel) and shared with us the results of that story shot by Stephanie McNiel and Alexey Yurenev (not the first time we heard of these two, in a very good way). Models are Anastasia Krivosheeva - too rare yet always precious - and Ksenia Kahnovich, also too rare somehow. The atmosphere is out of this world or belongs to an unexplored part of it, where our feet never saw the color of the ground (yes, yes feet can see). Out of time and on some picture even out of tune. In any beautiful melodys, lyrics are wrong. Always. It's not a curse, it's the only way to reach your ears. Sometimes you've got the feeling what you can't see seems mysterious. Wrong - it's what you see who is really mysterious. The light, not the shadows. Shadows are just shadows.
Long live L'Officiel Maroc, any magazine able to give us goosebumps like this at 9.30am between the first and the second coffee of the day belongs to the ones we want everywhere on our tables and shelves.
02-11-09
No time to lose, it's time to go, she's watching how the river flows
Kathleen Burbridge @ Mode (Canada), Premier (London), One (NY)
Monday monring... Monday afternoon and soon Monday evening if not already Monday night. Darkness is everywhere when November's here. Since yesterday, hadn't time to celebrate Halloween. Too tired, too much to do, to watch, to think about. Not the mood for celebrations, only projects growing, pampering every single good idea to let it grow into another project. And the clock is working its usual wrok. Round and round.
Monday morning came Kathleen's new story, released yesterday in Magnificent Magazine. No better name, right ? Magnificent pictures by Jessie Craig, making her marks on the other side of the Channel. London vibe seems brand new for her but Jessie's touch is forevery. A teaspoon of mystery in a ocean of strange. And strange pulls the change, everytime it happens. Jessie is praising Kathleen's way to move in front of the camera, just like everybody else did. Everybody who had a chance in a lifetime to work with Ms. Burbridge, Mode's most mysterious blonde.
The ethereal mood, like a swan in a sea of dead leaves, dancing in the shadows of an autumn day. Afternoon. Grey lights if lights can be great somehow. Pale ballerina with dark lips, 5'10"5 whispering the truth about limitless yet underrated potential. Period.
29-10-09
The Moon is not Enough
Anne Sophie Monrad @ Modelwerk (Hamburg), Ford (NY)
Target high and see what you can get. First advice we could get to anyone. Anne Sophie and her agencies seemed to have high goals and expectations and seem on a good way to them right now. Anne Sophie's face, features and expressions are hard to forget after just one look, they'll be even much harder to ignore after seeing her latest editorial piece (Modelwerk warned us there is some good stuff on its way for her and truth is they were true...) just out in Numéro Tokyo. Liz Collins style and approach are perfect to highlight Anne Sophie's look and breathtaking body language, working the grey, black and silver shades of that story styled by Charles Varenne. Quite a thrilling spectacle from page one to the end.
21-10-09
Fresh, Fresh, Fresh
Stella Maxwell @ Viva (Paris)
You might be used to our features on Amica's Casting series but now we're all about Dedicate's story dedicated to fresh faces in Paris shot by Alexandre Brunet, a photographer we discovered during fashion week. We loved his work, his vision, goals and, more than anything else, the way he talks about his favorite models. A new way to see models as muses from Freja Beha Erichsen who might have played a serious role in building his aesthetic and training his eye to Stella Maxwell just above - his favorite from all the girls he has worked with so far. You may remember her from our previous feature back to the day she arrived at Viva, catching eyes and attention for her moody hairdo and vivid expressions in front of the camera.
Nika Lauraitis @ Elite (Paris)
Fabulous Nika from Ford New York is pure sweetness in person and pure wonder on glossy paper. Editorial queen in making with three pieces in current magazines including this one and two stories in French Revue de Modes (including a cover), she's got the high energy and huge talent a model needs to embody several character with the same intensity. Sporty yet delicate, elegant regardless of the atmosphere around, we keep our faith in her. Endlessly and certainly not without reason(s).
Kinga Lukomska @ City (Paris)
Another huge favortie of ours to appear in that story is Kinga Lukomska. The melancholic Polish beauty, now with City in Paris and FM London, proves once again how the atmosphere of an editorial comes from the model and can even be created mostly by her. The genius of the photographer in that case is to capture her the way she is (white wall as backgound sounds perfect too) and let her express. Mesmerizing.
Malgosia Baclawska @ M Management (Paris)
Still from Poland but very different look, Malgosia was the best surprise of the casting at Gaspard Yurkievich this season. Cheekbones like you only see in dreams and a classic kind of beauty which might not be as classic as it seems, our favorite face from Hook Models in Poznan also can rely on her piercing gaze to get more attention. We bet she will but keep our fingers (and toes) crossed for her future.
Samantha Rayner @ Nathalie (Paris)
Samantha Rayner, the classic-beauty-with-a-twist (could be the theme of the story!) from Canadian boutique Wallace Model Management, is the next one the list. With already a few editorial prowesses in her portfolio, The tall blonde (5'11) with her lovely jawline offers us quite a unique performance again: so much presence without even looking at the camera.
Alina Baikova @ M Management (Paris)
We haven't seen Alina during the shows but would have loved to, of course. We won't tell you again about classic beauty (sorry we did it already) but she would perfectly fit for this description provided we don't forget to praise her chameleon abilities. From fresh to fierce, there is only one step for her. Maybe only one blink. She's 5'10"5 (179) FYI.
Donna Loos @ Viva (Paris)
Last but not least, Donna Loos from Viva again which is definitely not just "one of the twins from Wilma Wakker". Both Donna and her sister Gwen are highly talented and we simply love to see them exploring different ways working with different agencies which means appearing in different editorials. She's also featured in newest issue of Amica (in French we would say CQFD...) sharing the spotlights with another promising Viva-girl, the redhead Swede Mimmi.
15-10-09
Shelby was Shot by Billy Kidd
Shelby Truax @ The Agency AZ (USA)
A photographer's word will always have its own weight, no matter if he shot Vogue last week or did some tests for an mother agent's latest find. A photographer's vision will always find some echo here as we're always obsessed by capturing the essence of a new model's potential regardless if the girl will be CK's next exclusive campaign-girl or just the lensman's very own muse. We love when this subtle teamwork between the photographer and his model slightly shows on pictures and we love how each inspired eye is attracted to something totally different. For all these reasons and a couple more, we love Billy Kidd's latest story published in Zink.
The muse this time is called Shelby Truax and she's one of the raw jewels you'll find if you take a quick look at her mother agency's board. The Agency AZ seems to reprensent a few more inspiring new faces but Shelby, according to Billy, is in a class by herself. We haven't seen enough of her work so far (though her spread in Glamour Italia is worth to mention) to say the same but we definitely feel the good vibrations on every single picture. Freckles have always been a heartbreaking feature here and the magic works again with Shelby tonight. At 16-years-old and only 5'7 a girl needs some serious assets to balance that so-called lack of height even if sometimes talking about numbers seems just... ridiculously inappropriate. Especially when you're talking about inspiration.
10-09-09
Love is Illegal
Alek Alexeyeva @ Select (London), Modelwerk (Hamburg), Nathalie (Paris), Women (Milan)
The title of the story is Rote Liebe, Red Love in German. It puts you in the mood, immediately and the sleek, sophisticated aesthetic leaves no room for mistake about its theme. Inspired by Fassbinder's muse Hanna Schygulla, shot by Felix Lammers using the unique beauty-skills of make-up artist Yasmin Heinz, Rote Liebe is one of the features you will find in newest issue of TUSH. But no matter which of the multiple covers you choose, you might not find the pictures with that gorgeous red dress inside. Good idea to have a story about red love without using the color itself but the atmosphere the two shots bring to it was too deep not to be featured here. Adding a twist to what appears like a silent and softened drama, the red touch also seems to strengthen the contrast between a nostalgic mood and an almost futuristic approach of past times. We've never thought of it but the idea was brilliant - the parallel between the 70's Hanna Schygulla and today's Alek Alexeyeva is stunning or, at least, her way to embody the character is impressive, strong enough to let you doubt of the point of view. Flashback or projection ? Insight from the inside or stolen vision through the keyhole ? We'll never get the answer but we've already got the feeling.
08-09-09
Sans Comparaison et Sans Compromis
Alek Alexeyeva and Heleen Scholten @ Select (London)
Beware, dangerous team. One is London's darling, the other is Micha's cutest. One is probably the most stunning Lexposed Face we've featured so far, the second was our TMSRRE girl #1 last season. We would have enough facts to love them both but we don't even need them. To see them once is to write them on our favorites-list. Alek Alexeyeva and Heleen Scholten, both managed by Select in London are gracing the same dangerous story in new issue of i-D, shot by Pierre Bailly. Both share the same raw look and refined manners in front of the camera. Pictured as they are, without heavy make-up or overwhelming outfits. Natural yet looking supernatural. Almost surreal in the poses, the scenes, their expressions and the emotions they bring. Even more dangerous. And, as our title in French says: peerless and without compromise.
05-09-09
Seriously Smells like September
Megan Jones @ Marilyn (Paris)
The difference between a few pictures and a movie probably comes from the way photography can bring old atmospheres from a long-gone era back to life. Pictures are static but tells a lot more about the character pictured than words and motions together. It's a magic or a mystery even if the process (press the button, capture, put on paper then let the viewer watch) is well-known and most likely the same each time it happens.
Back to the heart of our topic, of our day and beyond, cute blondes turned dark by the simple will of a photographer. Not a random model meeting a random photographer, this time we're talking about Liz Bell's Megan Jones (represented by Marilyn in Paris) captured by Gilad Sasporta. A photographer we should have told you about several times before and we feel a little guilty to come that late. Never too late, though. Agents kept telling us about his work, his unique abilities to catch a mood and let explode some unexplored sides of a young model just starting in town. Have a look at his work with Elite's new faces. Since we've been offered that book we couldn't take our eyes off it. Why we haven't dropped any line on Gilad yet ? Maybe waiting for the crucial opportunity.
What will be will be. Even on the first rainy day of September. Got the new issue of Flavor magazine, another precious mid-price jewel we find here in France. Megan was the most beautiful reason to talk about Gilad's work as he simply snapped what we wanted to see of her - lovely Megan turning seriously dark and dramatic, dressed as an old-fashioned schoolgirl.
Obvious is no good, Hidden does it better
Charlotte Bos @ Nathalie (Paris)
Take the sleekest blonde in town and send her to Jessie Craig (who's starting a brand new life in London now) and you get something spooky and whimsical. Unexpected and breathtaking. Take any good old cliché a let a good eye smash it till you see some wicked pieces of it thrown all over a visual fireworks. Take the naturally shy-looking Charlotte, wake her up in another world and morph her into the moody character of dark tale.
Charlotte Bos was a part of Elle Italia's blond gang including Anne-Sophie Monrad (now at Ford NY with her vinyl showcard ready for the win), our tiny Swedish favorite Saga Rickmer, Michelle Westgeest, Ieva and Aida Aniulyte. She's back now in the new issue of Vanity Teen and shows how versatility can pop up in such wild and unpredictable ways. 5'10 and awesome-looking from head to are undeniable facts but who would have guessed she was such an editorial performer after a quick look at her compcard ? Maybe the most precious models are the ones who are truly able to hide their game till the crucial moment.
02-09-09
Laila and Friends
Laila Pudule, Kaya Wilkins and Deana Noop @ FM (London), Heather Koenitzer and Anna Tatton @ Bookings (London)
The Return of the Independent Spirit. A title has never been that true. True to the atmosphere, true to the magazine (POP's brand new version), to the photographer Jason Evans and to all the young models featured in this story. As this is where we always put the strongest emphasis, we'll focus on the casting once again. Three FM girls including Laila Pudule (from 2B Models in Latvia and among our recent choices of Lexposed Faces), Kaya Wilkins (also recently featured, coming from Heartbreak Models in Norway) and an Estonian on the rise from EMA, Deana Noop. And two more girls from Bookings: Heather Koenitzer (featured earlier this Summer, from Ford San Francisco) and red-haired beauty to watch Anna Tatton. Makes a sensational team relying on freshness with a true inventive, creative spirit. Exactly what we are looking for (and waiting for) this Fall, no matter if it's indenpendent and/or spirited as long as it means the return of autumnal excitement.
