Modeling Journey

Love Magazine strikes editorial gold yet again in it's Supernatural issue. Lara Stone, Maria Carla Boscono, Daphne Groeneveld and Kristen McMenamy pose alongside stunning new face of the moment Nyasha Matonhodze in this riveting beauty portfolio. Photographers Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott team up with the styling genius of Katie Grand and Panos Yiapanis for this mesmerising editorial. The natural beauty of Stone, Matonhodze, McMenamy, Groeneveld and Boscono's tear streaked visages are enhanced by the minimalist make-up and visually arresting head pieces adorning each model's head. The incandescent beauty, raw emotion and vulnerability conveyed by Matonhodze et al. resonates with each turn of the page.

During a recent trip to New York, I almost put my back out lugging home hand luggage brimming full of fashion magazines and coffee table books. One of the books that I picked up along the way was Roberto Cavalli's book celebrating his 40th year in fashion. The book photographed by Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott features 84 decadent images of some of modelling's biggest names including Cindy Crawford, Kate Moss, Gisele Bundchen, Karolina Kurkova, Carolyn Murphy, Angela Lindvall, Heidi Klum, Maria Carla Boscono, Natasha Poly, Joan Smalls, Liu Wen, Lara Stone and Daria Werbowry. The retrospective of classic, rich Cavalli signature looks get the midas touch by stylist Marie-Amelie Sauve with art direction by Fabien Baron. In his foreword, Cavalli sums up the book's motif, "It is a journey into my world, and my way of seeing women. Women, for me, are undisputedly the focus of beauty and sensuality."

Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott go for maximum exposure, shooting Fall/Winter campaigns for Roberto Cavalli, Versace and Dsquared2. Maria Carla Boscono, Natasha Poly and Karen Elson team up for the photographic duo in Roberto Cavalli's lush autumnal themed campaign. The trio of enchantresses cast a spell amidst a lush setting of fuschia pink flora and golden brown foliage. Versace's bold campaign features Saskia de Brauw and Sean O'Pry against a desert landscape with ominous dark clouds swirling on the horizon. Newcomers Emily Baker, Saskia de Brauw, Bo Develius and  Francisco Lachowski have gone back to the ranch for DSquared colonial inspired campaign. Stylist Katie Grand combines leather, denim, sequins, swarovski crystals, fur and bow ties, to bring new meaning to the term colonial chic.

Riccardo Tisci delivers another stunning haute couture collection for Givenchy with ten looks inspired by Paradise. In his own words Tisci's focus for this collection were "Purity, lightness and fragility", hence the heavenly gowns constructed from silk tulle and gauzy lace, painstakingly embellished with hand curled feathers, tiger's eye pearls and silvery grey caviar beads.

Tisci's dreamy couture vision was projected by a celestial cast of models including Iselin Steiro, Kasia Struss, Joan Smalls, Izabel Goulart, Saskia de Brauw, Daphne Groeneveld, Zuzanna Bijoch, Maria Carla Boscono, Valeryia and Caroline Trentini. Tisci's eclectic mix of established faces and newly appointed stars of tomorrow will no doubt have a casting directors and magazine editors paying close attention.