Mythology

Big news of the day is the release of the annual Pirelli calendar in Moscow. With Karl at the helm, is it any surprise that Freja is included this year? You gotta love him for being so loyal.

Back when the news broke in April that Karl would be the photographer, I'll admit I was a bit skeptical about Freja's odds of being included. After all, the Pirelli Calendar is about sexy pin-ups with a high fashion twist. And no matter how versatile I think Freja is as a model, the last thing that people associate her with is sexy pin-up girl. But no matter now, since Karl has managed to pick a theme that allows him to integrate all his favorite models into the calendar: Greek and Roman mythology.

And no surprise here, Freja plays the male roles of Apollo, Pollux and Orpheus. So Karl has managed to both exceed and let down my expectations. Exceed in the sense of his unconventional casting choice of Freja (and even Iris) for this calendar; let down in the sense of his trite role assignment. Freja in a masculine role....wow, never saw that one coming (rolls eyes). At least there is some unexpected gender-bending going on with Abbey as Castor and Anja as Hermes. I like to see models taking on new roles and challenges, and at this point I feel like Freja (through no fault of her own) hasn't been given much opportunity to do so. C'est la vie I guess.

Regardless, I am excited to see what the final images will look like. The images that have been released so far are really beautiful. They're classical in all the right ways, and everyone looks gorgeous--real, physical embodiments of the gods they're asked to play. So I'm leaving myself open to the possibility that I'll be pleasantly surprised, and that roles won't matter in the face of beauty. Your thoughts on Freja and the calendar?

ETA: Here's the first image of Freja

Image Credits: pedestrian.tv

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hooray for a four day weekend and the official start of the holiday season! My favorite time of the year by far. Are you ready for turkey day, black Friday and cyber Monday? I hope so. Enjoy yourselves and I hope you...

eat a lot of good food...


drink a lot of good drinks...


catch up on your sleep...


finally start that bestseller you've been meaning to read...


and spend quality time with your family, friends and other loved ones.

Image Credits: fashionmag.com, firstview.com, style.it

FTV Countdown

This is what all fans wait for. A glimpse at the person behind all the clothes and makeup; the person off the runway and behind the scenes.

This season Freja comes in at #2 on the FTV countdown, up a spot from #3 last season. Bear my cheesiness, but she's like a fine wine, getting better with age. ;)

She also takes the top spot for the city of Milan. No interview; just a compilation of catwalk looks starting at 13:30:

Here are a few things that caught my attention:

-It's funny how we go from always napping backstage at Marni, to literally jumping up and down with energy this season @ 1:15.

-Perhaps we should expect a career transition into music very soon. After all, Freja has a DIY home studio with a plethora of guitars, a piano and drums. That doesn't simply sound like something she does casually on her off days--seems more serious than that to me.

-Oh, so those combat boots Freja was sporting everywhere this past season are Balmain. Who knew? So Christophe makes a $1,000 version of something Doc Martens makes for $100. I'm totally side-eyeing Decarnin right now.

-About a year after her initial move to New York, Freja is moving again. This time to Brooklyn. Why does it feel like everyone and their mother is moving to Brooklyn these days? It's not like the rent is any cheaper...

Anyway, it's always a pleasure to watch these videos. Most of the time, models are seen and not heard, so it's a treat when FTV puts these out after each season. If you have some time to kill, take a look at the rest of the girls making up the top ten.

10. Kasia Struss
9. Ginta Lapina
8. Karmen Pedaru
7. Julija Steponaviciute
6. Monika "Jac" Jagaciak
5. Lindsey Wixson
4. Frida Gustavsson
3. Caroline Brasch Nielsen
2. Freja
1. Karlie Kloss

It's a solid list and I'm happy to see girls like Julija and Karmen included. There are others I could do without, but you win some, you lose some.

Image Credits: afashiontale.dk, bellazon. Videos courtesy of Fashiontv Youtube Channel

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

Going Commercial?

Here's something new and possibly commercial. Freja recently shot some sort of TV ad with fellow models Anne Vyalitsyna and Martha Streck. Both Martha and Anne exist more firmly in the commercial fashion sphere, so it will be exciting and interesting to see what kind of project could possibly have these three girls working together. Via Martha's Twitter:

One the one hand you have Freja: androgynous poster girl, high fashion doyenne and a Karl Lagerfeld fav. On the other you have Anne V: current girlfriend of Maroon 5's Adam Levine and frequent model for the utterly mass market Victoria's Secret catalog. Then you have Martha: not necessarily notable for anything in particular, but a model in Victoria's Secret catalogs and on Givenchy runways. The three together certainly make for strange bedfellows, but my interest is definitely peaked! Fingers crossed that it's something uber commercial just for fun of it and for the sake of seeing something different.

(Is that a flowery, feminine dress I see on Freja!? Whoa.)

Also, thank goodness Martha confirmed what a lot of us already knew; the frejabe twitter is complete bullshit and a fake. So report it as spam and maybe then we can get rid of it and its embarrassingly immature tweets.

Anyway, guesses as to what the ad could be for? What do you want it to be for? H&M? Gap? Cadbury candy? What else? And am I the only one dying to see Freja cheese out in some over-the-top holiday ad campaign? Just me? Oh, ok....

Image Credits: twitter.com/marthastreck

Celebrity?

I finally picked up a copy of the Fall/Winter issue of Bon with Constance on the cover. This Swedish publication has become one of my favorite magazines because it has substantive context and good editorials. It features topics and discussions infinitely more interesting than "How to look good at every age," "10 ways to get the look for less," and "What Hamish Bowles discovered on his 10 day cleanse."

Anyway, this particular issue contains a round table discussion on the recent Fall/Winter 2010/2011 season, and one of the topics covered in said round table is "On the Rise and Rise of Models." Interestingly enough, Freja's picture is chosen as the lead in image for this section:

It was a nice surprise, but when I took the time to think about it, it shouldn't have been a surprise at all. This absolutely jives with all the recent coverage that Freja has been receiving lately, for it seems like she is fashion's current model du jour--the poster girl of model success. It's wonderful for sure, but it also brings bittersweet feelings. I mean, when you're so "of the moment," it's only a matter of time before the moment passes and you're suddenly out of it. Maybe that's my pessimism speaking, but I just don't want Freja to get overexposed and I fear it's happening. Anyway, that isn't the point of this post....sorry to be so scatterbrained. The point is that a few quotes stuck out to me and got me thinking about the issue of celebrity.

Q: "We might think that a lot of models are sort of cookie cutter, completely without personality and importance, but in fact, if you've been on Models.com or the Fashion Spot or Model Manual, there is a fascination with models that seems to be growing. What are your thoughts on this?"

A: "...I don't think this is a fixation on models. It's a fascination with these people and the lives that they lead. Agyness has her music, she has modeling and acting. Each of them is a rock star in their own right. It's a fascination with the celebrity, not the model."

Do you think this is true in Freja's case? And if so, how does this reconcile with her fierce upkeep of privacy outside of modeling? Can Freja be a celebrity when we know essentially nothing about her besides what she shows on the runway, in fashion candids and on magazine pages? Doesn't that just make her simply a model? I've always been curious to know how many people like her for her work, versus those that "like" like her, versus those that like her for her personality and everything it embodies and signifies (the irony of this doesn't escape me considering none of us really know her). I try to focus this blog on the work, and even though I don't really care about all the gossip and whisperings about her personal life, I am fully aware of them. After all, lots of voices whispering together creates a pretty loud sound. So is this the by-product of the celebrity fascination mentioned above? Is the Freja fan domain created out of a fascination with her as a person, instead of the work that she does? Are the two facets mutually exclusive? Or are they rather codependent, with each informing and bolstering the other?

If Freja really was just a model, no one would care about what she did off-duty, what her tattoos means, who she hangs out with, who she sleeps with, etc, etc. But people do care, and I have no idea why they care so much other than to say that models are indeed the new "celebrity." That's disconcerting in a way, because you get a sense that after a while, this fascination begins to come at the price of the work. And this brings me to the second quote from the round table.

"What often happens in fashion, particularly fashion photography, is that everybody is seeking beauty, but with no other thought than combining things that have been approved by everybody else in the industry: best model, best photographer, best studio. All you can think of when looking at the pictures is that they certainly had good salads and sandwiches at the shoot. But it has no charm, no little accidents, no surprises."

In all honestly, this sums up the way I've felt about some (but definitely not all) of Freja's work lately. She's had so much of it since everyone is (seemingly) rushing to capitalize on her popularity and celebrity. But as a result, the moments of awe and inspiration seem diluted. Don't get me wrong....they are still there. But I feel like I have to look harder and longer to find them, and that's frustrating when you feel the pressure to love everything someone does simply because you run a blog about them.

Back when I started this whole thing, I would have been leaping for joy at the success that Freja's had in the past few months. But now that it's here, I can't get that bittersweet taste out of my mouth. As the saying goes, be careful what you wish for, right? And just watch.....if Freja ever disappears I'll be howling with frustration at her lack of new work and wishing to recapture this moment where she was on top. (In the voice of Chandler Bing) Can I be anymore fickle and temperamental? I'll just blame it on human nature and utilize another popular saying: the grass is always greener on the other side.

Your thoughts on models, celebrities, model celebrities, Freja, and fickleness? So sorry for the lengthy, stream of consciousness post, but it's pretty quiet news wise so I thought I'd go a little crazy. :)

Image Credits: My Scan

Acting Break

Remember this little gem? Yes, the Chanel Pre-Fall video from last year that had Freja portraying a Chinese peasant girl and a Chinese courtesan. Well this year we won't have to suffer through get to enjoy another brilliant piece of film making from Karl because WWD reports that he "...had no time to make a movie," for this year's Chanel pre-fall collection. So Freja won't be in yellow face, or black face, or some other face, to complete Karl's ballsy display of cultural insensitivity. And we won't have to sit through a laughable, but endearing in a weird way, video as we squirm with second hand embarrassment. In fact, it seems like this year is all about modesty and intimacy since the show is not even being held in some far-flung, exotic location as past experience would dictate. No London, Moscow, or Shanghai.

Instead it's being held in the good, old City of Lights.....Gay Paree! Rue Cambon to be exact. Tuesday, December 7th. So mark those calendars, because chances are Freja will be there. Gosh, I can't even remember the last time she missed a Chanel show, be it ready-to-wear, haute couture, resort or pre-fall. Maybe during the infamous SS09 season? Anyway, as WWD reports:

"After taking over every square inch of the vast Grand Palais in Paris for its spring ready-to-wear show earlier this month, Chanel is reverting to more intimate environs for pre-fall. On Dec. 7, the French house plans to show its latest métiers d’arts collection — a luxury rtw line made with the specialty ateliers Chanel owns — where it all started back in 2002: at its Rue Cambon couture salons."

So it seems like Freja fans will get their next fix in just a little less than one month. We might be entering into the holiday season, but fashion never rests. After all, the trends can't set themselves!

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

Freja on Style.com

OK, the number of comments and e-mails that I've received telling me about this video probably means that you all want me to post it. So here it is:

Thanks to all who informed me of its existence! :) I saw it last week, but didn't think there was anything noteworthy enough to blog about. But I guess general consensus thought otherwise. All I can say is you are a very insistent, but very thoughtful bunch and I do appreciate it. It's comforting to know that if I ever miss anything Freja related, all you wonderful readers will keep me in the loop!

Anyway, like I was saying, there's nothing terribly new or revelatory in this video. It's just nice to get some new candid material every so often, and it's nice to have Style.com recognizing Freja. As time goes on, it seems like more and more fashion outlets are beginning to realize Freja's popularity, so she's definitely well on her way towards cementing her revered status as one of the industry's top contemporary model icons.

Freja seems a bit more demure and polite in this interview, but she comes across just as grounded and as approachable as ever. One of the things I like best about her is that she seems to have a really good head on her shoulders, as cliche as that sounds. Despite years in the industry and all her success, you really get the sense that Freja isn't that much different than she would have been if modeling had not found her. It's this grounded quality that draws fans to her and breeds their intense loyalty. Freja also displays a trademark confidence that we've come to know, but it's tempered by glimpses of a vulnerability. This push/pull is best summed up by this quote about walking for Prada:

"It was definitely nerve racking. I remember being really nervous before, but that's a feeling that goes away. You get used to it and now I've done so many shows. It's pretty simple. You just have to walk so.....it's not so much to get nervous about."

This is why fans love her. She's effortless, comforting, cool and relatable all at the same time.

Androgyny I Can Support

If you're going to do androgyny, this is how to do it. Androgyny doesn't always have to rely on tough styling, scowls, leather biker jackets, and other overtly masculine signifiers. Editors don't have to hit us over the head with these types of references. Besides, true androgyny should be able to stand on it's own, separate from masculine and feminine aides.

Venus In Furs
Vogue Italia November 2010
Ph: Steven Meisel
Styling: Karl Templer
Other Models: Alla Kostromicheva, Andrej Pejic, Iris Strubegger, Iselin Steiro, Michael Tintiuc, Tomek Szczukiecki

This editorial is the perfect example of that, and it's the first time I don't mind Freja being lumped in under the androgynous category. The pared down, natural appearance of each model is allowed to shine, and this minimalistic approach is quite successful at getting down to the essence of what makes each person androgynous. When the models all look so similar, when they're all in skewed positions with limbs akimbo, and when they're allowed to interact and play off of each other, the line truly becomes blurred between male/female and feminine/masculine. A person who doesn't know who these models are would have a very difficult time discerning between the women and the men. And that is the true definition of androgyny: being neither distinguishably male nor distinguishably female.

I really feel like this is the first editorial where I've been able to truly see and appreciate both the feminine and masculine aspects of Freja's face, and indeed all the other models' faces as well. From shot to shot Freja looks different, and that's what a good photographer can do. A good photographer doesn't have to rely on tropes or stereotypes to make a point. A good photographer smashes those things, and gets down to the basic essence of it all. There is nothing signaling to us the viewer, telling us that we should see these models in a particular way. So now it's up to us individually to see what genders and gender signifiers we want to see. This openness is what I appreciate and what allows me to see these models both in new ways and in ways they're usually meant to be seen.

Another thing I love about this editorial is how the models and the fashion don't seem to overshadow each other. Since I'm interested in models more than fashion, I have a tendency to overlook the fashion sometimes. But in this editorial the lack of clothing enhances the fashion for me, ironically enough. I find myself paying as much attention to the fur and leather as I do to the models. Models and clothes are working in tandem to create one huge, glorious bacchanal of bodies. And now that I think about it, it's so fitting that in a fashion story about fur and leather, the models should all be in their own natural skins. Another brilliant and subtly obvious touch. Obvious because you immediately see the raw nakedness of the bodies. But subtle because it takes you a minute to realize that the only thing being featured here is skin, be it animal or human. It's a little creepy when you think about it that way, for it's quite literally skin on skin in more ways than one (especially when the bodies are piled on top of each other). But that's classic Meisel. Even when things seem pretty straightforward, there's always an off kilter element underlying the simplicity. And considering the fact that there are so many naked to nearly naked bodies intertwined together, this story doesn't feel particularly sexual to me. It's more desexualized since gender is wiped away, and this gives us the freedom to appreciate the clothes and the bodies for what they are. It's funny how something that seems so overtly sexual at first, can become the opposite with a deeper glance.....at least for me.

These eccentricities and complexities are what distinguishes between the good, and the great. I don't know if this editorial and cover will stand the test of time, but what I do know is that it's the first piece of work that's made me excited again. The second I saw the cover, even before I saw this editorial, I knew I just had to have this. I think the last time I felt this way was with Freja's last VI cover, so I guess there's a theme here. Anyway, I just have to remember that this is what it feels like when things are great. When we don't have to settle for mediocrity. When we don't have to strain to find nice things to say just so we can be diplomatic. It's comforting to know I can have this instantaneous and unbridled reaction of excitement again.

Image Credits: zfashionblog.wordpress.com

Unstoppable

Vogue Italia November 2010 by Steven Meisel, also featuring Iselin Steiro

Beautiful, fresh, alluring, enchanting, intelligent, arresting....employ whatever adjective you want, but for me this is the best of Freja's covers this year. I love everything about it. I love the pairing of Iselin and Freja, I love the contrast of their hair colors, I love the way their bodies are interwoven, I love how their poses seem so haphazard but you just know everything was planned right down to the placement of their fingers, and I love the combination of leather and fur--two fashion trends that never seem to fade away.

I really can't stop looking at this image. Every time I glance at it, I feel like I see something new. I'm dying to get this in my hands so I can turn it up side down and right side up again. This is breaking stereotypes and giving us a new view of Freja (literally and figuratively), and I love Meisel because of it. He broke stereotypes with Freja and her March VI cover, and he does it again with this cover. Through his lens we finally get to see Freja in a new way, and I just hope the editorial lives up to the expectations this cover has set.

Image Credit: vogue.it via tFS member Pedro

Model Stereotypes

Look! It's Daria, Lara, Sasha, Freja and lots of your other favs all in one editorial! Too bad it sounds so wonderful that it's just bound to disappoint. For things in life are never as good as they sound.....or are they?

Star Girls
Vogue UK, December 2010
Ph: Mario Testino
Styling: Lucinda Chambers
Other Models: Angela Lindvall, Carmen Kass, Claudia Schiffer, Daria Werbowy, Edie Campbell, Georgia May Jagger, Karlie Kloss, Kate Moss, Lara Stone, Lily Donaldson, Naomi Campbell, Natalia Vodianova, Sasha Pivovarova, and Stella Tennant

Freja's Part:

I kind of wish all the model were in one breathless group shot a la Annie Leibovitz and those awesome Vanity Fair covers of the early 2000s. I used to love those covers so much. They were so enchanting and fantastical. (Of course, that was also at the height of my Hollywood fascination so maybe that's why they seemed so awesome to me. But in hindsight they're still pretty kick ass. Not like those photoshop-of-horrors Vogue US top model covers.) Anyway, with each girl in this editorial being shot individually, it's difficult not to reduce each model down to some stereotyped version of herself. But short of photoshopping everyone into one picture, individual shots are the only way this concept would have worked. Can you imagine the nightmare it would have been to coordinate the schedules of Naomi and Kate, not to mention all the other models as well!? Eeesh...nightmare almost seems like an understatement.

Anyway, we have Sasha as eccentric fairy queen, Natalia as ballerina, Lara as vamp with boobs, Freja as androgynous rocker, Karlie as American sporty, etc, etc. If you look closely, you'll even find that the stereotypes are exploding out from the text descriptions of each model. Lily is an English Rose? Wow, never, ever heard that one before. As trite as this all is, I suppose it fits the theme of this editorial. They're taking the characteristics that made each girl famous and highlighting them. I assume that Vogue UK is similar to Vogue US in terms of market demographics, so the uninformed masses who know little to nothing about these models can look at their pictures and surmise the role they fulfill within the industry--the very role that made them all "stars." (But don't ask me what Edie Campbell is doing here after completing only half of a runway season. That hardly qualifies as star material.) If you already know everything there is to know about these girls (or if you run blogs or tumblrs on any of them), this editorial will most likely be comme ci, comme ca. I feel like we've all seen these pictures and poses from all these models in some form or another many times before.

Even if I'd rather see all these girls play outside their usual roles, I get it. A magazine like Vogue UK has to walk the fine line between commercial appeal and high fashion credibility. How else are you supposed to introduce these models to a public who possibly knows nothing about them? You have to make them recognizable, that's how. You have to present them in ways that might hit on some flicker of recognition in the viewer's mind. And at the very least, everyone looks pretty good, and it is a nice introduction to star models if you know nothing about them. And of course it's a great honor for Freja to be included. We can't ignore that Vogue UK has been one of her biggest and most constant supporters, even when times weren't so good. I will never forget how excited and relieved I was to finally see Freja show up in a magazine in Before the Fall, after a summer of literally no work back in 2008. Ever since then, I've always had a soft spot for Vogue UK. (On a semi-related note, I think Lucinda Chambers is a Freja fan and part of the reason why she's featured so much in Vogue UK. They've worked on a number of eds together, and Lucinda also styles the Marni show and we all know that Freja is a Marni runway fav.)

There is one thing I absolutely love about this editorial and it's the title page. It's extremely whimsical, interesting and creative. Just looking at it makes me smile. It's such a nice touch, and it elevates the whole editorial by tying everything together. Otherwise, the photos look choppy and unrelated. But with all the autographs on the front page, it feels like a collection of pictures some fan gathered together into a book. Subsequently, this fan was then lucky enough to meet all of his/her favorite models and collect all their autographs. And whenever you or I finally pick up this magazine in real life, we'll kind of have a fan book of our own. I like that thought, and I like the relational and tangible aspect of it. I don't know if it was intentional, but it's a neat way to engage the viewer.

Image Credits: Scans by tFS member gossiping.