Claudia Schiffer rides again!Just ask VF
Question. If as hiss has it, Claudia is Chanel FW 08 and Naomi YSL with Kate set to log her inevitable 4-pack of camps, where does that leave today's mob of bright eyed newcomers? The magazines are awash with Top Newcomers edits. V must do one. German Vogue has one pending and the new incarnation of Interview under Karl Templar's stewardship kicks off with a visual ode to today's Top New Stars but these girls will not be populating the blue chip campaigns this season from the look of things.
This is not a new story. Clients are clear where they stand on this issue. In the rare cases that they cast from the current ranks of models, they still contract those girls with a track record. Think for instance about that certain haute editorial blonde who dropped out from the scene a few seasons back. She's in much demand these days proving that certain girls will always find a space on the call sheet waiting for them. Or you could be Lara Stone and find yourself constantly needed on those best sets. Now consider the curious political change-ups at that hallmark American label which seems to be hopping from girl to girl per season. The days of long term commitments seem to be over at that house.
The upshot is a Manhattan modeling market that has most managers in a state of confusion. The frantic and melodramatic demand for New Faces that feeds the shows just suddenly falls dead when the campaign calls come in. It now leads to an interesting conundrum. When you go from agency to agency in New York to take the temperature , there now just seems to be a numbness at the speed of the runway and editorial turnover of girls.
One frank agency head put it this way "The barriers have been lowered and the cities are just flooded now. It's you guys. Models.com, fashionspot, Myspace,Ones2watch, Facebook. You guys have made it so easy and open for anyone to be scouted and cast . Four polaroids can make a star now. And then girls are showing up with a list of the only shows they want to do in New York . And the only magazines they want to be in. Because everybody knows everything now".
In a sense he was right. there is no mystique anymore. No more selling to clients the myth of the right girl in the right car staying at the right hotel. How do you make a model rare when the client can cross the street and find 12 more Russian girls of the same ilk?
The few old school agents who came of age in an era of power managers still think that the diva tantrum on the phone, the shuttling to voice mail and the icy strategy of ignoring the non--blue chip will put a naughty client in their place. But the naughty client is thriving regardless and shade and hauteur are expensive illusions in a time of glut. The brutal fact is, outside of Kate Moss and Gisele, there is not a single model modeling today that can set the terms and conditions of the booking.
In many ways there is a rebellion brewing in the face of this glut. US Vogue has made it clear that the model as non-entity has lost her blank slate charms. Which then loops us back to the question of what Aline and Amanda and Natalia and Karmen are to do to become distinct and compelling. Live for fashion girls. Learn it, live it, breathe it. Rock mad outfits, cultivate friendships with the editors, photographers and designers who make or break. Work the Japanese photographers outside the tents in Paris. Pull stunts. Date rock stars. Believe in the drama of chic, chic, chic, chic chic. There's an audience waiting to be entertained. Just ask Agyness.
Agyness Rides again: Just ask ID
I don't miss the supermodel
I don't miss the supermodel era (does anyone, really?!), and I don't have a problem with today's ever changing stream of newbies. Girls that get a few good runway seasons, maybe a campaign or two, and then disappear. Hasn't it "always" been like that, new girls come and go, and only a handful actually get anywhere? There are still a few, who, against all odds, manage to establish themselves at the top. It's all fine by me.
The supermodels still ruling the campaign bookings appears to have more to do with the trend of using celebrities for advertising. There will never be a new generation of supermodels again, for about a million reasons, so the choice is between casting an actress/artist, or one of the few household name models of yesterday.
I most definitely don't think the current top models, the girls booking campaigns season after season, are any better, or more striking/interesting/whatever, than the newest standouts like Ali and Karlie. Quite the opposite in many cases. It's not the girls that are different or lacking, these are just different times. I'm not sure we'll even see real top models (à la Natalia or Daria) ever again...
I DO miss the supermodel
Especially here in the United States.
As long as the models are skinny, curveless and boring, celebritities will continue to dominate the covers. The looks of the models needs to change to that of one that will appeal across the board. So yeah, I DO miss the supermodel era in a sense. Those models captured American covers, today's models can't. And I, for one, am weary of the constant rotation of the same celebrities.
I'd like to see the industry shift back to the more curvy model. And while I'm at it here, I'd love to see more color.
White is not always right
Erik, I think you made a good point about how the next supermodel will have to be someone who can bridge the gap between high fashion and commercial.
But if I hear the term "intellectual model" one more time, I'm going to throw up. Because if we can be honest (and polite), that term has been given to European girls whose beauty only makes sense to the likes of Madame Prada and her casting director. Kind of like how people use the word charming...
And if any newbie looks aristocratic and exudes a certain "hautiness" it would be Jourdan Dunn. All day. SHE looks intellectual. But I don't see her in Vogue? Her options should be crazy, but wait, I almost forgot, fashion's "top talents, usually so adept at anticipating their public's preoccupations and desires, appear to be utterly disconnected from the cultural stream."Anna Wintour's words not mine.
Speaking of a dictatorship...how interesting would it be if this model revolution began on Balenciaga's runway instead of in Milan.
Image is everything.
Just chipping in to say that
Just chipping in to say that I was merely observing and not uttering what streams in models I prefer or not. Believe me, if there's something I want then it is more diversity as well. I have been gushing over Asian models for years now and am really crossing my fingers for this new wave of black girls that should take over IMO. I agree with Wayne as well...it's about a girl coming in and wow you. It doesn't matter what label she fits, what the color of her skin is or what period she represents, but apparantly, this is how fashion thinks often.
In defense of today's girls
I think it is understandable that a lot of people find themselfs good memories of a time goneby with all these supers gracing the covers of all Vogues and starring in all those Vuitton and Valentino ads. But the most important aspect of that appreciaton is that it is indeed an appreciation of times that have passed. The supers are still the big ones in the eye of the public and most girls of today don't even slightly resemble the good ol' supers. And I do not see anything wrong with that. Time goes fast and fashion is a seasonal phenomenon...with trends coming and passing, fashion adjusts and so does the modeling world. Therefore models have evolved in something different today and that is something very interesting to watch. I already dare say that fashion is starting to move away from the young, blank Prada exclusive and that is based on the average age of the new successes of F/W 08.09. Most of them were above 18...Malin, Georgina and Abbey Lee all above 20 if I am correct.
And in defense of Ali and Toni, they represent the request of 2008 fashion: a yearning for the intellectual, yet beautiful model. In my opinion, the time of the supers was all about the beautiful model and the times of 2003-2006 or something were about the intellectual model. Not intellectual as in smart, but as in how they look. A look that evokes a certain 'hauteness' and carries a compelling aesthetic. Think of Iekeliene, or even Sasha. Especially Toni is the perfect example of where those two meet. We've all been debating for a long time whether the supermodel would return...the neo-supermodel if you will. Doutzen, Raquel, Hilary and co gracing the US Vogue cover was a small sign. And I think that slowly, but steadily, the fashion world might be channeling towards a model that both speaks to high fashion and commercialism again. The girls of today are forming a bridge between two extremes and therefore they are only extremely interesting to follow and not to forget, look at.
That said, I truly hope that the big shots in fashion acknowledge the girl of today and actually give them a chance to fully bloom. And this is also a cry to the models who are rising to that 6 figure check. If this is really to change then they need to help as well. Accepting all those big dollar contracts is great, but when you lose contact to high fashion and stick to those huge contracts then it might never change (you know who you are, Doutzen, Hilary etc) And that is where Daria and Raquel come in IMO. The ultimate bridgebuilders between the past and the future, high fashion and commercial fashion...we'll have to wait and see where it goes.
"Intellection period"? Good
"Intellection period"? Good Lord. I'll forever remember this as the "ultra-white, scary-skinny period".
You've labeled the time of the supers being "all about the beautiful model". But if you look carefully at the editorials and ad campaigns, it was much more than that...it was about people of different shapes and colors were everywhere.
And sure, there's probably a yearning for "good memories of a time goneby", but I'd say there's equally a yearning for diversity of color and weight back on the fashion scene.
When will the world become modern?
I love that a lot of passionate pov's are coming out. My two cents in all of this is,... true progress and true sophistication will only come about when people stop thinking of beauty in oppositional terms. The ideal of beauty is culturally derived , that much is true. But why do I have to choose one kind of beauty over another or why should we assume one kind of beauty exists at the expense of another. I loved Naomi and Christy and Linda...and I LOVED Hannelore and Sasha and all those other "intellectual beauties". Obviously I love models and I love models like I love music. The black or white, Prada or Balenciaga, super-thin or sexy/curvy of it don't matter a damn to me. All I want is a model who can walk on set or onto the catwalk to grab it, twist it, kill it and leave me wanting more. Whether this comes from Jourdan or from Maria Carla does not matter to me. I live for the power of the INDIVIDUAL. This is why as much as I love the brilliant models of the past, but I love NEWNESS too. I like the idea of a new girl who makes a moment of her minute and turns it into a career. That's is what I wake up every day waiting for.
Wayne, I'm certainly not
Wayne, I'm certainly not advocating a return to oldness and without newness, fashion would die as fashion is a constantly evolving creature. But I do have a concern with the direction that the industry has evolved -- one of very little color and a very,very,very thin girl. It's wrong on so many levels, especially when most girls of non-European heritage aren't given the same opportunity and level of acceptance. Even sadder, most of us involved in fashion have been conditioned to accept the "super young, white, skinny girl" as the fashion norm.
Believe me, just like you, I love seeing models light up a catwalk! It's electrifying! But at the same time, I'd like to see girls of other shades and body types given equal opportunity.
And I truly believe this is the reason we're seeing Naomi, Claudia and Christy back in the campaigns. I believe it's only temporary but I think it's the result of a frustrated public that's tired of seeing something that's not reflecting their image. Linda and Kate are different fashion animals altogether but I digress.
Typo
OOPS! "intellectual period"...
The Tide is Finially shiftng...
I must say, I am delighted to see Claudia, Naiomi, Stephanie and all the girls coming back ( did they ever leave?). I think this is a bit of a backlash from all these boring girls, that we have been given, or should I say stuffed down our throats . I think model scouts, agencies etc. have been a huge disservice to the industry. These young girls that have been touted every season as the new it girl/ next kate/next linda/ next claudia, have not steped up to the plate, They dont even deserve a seat at the table. So now with the advent of this Vanity Fair Cover, which will be major, and hopefully inspire so called model scouts, and agency big wigs to find cool girls/women. Some color wouldnt hurt either. Instead of creating this High School atmosphere of ranking girls on whos hot who did what show, who will get casted off the fashion island this fashion week, Why not try and cultivate and find REAL GIRLS.
The Calvin Klein girls
Ali Stephens and Toni Garrn are some of my favorite newbies, but their ads for Calvin Klein are so forgettable. And that's the problem. The majority of the new girls are so stunning, but all of them are ultimately forgettable.
Steven Meisel once said in an article with Ingrid Sischy that society dictates what type of stars a particular era will generate and I think that what's happening now in the fashion industry. With Barack possibly being the first black president, our society is yearning for change. So, it's only natural that this would effect the androids who kind of all look alike that are currently dominating MDC's top 50 list :)
Maybe the Supes will come back because of a stellar body? Or an exceptionally exquisite black or brown face? But whatever it is that's going to bring about change, unfortunately none of these girls have "it" or are willing to stretch their inch given to them by Meisel like Agyness.
The pendulum has reached its outermost limits...
Great post, Wayne!
Bravo
Agyness doesn't seem to sit well with a lot of the online fashion fans, but she has my approval for daring to "step it up a notch" and stand out from the rest. Bravo!
It Comes Down to Profits
It's one thing for a designer to show his clothes on the new girls at a show but it's quite another when it's time to appeal to the average consumer outside the catwalk shows. The new models are looking younger and more androgenous every year, yet the average purchaser of high fashion is an older woman and she wants to see something that's more reflective of her image. This is even more important today as money isn't flowing as freely as it was not too long ago.
Profits, Change, and Covers
I agree in that it's totally about how much $$$ a house, magazine, or cosmetic compay can make off a girl/look. I too think a change is in the air...I have missed seeing girls that were more "real" and healthy as the supers were/are. I think it's been long enough for them to step back in and do some major work if they want. Claudia in Chanel again is wonderful as is Christy back with Maybelline (for the masses) maybe Revlon will take note and bring back Cindy? The Supers could do it all...mass and art. I think it's time for that again...I'm also so bored with an actress on the cover of "Vogue" and every other major magazine...it's time to move on from that and to women, not just girls, as "cover models" and fashion models!!!
Is it true that kate Moss is retiring from modeling?
Did Top Shop pay that well?
Kate Moss Is Not retiring from modeling
....not from the look of things.