Valentino S/S 2009 : Stephanie Seymour by Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott

[BerlinRocks]

i think the casting is wrong ... but anyway ...
i'm not sure i like this shot ... i feel there's a certain attempt to do a sort of traditional fashion image ... it's so evident ... b&w is there because it's a new life for valentino ...

i don't get why everyone is shocked by the hands ... it makes nothing to me ... just add a little more to this feeling i have of making a traditional fashion image ...

Her pose and her muscles tell me Bodybuilder.
She looks like a young Arnold Schwarzenegger.

are you being serious ???

when i read those kind of things ... i think you guys have a real problem ...
it's Stéphanie Seymour ... not Madonna ! or even a young Schwarzneger (sp. ?) open the eyes and stop thinking snejanavladamoussakamagdalena has the most perfect body

 

[irulan]

Yes, I am serious. I find Miss Seymour in this picture as unattractive as Vlada, Snejana and Magdalena. I have always stated that I like a feminine kind of body. However I don't think this applies to the model of this very campaign. And this is why I think this campaign isn't particulary good.

 

[The_Ida]

This is how a womans body looks, I'm not surprised that people are not liking it...

 

[Miss Dalloway]

are you being serious ???

when i read those kind of things ... i think you guys have a real problem ...
it's Stéphanie Seymour ... not Madonna ! or even a young Schwarzneger (sp. ?) open the eyes and stop thinking snejanavladamoussakamagdalena has the most perfect body

BR you are not the only one, and i'm glad you feel the same way, some very disturbing comments in this thread.

I wonder if the other ads will be in the same vein...

 

[The_Ida]

Her pose and her muscles tell me Bodybuilder.
She looks like a young Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Oh really, is that so?

wisopinion.com

 

[irulan]

I was a bit harsh, ok, but actually I really think her pose is a bit bodybuilder.

 

[kimair]

I don't mind her muscles, I think Stephanie has one of the best bodies out there. I just feel as though she's such an odd choice for Valentino, particularly Alessandra's version of Valentino. For me Stephanie will always be one of the quintessential Versace girls. She has that power and strength to her beauty/sexuality.

For Valentino I feel as though the look is much more understated and soft. Not that the Valentino woman is meek but she's certainly more restrained. If they were going for a super someone like say Christy might have been a better choice.

i totally agree...
if this were for versace (especially the last few seasons), i think it would be amazing (minus the claw hands...), almost like a harkening to the old versace ads that avedon shot...

the problem is that alessandra's vision of valentino is much more soft and feminine, and this is such a switch compared to last seaon's ads, which made sense for the house...
i wonder if she even had anything to do with this campaign, since she was let go right after the show...

 

[mikel]

i wonder if she even had anything to do with this campaign, since she was let go right after the show...

indeed, I wonder the same thing.

I like this shot. The pose with the arms up is typical for I&V so maybe they shot it?

 

[Miss Dalloway]

^^Oh good point, i wonder if they shot it aswell, i hope they did.

 

[Bahiyya]

Oh thank goodness someone called out all the "She's a maaaaan-like crazy body builder!!" simply because our virgin eyes got exposed to a model who doesn't think exercise is a few cross-legged yoga poses. (Apparently "feminine" for some in this thread is a by word for soft mushy legs and arms....Poor female athletes. Doomed to the manly life .)

Anyway! I think Luxx best explained this opinion (without the distorted body image talk) and I agree with her . It's a phenomenal shot...but not what I associate with Valentino. If this were Versace now...it would have totally kicked the YSL-Schiffer butt for me. That image screams power *as Heidi Klum would say on her GNTM in her adorable German accent*.

 

[Creative]

I think the same as BerlinRock, 90's models had really good bodies...not all that socalled models who are 15, undernourished, skinny, childish, equal girls...

They seem they're going to fall while they are walking along the catwalk...

 

[DuTTyRoCK112]

Last season's ads were incredibly boring. This is a fashion advertisement. It's simple, classic and powerful. Stephanie looks stunning (though her hands seem a little large), the dress looks beautiful and the lighting is perfect. What more could you ask for?

 

[Creative]

Versace is now much more tacky than it was, now it pretends to be refined but it's everything a costume...

 

[hfgl]

Oh,i love it.It's magnificent to me.Can't wait to get my Vogue.

 

[tigerrouge]

I never even noticed the muscles until people said; to be honest, I like the sight of models with this type of physique - long limbs with god-given proportions with light muscular curves - because that way, they manage to look thin, healthy, sexy and powerful.

To me, this ad is trying to say - look, this body is a work of art, and this dress is also a work of art (though I'm less impressed by the latter).

Disappointed that it's in b/w, but I guess they are going for a 'classic' look, making the campaign as pared-down as possible.

 

[Spiral1532]

Regarding the comments that Stephanie "really isn't a Valentino girl":
Well, Valentino "really isn't" Valentino without Valentino.
So why does it matter if Stephanie is in Valentino ads or not?

 

[Jacque Marcel]

I like the juxtaposition of a strong, vampy model with the delicate dress. Having an "elfin" like model would have been too obvious.

 

[Spike413]

^ I'm feeling the same way. After reading more of the comments, I find myself really liking the idea of a strong, amazonian looking woman in very light, delicate clothing.

Plus it's just a nice change of pace to see a womanly, developed body.

 

[Mr-Dale]

Ahh boo....Stephanie doesn't carry the fragility that the collection had so this disappoints me very much This would have been one campaign where I would not mind soft pastel colors and fragile girls...

 

[Street_a_Licious]

ugh

seeing Alessandra's work AGAIN just drives the nail into my heart.

AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN!