ViVA !
I am mulling over “image”. One is bombarded with imagery online, and through a constant flow on media feeds these days. I relish leafing through books at a bookstore, or looking at some of the gems I have at the house. Inspiration can come in many forms, wether it be vintage automobile advertisement, a Taschen or Visionaire edition, the incredible design cues of magazines from Europe, or this example…
I found this beautiful promotional book on my bookshelves from Viva Model Management, ca. 1999, or thereabouts. It, in my opinion, has certainly lasted the test of time, and in the day, ahead of its time. On the cusp of the internet, and accompanying headaches associated with image use and fees (!!!), these promotional books and printed materials were the lifeblood of agency promotion. Of course now the show packages are key and roll out in all media forms it seems endlessly through the year! New York, Paris, Milano, London, Tokyo, and on! Interesting to see where it all started in this printed example… A few stunning images from this book included above and below. The book itself was hard back bound, and of fine, thin simple newsprint. One can see at times through the paper to the image on the next page. Brilliant. I do not think that Viva visited the Elite offices in Chicago—or maybe they did—or I was with a Viva scout on the road for some event… In my era in the industry, placement of girls in Paris would have gone through Elite New York. We were starting to produce in Chicago though, and any scout would want to keep a “toe in the water”. A cast off girl declined by New York, may have been a diamond too rough for one, but to another, otherwise! (We were famous in Chicago though for incubating girls even if we felt a mistake was being made, or it was too soon… Network champion I was!)
Beautiful reminder from the past as I move forward in 2018… ViVA ! Image !
photographers: Bruno Barbazan and Damon Fourie