The first public introductions of a new face have a strong hand in building up hype around her. I'm positive that depending on how you propel a new model out of anonimity into the fashion scene, she will be prone to draw interest or not. It's all about striking a balance between disclosing everything as from the beginning and being tiresomely secretive ; working out how to maintain mystery all the while catching people's attention enough to leave them wanting more and make them wait until more information leaks out. Some agencies have brought this trick to perfection and even built their renown upon it (Silent in Paris, Bloom in Amsterdam, just to name a few). It seems like it's the kind of launch Yana has benefited from. Coming out with a blog entry barely providing us with a minimum vital (full stats, full name, digitals) concerning their freshly signed newbie, US-based agency Specimen Models has succeeded in piquing my curiosity with just a set of tests by Alexandra Wespi. Lensed in different locations and transitionning back and forth between black and white and colors, it's the otherworldly feel that Yana brings to the pictures that binds them together and creates a consistent ensemble.
Pouty-lipped - and Lord knows that pouty-lipped girls have been in the crest of a wave these days - yet nothing alike Daphne Groeneveld or Hailey Clauson, Yana gives off such a strong edge that I've come to find her reminiscent of Chloe Memisevic. The resemblance is by no means striking and it's nothing to do with similar facial features, it's more of a connection my mind drew up at first glance and onwards. Goes to show that being tooth-gapped and/or sulky-lipped doesn't equate to being an inane Lara Stone lookalike without nothing worthwhile to bring to the modelling arena. It's not the first time the industry has tried to uphold a model trend defined by the proeminence of a particular feature, and I find this disheartening how medias (at least online ones) are so inclined to reduce models within this wave down to pale copy-pastes from the model who first set that wave. Would it be too much of a bother to let these girls be in their own way? Okay, it may be sink or swim in the modelling industry, but I wasn't aware it was to the point where models can't share an ounce of resemblance without some of them getting labelled as rip-offs of the other ones. Oh well. Casting directors up to designers themselves are seemingly willing to take all this (cyber?) babbling out of account, so - may Yana get solid connections, and let the work come in!
