When Interview magazine released its September issue with 6 different covers each paying tribute to some of the most celebrated creatives in the industry, I couldn’t wait to see the full editorials. Now I’ve only seen one shoot which features Nicole Kidman selected and photographed by Steven Klein as his muse… And I’m not sure how I feel about it other than disappointed. Not in the level of work or talent that has gone into the shoot, but the theme, it just leaves me disappointed.
Described as ‘a dramatic scene where Nicole Kidman is being embraced by a mysterious man resembling a vampire’, I can’t help but feel half the images represent something much darker than a ‘vampire fantasy’. With the body language and facial expressions of Kidman being in distress rather than bliss, it just leaves me uncomfortable that they are using these images to sell a handbag…
At the end of the day, if the roles had been reversed and it was Nicole Kidman on top, would there be an issue? Probably not, I myself have oohed and aahed over similar scenarios like Naomi Campbell’s October 2010 Interview magazine shoot by Mert & Marcus where she is beating a muscular tattooed male. But Nicole Kidman is fragile, it’s what she has built her career and image around, being a delicate young thing.
So is this fashion? Is this all we have left, is there nothing original left for us that we now have to use distressing images to plug lingerie? Maybe I’m just alone on this one but is it really that different from the banned Spring/Summer 2007 Dolce & Gabbana ads where the female ad in the campaign is described as “being shown in a degrading manner” and looking “immobilised and subjected to a man’s will”? I didn’t think so…
To me it looks like an attack, or even rape. I’m not getting ‘vampire’ at all. I agree about the distress shown in the images. It’s not a nice subject. That said, I do think the lighting and colours wonderful.