You know, “Don’t judge a book by its cover” in its more or less literal acceptations is always a good modus operandi, but sometimes the (more or less metaphorical) book reflects quite well its cover; its wonderful and fantastic cover.

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And it’s not only about the cover in fact, of the magazine specifically, but the way a book, editorial in this case, opens as well:

thespellboundmag.com

A flawless, intense and suggestive shot, and just like for a book both the title and the incipit have a strong meaning and powerfully mark its identity, in this case too to see “Laragh McCann” right on the first page of the editorial has been… it made me glad, that kind of delicate gladness hard to explain and simply wonderful to feel.

Btw here what follows:

(ok the legs, and “ok” here specifically means “wow”, but if the white blouse has been a recurring presence in the first shots, the one with the white silk top in all its disarming grace is simply marvelous, one of my favorite in fact – a good opportunity to underline a successful styling…)

thespellboundmag.com

(I liked how makeup highlighted Laragh’s lips and adapted to her not exactly chiseled cheekbones, that btw I like a lot, they make of her face such a unique canvas – her eyes, her small mouth, her nose, her face represents an incredibly interesting mix, with minimal features but nevertheless a very strong and unique identity)

First of all, the whole editorial is a marvelous display of delicately whispered yet very captivating and irresistible seduction, that I simply loved; then, what I love about Laragh is… well, you may adore her (the way I do), you may not, but as it happens with other models too some things are simply undeniable and objective, and so some strong and unique Laragh’s trademarks are.

It’s about her beauty, so concrete and particular things that make her face easily recognizable and unique, and… something way more subtle, wonderfully pulsing under the surface – from this point of view I don’t think it would be that wrong to compare her to models like Daphne Groeneveld, or Irina Kulikova, or Irina Nikolaeva, obviously I don’t talk about a real resemblance and obviously as well I won’t write a thorough analysis of these three models, but just like them the uniqueness isn’t only about a unique face but both evident and subtle conflicting suggestions too, see something like Daphne @ Vogue Russia April 2012, Irina Kulikova @ Velvet February 2012 or Irina Nikolaeva @ Gioia April 2012 as recent examples to have a merely indicative idea of what I mean (btw also for Daphne the thing powerfully comes out in “neat” conditions and minimal contexts as well, talking about the Dutch model specifically those cases personally become… fragments of heaven?, something like that I guess, on the runway too…).

Btw since we had the chance to see her name in the opening page of the editorial, let’s say the complete name of the Irish model is Laragh Aoife Danielle McCann, and Aoife, a name I love (even if I’ve had the chance to know just a couple of girls with such a name) and which may instantly make you think (maybe especially if you’re from the land of leprechauns, or of a thousand welcomes if you prefer…) of a Celtic legend, “The Children of Lir”. I find it a good and interesting suggestion talking about Laragh, even if not exactly considering the jealous mean nasty Aoife, but the fascinating figure swans represent. Just like in the “Swan Lake” those birds with their grandeur, magnificence and majesty both represent beauty in its most glorious, crystal clear and elegant form, and… well, if the stories are about dramatic curses, their implicit and symptomatic meanings tell us something about swans and how they’re seen and what kind of feelings they suggest. So yes, there’s their beauty, whatever I wrote about their elegance, but what makes swans unique is how cryptic and enigmatic they are, or better they are considered and seen, and more specifically how perfect they seem to embody subtle tensions still representing a quite codified and certainly universal vision of crystal clear beauty. It’s something there’s no need to explain, you can’t completely do it in fact, but that’s it, and that elusive nature is part of the magic.

Ornithology, Irish legends and ballets aside (hehe *_*’), what I liked of these shots is that they highlight Laragh’s best qualities after all doing apparently nothing (or so), but nevertheless simply the best way possible. I mean, little digression, to think the best way to highlight a unique and astonishingly intense model like Emily Baker, or Hailey Clauson, is to add some other intensity may be a monumental (even if way common) mistake, adding intensity to a model who’s by herself pure intensity may represent a good opportunity, sometimes even successful, but a good number of times “Better not” is the best answer, and we had more than just few confirms. From that same point of view to propose Laragh’s unique beauty and fascinating femininity frantically trying to underline the amazing factor they are may ends up in similar unfulfilling and unsatisfactory ways: luckily that’s not what happened here.

No, the classy, refined and flawless makeup (see what I wrote above right under the shots), “casually tidy” (or better “tidily casual”) hairstyle and measured styling (the shoulder-necklace may probably seem the only exception, but in fact it isn’t) have been a whisper, and better than any scream it told us about Laragh, her unique beauty, femininity, the incredibly interesting mix her face represents, with minimal features but nevertheless a very strong and unique identity. Those objective things, and… like the multifaceted elegance and majesty of swans have taught us, there can be a whole world beneath a surface, powerfully suggestive whether it expresses itself with fierce intensity or delicate grace. Or a solid model capable of being at the same time unique and certainly reliable from a lot of points of view and in many different contexts (for the record I still remember with pleasure some shots @ Oyster, the Daily section, with a marked “lookbook dimension”), and always inscrutable, cryptic, marvelously enigmatic and simply inimitable.