It’s bloody cold outside and the wind is trying his very best to wash away the first impressions of summer we had this week while the melancholic battle between the sun and the clouds turns into a lonely waltz. I was sipping my cinnamon tea this morning when one thought knocked at the door: fortunately, fashion ignores such trivial details as geography and, therefore, weather issues. I often hear myself say how fashion is mainly about creating another world through its visuals, designs and characters. But these days, another important ingredient has to be considered; more in the process than in the final product. Today’s fashion can be done anywhere in the world, one person can sit on one continent and be heavily involved in a shooting happening on the other side of the ocean. When it comes to model agencies, this process is called direct booking and here above is a marvelous example of how fashion blatantly ignores borders and distances. Vogue Turkey’s May 2012 issue contains a story that smells as sweet as a brazilian summer day, feels as warm as a sunny walk on wet sand wearing a small Balmain dress. And why suddenly you seem to fly away to Brazil while looking at a turkish magazine? Probably as the lady enjoying the beach and bikinis is no other than Solange Wilvert and the editorial, shot by Ruvan Wijesooriya is the result of Eskimo Direct’s work. Makes sense and it immediately raises the temperature to make you forget about the raindrops hitting your window at the moment.

A modern bride, ready for the afterparty; in bright white to keep the magic of the ball going wild. Dasha Sushko embodies this graceful character in Vogue Nippon, in a story that naturally focuses on sparky jewellery and immaculate gowns. Captured by rising-star photographer Sylvie Malfray, the scenes gathered in the editorial refresh this timeless theme using the perennial codes and ingredients of the topic yet mix them with Dasha’s youthful vibe and upbeat expressions. The result is as catchy as classy, as subtle as engagin — an invitation to a 21st century fairytale.

Tulips keep on growing after their death but roses ain’t no bad seeds, and that’s quite the ultimate detail making them precious. Short moments of magic, gone faster than they came. Vanish as quickly as they bloomed yet leaving an immortal trace in our sentimental memories. Unforgettable and timeless though totally in tune with fashion’s frenetic rythm. I perfectly know (and sometimes blatantly fake to ignore) how longevity is praised in modeling careers and how much a phoenix is a treat for any agency but sometimes a touch of poetry doesn’t hurt at all and good-looking words have their own place next to business realities. And why shall we not imagine a rose blossoming back from its own ashes, after all. It’s the proper magic of visual creation in general, and an obvious ingredient of this brand new story with Solange Wilvert from Glamour Brazil, photographed by Tiago Molinos. Maybe the most interesting part is how it puts aside the ephemeral flowers and Solange’s long-lasting career, how it brings together the seasonal aspect of fashion and the eternal reign of beauty that totally disregards the toll of time. Kind of stunning that red roses and pink shades can inspire further thoughts than oh-that-is-so-lovely. It is indeed more than pretty but every romantic heartbeat has a chance to pump up some blood right back to your brains.

Lost somewhere between sci-fi, retro-glam and pop subculture, Vlada conquers a territory (or a mysterious planet?) she hadn’t explored yet in quite a rich and diversified career as hers. Famous photographer Rankin’s newest project, The Hunger, is the reason that pushed Ms Roslyakova to enter a new dimension and add one more skill to her repertoire. Remember her early days when her recurrent role was the youthful ingénue or the otherworldly creature (the latter reached its climax when a part of the audience started calling her an elf). This time is over for a while and the Sweet Little Vlada gradually morphed into a more accomplished model who tapped into several other genres including sexy stories or kinetic poses. This brand new editorial actually mixes or combines bits of each style she’s been associated with over the last few years. If the theme, mood and scenery remain identical from page one to the end, Vlada’s expressions display a large and subtle palette and the young woman performing on glossy papers jumps from innocent to feline to fierce to icey to… hungry!

Nothing in the pockets, they shouldn’t have changed the title of the book. They shouldn’t. At all. The angels have nothing in the pockets would have stayed much closer to the spirit of the story, I geniunely vouch for it. Hands in the air, eyes turned to the sky to see if what I’m going to get on my hair will be tears or beams. Most likely, a little bit of both, after a second look, swallowing my pills with a glass of lemon syrup. Wild childs are the ones who make the world turn square, the ones who tease the boundaries and say hello instead of bad bye. Wild souls, who keep dwelling once the mongrels made the decision to stop their overflowing prose. That’s quite the topic of today, and was the topic running (in), ruining and ruling my brains all over this bloody weekend which isn’t totally finished out here. Whether we need soft spice or cheap shocks isn’t exactly at the heart of the issue and I’m sincerely unsure there is indeed an issue. Or an exit? We need something to tickle our minds to keep going on, some visuals to treat our eyes like beggars in the desert looking for a lonely dewdrop. Refreshing, they say? They dare to say? Here you’ve got refreshment, enhanced by the youthful vibe of my favorite Icelandic princess (it really seems that a lot of my favorite princesses come from that island which has Reykjavik as capital city); here you’ve got raw sophistication that doesn’t betray the contradiction of its nickname. Shiny-shiny photographs without roasted flesh, sugary smiles without sunburnt lips, oceans in each eye and a salty ghost waving his hand in the only-lonely shadow left. Brynja leaves a masterpiece in disguise, a mark in a sand that was meant to be washed away by the next wave due to crash on the shore. But the mark didn’t fade when Anita Pagant came for the capture. FashionGoneRogue came to publish it and the story went round.

The cover left me with expectations of a soft, understated story to follow and, somehow, the editorial in Elle Italia is indeed quite a subtle piece. Though, nothing prepared me to the actual topic of this fashion story: fishing. You read it right and, if you still don’t believe, check back the pictures above. This being said, the aesthetic is slightly glamorized and there is no drunk mariner in blue jean or grumpy old fishermen chainsmoking in background. And Heloise doesn’t play the role of the sailor’s wife, sinking in her loneliness while her husbanding is riding the ocean and piling up the one-night stands in another harbor as soon as he left his ship. Not at all, no gloomy spirit on these pages: Heloise is the youthful, lighthearted and carefree mermaid musing on desert boats. They didn’t push the concept far enough to dress her with a fishtail but you certainly imagine that damned glittering fishtail and its silver shades on many photographs. A suggestion. I’m sure, by the way, that fishtails would have been a must-buy this summer if they had put some into the mix. Who knows, when you see what kind of tee-shirts or bags people buy nowadays. And, why not writing an article on how to sing like a siren? I’d bet my whole collection of jackets that the readers of the countless pages about seduction would enjoy reading some stuff of this kind. I even have suggestions for the cooking tips at the end of the magazine: learn to bake a cheesecake filled with tears. Anything else of the same sauce or back to reality? Second option, Sir! The editorial gathers a collection of soft, subtle images — one of the rare stories shot on location that doesn’t abuse of special effects or drown the model in a sea of unecessary accessories. Halfway between raw and polished, focused on lights, shadows and emotions; tailor-made to sail away from fashionable merchandises like clothes and make-up. An act of piracy to remember us fashion is matter of taste and personality, first of all.

There aren’t such things as spring flings, only wonder and/or wounds. Betwixt the last blast of cold drops and the first heats waiting around the corner, your umbrella is your best friend regardless of what the sky is ready to tell or cry. I’d better stop there with my lyrical loopholes otherwise this post is going to turn into a romantic weather forecast. But the main idea is here, the season commands a certain dose of timeless class able to adapt to moods changing as fast as the wind blows away the clouds above… only to bring them back again. And I’ve always been keener on sullen skies than on saucy stories. And there we go, now: Heloise Guerin, captured as a carefree young woman enjoying an evening walk by David Bellemere for the most recent issue of Marie-Claire Italia. Twilight moments, full of delicacy. And, I can’t hide the fact that his photographic work looks much more interesting to me when it focuses on subtle imagery rather than on spicy scenarios.

One slice, just one little slice of May before the end of April. A tiny twist that turns sun into fun and reminds you summer is going to knock at the door quite soon. The theme comes right in time and, to cut the chase, I’d say Elle Italia’s latest cover perfectly embodies that precise feeling. If the yellow fonts act like warm blitzes literally jumping at your eyes, Heloise Guerin’s fragile expression contrasts with this visual explosion. The right balance to suit a soft wind of change, enhanced by smokey eyes and golden locks. Looks like a promise and — sorry for the pun — looks promising.

Copper shades usually announce the upcoming dusk but any dreamer is allowed to imagine these are the beams of a brand new dawning, as long as we all agree that time in its current form is a human invention. Not exactly, from a purely scientific point of view yet if we wanted to be scientists we would steer clear from fashion and its endless approximations. If I had to give a proper definition of what fashion (and therefore modeling) truly is, I’d probably start with its most surreal aspects — as with most visual arts: even when it’s directly inspired by reality, the temptation would be too big not to go beyond; only to explore fantasies and forbidden territories. Fashion is a way to idealize, transform, transcend. Or, at least, I let my inner idealist speak about what I see and even when it comes to a simple lookbook, the first thing I’m looking for is an atmosphere able to take me away from the cloudy moments of everyday life. On this aspect, lookbooks have a specific charm I’ve never (or rarely) found in advertising campaigns. The latter are often more elaborated yet have to be catchy, they grab your eyes and attention instead of gently inviting you in a distinctive universe. Magdalena Jasek’s performance for Warsaw based label Bohoboco is just the opposite of the pushy imagery that invades magazines a bit too often. Minimalist choregraphy and styling leave more room for imaginative minds and restless eyes than saturated scenes. And the results flirt with the sublime in as many versions as there are viewers.