When she first started appearing in magazines, I really loved Lily Cole. That round face, perfect skin and long red hair. There I go with the red hair obsession again, but she ticked all the boxes of what I personally think is gorgeous.
But soon, I was really bored of her. It just felt like she was always one of a couple of boring characters, with massively limited variety. There's the Tim Walker/British Vogue version of Lily Cole, with an ethereal grace and a vacant face (see below.) Beautiful, but over-played.
And then there's the Marks and Spencers Lily Cole. Happy! Wholesome! Boring! Don't get me wrong - I firmly believe that M&S made one of the greatest decisions ever in high street advertising when they signed up their current models, but it's not exactly thrilling.
And don't get me started on the Cambridge undergraduate version of Lily Cole. I'm sure her brain is brilliant, but gosh, am I sick of hearing about it.
She's beautiful, sure. And very clever, apparently. But sexy? That seemed impossible. But back in January, this photo shoot posted on Fashionista gave me hope that maybe there's another, slightly less boring Lily Cole in there somewhere.
There's something darkly naughty about this whole shoot that I thoroughly enjoyed and that re-triggered an interest in Lily once more.I guess it's the alluring draw of the messed up bad girl that she is portraying here - something I never imagined her being able to quite pull off.
But I'm happy to eat my words if I'm proven wrong and now I might just be. It's just been announced that Lily Cole will be on the cover of Playboy France and I'm thinking that maybe that exhibitionist streak runs a little deeper in her than I previously thought. The French version of Playboy is a more subtle version of sexy than the American Playboy - we're talking Lou Dillion as a sex symbol rather than Anna Faris (not safe for work links there, guys and girls) - so it's not a weird a leap as you might think. The shoot itself is a 14 page spreed is inspired by the cover of late French musician Serge Gainsbourg's 1971 album "Histoire de Melody Nelson", which sounds rather adorable.
But I immediately thought: what will Marks and Spencers think? After all, Lily was chosen for one of the most successful campaigns in British high street history for her English rose looks and wholesome nature. But according to Sky News a spokesman for the company has defended her decision to take it all off for Playboy.
"Lily Cole is a popular, high-profile model who is very much in demand," he said. "This is one of the key reasons we have chosen to work with her. It's entirely her own choice as to what other work she accepts and we would not wish to interfere with her career."
And the cover itself?
So far, so sexy. Maybe I was wrong, after all.
Let me know in the comments: which version of Lily is your favourite?
i love your banner!
Posted by: colin | 03 October 2008 at 23:15
Thanks Colin!
Posted by: Amy | 09 October 2008 at 21:45
All versions of Lily are my favourite. Oh my gosh. Absolute perfection.
I so want this magazine.
_
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