Free People: April 2011 with Sasha Pivovarova

I really liked the newest Free People campaign with Sasha Pivovarova and photographed by Guy Aroch because it evokes spring in such a relaxed and playful way from the styling, to her hair, to her poses. The short campaign video is short and sweet and captures the fun upbeat yet subdued elation of springtime. The only nitpicky thing that bothers me a tiny bit is that this campaign is a bit reminiscent of the January 2008 Paris Vogue shoot Sasha did with photographer Mark Segal that also featured clothes in a light color scheme in a studio with a white tiger cub, but then again who would really even remember that shoot? Anyway this is just a fun shoot to usher in spring time. 

Images taken from fashiongonerogue.com

Read More

Venus Envy

When I first saw this shoot I loved it, until I scrolled to the fourth image down and finished looking at all of the images in the spread. I was a little surprised by the smeared black makeup around the face and then I just started laughing. The inclusion of the two images with the messed up makeup absolutely ruined the shoot for me.

The subtitle under the title reads, "Raw emotion shows through the stark whites and blacks of these coveted spring designs". First of all, a woman with a completely placid expression does not mean that she has any "raw emotion" and I have to laugh at V Magazine for suggesting that it does. Second, those two images throw the theme and concept of the shoot way out of line and instead of taking any of it seriously, I burst out laughing because it seemed to be trying way too hard. The shoot is gorgeous and I love the soft light and how the edge of the bodies seem to melt off into the white background. The shapes and curves of the models and the clothes are beautiful, elegant and understated. I think the shoot would have been absolutely perfect without the two images that throw the whole shoot out of whack and the completely misguided subtitle.

Magazine: V (Spring 2009)
Editorial: Venus Envy
Photographer: Willy Vanderperre
Models: Natasha Poly & Raquel Zimmermann

Images taken from fashiongonerogue.com

Read More

The Moss Factor

I am in love with the first image. So much emotion in her eyes.

Model: Kate Moss

Photographer: Patrick Demarchelier

Stylist: Kate Phelan

Published in British Vogue September 2010

Images taken from fashiongonerogue.com

Read More

Fashiongonerogue and Trunk Archive

Fashiongonerogue.com is currently on a hiatus because of a letter sent by Trunk Archive regarding copyright infringement. I think that this issue IS NOT as big a deal as people think. Joanna, the one in charge of fashiongonerogue, used an image by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin of Lily Donaldson in the logo for the site that appeared at the top of the page. Trunk Archive is one of the most influential and powerful syndication companies in the world and represents the very best fashion and commercial photographers in the industry. They would not go ahead and write this letter if nothing were wrong. In other words...they know what they are doing. They are the ones who have contacted fashiongonerogue because they represent Lamsweerde and Matadin. The problem was not with the blog itself in any way, shape or form. Blogging images as long as you give proper credit is perfectly alright (like what I do along with about a billion other people), but the real issue was the logo.

That is the real issue.

People think that commenting is a great thing and there have been a lot of comments on the site to rally support for the website against Trunk Archive. I don't think that the matter is an issue to be debated since Joanna was clearly wrong in her use of using the image on her logo to promote her site. Joanna was fined $2,000 for her blatant copyright infringement of the logo. I think that someone who wants to open up access to the fashion and commercial photography industry should have been more aware of the logo especially when her website is so popular. It wasn't just a small fan site, so many people in the industry and just fans in general went to that website as a resource.

What really gets annoying is when people comment about an issue they don't fully understand. The internet is a wonderful thing but in an era when people are used to skimming and things happening at lightning speed, people (and bloggers) really need to slow down and understand the full issue before they comment on it. Some people wanted Joanna to publish the name of the person who wrote the letter. In regards to publishing the name of the person who wrote the email, I think that would be completely unprofessional since the person writing it is representing a company and a corporate decision, it clearly couldn't have been one person alone responsible for the decision.

Please comment. What do you think about this issue?

Read More