September is already here, and the first sign of "la rentree" here in Paris is quite impressive: the September issue of Jalouse, the most highbrow magazine of the French fashion press, includes a portfolio of model Valerie Sipp spreaded on 50 pages! I can't remember when was the last time any model received such sign of respect in a mass market magazine -maybe Kate Moss in W, maybe Nadja Auerman in Vogue, and it was years ago!
Intitled "Passage en Revue", the feature is a presentation of the autumn pret a porter line of major designers, and Valerie Sipp is photographed every time in a completely different environment. It is a tour de force of photographer Jan Welters to use such various styles. Of course, sometimes he (and fashion editor Isabelle Peyrut) fail, but the overall results are superb.
I've scanned most of the portfolio. Please note that by courtesy to the community that host this humble weblog, I will delete soon the pics to preserve their bandwith. But after all, this is a blog, not a web site, so I suppose it's OK.

The first designer is Calvin Klein, so Valerie Sipp is photographed in a minimalist, b/w styling. But the second spread features Helmut Lang, so she is photographed in an urban scene (the 13rd arrondissement in Paris). You can't see much of her (or the clothes), but you see two employees of the municipal cleaning force looking at her in the street, as things indeed happen when a model walks down the street. I like the pic, although it might be too inspired by the Nathanel Goldberg feature with Stella Tennant in Numero last year.

Next is Giorgio Armani, so Valerie is pictured in a BCBG styling, clean, she looks beautiful and that's about it. In the spread there's another picture, in which she is photographed in a bizarre posture on the floor, completely covered by ugly Emporio clothes, so I guess it didn't make it for me.
The fourth designer is Issey Miyake, it's a complete failure so I didn't bothered to scan it. Valerie is photographed both in a cold and dark studio pose and in a poetic, out-of-focus picture in the woods. Next comes Sonia Rykiel, I didn't scanned it because I was angry she got the cover, probably because of some commercial transaction with the publisher (I can't see any editorial reason to this decision).

Yes, this is Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton, so Valerie looks young and sexy (I'm not going to complain). I thought it's clever not to compete directly with Jurgen Teller with an external, slightly grainy color pic, and Valerie certainly got the legs for this focused, cold styling.
Next comes Ferre, and you just can't see a thing. She is photographed in a narrow street, probably in the 13/14 south, counter-exposed, it's so dark it's not even interesting. And this is the perfect timing for...

... Tom Ford to YSL. I'll never refuse a close-up of Sipp, certainly not one with an open mouth and a general disbelief pose. But I prefer the other Tom Ford representation, the one for Gucci:

Valerie is photographed in the Pere Lachaise cemetry, there's the good catholic/bad girl little play, and it's simply a wonderful spread.
Better not to spend too much words on the As Four spread, the clothes are ugly and both photographer and model can't do a thing about it. The Fendi presentation uses an already overused gimmick, call it the lady in the lake, so let's move to...

Yes, Hussein Chalayan has a full frontal nudity of Valerie for Jalouse readers (and for you...). The layout is a somewhat simplicist concept (deconstruction designer, so let's deconstruct), but hey, it works.

Chloe and Jean Paul Gaultier disappointed me. For Chloe, Valerie is photographed in an extreme close-up laughing, she is covered by tons of make-up and her teeth aren't attractive when the lightning yellows them a bit. The Gaultier pic is a boring scene in the woods.

Next is the spread I like most, and the funny thing is it represents Moschino, a fashion house long forgotten. No woman I know of in Paris wears Moschino (some use its accessories, though), and his death hasn't improved his firm designs. Maybe that's the reason Jan Welters (and the editor) felt free to do whatever they like, i.e. to take a stunning close-up shot of Valerie Sipp face. She is such beautiful here, so special, I think I'm in love. See what we'll miss when Bottox will rule the fashion world? She is so cute with this line between her eyebrows. (see pic above, bigger scan here)

Sportmax has a vivid, jazzy sequence of Valerie in the country, beautiful colors. Marjan Pejosky - never heard of him (her?), and the presentation didn't give me reasons to inquire more. Next comes Ungaro, with a banal shot of Valerie with flowers, and then, on the same environment, comes a beautiful spread for Dolce & Gabanna. Go figure.
I could tell you a lot about the Chanel presentation, it's so boring you could easily think Karl Lagerfeld photographed it himself. But why should we waist our time about it, when now comes the Prada spread:

I'm afraid my scanning abilities are not professional enough to capt all the color subtilities in the picture. I found it very interesting, truly sexy, which is much more than I can say about the Prada campaigns.
I gave up when I arrive to page 212, the Atsuro Tayama presentation. The pictures are beautiful, Valerie is really moving, much more human than most models, but I can't scan it as it should be, the colors are too delicate.

Next comes Yohji Yamamoto take. I like it a lot, it's almost a Lindbergh picture in its intensity, but Valerie looks better than models in Lindbergh pics.
And the end of the project goes to three giants, two LVMH players and an American one; All three are disappoinments. The Ralph Lauren pics are boring. Givenchy is the best of them thx to a great close-up (those lips...), but the mixing of the road-movie atmosphere with the strange clothes and colors doesn't work. As for Dior, I don't know, it really looks like Galliano directed the shooting: Valerie looks ugly, trying to climb on a tree in ridiculous clothes. Or maybe I was disappointed because the portfolio ends here. I certainly could have another 50 pages.

You probably saw Enrique Iglesias and Anna Kournikova arrive at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards yesterday. But did you notice the way he handled his date? No, I'm not jealous, it's only an cross-cultural observation.