May you like it or not, nudity is a part of fashion as much as clothes can be. The fact that fashion is closely related to seduction and outfits are made to hide the naked human body explains why skin and flesh appear so often in editorials from the most tasteful to the most questionable, from innocent to provocative. While opinions on nudity in general vary due to the nature of the photographs themselves, worrying consequences aren't automatically resulting from the most tasteless images.
Moa Åberg's latest body of work (to say the least), shot by Camilla Åkrans and published in 25 Magazine, is probably one of the most beautifully executed story including nudity of the year yet the existence of such an editorial in a respectable magazine causes more trouble than the kinkiest fantasies of a Terry Richardson. Nothing gross and openly creepy or distateful in this quiet atmosphere, these softened black and white pictures, except that Moa is notoriously underage. Even when you keep in mind how young she is, nothing seems obviously wrong with the visual themselves. Not even a single trace of voyeurism, no suggestive understatement can betray the beauty their aesthetics. So, what remains remotely disturbing when your eyes get caught for more than a few seconds on this series involving a young woman shot by a woman, a horse and a grey background? Several painters that made History used underage models and no one would dare to consider their masterpieces as perverse materials. Why then should artistic fashion images be considered with a different eye?
Actually, the visuals themselves aren't "guilty". As you may remember, even if this trend has slowed down significantly these last few years, new faces are often teenagers, some often start even before the age of 15 or 16. If some of them stepped into modeling by pure chance, a big part of these rookies have big dreams, big expectations (and, sometimes, big disappointments later). Among the second category, several aspiring models are ready to do anything they can to help they career start and would almost sell their soul to anyone they may consider as useful to move away from their anonymous teenage life. This is how you get to see young ladies trapped in creepy situations or involved in dodgy shootings, and here comes the main concern about these artistic photographs from 25 Magazine. What message the aspiring model might understand seeing this editorial? Probably that it is perfectly alright to bare it all (or almost) in front a fashion photographer. What stays safe, or should remain safe, at a high level can be totally different for the unknown girl in her small-town world. And no one wants to think of a dirty reality behind beautiful pictures...
CREDITS: 25 Magazine / Ph: Camilla Åkrans
