#cycle18week8

[antmrankingskd]

1. Annaliese

Annaliese was perfection this week! I’m still mad that she was in the bottom 3 for this photo, and she was even frustrated by how she got great feedback on set but a lukewarm response at panel (she talks about it in her video recaps on youtube which I HIGHLY recommend watching!) The pose is crazy amazing, it’s super controlled yet effortless/magical. It looks like she’s being abducted by Hello Kitty obsessed aliens. Her face is so ethereal and dreamy and youthful. I adore the position of her arms, the way she’s grabbing the hat, and the energy in her tiptoe stance. She’s doing an excellent job of selling the outfit and her body looks dynamite in the process. I wasn’t mad at Alisha for receiving the FCO this week, but I thought Annaliese was slightly more deserving. It’s her best shot yet and one of my personal favorites of the competition.

Side note: This is secretly one of my favorite shoots of the cycle (well not so secret anymore). The outfits were actually super amazing and I could see this concept  running as a spread in a Japanese high fashion magazine. I have a soft spot for Avant Garde style-photoshoots, I just wish the Cycle 18 girls executed a bit better as a group.

Another side note: here’s a link to Annaliese’s recap of episode 8 and rest of her videos can be found easily from there. As I said earlier, I highly recommend watching them because she’s hilarious and gives a lot of behind the scenes info on the cycle! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaZcfqEvXig&t=744s

[antmrankingskd]

2. Alisha

This is definitely Alisha’s best photograph to date (not exactly a high bar to clear) and it was about dang time she delivered something at this level. It’s very Grace Jones-esque. The pose is so commanding and her legs are pure insanity. She’s working her outfit and her prop perfectly as well. Her head is tilted a bit too far back and I can see what she’s thinking, but I like the snarl and how she’s giving dominance with a dash of sultriness with her eyes. I’ve never seen her emote this well in her photos. Alisha looks like a family-friendly dominatrix and I’m living for it, I just liked one other shot a bit more.

[antmrankingskd]

3. Sophie

Sophie was all over my call-out while finalizing this week’s ranking (as low as 6th and as high as 2nd). Ultimately I think I really like this? It’s very strange but for some reason it fits the concept well and she’s owning the outfit. The quirky robotic body language is kinda cool and I’m getting 2004-era Gwen Stefani back-up dancer energy from this. Where I’m conflicted is Sophie’s face. Her bone structure looks great and I like the determined eyes, but I don’t love the slight bucktoothed mouth; I also think a softer/dreamier expression would’ve suited the shot better. Sophie produced a strong shot but it could’ve been stellar with a few tweaks.

[antmrankingskd]

4. Laura

Laura was saddled with a super difficult outfit and still did a solid job, so props for that. The bent pose works so much better than last week but I’m still not convinced that it was the best choice for this styling. I do love the position of her arms and how she’s offsetting her legs slightly. However, there’s too much tension in her neck, and her face (while stunning as usual) isn’t connecting as strongly as I’d like and she looks slightly lost. Overall it’s a good, but flawed shot of Laura and I think she needed to start stepping up her game since she’s been middling for the past few weeks.

[antmrankingskd]

5. Catherine

I’m confused by Catherine this week. She seemed to be excelling on set but  had a mediocre picture picked out for panel, yet still ended up being called 3rd anyway. It’s hard to tell if she was being thrown under the bus yet haha. Anyway, this is fine. She’s bringing some edge with her facial expression and her cheekbones are crazy amazing. The jump is okay and it works well for the outfit, but it kind of just looks like she jumped and smacked into a super clear window. I think if Catherine had loosened up about 25% she would’ve deserved her top 3 placement by the panel.

[antmrankingskd]

6. Seymone

Seymone’s pose is super amateurish, and while the clothes are being displayed well she’s doing it in such an obvious way. Her body seems too stiff and off-balance and she’s not working her figure to its full potential. I will say that her face is quite gorgeous here and her closeup is easily top 2 or 3 for the week. Unfortunately that’s not enough to save the photo as a whole. Even though Seymone’s shot is better than Eboni’s I think the main reason she was sent home is that she just seemed to give up at this point. She sucked in the Dorchester challenge and gave minimal effort on set during the shoot. Even if Seymone had been given a chance I think she would’ve been out in the next week or two anyway.

[antmrankingskd]

7. Eboni

Goodness gracious me, this is one heck of a photo and I don’t mean that in a good way. Eboni looks straight up upset and confused which is making me upset and confused. Everything about this shot screams “I am second guessing myself!” from the dead eyes to the awkward hand placement. The outfit is eating her alive even though it’s one of the simpler ensembles of the week. I’m a bit surprised that Eboni was kept around after this, but it was a pretty close call between her and Seymone; either elimination would’ve been fully justified since they were both at the bottom of the barrel.

[topmodelranking]

#1 – Annaliese

Another week where Annaliese just nailed it. This came completely out of left field for me, in that it is so incredibly fashionable. Annaliese killed it. The pose is delightful, ethereal and divine. The slight inhale just sets the whole shot off perfectly. Her body looks insane in that dress, especially the arch in her back. From head to toe Annaliese slayed the entire shot. There is not a single thing I would change.