MILANO, Italia (17 June 2011) — If I have learned anything, then it is that Sigrid Agren editorials rarely surface in isolation and more often do so in pairs. Such is the demand for the Carolina Herrera F/W 11 campaign model that this page is featuring her second editorial in as many days.  This morning the honor goes to Numéro 124 Juin-Juillet 2011 for its story by photographer Ben Hassett and his frequent partner in crime, fashion editor Capucine Safyurtlu. Readers and admirers alike will recall Hassett’s excellent Numéro 118 cover story with Sigrid that wasn’t so much a study in black & white portraiture as it was a masterclass. The English photographer continues in this rich vein of form with his latest lesson titled “Les roches noires” or “the black rocks” en français. If Sigrid’s Tom Munro “beach” story from Numéro 121 examined the egalitarian relationship between light and shadow, then Hassett’s is a postmortem about how shadow all but extinguished light. The minimum light, maximum shadow ratio is maintained throughout the pictorial so that form and a modicum of detail predominate every frame. This is perhaps best achieved below in the fifth shot, which pictures a supine Sigrid, arching her back wearing a Salvatore Ferragamo knit dress. The portrait’s shadowy pall renders the loops of thread and contours of fabric like chain mail over a slumbering knight. To be clear, though the shots are not unrecognizable silhouettes, but in fact eleven individual testaments to the indomitable beauty of Sigrid Agren.

Credits include: Numéro N°124 Juin-Juillet 2011; Title, “Les roches noires”; Photography, Ben Hassett; Fashion editor, Capucine Safyurtlu; Hair, Vinz for Leonor Greyl at B Agency; Makeup, Lloyd Simmonds for Yves Saint Lauren Beauté at Carole; Production, Florence Pidou; Fashion assistance, Margot Denarié; Retouching, Bpong; Merci à Myriam Obadia; Image source, Elite Milan Blog.