On the Casting Horizon

With fashion shows now over and campaign season around the corner it seems like everyone has casting on the brain. The Imagist recently posted a very interesting piece on the model outlook for the upcoming campaign season.

He tells us that the "circle of power photographers who decide which models cross over from all that runway traction into blue chip work seem to be holding back on their campaign shooting. There is not the usual feeding frenzy to lock up those hyped new faces . No epic "New Faces" edit yet at W, no New Prada Contingent marching through Vogue Italia...yet. This is an indicator that the campaign castings are going to run even more conservatively than in recent years, skewing back to the Raquels, Sashas and Natashas, if there is even a model on the premises. Celebrities are going to continue to take a huge chunk of those choice bookings..."

And take this quote photographer Nick Knight gave in a recent interview: "To make money, the industry is increasingly catering to the lowest common denominator and, as far as the people who run the big companies are concerned, anything even slightly out of the ordinary frightens people. But anyone with a brain knows that it is the quirkiness and imperfection in a person that attracts other people. That is completely obvious to human beings; it's just when it gets to a corporate level that it all falls apart."

Reading all of this made me more than a bit disappointed. For one, I can't stand seeing the current crop of celebrities in ad campaigns. It's already bad enough that I have to see them on the covers of American fashion magazines month after month--leave modeling to the professionals please. Secondly, this season I really took notice of and a liking to many of the new girls so it will be sad to see most of them ravaged and tossed aside by the industry. Especially since they are so young and all so gorgeous in unique ways. They looked different enough that I could actually tell them apart for once.

Anyway, it's during times like these I'm so grateful that Freja has Karl firmly in her corner. Even if I complain about it sometimes, and even if she's just going to be relegated to his entourage, at least she's getting new work that we'll be able to see. And who knows...we might even see her in a few other campaigns despite the dire outlook for models. After all, she made a killing last season coming away with 5 campaigns, and she's coming off one of her stronger runway seasons in a long time. Hopefully Freja can channel all this momentum into some more results. And hopefully Karl will let her go long enough so that she can work with some other people.

All things considered, Freja is in a great position having just shot the Chanel campaign. And with her quirky and palatable looks to draw upon (providing a nice compromise between the corporate and creative sides of the industry), I think she could be poised for more. Unfortunately, that probably won't be the case for your other favorites. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Karmen and Karolin, and hoping that my new girl favs like Mirte and Lisanne emerge unscathed. What about you?

Some News?

When I started this blog I never intended to participate in the perpetuation of any gossip. If you're a hardcore Freja fan you already know where to go to read about rumors and such. I wanted this blog to concentrate on Freja's professional work and the role she plays within the fashion industry. That being said, I do love gossip as much as the next person and this is why I read The Imagist on a daily basis. Their "scoup du jour" pieces are almost always spot on and they do like to ruffle the fashion feathers by posting juicy tidbits here and there.

Recently they had this little mention of Freja.

That is what I meant by my taking Manhattan life for granted. What other places give you sporadically, Manhattan gives you daily. Our long and langurous lunch stretched on until twilight, at which point Lily Donaldson slipped downstairs from what I assumed was her building (you know the one on the corner of Kenmare and Lafayette). Vogue Paris stylist Julia von Boehm in hardcore hard fashionista mode slumped down on the outside bench just as Freja whisked by and it was nice to see all the kids out basking in Cafe Select's unharried ambiance.

This is the kind of gossip I feel comfortable mentioning because I feel it could be work related and it seems pretty harmless. It's also rooted in a first person sighting so it's hard to debate. Freja has been in New York a lot recently. But the blurb above refers to this past friday, May 1st and the last time we knew of her being in NY was at least two weeks ago.

So what I wonder is has she been in the city this whole time or is this the result of multiple trips? What project could she be working on if any? Are the Lily D and Julia von Boehm sightings related to Freja, or just a coincidental convergence of fashion faces? The Imagist is pretty ambiguous, so I'm not going to jump to any conclusions yet. But wouldn't it be nice to see Freja in Vogue Paris again? It's been a while.

Now, please understand that this long rambling post doesn't mean I don't want to be informed of Freja gossip. If anyone out there reading ever has something they want to share, feel free to e-mail me. Address is in my profile. I'll keep it on the down low. I promise! :)

And for your time, a recent picture of Freja in NY from jdvision: