Agyness Deyn - What is it About Her?

By now anyone reading this has surely heard of cropped n' bleached Brit model Agyness Deyn. For quite some time now she's been dubbed 'model of the moment', yet it seems for many it's a moment that is dragging on a bit too long.

Since emerging as 'the next great supermodel' two years ago scores of newspaper columnists, fashion critics and fashion followers have engaged in debate about whether the 25 year-old northern poser deserves the title. Some love her punky personal style and attitude that sets her apart, and the rest mostly share The Guardian's Hadley Freeman's assessment that 'she's perfectly pretty but the excitement does seem disproportionate.' (How polite.)

This is the third time I've attempted to post about Agyness Deyn, I quit after struggling to find something to say. However, after reading Freeman's assertion on her popularity (about the hundredth in a year) I was prompted to comment about why she may have achieved her designation as 'hot topic.'

To start, there haven't been many stand-out models since the Supermodel era. We're still far more interested in what they're doing fifteen years on than we are in the names of the current catwalk regulars. We came to know them as personalities and now models are back to doing what they're paid to do - pose and walk. Contributing to their anonymity is the ever-increasing number of magazine covers going to Hollywood celebrities, who are also snapping up many of the high profile campaigns contracts with the major fashion houses.

So what's the problem? I think we're bored. I know I'd much rather see the latest young muse fronting my copy of Vogue than a grossly overexposed Jennifer Aniston or Lindsay Lohan. Granted, people are buying them or we'd be witnessing a return to more anonymous covers, but I think we also want a bit of style with our pap, wasn't that the point? When did Eva Longhoria become synonymous with fashion???

Maybe we're desperate for a fashion personality, we miss the Supermodels. So step up Laura Hollins aka Agyness Deyn with your suspenders, stovepipe trousers and ever-present trilby. Give us that big, genuine, 'I'm having the time of my life' smile we haven't seen since Cindy and Claudia wore big, bouncy hair. When Linda Evangelista retired, her hair embarked on a new career on Aggy's head, like Linda she retains all her photographic potency whether her crop be platinum, chestnut or flame.

That may it be it right there. Linda's career exploded when she cut her hair short, the same for Nadja Auermann. Even that bald model from Montreal was a big deal for some time (but not so big that I can remember her name. She's now a stockbroker on Wall Street so I'm sure she doesn't mind). Maybe we're just bored with our hair and need to get excited about new and brave options. This is fashion after all, does it really have to be more complicated than that?

Comments

[Hansel]

This girl is very 'good-looking' as Zoolander would say. But when are we going to admit and accept that pretty girls that look like tooth picks are gross? She looks like she just got back from Ethiopia in that first runway shot.

I'm a guy, and I have to say I'd rather see the old Marilyn Monroe style figure than this unhealthy one...