If There's A Chance She'll Break, She's Gonna Smash It To Pieces

Hi pretty people! Please accept my deepest apologies for being absent lately, university can be a witch of a different letter. I advise you all to rethink that extremely snarky email you write to a teaching assistant that falsely accuses you of plagiarizing yourself. Though hilarious in its witticisms and wordplay, it may not come off as endearing to some individuals.

This is a roundabout way of telling you that I will be addressing my inbox of praise, marriage proposals, and vicious spam over the holidays with sugar, spice, and/or bitchy delights. Happy farking Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

More importantly, these last couple of weeks have been oddly eventful for Freja, with the announcement of three campaigns and a couple other odds and ends. First up was an appearance in V Magazine's model issue (aka #74, Winter 2011). She was shot by Terry Richardson for the spread, and then cropped into the shot by means of photo shop. Not the most artistic of endeavours, but they put her beside Daria, which is almost too much gorgeous northern starry-ness to handle at once.

We also have a collection of the photos Terry took of Freja for this shoot, courtesy of the man's insistence on documenting every moment he spends with anybody awesome, which is just about everybody he spends moments with. Say what you want about his morals and ethics, but that's one thing that we can be thankful for. (Dear Lady Gaga, I hope you can see how very hard I am trying here. Like really trying.)

Yeah, so that happened, and the Europeans were like "yeh yeh yeh...", and the Americans were like "Gaga, pass the cranberry sauce," and then everyone was like "FREJA HAS BREAST CANCER! THINGS WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN!". And I, sitting at my computer reading emails in a place that looks a lot like Sweden, just with snow, decided that Freja fans had officially won the Non Sequitur of the Century Award, narrowly beating out everything Jo Thornley has ever said. I mean seriously you guys, what the fuck.

All of this was spurred on by what should have been like really happy news, being the reveal of paparazzi photos of Freja and Arizona Muse in matching Chloe dresses somewhere in California, which was later identified as a shoot for the French fashion house's spring 2012 campaign. But you know, it was an honest mistake by worried fans, so don't worry about this time too much. Just keep in mind that the moment you believe one rumour, the less likely you are to see the next one coming on the horizon.

The moral of this story is that Freja has armpits and a Chloe campaign, not mammogram scars.

So getting back to important business, what do we think about Freja bagging Chloe? Any Sigrid fans totally pissed off? While I commiserate with my second favorite Frenchie, I'm pleased that Freja has gotten another Chloe campaign: she's always been able to carry off the minimalist 70s look rather charmingly.

Finally, we also learned that Freja will be starring in the S/S 2012 campaign for HUGO by Hugo Boss! All that has been released thus far is a solitary photo of her playing at 30 seconds with Sean O'Pry, but there will surely be more along shortly with the German fashion darlings being so promotionally driven.

Well, that's it for now, but I'm sure I'll be back with more news in a mo... If you're feeling  particularly bored between this and the next post, you can play "I spy with my bionic eye something referring to Melanie C" with this post. In the meantime, I hope you all have an excellent Christmakah/Ramadan/Kawanza/Festivus/etc!

Peace, love (actually), and floating,
Gill Ford

P.S.: Hats off to Atlantic Canada for being an excellent Christmas destination. City of Lakes for the win!

Photos courtesy of models.com, terrysdiary, and tFS user Bigmax


* "Think About It" is the lead single from Melanie C's fifth studio album, The Sea, just released the past September. Written and recorded in Copenhagen, it probs would have been even more successful if she released the remixed version (a la "I Turn To You"), but we love the Katy Perry-esque track anyway. The Sea has been quite well received by critics, and is probably one of her better records to date. You should buy it. Not just because it's great, but because Mel is an absolute sweetheart, and we were BFFs at a German airport once in 2007. Sometimes, I'm jealous of me too.

Rest In Peace

Corrine Day
Fashion photographer and iconic image maker
1965 - August 28, 2010

Freja by Corrine Day, Second Nature, Vogue UK November 2006

Image Credits: scans by tFS member truebluejen, corrineday.co.uk

Tom and Rick

-Thanks to two anonymous commentators in this post, I was able to track down some new (to me at least) images of Freja taken by photographer Tom Munro. If anyone has any idea what project they are for, please enlighten us. To my knowledge this is the only time they have worked together and the shots appear to be test shots of some sort:

The thing that confuses me is that they were taken at a time during Freja's career when she wouldn't need to take any test shots. I'd place the images circa 2008 judging by the short hair. But they were categorized under "Beauty" on Tom's agency's site so maybe they were for a campaign somewhere....maybe in Asia? I'm just generally confused because I haven't seen the images until now, and if they were for some kind of campaign I think they would have been more well known.

Sorry for being so ignorant about these images, their origin and their purpose. I normally try not to post about something I can't fully credit and explain, but these shots are so interesting and quite unique in Freja's oeuvre that I just wanted to share. If you look at them long enough they're also quite freaky, and that only adds to their mystery.

-We know Freja is a fan of Rick Owens because she's sports one of his leather jackets in nearly every street style shot, but now it seems like Rick is a fan of Freja's too. Her face is decorating the front of one of his jersey t-shirts.

If any of you huge fans out there have an extra $200 lying around, feel free to knock yourself out. Sorry but I think my $200 will be better off being put towards acquiring anything from this collection. In particular, this complete look. A girl can dream right? I'm sure $200 would get me half of the belt.....

Anyway, not only are designers naming their designs after Freja, they're also putting her on their designs. I guess you know you've made it as a model when you can truly fill a closet with items bearing your name and face. Do you think Freja gets anything in return for her face being used like that? Maybe free leather jackets for life? If so, then I'll gladly lend my visage to Rick anytime.

Image Credits: managementartists.com, luisaviaroma.com via tFS member Psylocke

In The Beginning

Wanted to take some time to revisit what are perhaps some of Freja's earliest test shots taken by photographer Jens Stoltze. Not sure how many people have seen these, but I think they're worth another look now especially in light of Freja's current career and what she's come to embody in the modeling world.

Test shots give you a good feel for how a girl photographs and what she's able to give to you in front of the camera. I think the mood and atmosphere set up in tests also play a part in establishing an upcoming girl's modeling niche. Play up her quirkiness and she'll most definitely go the high fashion/indie magazine route. Emphasize her beauty in a straightforward way and she's molded for another path.

This is why these tests are so interesting to me, for Freja is playing the role of a sexy, feminine vamp. With that sun-kissed skin and damp hair you half expect to see her rolling around on a beach for a swimsuit catalog. And she looks so soft and playful which is such a change from the hardened, stern look she tends to wear like armor now. So looking at these tests, would you have expected the model in them to ultimately become the very definition of androgynous chic? The one model who people laud for her casually cool, boyish streetstyle and praise for the toughness and strength she conveys in her work? So many people forget or simply don't even realize the feminine underpinnings of the early part of Freja's career.

Definitely makes me wonder what Freja's agents had in mind for her at the start of her career. But no matter....the passage of time brings change, and change necessitates adaptation and the evolution of ideas and expectations. To look at a model's early test shots is to take a glimpse into her past and recognize the familiarity but also acknowledge her growth and development. Search out the early tests of your other favorite models and see what I mean. You'll be surprised at how much, or how little they've change; or how far they've veered from or stayed the course on their initial aesthetic paths.

As much as I rag on the constant androgyny that permeates Freja's work, I know that it's a huge reason she's the model she is today. Still, I can't help but wonder how different things would have been if the alluring femininity displayed in these test shots had instead become the dominant theme in Freja's career. Ahhh, "what ifs" are fun to think about so long as you don't lose your grip on reality.

Also, this is unrelated but needs to be said. Big thanks to Models.com for the shout out and link love! I am beyond flattered, but also slightly embarrassed about the attention being called to my amateur musings. Nevertheless, it is truly, truly appreciated. The real credit for this blog goes to Freja and all the other fans out there who share their thoughts and words of encouragement to keep me going. So thank you too!

Image Credits: jensstoltze.com

The Progression of a Moment

I think by now pretty much everyone has already seen these pictures taken by Donald J outside the Dolce & Gabbana show. After all, they were posted several times on tFS. So you might be asking yourself, "why the heck is she posting these now?"

Well, I got an e-mail from Donald J with the images (hello and thanks Donald!), which made me take a closer look at these pictures that I had previously only taken a cursory glance at. And what I saw was the progression of a moment, made all the more beautiful and forlorn because it shows an antagonistic juxtaposition of a personal moment against a very public situation. If for some reason you're unfamiliar with Donald J, please be sure to check out his tumblr and his facebook. He has some really beautiful candids up.

I guess these images struck me harder this time because I could see a narrative and context. I'd previously seen them in bits and pieces, posted and reposted, rendered away from their context and each other. But aggregated together like this in a series, these pictures become so interesting. Perhaps I'm alone in feeling this way, but I don't get as excited by candids anymore. I kind of feel like if you've seen one you've seen them all. Yes Freja looks nice, oh look she's wearing black, but that's about it.

But with these I see personal and public spheres in conflict. A moment between friends looks oddly strange set against the chaos taking place outside of a show. Models are just regular girls (granted, with amazing genes) yet they increasingly live under more scrutiny from people like you and me, perpetuated by blogs like this one. Some might argue that this is the inevitable result of (and riffing off of Walter Benjamin here) living in the age of digital reproduction. But I still don't think it's necessarily fair that we judge their private lives based on small moments captured by cameras. So when I look at this progression of a moment I see a microcosm of all the issues and conflicts that fame and recognition bring.

I'm not really sure where I'm going with this...if anywhere at all. I guess it's just important to be cognizant of the constructs we take part in. And it's also important to remember that any picture we see is nothing but a small fragment of time, separated from both it's past and future. If we're lucky we'll get a progression like this, giving us some more substance to chew on; but most of the time we're left in the dark. And the danger comes when we don't realize it.

Sorry if you think I'm being too "contrived," or if you think I'm just making all this shit up. I guess I am....but aren't we all? Frankly it's why this blog exists. It's a way to help me understand the why and the how, instead of just settling merely for the who, what, where and when.

Image Credits: donaldj.tumblr.com, facebook.com/DonaldJPhotography

From Backstage in Milan

You guys all know who Delphine Achard is, right? If you love backstage pictures then you're definitely familiar with her beautiful work. I've talked about her before because I was so drawn to some photographs she took of Freja during the FW0910 season. And it turns out that Delphine is shooting backstage for Vogue Paris and WWD at the Milan shows right now.

Anyway, she knows (and is probably amused at) how huge of a Freja fan I am and all of you are, so she's created a new little section on her website of some backstage pictures from this season, with Freja being featured prominently. Here's a sneak peek below of Freja backstage at Versace:

If you want to see the other pictures I'm sending you to Delphine's own website. If you've never been before, take a few moments, browse around and soak up the beautiful images from various seasons that Delphine deftly captures with her camera. You definitely won't be sorry! Oh, and if you're going to post these anywhere or use them for your tumblrs, blogs, facebooks, twitters, whatever....please don't forget the proper credits and to link back to Delphine's website. We're lucky enough to get these pictures so let's not abuse the privilege please. And more exposure for Delphine might mean more pictures for us in the future. ;) Thank you Delphine!

Image Credits: photographs taken by Delphine Achard @ www.delphineachard.com

Beautiful Pictures, Part II

I did this post a while ago about the beautiful pictures I found on Corbis taken by French photographer Delphine Achard. Well, it turns I made a small mistake. Delphine isn't a photographer for Corbis at all. In fact, she photographs for WWD and Vogue Paris! No wonder her pictures are so wonderful. If you work for illustrious publications like those, you have to be pretty good.

Anyway, Delphine was kind enough to send me a link to her new website where you can find more of her beautiful pictures: www.delphineachard.com Let me make this clear, she did not ask me to post the link here. I wanted to share it because I think you'll really enjoy her pictures. She has ones of all your favorite models: Anja, Anna J, Cat, Edita, Isabeli, Natasha, Snejana and more. There's only picture of Freja and it's one I've posted before, but here it is without the watermark.

There's a certain atmospheric quality about Delphine's backstage pictures that make them stand out for me. She really makes all the models look even more beautiful than they usually do. After you look at enough backstage pictures and candids, you can really begin to tell when a photographer understands and appreciates natural beauty because she lets it shine through in her work. If we're lucky, maybe Delphine will be shooting backstage again this fashion season. And if so, hopefully we'll get another batch of beautiful Freja pictures. Thanks Delphine!

Image Credits: delphineachard.com