Allure April 2018 : Adwoa Aboah by Daniel Jackson

[jeremydante]

gorgeous. 90's nostalgia deluxe for the cover

 

[Phuel]

Ha, what an unlikely defender! Here I thought you deplore hype in any form. Because that's precisely how I see her.
The only time Adwoa Aboah looked stellar was for a MJ beauty campaign. And maybe her Meisel shoot. That's it for me. I'd be prepared to believe your theory if her portfolio was limited, but no. Anyone else who'd have worked with the same diverse teams as her would've had greatest hits by now. I mean, she even worked with Sgura! Lol.

Are you trying to trigger me by bringing Giampaolo up, Benn LOL I’ve changed my mind about him quite some time ago: It’s rather clear he still couldn’t care less for shooting women and shoots them with the same coldness and disregard that you’d expect someone shooting furniture. His shoots with men however… can be quite stunning, with an old-fashion macho smoulder to his cast.

We are in such bland, lazy, mediocre fashion times. And the photographers, both veterans and newcomers, reflect that brand of mediocrity in their shoots. If Adowa is considered a hyped model— then she deserves it: She is a gorgeous woman and not the pubescent, wallflower that’s infesting fashion photography these days.

And yes, it is completely the fault of the “creative” teams that shoot Adwoa always looking the same: half asleep. Do you really think that Adwoa— or any model for that matters, dictates the tone, the mood and the looks of a shoot…? It’s the laziness of the people shooting her that couldn’t be bothered to coax a different look from her: Nevermind wigs that could transform her into any character, but she has those bone structure, that athletic body… Why these people just have her always dosing off rather than transformed into another identity, is beyond me. They are the lazy ones who need her to always project her signature "sleepy" look. Not her.

 

[Benn98]

Are you trying to trigger me by bringing Giampaolo up, Benn LOL I’ve changed my mind about him quite some time ago: It’s rather clear he still couldn’t care less for shooting women and shoots them with the same coldness and disregard that you’d expect someone shooting furniture. His shoots with men however… can be quite stunning, with an old-fashion macho smoulder to his cast.

We are in such bland, lazy, mediocre fashion times. And the photographers, both veterans and newcomers, reflect that brand of mediocrity in their shoots. If Adowa is considered a hyped model— then she deserves it: She is a gorgeous woman and not the pubescent, wallflower that’s infesting fashion photography these days.

And yes, it is completely the fault of the “creative” teams that shoot Adwoa always looking the same: half asleep. Do you really think that Adwoa— or any model for that matters, dictates the tone, the mood and the looks of a shoot…? It’s the laziness of the people shooting her that couldn’t be bothered to coax a different look from her: Nevermind wigs that could transform her into any character, but she has those bone structure, that athletic body… Why these people just have her always dosing off rather than transformed into another identity, is beyond me. They are the lazy ones who need her to always project her signature "sleepy" look. Not her.

Ugh, if I hear the word 'trigger', current phrase du jour, one more time I will scream, lol. I was only being facetious. I like the guy's work with both men and women. He's a bit like the Demarchelier of this era. Safe, but not dull. Can master studio as well as location. That should be applauded considering the sheer amount of 'signature' photographers.

Re Adwoa, I'll agree that I also like her athetic frame. She's got great legs and thighs, which I only ever saw in Meisel's British Vogue shoot. But everywhere else she tends ro rely too much on malaise.
While I don't think that a model can dictate a shoot, I do feel that they have the ability to contribute a lot to the story in terms of presence. Of course in some Harley Weir edit, or the above one, the pretext or the setting may already be predefined for her to go into 'living corpse' mode. But there were other shoots where I think she may have stepped it up a bit more with her presence. Sgura's Sade tribute for Vogue Mexico comes to mind, so was the Lacombe Dior campaign where her peers at least tried, but she just stood there....droopy and expressionless. Maybe fashion pigeonholed her into this, much like itGisele did with Gisele athletic sexiness, or Natalia as this fragile Lolita. But the latter two tried, at many stages, to show more variety. Adwoa is getting the same inducements a trending model is getting, so it's not even to say her prospects are fewer. I just want more in the vein of Meisel x British Vogue and less of ID...