Is imitation really the sincerest form of flattery?

Sometimes you shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Finally, a new model graces the cover of W magazine, and not just any model but the bombshell Lara Stone. Not many models will ever get this honour - models such as Jessica Stam, Natasha Poly & Raquel Zimmermann have never even had this. So to see Lara Stone as the model that W magazine want to push to an American market is quite frankly groundbreaking.



So when I saw the cover I couldn't help be disappointed. Yes, it's aesthetically beautiful to look at - the soft focus and the coy look from Lara but it's just too Bridget Bardot inspired. This, at the beginning of Lara's career (2005) was a real selling point - a model who resembles Bardot in her prime! So a slew of Bardot editorials followed all backcombed hair, smokey eyes and gap toothed grin. However, people started realising that Lara was more than this; a Givenchy campaign followed, regular spots in Vogue Paris and then came the inevitable Vogue Italia covers. This year Lara has shot to stratospheric new heights - making her Vogue US debut by appearing on the cover, and followed that up with a frankly adorable editorial with Morgan Freeman for Vogue US.

So to see her just all dolled up as Bardot is disappointing to say the least. The reason Gisele, Kate, Daria, Natalia and even Gemma broke new ground when it came to modelling as that they were allowed to be themselves, the magazine's they were appearing in didn't try to mould them - as they face, modelling ability and talent was more than enough. I think the same is true for Lara, with her less than conventional runway walk and by her own admittance her dislike for even doing runway, surely that's enough to separate her from the slew of supermodels that have gone before her?

all images from thefashionspot.com