+ Alexandrina T.

First pics I saw of “this solid blonde” she was at Beatrice, “in the old times” where (now Elite) Lisa B. was there too – and despite they were (and still are) so different they both impressed me a lot.

Even if with Alexandrina happened what usually happens when you don’t like “the girl by herself” so much: you just have to face it. Face that, after all, she's not exactly your type but her potential is just undeniable.

majormodels

And the thing has been even harder ‘cause, even right now, she’s not the kind of model I actually prefer.


tfs

But let’s face it: now she’s at Why Not, going to be 17, and most important she’s the kind of model age is a factor – but at contrary. So, even if I think is (and will be) hard to see her on catwalks with a “more-than-ordinary impact”, her posing skills and, most important, natural presence is fated to become a huge factor.


tfs – majormodels - mandarinamodels

She’s not been the kind of model that caught my eye in the bunch of new faces, “let’s give her a little more time” was and still is the real point.


tfs

And it’s not about improving her attitudes, it’s just… well, I’m talking about what happened (and is still happening) with Lithuanian Julija S. – but at the opposite. Julija in last months changed a lot, I’m talking about the girl, and I have to admit I didn’t expect that way, and it’s a (still can’t get if positive or what) factor.
About Alexandrina the thing is and was (from my point of view) clear at first sight of early polaroids, she’s becoming a model with a huge and solid presence in front of the camera, and time is just a (strange, in fashion industry…) welcome factor with her.

Mandy V. D. B. – "Conditio sine qua non"

I used to say:
“You know what usually happens with agencies – and if you don’t, here quite briefly: they snatch little girls up as soon as they see any good modeling potential; sometimes, any modeling potential; a lot of times – any potential. For the record - it even happens that they just snatch little girls up, period.”
and I wasn’t so far from how things are. The point is there is a “Conditio sine qua non”, some kind of “go/no go”, so if “you are that much tall and your body proportions are this much good”, you’ll easily be somewhere between “they snatch little girls up as soon as they see any good modeling potential” and the “they just snatch little girls up” category. Well, thanks to god (or candies and fast foods restaurants...) the “go/no go” in fashion cut a lot of girls, so agencies don’t have to work on so many girls – well, if they’re in east Europe things are a little bit different…


o2w

So, after this little introduction, let’s talk about Mandy; I’ve seen “her numbers”, and you can easily see that, she’s the kind of girl good for the “go/no go” standards.
Nevertheless: if we talk about the “here and now”, after all right now I’m not so much convinced about her.


o2w

When you don’t believe in a new face about the “here and now” but you think she's up to your good and optimistic expectations, there are two kinds of things you can hope about:
-the girl will change her body / face / looking;
-the girl need to “develop”, and this is a quite normal phase that everyone -unless you are a catwalk (like Monika J. or Auguste A.) or an adv/editorial monster- has got to pass, even if… you know, you can pass from 5 to 10, or 2 to 3, or 1 to 10, girls are different and results will obviously be too.

So, for transitive property, I believe a lot in Micha, and so if they believe in Mandy I do too; but deny the undeniable is short-sighted and kind of stupid. She doesn’t look very good in shoots I saw (even latest), and so much comfortable neither. She needs to get more confident, more and more, she needs to play with the camera a little bit more, pose naturally, she needs to change even the body presence by itself. But, c’mon, she’s so young (late 1995) and I can’t see any reason to not believe that won’t happen.

But I seize the opportunity (not for Mandy, I really have no idea of what is going to happen with her, and hope the best for her) to underline that “go/ no go” standards are an “ESSENTIAL” but not a “SUFFICIENT/ENOUGH” – and we’ll see that in so many other occasions later; especially about the “We anyway try, then we’ll see what’s gonna happen” agencies (often bad) habit…

AOB Caroline T. - and (old) polaroids

Lately I thought of Caroline T.; well, more than usual…
Still don’t know how to get her switch to Women (some random names they now have in Milan and I just love: Auguste A., Nastya E., Maaike K., Alana K., Agnete H., Ginta L., Katie K., Nimue S., Snejana O., Nastya S., Olga A., Vlada R, Madysin R. etc etc!!!), but I thought of her because of that.

These days it’s happening to talk a lot about polaroids / tests, about how much these or those are less or more useful to get an idea about “new faces”, and my opinion has (always) been: I NEED FIRST OF ALL POLAROIDS. ALWAYS. It usually happens to see polaroids first and tests then, but it’s just about… you know, usually people mold considerations about polaroids after tests – and (almost) never the contrary.
Well, for me polaroids are MORE IMPORTANT THAN TESTS TO GET AN IDEA ABOUT A MODEL AND HER POTENTIAL (we’re not talking about “building up” a book), and if I have to take a choice about what to take a look at – POLAROIDS. ALWAYS. I’ve seen sooo many disasters made by photographers and agencies with tests. They’re a very useful instrument, but… the most I listened to these days has been “but what about presence in front of the camera, posing, confidence, ‘takes diversity’”?. I agree, absolutely, just – better change your mind with a polaroid and reset what you thought after have seen tests and not the opposite.

So: Caroline. Don’t know how, I just stumbled across some first polaroids.

tfs

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! I just wanted to share this stupid but (I think) nice example; these are the kind of polaroids that can’t go unnoticed. It’s so easy to see whatever you have to see: superficially (about the face and her peculiar elements, hair, body structure), about the kind of girl she is and “what’s gonna happen 2/3/5 years from now” (face – body predictions) and finally about how much confident she is, her posing skills and how much good she looks in photos; and perfect “fashion material” she is and will definitely develop in (and yep, how much cute she is – but this consideration is just a personal plus…). Just for the record: it happened to be even more impressed when I saw (just yesterday) some Denisa D. old polaroids… but we’ll see them on another occasion!


tfs

PS here there are her newest polaroids with Women… no words...

++ Nastyusha S. – It was supposed to be a “wait and see”…

Nastyusha, Nastyusha… this is a story little bit different from the recent (recent: as just seen here) Claire one; with Claire happened what happened, for example, with Deimante M. – it was about a bunch of agencies snatching the girl.


avantmodels ru

First thing I saw of this girl were "a long time ago pics", she was 14 (and for the record: identical to the way she is now; and for the record again: this is quite clearly the kind of girl won’t not even minimally change in her career, not an Alexandrina T. for sure from this point of view), and really briefly: nothing happened, nothing changed. And, honest: still can’t understand why.


imagemodels jp

I’m not going to talk about choices regarding the girl (I’ll try to do that the less I can, even if I know personally some girls and there are bunch of cases when I think agencies bad ethics are and have been questionable), I won’t tell if it’s morally right what happened with some 14 years old girls (and still happens), so – about Nastyusha: I’m not going to tell “agencies had to ‘milk’ her skills and titanic potentialities”, ‘cause we don’t have to care about what happened with her standstill. Maybe she chose to not travel at her age (I always say that: SCHOOL FIRST), maybe she did not have the success she could have had, and so on, that’s not the point.

The point is not about make the most: the point is about development and first of all valorization. Here we are: she’s 2 years older, and all we have are some mediocre not convincing or mishandled tests or photo shoots.

Do I still believe in this girl? YES, I do! And I say that out loud, even if most could tell me she’s just an average cutie. From the beginning I saw something more in her – and I actually have to admit that seeing her at Women gave me few optimistic expectancies.

avantmodels ru

And for the record about Avant, someone should tell them:
1) to take best tests (only first two of these examples are quite good…)
2) we have EVIDENT AND MANIFEST EXAMPLES OF IMPROPER PHOTOSHOP USE here!


So – what really scares me? This:


tfs

To see a new Nastya S.


tfs

(maybe is a matter of chance – she’s with Avant too… you can easily see their "touch" in second pic), a model with good potential fated to become only an average (and even something less) model. And despite Nastyusha looks the same kind of girl the difference is she has an incomparably bigger potential, and it would be a real shame to waste it the way it seems it’s gonna be right now. So after all: still keep an eye on this model! You won’t be disappointed – or at least I hope so…

++? Claire D. J. - There's just one (very very technical…) word: “WOW”!

You know what usually happens with agencies – and if you don’t, here quite briefly: they snatch little girls up as soon as they see any good modeling potential; sometimes, any modeling potential; a lot of times – any potential. For the record - it even happens that they just snatch little girls up, period.


o2w

Claire is (fortunately) a good example of the first case (at worst the second): has she signed in Milan, Paris, NY, London, Barcelona etc etc just because of her cuteness? No, I guess not; “she’s got the numbers”, and the girl showed them quite early.


placemodels

She’s now going to be 16 this year, and… sure I don’t want to compare her to Monika, Auguste and so on, I’m not that much stupid, but… THE TIME IS RIPE. So if not about her career (I almost never dispute about that – there are sooo many factors, chances and personal choices that it would be just wrong and deeply erroneous; and I always say SCHOOL FIRST, GIRLS!), at least about answering this: has Claire what gives a model the chance to establish in this world in a significant way? or not?


cosmopolitan nl

I never hide, and this time I don’t even need any particular bravery to say I think she's really promising – IT’S SO EVIDENT. But there hasn’t been that kind of “spark” to make it quite clear and evident, last shots don’t really make it clear; and from my point of view best are still polaroids / tests she did


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– with as less photoshop as possible.


o2w

For this last pic there's just one (very very technical…) word: “WOW”!

+ Marketa F. – (maybe) That’s that

Is she good? Yep – and her presence in front of the camera is just awesome. What about her age? She’s still 14 and (in theory) with plenty of time to come.


nextcompany

This young Czech model is unquestionably good looking and, if we talk about her numbers (1.76 – 86/60/90) and features it seems there is some good “fashion material” here.


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The only point is: is there a lot of good potential? Is she going to be anything different from this “good but nothing special model” (even if I don’t like the expression “commercial model”, that’s the point)? Don’t know, maybe yes, maybe not.


o2w

She’ such a good model even right now (for “the kind of model” she is right now, from my point of view is even more than good – she’s really awesome), great attitude, but after have seen tests and polaroids, I think what you see is all you can get; sure, quite good, very mature for her age (the way she looks / her confidence particularly), but (maybe) that’s that. “Take it or leave it”? We'll see...

+++ Frida G. / Hannah H. @ Jill Stuart adv

Ok, if these days I’m quite (quite = gosh, wooow!) happy to see Caroline / Karlie / Vlada all together for Sonia Rykiel every time I’m around the city, I had an even better surprise from Jill Stuart.



tfs

Well, cards on the table: am I extremely impressed by the campaign pics by themselves? nope; I mean, not more than in other situations. But the point is: Hannah H. and Frida G. together? Hurray!!!

I couldn’t ask anything more. I love them, and in so many different ways – and choosing two models so different but their own way great has been the best choice they could do.


PS stupid, but - curiosity: can anyone ask IMG why despite “Frida is FRIDA” she’s still on the “development section” of the agency? I find it quite funny… she still should evolve? into what?!!! “Pikachu”?!!! haha C’mon, she’s such a huge factor in fashion industry – PERIOD.

PPS and please, don’t tell me it’s because she’s 1993, ‘cause 1) she’s FRIDA!!! 2) I don’t want to be argumentative but, an example at random – in Elite they created themselves faaaaaar less troubles with Julija S. status in the agency… and maybe they had to consider the thing a little bit more, compared with Frida G.… I mean, “FRIDA”.

Laine R.

Ok, let’s talk about this: if we were two years ago (or even a little bit less), you’d read a completely different title: and something like "++" beside (and maybe more). But you know, people change, opinions too, and only stupid people don’t admit their mistakes. And, despite “someone” is telling us being stupid is so cool these days – I admit my mistakes.

ford models

When I saw her first I thought she had a lot of potential. I’m not talking about… you know, about seeing a cute girl you might like, evaluate models is not about this; and, from my point of view, she wasn’t the umpteenth lovely and fresh model seen for the umpteenth time with no future or, anyway, a future of mediocre anonymity. No, I admit: I didn’t think she was a cute new face like there are bunches – and bunches.




telva / scan

chocheng / tfs

Well, my opinions changed a lot: now I think I was so much wrong about her. I’m not talking about… from my point of view, she’s such a pretty girl, and from that point of view she’s "++" (and maybe more). But we’re talking about models, and despite she looks good, despite she did some fine things lately, despite she’s baltic (for me: a very important thing… haha, really!) and despite, I repeat, I think she’s a really really cute girl even right now, well, about the model – big big delusion.


jenni kayne / wwd.com

Ok, I admit: world is full of more mediocre and anonym ordinary models than her. And even more of just worse models. But… well, when you expect great, your delusion is bigger. And I don’t think we’re talking about agencies bad decisions, it happens very often - but this is not the case: it’s just and only her. She’s a cute face, her age (she’s 17) still gives her a lot of chances to improve, but right now – I’d bet on someone else.

++? Nastya E.

Ok, when I first saw polaroids/tests of her, I have to admit, I was pretty enthusiastic.


avant models ru

and it wasn’t just about her eyes, how much cute she (might have) looked, it was something more: the presence in front of the camera, particular shape of her eyes, and, you know, that kind of “innocent cuteness” that a lot might have at a certain age, but just few have in a particular and very interesting way.


tfs

What about now? Well: this is one of the models I’m not really sure about. I still see a lot of good potential, but let’s talk about limits: first, I can’t see catwalk material.


avant models ru

Second: despite what her numbers say (1.75 – 80/58/86), her body proportions don’t convince me completely. And, always talking about body, the part that makes me most doubtful is between shoulders and neck; I saw a lot of recent pics, and her body doesn’t convince me completely, just that.

About her attitude in front of the camera, I see a lot of good potential; even if - from left to right in next photo, there are “a huge YES” and “a timid no”


women management it

and, if I have to tell the truth, for some kind of advertisings she’d be ready and perfect even right now.


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The fact her or Diana would be the same for me tells how much I still believe in this model: but 1) with some limits and 2) we’ll have to see how. So: yep, a huge question mark – but with a moderate optimism. Especially for her “clean” and quite particular face (shape of her eyes, nose/mouth).