[1FashionVictim]

I hope we get some good exclusives this year as last season was pretty dire. Prada had bearly any, Jil Sander had none, and Gucci haven't had any since Louise Maselis had to decline.

[*Bianca*]

Karmen & Anja were Gucci (semi) exclusives last season. Unless you were talking about new girls.

I'd imagine we can probably lock in Othilia (Russell excl.) and maybe even Kirsi, for Prada exclusives.

[*Bianca*]

^Oh, and Dasha Sushko from pre-fall ( I don't think she's shown up anywhere yet..).

Hopefully it's not this predictable.

[Bamhutt]

^I hope so too!
It would be great to have a new girl with no hype and no info show up on an exclusive, it would be much more exciting

[agee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by helmut.newton I understand how being an exclusive is beneficial to a models career, but apart from creating buzz, what benefits does a brand have in having exclusives? I mean, I understand why you would want one girl as an exlusive (or two in the case of the Prada/Miu Miu link) but why several girls? What benefit does this have for the brand? I'm so confused by this aspect of it.

Yep, I have the same question, but I don't think there is a definitive answer. To me, the biggest deal with exclusives at this time, is that it is a parlor game for model-philes - the people who enjoy following exclusives and speculating about them, so it benefits those folks for sure. I don't think exclusives have been a great predictor of a model's success, for every season that the designers lock up "the next big things" as exclusives, there are three or four seasons where the models who were tapped as exclusives do no better than their non-exclusive peers.

I guess I don't see any major usefulness of exclusives as it exists today, not that I am losing sleep over their existence. There isn't a romantic angle, it's not like girls are being plucked off the tundra, the Serengeti, or heck even obscure mother agencies in Kiev or Budapest and then flown to New York or Milan to be inspected by Francisco or Miuccia. The major agencies have figured out what Russell Marsh, et. al. like and have stocked their board accordingly. The followers in the media and the blogosphere also know the casting directors and designers' taste and stalk the IMG, Supreme, Next and Marilyn's websites and speculate with a fairly high degree of accuracy.

Also, while the motivation for exclusives vary by designer, I think in Prada's case it was a move to counteract the model-centrism of the supermodel era, and the outcome is has actually been the opposite, a significant chunk of the buzz that Prada gets during the runway and campaign seasons are model related. If Senora Prada truly thinks that the emphasis should be on the clothes and accessories and not the models, then she definitely should stop doing exclusives.

Furthermore, once the exclusives are tapped, what happens next? Yes they tend to have the inside track on getting a campaign, but all the designers have done is given everyone a heads up on who will get the campaign. But then again, non-exclusives get tapped for campaigns all the time. Perhaps I can see the usefulness of exclusive if the designers did a watered down version of what Victoria's Secret does with its Angels - I know it's probably heresy to bring up VS in a discussion about the practices of Givenchy and Prada, but anyhoo, I can see the designer saying these are my models for the next season or two, they will walk in only in my shows, they will be the faces in my campaigns and lookbooks, they will be my showroom models when the major editors and buyers visit, I will try to influence the top editors and photographers to adopt them as muses (of course, a designer would not say this out loud), etc. Another scenario I can see is a designer locking up a model who walks in a lot of shows like Karlie, Kasia or Iris or a blue chip model like Natasha, Natalia, Daria, Anja or Raquel and even then they need to do something very noteworthy with her like have her close wearing a spectacular garment a la Shalom in the Dior origami dress, or some other stunt like Coco dancing at the JPG or the Raquel film at the SS 2010 McQueen show.

Quote:

Originally Posted by helmut.newton Also I'm not too clear on the idea of having exclusives for Haute Couture. Are we sure these girls are necessarily exclusive? What if they just couldnt book any other shows?

I also don't see the point with HC as is, but I do see potential. I agree that it seems like a number of girls who get exclusives are not in demand girls and why does the designer even care if she walks for other show, I especially wonder about this when the designers book a model as an exclusive and then put her in the middle of the pack when it comes to the order she walks. Dior did this with Chanel Iman in a recent season and I could not figure out why. However, I can see exclusives working quite well if it is part of a theme, e.g., a designer does a geisha theme and locks up all the top Asian girls or locks up a bunch of red heads for a Celtic theme, but again there should be some logic to it, not just because it's there and that is what we've always done.

ETA:
Geez this is a long post!

[Faith Akiyama]

There is a very practical reason for a brand to have an exclusive girl for the runway show, actually: She won't have to run to the 2930482304 other castings/fittings for other designers during the week and interrupt anything on said brand's own schedule. Prada, for one, is notorious for their long waits and tedious sessions for both castings and fittings, so claiming specific girls ahead of time saves any trouble in possible delays and other unforseen circumstances.

But I definitely agree that the branding potential for the label in terms of an exclusive girl is in murky waters in this era of the industry.

[*Bianca*]

Regarding Dasha Sushko

Quote:

Penetrating blue eyes and personality plus are just two of Dasha’s defining qualities. Another new girl with Next Milan who is on exclusive with a major designer, we expect this to just be the first big catwalk appearance of many – Dasha’s allure is impossible to resist!

-models.com

[lanvinray]

yeay! She was on Prada Pre-Fall 2010 as well! Goodluck Dasha

[TommyGirl]

Do you think/know if Kirsi Pyrhönen was Prada exclusive this season? She appeared at 4 shows in London, and she is almost as fresh as you get, still on the New faces board in her mother agency. So far she hasn`t done anything after Prada, so I´m counting on her to appear at Miu Miu...

[lanvinray]

Gucci F/W10.11 Milan

Ella Drake/NEXT


wwd

[lanvinray]

Prada F/W10.11 Milan

Samantha Gradoville/IMG (O)(C)


Kirsi Pyrhonen/VIVA


style

[TREVOFASHIONISTO]

Ella is gorgeous
i jus love a model with platinum blonde hair
but i never really got into exclusives i prefer to see their
work after then getting all excited for them

[lanvinray]

1 more for Prada F/W10.11 Milan

Barbara Palvin/IMG


style

[chuliach]

According to Place Models Katharina Friedrich was an exclusive for Moschino..

[fadedcolours]

^ well she did another show after that in Milan so...