On the Beauty of Magazines

I finally got around to picking up a copy of Freja's Vogue UK. My encounter with this particular issue is just going to reiterate how important I think it is to buy actual magazines because the viewing experience is so much more enriching and fulfilling than just seeing the images online. The colors seem more vibrant, the glossiness of the paper adds dimension and having a tangible object in your hands makes the images look better......at least to me. You're also privy to more information about the images you're viewing, making for a more robust experience. Case in point: The editor's letter and contributors pages tell us what people think about Freja, and they tell us about the context and inspiration for her editorial.

I feel like I was destined to love this editorial because it combines two of my (and probably the vast majority of twenty-something females') interests: art and fashion. I know this isn't a novel concept by any means, but I feel like rarely do we get to see the connection and conversation between the two so pronounced as it is in this editorial. Josh Olins took his cue from English figurative painter Euan Uglow. Knowing this tiny, but significant, fact changes things completely. I now look at the editorial with new eyes and the images take on new significance, especially when compared with their inspirational source:

If you read about Uglow and his artistic process, Olin's photographs don't seem so simple in their appearance anymore. My previous thoughts on the editorial read Freja's positions and poses as the best way to display the clothes. But I found this particular bit about Eglow's working methods particularly enlightening:

"Planes are articulated very precisely, edges are sharply defined, and colours are differentiated with great subtlety. His type of realism has its basis in geometry...."

That's from his Wikipedia page. (I have better researching skills but considering my lack of time and library resources, that will have to do.) Freja was posed that way to emulate the figures in Uglow's work. The planes, sharp edges and colors also happen to be great ways to show off new looks for the upcoming season. :) Fashion and art intersect in so many ways that it's a pity the same respect and scholarly seriousness hasn't been accorded to fashion like it has been to art....but that's a whole other story.

In case you want to know, here's what Josh said about Freja on the Contributors Page:

"I'm really glad my first cover is with Freja. She's beautiful but boyish, and has this great repertoire of innocent and feminine expressions. She'll sit down and look grumpy, but when you take the picture she looks captivating."

And here's what Alexandra Schulman said in her Editor's Letter:

"We all admire Freja for her distinctive looks, which stand out amoung the sea of pretty, tawny-haired models that often prevail on the catwalk. Photographer Josh Olins's shoot, featuring autumn's off-beat colour mixes, is the perfect vehicle for her boy/girl allure."

Mentioning Freja and "boyishness" has become too easy and trite that's it's completely lost all meaning for me. I wish people would start to move away from that because it dilutes the meaning of the term, and frankly I think it's a misuse. In her modeling work I really don't see how she's more boyish than any other model. Hilary Rhoda and Isabeli Fontana (no offense to them) have the manliest jaws in the industry but they're both considered "sexy." Maybe the term is in reference to her body, but in editorials where she's wearing clothes to cover that up it becomes a non-issue. Maybe it's in reference to her demeanor in person and on set, and for that I have no factual basis to judge that on. It just don't get it, so please someone enlighten me. Moving on....

This instance just strengthens my resolve to continue buying magazines because the industry cannot die out. If I had not bought this issue I never would have read about the Uglow reference. It would be a travesty to lose the print industry; not just magazines but books as well. Having something in my hands forces me to read it and absorb it more than I would have if it was just on the screen. (The irony of me using a digital method to communicate this message isn't lost on me.) Technology is wonderful and it gives us so many things, but to completely lose the preciousness and uniqueness of certain experiences in the haste towards progress and technological trends would be a huge mistake. It doesn't have to be one or the other. People can have i-Pads and e-readers and still buy magazines and books, with both mediums working in concert to create a complete and total experience. Or maybe I'm just too old-school and living in a dream world....

Image Credits: Scans by tFS member fearless123, artnet.com, marlboroughfineart.com, telegraph.co.uk

Art and Commerce

I've never been this underwhelmed by Freja's presence in an editorial. Perhaps my expectations were raised too high when I first heard about the ed. How can you go wrong with Inez and Vinoodh shooting Freja and Raquel? The first preview image seemed promising, even though Freja was relegated to the role of masculine, androgynous model once again. Even though it's a hackneyed role for her, Freja still could have been amazing, especially with Raquel playing the counterpoint.

What we get instead is Freja confined in the background, mostly as a prop. She doesn't even change outfits. The two main players in the editorial are clearly Raquel and all the amazing contemporary art. Both deliver so well that I wonder why Inez and Vinoodh even used Freja at all? She's a great model, so I'd rather have them take advantage of her skill then stick her casually in the back because that's just a tease.

Anyway, this editorial is long, but really amazing despite Freja's underwhelming presence. The art history lover in me is thrilled by the artists and pieces included. And Raquel shows how amazing she is once again, and why she's been in the industry for so long. You'd be hard pressed to find someone better than her to emulate and interact with the art the way she does.

Art and Commerce
W Magazine October 2009
Ph: Inez and Vinoodh

Image Credits: My Scans

Freja Fans are Everywhere

In the current June/July 2009 issue of Interview magazine with Bjork on the cover, there is an interview of artist Chantal Joffe by designer Stella McCartney. While reading this feature, I was pleasantly surprised to see Freja pop up in conversation and in painting.

Picture of the artist in her studio

Here is the intro to the piece to give you an idea of who Joffe is (bolded for the tl,dr crowd), followed by some interesting excerpts:

Women, children and fashion--on paper, Chantal Joffe's interests seem pretty quotidian. But on canvas, where the 39-year-old artist paints shots ripped from fashion magazines, or photographs of friends holding their babies, the feminine world suddenly becomes a dark, loaded, highly sexualized place. Joffe in not a realist. She distorts the women in her frames for ultimate psychological effect. But the subjects rarely seem like victims, even if the brushstrokes are hard and unforgiving. It turns out, Joffe is actually a massive fan of fashion and sees what she does as high celebration. She paints models like Freja Beha, Kate Moss and Lara Stone because they seem to her like storybook characters come to life. Recently, Joffe even collaborated with fashion photographer Miles Aldridge, painting his wife, model Kristen McMenamy, in Joffe's studio, while Aldridge shot film. This paint was included in the artist's most recent solo show, in New York this spring at Cheim & Read gallery. The love of the fashion industry has proven reciprocal. Stella McCartney is one designer who collects Joffe's work. In fact, Joffe has painted all three of McCartney's children (the paintings hand in the Stella McCartney store in London) and even shot models backstage at McCartney's Fall 2009 show in Paris. The two friends caught up to discuss, among other things, why the weird models are always the sexiest.
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MCCARTNEY: Because it doesn't look like one. It looks tome like a celebration of the female form--and that in itself is a connection with fashion.
JOFFE: I don't know where else I would find all of those images of women. And I actually love specific models as well. It's funny, I've been painting Freja a lot.
MCCARTNEY: So you saw her at my show then?
JOFFE: Yeah, it was like meeting somebody out of a book. I mean, I didn't talk to her, and I didn't really want to. She's such an odd character.
MCCARTNEY: Why didn't you want to talk to her?
JOFFE: I thought she might think I was creepy more than anything else. [both laugh] But I like the weird ones. I like the girls who are a little odd.
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JOFFE: When you're looking through a magazine, what makes you stop and think is when you see an image and imagine the narrative that is going on inside of it. Those are the ones I make into paintings.
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JOFFE: Do you pick the models for your show?
MCCARTNEY: I choose them. I have a guy who does casting for me, but we work together. It's funny because whenever someone else is excited about a girl who I am not keen on and I eventually give in, I always regret it when I see her on the runway....
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MCCARTNEY: And yet you paint these lovely, young women who just come across as perfection. You paint perfection sometimes, don't you? When you think of fashion photography, it's a dream. It's like we all want to be those women. We want to wear those dresses.
JOFFE: I don't think I do want to be them. I'm fascinated to imagine what their lives are like, but I certainly wouldn't want to be them.
MCCARTNEY: I don't think their lives are anywhere near a glamorous as you think.
JOFFE: It just fascinates me to be only 18 and to have that life.
MCCARTNEY: Eighteen! They're old if they're 18 in this day and age.
JOFFE: Right. But still I'm interested in the sheer fascination of beauty--beauty is fascinating.

For sake of comparison, the original photographs:

I love art so I was absolutely thrilled to see this. At first glance Joffe's paintings could be considered slightly grotesque but I think that's part of their beauty. I could go on and on about the artistic implications of her work, but I'll spare you...

It's nice to see that there are Freja fans everywhere from all walks of life. Now I feel like my fanaticism is legitimized in a way because I'm in good company and it's being addressed in Interview magazine. And I thought the part where Stella talks about the casting for her show was very illuminating. Freja has walked for her many times so I suppose we can call Stella a fan as well. :) Anyway, if you're interested I've scanned the full article below. Now we should keep our eyes out for more of Joffe's work!

Image Credits: fashionista.com, my scans