What does body language tell us about attitudes towards fashion, models’ lives and history of representation of men and women? Building on our series of unconventional catwalk reviews, this time the poses depicted in the Resort 2015 photoshoots are under scrutiny.
Stomach and neck cramps
Call the doctor! It seems this season there was a stomach bug going around the modelling community. Just look at how uncomfortable model Guinevere Van Seenus looks in the Zac Posen resort pictures. And if that wasn’t enough, the poor model posing in Henry Holland’s leery resort wear seemed to have a neck ache as well. Girls, invest on those comfy travel neck pillows and don’t forget to pack some Rennie for your resort rounds!
Tipsy?
It is not clear whether it was the models or the photographers, but some of the resort shoots seem to have been taken after a tipple or two. As a result, the cropping at Costume National is all over the place and the ladies at Lanvin and Marios Swhwab just didn’t seem able to hold it together. As F. Scott. Fitzgerald said in The Beautiful and Damned: “Here’s to alcohol, the rose coloured glasses of life” – where’s my martini?
Toilet tales
Whether the result of stomach cramps or alcohol, it seems the Chloe shoot had to be done in the lavatory. Elegantly emerging from the toilet; at least this model looks as if she is ok. As if nothing’s happened.
No Jumping
Models jumping in pictures just looks uncomfortable, please don’t do it!
Waiting for the bus
The suspension in Martin Margiela resort pictures is intense. Is it coming? Isn’t it coming? Is it coming? Isn’t it coming? Girl, get yourself a ‘Bus checker’ app, it tells you what time the bus will arrive. The best thing is: it’s free to download.
Emerging from the wall
I think someone at Mulberry has been reading Marcel Ayme’s Le Passe-muraille (The Man Who Walked through Walls) and it clearly inspired their resort photoshoot. The result is very convincing; she does indeed appear as if she’s walking through walls.
Ignorance is bliss
Ignoring someone’s presence is of course the oldest trick when it comes to the business of insults. Totally blanking one another, tension between the models were running high at Erdem and House of Holland shoots. At Carven the models seemed so repulsed by each others’ presence they couldn’t even face each other.
Broken dolls
There is something so wrong about these strangely childlike broken doll poses that the models at Marc Jacobs are pulling. Not only does it make them look very awkward but its connotations in the 60’s baby doll Twiggy references just don’t feel very pro-girl power.
Soldiers
The models at MBMJ (nee Marc by Marc Jacobs) on the other hand project power and control. Though I acknowledge the masculine connotations of the reference points these image depict, the attitude is still so much more positive than what the mainline resort imagery suggests. Katie Hillier and Luella Bartley are certainly taking the mini Marc girls to the right direction.
I whip my hair back and forth
I’ll let Willow Smith sum this up..
“…Hop up out the bed, turn my swag on
Pay no attention to them haters
Because we whip ’em off
And we ain’t doin’ nothin’ wrong
So don’t tell me nothin’
I’m just trying to have fun
So keep the party jumping
So what’s up? (yeah)
And now they don’t know what to do
We turn our back and whip our hair and just
Shake em off, shake em off
Shake em off, shake em off
Don’t let haters get me off my grind
Keep my head up, I know I’ll be fine
Keep fighting until I get there
When I’m down and I feel like giving up
I whip my hair back and forth
I whip my hair back and forth (just whip it)
I whip my hair back and forth…”
Willow Smith