Gwen Loos In 'Animal Magic', Lensed By Elena Rendina For Baku Quarterly

Conde Nast’s Baku quarterly shares ‘Animal Magic’ with model Gwen Loos. Elena Rendina captures the modern story loaded with historic female-centric symbolism, with styling by Mary Fellowes.

The intersection of fashion, sensuality, women’s history and women’s rights is the focus of Anne of Carversville. The symbolism of of snake immediately clues us to explore other visual metaphors in ‘Animal Magic’. We have the requisite apples as a symbol of women’s fall from grace and undermining of the human race.

Pelicans don’t typically appear in fashion editorials. Turning to the Catholic Education Resource Center, ‘The Symbolism of the Pelican’, we discover:

The symbolism of the mother pelican feeding her little baby pelicans is rooted in an ancient legend which preceded Christianity. The legend was that in time of famine, the mother pelican wounded herself, striking her breast with the beak to feed her young with her blood to prevent starvation. Another version of the legend was that the mother fed her dying young with her blood to revive them from death, but in turn lost her own life.

Given this tradition, one can easily see why the early Christians adapted it to symbolize our Lord, Jesus Christ. The pelican symbolizes Jesus our Redeemer who gave His life for our redemption and the atonement He made through His passion and death. We were dead to sin and have found new life through the Blood of Christ. Moreover, Jesus continues to feed us with His body and blood in the holy Eucharist.

As for the apples now replaces by lemons, they are an obvious referencee to bitterness and disappointment. Early Christians also associated the lemon with fidelity.

We cannot attribute a definitive point of view on women, sensuality and religion to ‘Animal Magic’, but it resonates on AOC inspite of its very controlled artistic perspective. Having returned from a six-month, self-imposed sabbatical and having the Sensual Fashion channel absolutely on fire this week, I will use this editorial to flush out my writings on these symbols and critical elements in women’s lives. ~ Anne

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