Tom Ford 'Black Orchid' Fragrance 2016 : Mica Arganaraz by Nick Knight

[anlabe32]

New ad with Mica Arganaraz


models

 

[Phuel]

^^^ Oh thank goodness someone with some edge and high fashion sex appeal is back.

 

[Lola701]

The new campaign was shot by Nick Knight and "styled" by Carine (once again).

 

[Benn98]

This isn't doing anything for me, AT ALL. It's as dull as her McQueen campaign. It looks like a very cheap reproduction of Viktor & Rolf's Antidote.

Nearly two years down the line and I still don't get the appeal of Mica Arganaraz. Yes she's clever, well-read, the Latina variant of Freja, and what-not, but her work doesn't compel me to look twice. It's just ok. The only times she bowled me over was with her H&M campaign, and HB Argentina cover. Not at all groundbreaking, but it was a 90° bend from how she's normally depicted (see any VP edit!). I lose interest very quickly when a model is styled exactly the same way, over and over again.

 

[Nepenthes]

This is everything.

 

[Lola701]

It's quite good but i'm waiting for the commercial.

What is really frustrating with Tom is sometimes the lack of overall coherence in his ads.
I like the idea of one photographer shooting all your beauty campaigns. Yes the brand is strong and people know what Tom Ford stand for but the "Orchid Soleil" campaign is so vibrant and well executed that this feels a bit dry.

His best and most memorable fragrance campaigns were shot by M&M: Black Orchid, White Patchouli, Violet Blonde.

It's sexy and it works because it's Tom Ford and because he is maybe the last who still believe in glamour and seduction but it's not as memorable as the Cara ad for example.

I wonder if she will be the face of FW16 too...

 

[Spike413]

^ Agree. Those first three fragrance campaigns he did were perfectly coherent but totally distinctive, not to mention gorgeous and more subtly sexy than what he's best known for. They also knocked you over the head at first glance with how impactful they were. It didn't really matter whether you or not you actually liked them.

I definitely get why he seems to like Mica in that she's sort of who you'd get if you combined Omahyra Mota and Caroline Ribeiro (two of his go-to girls during his Gucci/YSL days) but like Benn said above, I don't like that she's almost never transformed by anyone. Yes her natural look works, but the entire idea of a model is that she (or he) becomes a bit of a chameleon. If she'd been "Tom Ford-ed" up a bit more with slicker hair or more dramatic makeup and then thrown into the heady, witchy sort of scene she's in I think it would've had more impact. As she is she doesn't quite become the physical embodiment of what you smell when you spray the perfume.

 

[Legolas]

Not a fan of that fake fog/smoke thing... whatever that bad photoshop pretends to be, it looks VERY fake, totally against nature, light should hit the whole set the same way (here it hits her face very different from the rest of her body, and magically, her face the only part where we don't have this foggy effect at all, 'cause fog behaves like that with models in real life of course ). If you're gonna go for it, do it good and believable. Posing is great, it's interesting enough. It could have been a great picture without the unnecessary effect, it ruins the whole thing making it look fake and dirty.

 

[anlabe32]

Nearly two years down the line and I still don't get the appeal of Mica Arganaraz.

I had this feeling once as well but i'm warming up to her I think it's admirable that after two years she's still one of the leaders of the current pack of models. Her best work to date imo though, was still that Prada campaign with her hair out of her face. I sometimes wonder if people would recognize her when she has her hair tied up because her haircut covers her eyes and bone structure so much.

Anyway, the reason I posted this ad was because I liked it. I don't love it but I do like the mysterious vibe of it. Not sure if it screams Tom Ford though. I also wish Tom would stick with one or two photographers. Over the last few years he's worked with M&M, Inez & Vinoodh, Sorrenti, McDean, Luigi & Iango, Dufort and shot a lot himself. This strategy might work for other brands but not a brand like Tom Ford with such a distinctive look. Just stick to one or two photographers.

 

[Lola701]

I definitely get why he seems to like Mica in that she's sort of who you'd get if you combined Omahyra Mota and Caroline Ribeiro (two of his go-to girls during his Gucci/YSL days) but like Benn said above, I don't like that she's almost never transformed by anyone. Yes her natural look works, but the entire idea of a model is that she (or he) becomes a bit of a chameleon. If she'd been "Tom Ford-ed" up a bit more with slicker hair or more dramatic makeup and then thrown into the heady, witchy sort of scene she's in I think it would've had more impact. As she is she doesn't quite become the physical embodiment of what you smell when you spray the perfume.

IMO Mica is more a Carine obsession than a TF obsession. I mean, we know that even if he is a control freak, he trust Carine. It's really interesting to see how his ads have evolved since he stopped shooting his campaign himself(FW2014 random and inconsistent choices of photographers (Johnny Dufort, I&V, Mario Sorrenti & now Nick Knight), random choices of models (FW 2014 was all over the place, Binx, Ondria...etc.), he went from OG campaigns to MG campaigns.

All those decision had Carine's name all over it.

Mica is also the face of the beauty campaign, like Gigi two years ago.

I kinda believe that the production of his movie had a lot of impact on the fashion and maybe he relied a bit much on Carine.

Nick Knight is great but apart from his videos, i've not been impressed by his print (Ad) work since his Dior days.

 

[Wolkfolk]

I love Mica , love this perfume but this is really bland especially for Black Orchid and the people involved.

 

[Phuel]

Not a fan of that fake fog/smoke thing... whatever that bad photoshop pretends to be, it looks VERY fake, totally against nature, light should hit the whole set the same way (here it hits her face very different from the rest of her body, and magically, her face the only part where we don't have this foggy effect at all, 'cause fog behaves like that with models in real life of course ). If you're gonna go for it, do it good and believable. Posing is great, it's interesting enough. It could have been a great picture without the unnecessary effect, it ruins the whole thing making it look fake and dirty.

I think it’s meant to look fake-y— like a surreal painting, with the veil of smoke being her adornment, cloak, etc. It’s Nick Knight, so that brand of artificial, digital accent is acceptable to me. Maybe not the best concept for a Tom Ford campaign though.

Good point Spike: Girls these days no longer seemed to transform into a designer’s distinct look— and Tom’s is so strong, even visionary. Rather, they seemed to be cast for their signature— whether that’s Mica being a Jim Morrison reincarnate, or Fernanda’s pink hair, or Lineisy’s high-brow attitude… It’s a very cut-and-paste approach to fashion presentation and completely lazy.

Still, Mica does possess that hint of Tom’s cocaine-and-sex world with her serpentine attitude. She looks so late-70s / early-80s, so vintage-Vogue, even appropriately Tom Ford— even if she’s not really bringing anything new to the imagery.

 

[zacatecas570]

And again that HIDEOUS hairstyle. I'm done with Mica. Bye!

 

[Legolas]

I think it’s meant to look fake-y— like a surreal painting, with the veil of smoke being her adornment, cloak, etc. It’s Nick Knight, so that brand of artificial, digital accent is acceptable to me. Maybe not the best concept for a Tom Ford campaign though.

If what you saying is what crossed their minds... well, it's not really evident they where going for surreal. Tim Walker is surrealism, this looks like they really wanted to make it look it real, but the amount of smoke-effect on her shoulder is hilarious next to her clean face, which is just a few centimeters away. I can't help but feeling someone accidentally rubbed charcoal on the original image and messed it up. I'm surprised Trey Laird was the art director since he did a very good job with Cara's version.

 

[vogue28]

New Campaign Image:

 

[Spike413]

If what you saying is what crossed their minds... well, it's not really evident they where going for surreal. Tim Walker is surrealism, this looks like they really wanted to make it look it real, but the amount of smoke-effect on her shoulder is hilarious next to her clean face, which is just a few centimeters away. I can't help but feeling someone accidentally rubbed charcoal on the original image and messed it up. I'm surprised Trey Laird was the art director since he did a very good job with Cara's version.

I think what Phuel is saying, ultimately, is that Nick Knight's entire aesthetic isn't based on realism at all. His work is proudly artificial and deliberately produced/manipulated looking, to the point that sometimes it really does veer into surreal or impressionistic territory.

I don't know that the concept here was a slam dunk, but if the lighting and smoke effects are fake looking I'd be shocked if that wasn't intentional on the part of him and his team of collaborators.

 

[Scotty]

Ugh. I want to like Mica because she's everywhere and i like the campaign but i hate her hair.

 

[iclawhands]

Maybe if there was a wind machine blowing her hair up in the air and blending more with the smoke, but this image is almost too still.

 

[gazebo]

 

[Spike413]

I have to say, seeing the videos sort of puts the smokey effect into a different perspective. In fact it works much, much better as a moving image and has more of that Nick Knight spirit to it.

Love the exploding bottle, partly because it suits the personality of the fragrance that actually comes out of it and partly because it reminds me of the exploding jukebox in the Freedom '90 video.