When I woke up this morning, my mantra was ‘I will not criticize Emmanuelle Alt’s first issue of Vogue Paris as editor-in-chief. I will keep quiet because we all deserve a chance to clarify our editorial visions.

I still believe that statement, but after looking at the Siri Tollerod lingerie images, lensed by Andreas Sjödin for the April 2011 issue, my heart dropped. My issue with the Siri Tollerod images is that they are demure, and France is not demure.

France is Elizabeth Taylor in Butterfield 8.

These Kevin Baker snaps, a series called ‘Flower’ captured by photographer Yu Tsai, are ‘pure’ and yet rich in sensual complexity and innuendo. They are proof that a model doesn’t have to strip in order to be sexy and provocative.

Perhaps Carine Roitfeld did push French Vogue to the edge of vulgarity on occasion.I have no issue with it, but a pull back is fine with me.

These Kevin Baker images by Yu Tsai remind me that Alt could have communicated a more sensually-inspiring, artistic vision for female identity in her first issue of Vogue Paris, as editor in chief.

Perhaps like so many women worldwide, she’s too tired for sex. French women have been a leader in sexual vitality for decades, and still are based on government research, if not these new French Vogue editorials.

Just 15 percent of Frenchwomen in their 50s and 27 percent in their 60s haven’t had any sex in the past year, according to a 2004 national survey by France’s Regional Health Observatory.

Another national survey being released next month (2008) will report that cohabiting Frenchwomen over 50 are having more sex now than they did in the early 1990s. via AOC

Because this entire subject of French women’s sexuality as expressed in the pages of French Vogue has international implications, I will issue an update immediately after further research.

Meanwhile, enjoy a sensually photogenic Kevin Baker, styled with taste and sensory complexity in Yun Tsai’s ‘Flowers’.