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

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Paradise Lost

I think this is an interesting spread and is also pretty memorable. The first image paired next to the title page is pretty unique and I absolutely love the forms and shapes from the models body and the architecture behind her. It is also a great contrast of the model next to the older woman. Other than that, I think it's rather funny that the models face is covered in all of the images except for the last one: not a real confidence booster. Actually, I don't mind the face being covered as much as I mind the duplication of the same pose with the black and white image on the left in the second picture down and the second from the last image with the pink outfit. I like the pose in each of the individual images but placed together in the same spread, it just seems like a mistake and makes those two images less meaningful.

. Besides the pose repetition I guess my other complaint with the shoot is that I don't really understand the inspiration or concept linking the oddly veiled model to the explanation under the title (It reads "The Buenos Aries underworld serves as a backdrop for the high drama of the pre-fall collections") or why the model appears exhausted and fainting. Don't get me wrong, I think the first image is wonderful but I don't understand it in relation to the larger concept. Is it supposed to be the high drama? I don't think the veiled woman sitting in front of the blackboard is necessarily drama-filled, instead it seems completely banal except for the commotion of the background blackboard.

Overall I really like the images in this shoot but I think in terms of concept and especially the words under the title (which are supposed to explain a bit about the concept or influence but end up confusing more than helping) the shoot didn't really come together. I don't understand why the production team needed to travel to Buenos Aries to photograph this spread. I liked the shoot a lot, I just wish that it had come together a bit more cohesively.

model: dafne cejas

photographer: sebastian faena

styled by robbie spencer

Images taken from absinthrill.com

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One Size Fits All and the V Magazine Size Issue

One of the magazines I subscribe to is V Magazine and I just received the size issue. I loved all the shoots with plus size models, they wore the garments beautifully and the photography was exceptional. Overall, I would definitely go online and check out some of the shoots or pick up a copy in borders or wherever else V Magazine is sold locally. What I really hated about the "size issue" is that there needs to be a special issue dedicated to plus size models in order to feature them in these magazines. I most definitely understand the use of tall and thin models in the fashion industry, however it is up to the fashion industry to explore new shoots, and ways of looking at clothes and people and I think it is sad that the only chance that consumers have to see "normal" looking women is when there is a specific issue dedicated to them. I don't mean to imply that we should see plus size models in every shoot in every magazine but I loved what V Magazine did in my favorite shoot in the issue One Size Fits All (photographed by Terry Richardson) and I think it is a shoot that I wouldn't be surprised to see in a "normal size" issue.

I thought the concept was innovative and progressive to feature the same clothes on both an industry standard model and a plus size model. It had a great message and the images were beautiful studio images. In the second image down, I would say that I prefer the way that the plus size model looks. The model Crystal Renn has been the center of a lot of media stories in the past couple months because of her book Hungry which described her battle with Anorexia in the fashion industry and how she overcame the pressure to find herself and become a plus size model. I hope that we see more shoots like this in the future.

Check out the website for V Magazine:

http://www.vmagazine.com/index.php

This is the caption for the shoot:

IF IT'S BRIGHT ENOUGH, TIGHT ENOUGH, OR EYE-POPPINGLY PRINTED ENOUGH, ODDS ARE IT'LL WORK ON ANY FIGURE. CRYSTAL RENN, MODEL AND AUTHOR OF HUNGRY, AND JACQUELYN JABLONSKI, SPRING'S NEW STAR, SHOW OFF THE SEASON'S MOST SIZZLING LOOKS

Photography Terry Richardson

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