It’s an intriguing feat of styling that manages to hybridize grandma stereotypes with sex kitten ones. This assimilation of styles, this cross-breed that mixes purple hair rinse and Dame Edna cateye glasses with subtly revealing semi sheer blouses and lithe long legs wrapped in suspenders stockings, is a sort of case-in-point for the fact that the what is never quite so important as the how.
The right stylist (would Pia Johansson please stand up) can take any random assortment of things and gel them together in a surprising and visually appealing way. The right model (in this case Maxime Van Der Heijden) can pull anything off with confidence and grace. It’s how you style it; it’s how you wear it.
And of course, how you present it. Photographer Fulvio Maiani turns what are essentially mundane, everyday settings into the fitting backdrops of shoot that feels like it’s about a woman wanting to break free. She’s got an untamed core beneath a bookish exterior and – while she wears both equally well – the former looks set to overcome the latter, in the best possible way.
With brilliant hairstyling by Kilian Marin and makeup by Chiara Guizzetti, Maiani’s shoot for Bambi Magazine’s 13th issue can be viewed in full at the gallery. Head to bambimagazine.com to check out more of the issue.
