Kate Upton appears in the February issue of V magazine (the issue with the icky Lena Dunham money shot and greasy Kristen Stewart on the cover), and naturally, Kate’s rack takes center stage in this spread. In these photos, she’s playing the role of a dissatisfied housewife in the 1960s who’s cheating on her hubby with a very emaciated-looking young man during a passionless hotel tryst. While I have enjoyed many of Kate’s recent photo spreads and have been thrilled to see a busty, fun blonde taking the fashion world by storm, this shoot really falls flat for me.
According to photographer Sebastian Faena, “Kate was an actress during this shoot. A good one, very sensitive, and played the part of a confused, kept housewife with irony. She has star quality. She is like nobody else today.” I would agree that Kate definitely has a certain je ne sais quoi quality about her that has caused the fashion world (even Anna Wintour gave her a Vogue spread) to take great notice of her beyond the scope of a swimsuit model. Still, this shoot seems passionless and apathetic and not in an intentional way. Honestly, all I see are boobs, and Kate can do better than that.
Photos courtesy of V Magazine
Can she do better than that?
This has always been my feeling on Kate, take her out of the sun-drenched California girl bikini pictorial and she flops hard.
It’s all about the tits with her, every shoot, every theme. In this spread the idea only comes through in a few pics, the rest could just be edgy VS catalogue shots.
This isn’t a snap on a bustier woman modeling, this is a snap on a busty model who’s not good with other work.
Agree 100%.
Look how vacant she always looks in every single picture. She just has one facial expression; it says: “Dumb; funny though!”. She does not change said expression EVER and she is not high fashion material. Sorry.
Her only vibe is trashy – and it has nothing to do with her weight, height, boobage, feet-size or any other body attribute.
This! so much. Agree with you both completely.
i don’t mind her boobs..what bugs me is the fact that her facial expressions ( or expression since she only has one) are so bland , i mean she doesn’t show any emotions or vivacity.
So, so true! Ugh, this girl bugs the HELL out of me. All her shots are just boobs and her looking like a deer caught in the headlights. She is not a high fashion model and clearly has no talent for modelling AT ALL, and I’m so sick of these magazines trying to shove her down our throats.
Go away already, talentless boob lady!
Honestly, all I see are boobs, and Kate can do better than that.
—–> True. Her boobs were the main star here. 😀
Agreed. I hate it when people in the industry kiss famous people’s asses for no reason. “Kate was an actress during this shoot. A good one, very sensitive, and played the part of a confused, kept housewife with irony. She has star quality. She is like nobody else today.” Seriously, dude. She’s being photographed in her bra, not finding a cure for cancer.
+1.
I think Sebastian was just boob-matized into thinking she made more than two facial expressions.
Is anyone else thoroughly unimpressed with Kate’s rack? I just don’t see what’s worthy of the hype, but I’m an A/B gal myself so I’m used to looking at itty bittys every morning 🙂
Ah, the money I save on over-the-shoulder-boulder-holders.
Re: Amelia
I am also unimpressed with her rack (and I consider myself somewhat a connoisseur of boobs, after working as an exotic dancer for 8 years lol). I think people are so enamored with them because they are real (u can tell by the shape n way they sag), and its rare to find naturally large boobs of that size and proportion on someone who is not overweight/obese. Unfortunately boobs of that nature usually sag early
I am just thoroughly unimpressed with her in general as a “fashion model”. She is very pretty and has a decent body shape, but it looks like she doesn’t work out at all. Not saying she needs to lose weight or become skinny, but she could show some dedication to her profession and tone up. I guess it just bothers me, she is getting paid tons of money and fame, yet she can’t even be bothered to do some Pilates or something. Wtf
In the strip club I have worked with much prettier girls with 10x better bodies, who work out daily and would kill for a chance at her modeling opportunities. At least they actually cared about their jobs.
I getting a CARRY ON film vibe with Kate as the Barbara Windsor roles and the model as Ken Williams role.
Oh my God, you win the internet today LAK, I’ve got toast crumbs all over my laptop!
Now all we need is Hattie Jacques and Sid James . . .
Yeah. That boy is too skinny… She’s def a sexy gal, but he ruins the whole concept (for me).
My sentiments as well…they should have used a more “bulky” male model
Me too! The male model ruins the entire shot or “mood” in these photos. She needs someone with more meat on their bones. A model with more muscle and a “dangerous” air about him might have made this work.
Right, the guy doesn’t fit in the scene. It looks like the old housewife is sleeping with one of the neighborhood boys or the school teacher is hooking up with one of her students.YIKES
Kate will never be a real model. Yes, her body is amazing but her face is just plane and boring. The fashion industry wants interesting faces like Natasha Poly, not mall girls.
Lol. Pray tell what is your definition of a “real model”?
I hate to break it to you, but anyone who is paid to do an advertising campaign or editorial shoot and represented by a legit agency is a “real model”. That includes septuagenerians doing vitamin and Depends spots, plus sized women representing Addition Elle, and children doing reebok ads. Your comment reeks of ridiculous, pointless elitism and snobbery.
Thank you for the Natasha Poly reference. She is a major force to be reckoned with in modeling. Kate Upton ain’t got it.
If she wants to be a high fashion model, she needs to lose the dry bleached hair.. opt for a dark brown and she could be stunning…
You think maybe they are trying to turn her into the new Anna Nicole? She reminds me of Anna, but not as pretty. Sorry, say what you will about Anna Nicole Smith, but she was stunning
Every fashion shoot I see of her it’s as if she is on purpose trying to look like Anna Nicole who, before all the surgery, was an amazing looking woman!!
Her face already looks enough like her to always be compared, so don’t make it so easy!
But aside from that, her hair just looks unhealthy and overly fried. Either take better care of it and maybe choose a nicer shade of blonde or change it to brown!
I don’t know, I can def see the story and I think she is showing some good emotion in some of these shots. Yeah, a lot of them have her boobs hanging out, but if you actually pay attention to her face that’s where the interesting stuff is going on. Plus, how is it her fault if the stylist/fashion director/whatever consistently shoves her into low cut shirts?
Agreed. Nor is it her fault for the angle in which the photographer takes the photo. I actually like these.
Exactly! She’s a model and her job is to be the photographer’s subject and muse. She doesn’t get to call the “shots”. She looks great, but one thing bothers me…
The “boy” looks WAY YOUNG. How would we react if the genders were reversed and the “boy” was a WAY YOUNG “girl” hanging on to a model in their mid-twenties?
She looks like a 1960s teacher with her high school lover!
She kind of looks like a white Kenya Moore.
Girl, put those boobies away because that’s all I’m seeing. I’m so blah about Kate in general, that this photoshoot was nothing special. I think she’s had a few great photos, but nothing spectacular. She’s always going to be a budget Anna/Marilyn for me. =/
Honestly, I don’t understand why Kate provokes such rage among aspiring models in the fashion industry, who insist she’s not what the industry “wants”, and who beg the industry to stop “trying to make Kate happen”. She’s landing Vogue Italia covers and doing editorials with Steven Meisel. Given that the modelling world is so, so saturated, she’s pretty much “happening” and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.
I don’t think anything much of her asides from her being a bit bigger than the odd clothes hanger, but I’m not going to pretend she’s some one-off Sports Illustrated pin-up nobody. Do the people who tell themselves that Kate isn’t a real model also pretend that Kim Kardashian isn’t famous?
She has a tendency to make everything look just a little bit cheaper, but I like her for some reason. She looks like a sexy fun girl that would be having the most fun at a club.
After thoroughly watching her pictures the last hour or so, she’s an over-hyped [model] product. I’m pretty open-minded and tried to come with little a priori as possible though I initially refused to pay attention to her hype until […] but in the ‘I’m curvy ((H)F) model’ department, Lara Stone for example outshines her by an intergalactic distance.
Lara Stone FTW
The subject was Mrs Robinson?
Btw she is too young, and all I can see is BOOBS.
She’s mediocre at best, here, and in other shoots as well. Take her out of her bikini and she immediately loses her appeal. The too dry overly bleached hair with dark roots and too dark eyebrows doesn’t fit ‘high fashion’ or random ‘method’ shoots like this one. She’s a cute girl with a great body and what seems like a fun personality but she’s too sexy and not enough talent.
Bikinis are your friend Kate – stay in them.
Why the heck do they have her posing with this twink?! It makes her look like a giant and a pedophile.
Complete fail as a photo shoot.
The absurd level of emptiness and vapidness on her face is making me cringe. It’s so bad that I’m not even paying attention to her boobs, which is her bread and butter.
Can’t they get a boy-model who looks older than 15? I suppose they are trying to make her look older and “womanly” by comparison, but it doesn’t work.
She looks hot, but what’s with that guy? She probably outweighs him…
In the 3rd pic the kid is playing with himself in the mirror and who wears Ked’s sneakers to bed when you’re about to boink the neighbor lady who looks like she wants more lesbian fun than dong.
Boob-a-lishess.
Chunky.
”have been thrilled to see a busty, fun blonde taking the fashion world by storm”
Aside from the fact that I don’t think she IS taking the fashion world by storm, my question is: Why? A big-titted, doe-eyed 22 year old blonde in retro gear is about as banal and cliched as they come. Her version of female beauty is every bit as elitist and stereotypical as that of stick thin models with cut-glass cheekbones – it’s just that Kate more easily fits into stereotypical male fantasies. I see nothing to celebrate here.
YES, beautifully worded statement. This is exactly how I feel about Kate. People want to celebrate her for being “different”… since when is tall big boobs and blonde hair different from the ideal? So she’s a little larger than other models, big whoop. She still is nothing to celebrate.
I remember on one of these discussions while back, someone said that high fashion is one area where the aesthetic is decided by women and (mostly) gay men. In other words, it’s largely free from the ‘male gaze’. Most men don’t ‘get’ high fashion, and many high fashion models aren’t particularly appealing to them. The way things are going now, however, ‘Vogue’ is becoming increasingly indistinguishable from FHM. I for one don’t consider that anything to celebrate. Does the female ideal ALWAYS have to be about tits and arse?
I love her hair in the photo in which she is sitting in front of the vanity. I don’t like the photo, though.
I agree, the male model here is poorly cast. He is distracting.
I do, however, like the last photo of her very much.
No not fashion.
Man, you look at girls right now… so different from the like, bone-thin standard that was huge around the time that Paris Hilton was really popular. I say great. Puts a lot less pressure on the rest of us. (And no, this is not meant to be a back-handed insult, sorry if it comes off that way.)
Budget. Dead eyes. Saggy boobs. Dead eyes. 14 year old boy. Dirty motel room. Hideous underwear. The boy wearing that jacket?
Was she supposed to look seductive because it’s not working.
Back to Cosmopolitan you go!
I’m not getting ’60s housewife from this at all.
Claudia Schiffer and Joseph Gordon-Levitt did it before and way hotter with Ellen Von Unwerth: http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/21763744.html
Oh my! That pic with the red tie…
I like it!!!
I am into her looks.
Are these old photos or just a repeat of the theme? I know I’ve seen these ’60’s photos before. Kate doesn’t do these type of shoots well.
I don’t find the boobs distracting … it’s the same dead look in her eyes in every picture. Sorry, she’s amazingly beautiful, love her body, but she doesn’t emote anything in pictures.