High Praise

In a video interview about the February 2010 Vogue UK cover shoot featuring Natalia Vodianova, Nick Knight happens to bestow some high praise on Freja.

"Natalia is one of those models like Kate or Naomi or Freja who are just fantastic. They know how to express themselves. First of all they interpret the narrative of a piece of clothing really interestingly. And that's one of the main things the model does. Models are kind of an interesting mixture of very, very good actresses (oh really?) and very good sportspeople."

Check it out @1:20

That's quite the compliment coming from someone who's only photographed Freja for two editorials (Pop Hit for Vogue UK March 2007 and About a Boy for Vogue UK April 2008). She must have made quite the impression in order to have Nick lump her in with models like Kate, Naomi and Natalia (who are arguably the last of the supermodels). I hope this means that we'll be seeing a Knight lensed editorial sometime in Freja's near future. Or maybe they just recently worked together which is why Freja was so fresh on his mind? (Hmmmm.....keep those eyes peeled.)

Lately Freja has been expanding her oeuvre in terms of photographers who she's worked with (think Demarchelier, Meisel, Olins, Richardson, Summerton) so adding Knight to the list again would be quite lovely. If not for an editorial, then perhaps a multimedia project for SHOWstudio? It's been quite a while since the last one Freja did for Knight's online forum that has the the lofty goal of expanding fashion film parameters.

"Writing on the Wall"

Anyway, being a successful model has as much to do with the people who support you as it has to do with what qualities and talents you bring to the table. With regards to Freja, perhaps I focus too much on the later and not enough on the former. I've mentioned Freja fans in the industry before (Alexander Wang, Marcus and David of Rag & Bone, Stella McCartney and artist Chantal Joffe, Vogue UK's Jaime Perlman) but I've done so in a very flippant way. Well, not only are these people fans; they're also supporters and I'm guessing that a good measure of Freja's success is owed to them and the many others in the industry who have supported her since her early years. People like Russell Marsh who gave Freja her first runway exclusive with Prada her first season, Michelle Lee of KCD who repeatedly casts Freja for the Marc Jacobs shows, and Freja's mother agent Jeppe at Unique Copenhagen. Of course, you can have all the right people backing you, but if you don't have the goods as a model your career will fade away just as quickly as it lit up. Luckily, Freja has both components: a strong foundation of supporters and a huge reservoir of talent. This is why she's been successfully modeling for half a decade.

Nevertheless, I'm not so naive and caught up in my own fandom as to think that everyone loves Freja. I know that some people don't get her appeal and I have no trouble understanding and accepting that (but if you're reading this you're probably not one of those people). Luckily the people who count, in terms of models getting booked for work, do get it. The people that have a say in which model we see in whatever campaign, editorial, and runway show all seem to see what we Freja fans see. And knowing that doesn't make me feel so weird about having such a singularly focused blog. I get enough heartache and disappointment whenever I see my lesser known model favs fade, so it's good to be a part of the vast majority when it comes to Freja. You know...if she ever stops working or decides to pull a SS08/SS09 again and partially skip another season, a lot of people are going to be inconsolable. Fortunately things seem to be going in our favor.....for now.

Credits: Vogue UK video via rox_yr_sox @ tFS