Gisele Bundchen & Johan Lindeberg Say Basta To 'Flawless'

Anne Rethinks ‘Flawless’, Third-Tier Male Photographers & Values That Matter

Victoria’s Secret may be promoting women’s relentless need to look ‘flawless’ with their new ‘Flawless’ bra.  The entire fashion and beauty industry is focused on our flaws, as if we are in constant need of fixing, but I’m with Gisele Bundchen and photographer/designer Johan Lindeberg who argue that women should get real and embrace our imperfections.

The internationally famous Gisele (see her newest lingerie collection in Sensual Fashion) shot her the ad campaign for BLK DMN jeans without any kind of makeup, professional hairdressing or the help of Photoshop.

“I feel like women should be really real and raw and it doesn’t happen anymore [in fashion photographs],” the former Victoria’s Secret Angel told Fashionista.com, crediting designer/photographer Johan Lindeberg for his unconventional approach.  “I love that feeling of, you know, we are women, we are so different, our imperfections are what make us unique and beautiful. He gets that. He’s not trying to retouch you or put a pretty light on you. He’s not like ‘you gotta look a certain way.’ He’s like, ‘you are you’ so now I’m gonna just be here with a camera, so express yourself how you like.”

Bundchen poses in a series of 25 not-yet-released portraits for DLK DNM’s ‘Wild’ campaign, where the superstar, highest-paid model in the world smiles sans makeup, barefoot and topless but not full frontal, according to WWD.

Johan Lindberg maintains a view of women very different from most of our fashion patriarchy values, obsessed with remaking women in their best vision of ourselves. Note, many members of this club are women. Lindberg shares AOC’s Smart Sensuality vision of the vast beauty of a female species that doesn’t need constant improvement.

“Coming from Sweden and the dark winters there — I maybe have an Ingmar Bergman influence — but I like expression,” said Lindeberg. “I’m a massive feminist. I’m the one who thinks that women should take over completely. To portray women as who they are — I see it more like a documentary portrait. I’m anti-retouching and [anti-] plastic surgery. I think a woman is beautiful how she is.”

Gisele agrees that being with Lindeberg is a breath of fresh air.

“So many times when you’re doing pictures, you have to look a certain way and it’s very contrived, and you’re not very free to be able to express yourself in that raw, real way. It was just an opportunity to go in and create something without any boundaries and expectation — free-form, no makeup, no hair. We were [in this warehouse] for like an hour. I think he sees women in a beautiful way. He’s an artist in that way; he’s not just a designer.”

I’m happy to say that I will be returning to subjects like this one full force after setting my own head back on straight over the long weekend. In writing about the intersections of fashion, body image, religion, women’s rights, culture, and the male gaze, it was never my intention to become a hack blogger to a certain tier of male photographers looking for a big break. And yet, little by little I let that happen because I have a good heart and growing influence as a writer and ‘eye’.

What was wrong with this picture was increasing pressure to explain myself to these guys. They were criticizing ME for not hopping to it quickly enough to post their materials — or expressing the right not to publish it at all. That’s what curated means, and excue me, AOC is MY website.

What suffered in the process of expanding our fashion editorials? Ideas that matter, like my writing on body image and the fashion industry. Not today. Anne screwed her head back on straight the last few days; we’re pulling back on just how many editorials we post. You’ll be reading a lot more from me again in the Body channel.

Here’s toasting Johan Lindberg as a man who truly loves women as we are, in all our variations and sizes, ages and degrees of wisdom. How damn refreshing not to need fixing for once! ~ Anne