Your Favorite Photographers Favorite Model
It's Guinevere Van Seenus.
My infatuation with models came during the early days of YouTube. I was in college watching clips of fashion shows on Style.com. The team of creatives would discuss how a vision would take shape to become fantasy. Models are the living embodiment of this fantasy. The transformation is rather remarkable considering the stress of procuring a complete collection to be fitted, styled, edited and presented. I quickly fell in complete awe of Freja Beha Erichsen, Jessica Stam, Lily Donaldson, Gemma Ward, Maria Carla Boscono and Daria Werbowy. Years later after rewatching those shows I overlooked one of the talents I adored with equal reverence, Guinevere Van Seenus.
Guinevere Van Seenus is as technical as it gets. This woman has relished the opportunities to be a model in the apex of fashion. I never mean to fetishize the allure of an individual, but Guinevere is certainly a muse. When the canvas is primed and taut the possibilities are infinite. I’ve always been drawn to work pushing editorials forward. I miss the era of modeling where the models casted shapes near contortion. I yearn for avant garde hair and makeup appearing painterly forgoing symmetry. What brings me back to a model like Guinevere is her acceptance of this role. Her submission to the project and her consenting pursuit for the best image possible.
Here I was back on YouTube ready to consume more fashion during the Fall/Winter 2023 season. Gucci’s house was empty, Alessandro Michele left and the team was responsible for putting forth a collection. At the top of the show, a haunting vocal loomed over as the lights flickered on. Consider me sat. The models emerged from elevator-like doors. The sickly yellow carpet set the stage and the models filtered out in organized chaos. Opening/closing a fashion show is seen as high praise and typically these looks are always the most talked about since they punctuate the show. To my delight the last model out was Guinevere Van Seenus. I can only describe the look as “the chicest Cruela DeVil.”
Recently, Guinevere has been in shows for AMI, Balenciaga, Schiaparelli and Marni. She’ll always work if you ask me. She’s garnered the support of the industry and has a profound level of respect for everyone’s commitment. I’ve particularly enjoyed listening to Guinevere discuss cameras and lenses during an interview with Nick Knight on SHOWstudio. You get the feeling she’s quite involved in the process. Like a true model she’s developed the vernacular to enrich the image within her position expanding the artistic direction into new dimensions.
To be a fly on the wall during a Paolo Roversi, Steven Meisel or Irving Penn shoot would be transcendent. These masters of photography have their own unique worlds they develop. With Steven Meisel the messaging is clear, it’s about the fashion. He precisely fuses the worlds of high fashion and commerce. Paolo Roversi utilizes a camera in the way an artist conquers the brush. Irving Penn has captured some of the most renowned portraits in history and every model has discussed what a privilege it is to work with him. Guinevere has worked with them all.
A model’s career typically reflects the zeitgeist, but Guinevere has been fortunate to work for decades. These photographers mentored her and gave her an education that now translates into her own work with self-portraiture. I believe, (excluding selfies) the hardest medium to digest is the one involving “the self.” It’s quite easy to put yourself in the hands of professionals. When tasked to style, light and take the image alone it can be all too revealing. Guinevere has no fear.
For a brief period of my twenties I desired to become a model. I’m 6’3 and I weighed about 180 pounds, at my skinniest I was 170. I saw how my cheekbones appeared in images. I loved how slim my legs were and that I finally fit into a pair of size 32 jeans. I sent out my passport photo to modeling agencies and even heard back from one of them. Nothing did come to fruition and I was so harsh with myself that I stopped it from ever taking flight.
I still think about the power of modeling. I used to line my bedroom walls with clippings from Vogue, Dazed and W Magazine. The visual strength of fashion editorials are hypnotic to me. When I started to really notice Guinevere Van Seenus I marveled at the magnitude of her portfolio. Long hair or chopped, black and white or color saturated, demure or perverse, she’s everything.
It’s been said that Steven Meisel uses a mirror while on set so the models can see themselves while being photographed. Music is an integral part of the session too. What a model is capable of becomes realized whenever they get to work with Steven. I believe the primary responsibility of a model is letting go. Guinevere has relinquished herself over to many lenses. She’s found herself in the frame of Steven’s mirror (many times) listening to the music blare. What Guinevere has gained is a career of trust, she’ll do whatever it takes for the creative divine.
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