Karlie Kloss in ‘Big Red’ by Steven Klein for V Magazine #94, Spring 2015

Photographer: Steven Klein. Model(s): Karlie Kloss. Source: V Magazine. Stylist: Patti Wilson. Makeup: Yumi Lee. Hair: Akki.

Posted Feb 24, 2015

Karlie Kloss finds the flip side of a fairy-tale in ‘Big Red’ by Steven Klein for V Magazine #94. Driven by passion executed by pain each silhouette is a celebration of a life. Stylist, Patti Wilson, honors the comparable artistry of Rei Kawakubo, Comme des Garçons/Spring 2015. An evocative take on the theme of Blood & Roses, this collection explores the mastery of duality. Meant to disturb, Kawakubo doesn’t toil to be told she is amazing, she works to unveil the truth. The fantasy of avant-garde fashion explodes, with designs that devour our senses. Revelry doesn’t surrender rather it lives in the sartorial consistency of chaos. The face lights up as (Makeup Artist) Yumi Lee brings doll-like features to life. Pretty is as Pretty Does – Pretty has too Many Loves – She Makes Blood Boil with a Heat that Cooks – Beware of her Smile and her Striking Looks. Under a hood, behind a plastic mask or disguised by a storm of crazy strings, Klein revels in the rawness of real beauty. Hairstylist, Akki, paints thick, black locks with a hairline that’s coiffed to perfection. The art of animation erupts with saint-hood/savagery signaling the sideburns to sizzle. Part future part past, Red is felt in the visceral tone of this color story.

“Blood and Roses is the expression of a deeper significance of roses, typically happy and pretty. Often in history the image of the rose was more connected with blood and wars, in relation to political conflict, religious strife, and power struggles. This is what was interesting to me this time,” – written by Rei Kawakubo.