ANTM May 4, 2007
Posted by lana in America's Next Top Model, beauty, bodies, fashion, links, magazines/photography.2 comments
To continue on with my last post about America’s Next Top Model, both of the plus size models were eliminated, sadly. Whitney had been one of my favorites, both because of her personality and particular beauty, although (I agree with the past comments) that Diana’s shoots were subpar. The last episode’s shoot proved to be particularly interesting; the girls did two shoots on the beach, with one shoot aimed towards a women’s magazine and the second aimed towards a men’s magazine.
I’ve always been conscious of there being differences between the photos found in each, but seeing as how I don’t make a point of perusing magazines like Sports Illustrated as often as those geared specifically towards women, I’ve never really noticed the extent of the differences. In the women’s magazine shoot, the models were directed to look soft and natural and were encouraged to create an ideally romantic scene with their male model partner. It was interesting to see that the judges disliked Dionne’s women’s magazine shoot because she made direct eye contact with the camera, which brought an unwanted intensity to the picture.
In the men’s magazine, there was, of course, a more in your face sexuality. Intense eye contact was encouraged in this case (see Jaslene, Renee, Brittany, Dionne, and Natasha’s pictures). There was a lesser sense of naturalness and much stronger body language. The sidewise eye contact which Renee makes with the viewer was heavily praised because it is that sort of look, according to the judges, which is greatly popular amongst men’s magazines because it engages the (presumably male) viewer into believing that the model in view desires them.
ANTM always somehow manages to open my eyes to the impact of body language and posture, and the different ways in which it can be read by the members of each sex. I remember seeing one episode from another season (I believe it was the last one) in which Tyra was educating the girls how to pose for different audiences. More high fashion poses were encouraged amongst female audiences (more hunched forward shoulders, more dramatic body lines), so that there wasn’t an obvious display of sexuality. With male audiences, arched backs and strong, frontward poses– poses which were deemed totally unacceptable– were expected and encouraged. Regardless, I just found it interesting to see how magazines cater to the sexes, playing upon stereotypes of the so-called male ideal and women’s love for all things romantic.
America’s Next Top Model and full-figured models March 31, 2007
Posted by lana in America's Next Top Model, bodies, fashion.2 comments
So, I’m a bit of an ANTM fiend. As sad as it is to say, I usually try my hardest to schedule my Wednesday’s around the new weekly episode. I really can’t help it. This past episode, one of the two full-figured models was voted off (Diana). Not only was she voted off, but both full-figured models were placed in the bottom two this episode around. Diana’s photograph was not exactly stellar, but I do not think it was the worst amongst the bunch (Jael’s photo was particular bland, but she passed through to the next round perfectly (more…)
