#simone murphy

[topmodelcentral]

Simone Murphy 

~ Britain (11) ~

[cinematapestry]

‘Love It If We Made It’ by The 1975 dir. Adam Powell

[topmodelranking]

#4 – Simone Murphy

It pains me to put Simone 4th, but after a lot of consideration I think this cycle had the right top 3. No one really had a flawless portfolio this cycle, and arguably Simone came the closest. Sadly though, her weakest moments were right at the end. While the others blossomed, she shrunk slightly. Still, even with that I would more or less put her on par with the other 3 portfolio wise, but on the runway she is the clear odd woman out. Her walk wasn’t awful, but the others just all felt like professionals. Simone’s felt a bit stiff to me, even if it was probably still in the top half of walks this cycle. So while those are the reasons she misses out on a top 3 finish, Simone still was leagues ahead of those below her. She remained in my top 2 for the first 5 weeks; she got 4 first call-outs; she got the highest average. As I said the last few shots were subpar, but they still weren’t bad. Simone is a gorgeous girl, who made a questionable makeover look great, and proved her versatility and photogenetic nature time after time. Her personality was absolutely delightful too; oozing charisma, and every client again seemed to recognise the dedication she showed. By the final 5 she had earned her spot in the top 4, and it still seems ridiculous that she was cut there.

I have pretty much only positives to say about her portfolio; out of the 9 weeks, she killed a third of the shoots, and was only average in the other 3; none elimination worthy. Her weakest was the one she was eliminated for, but her performance on set still wasn’t awful. It may be cheesy, but Simone still looks gorgeous, and I think it would work for some uber commercial clients. On the positive end she had so many great results. Deciding the best came down to personal preference, and she just owned the club shoot like no one else did. Even then, her swimwear shots and pastel were great too; cementing her early was one of the girls to beat. She even managed to excel in the underwater shoot, one that is notoriously difficult. Simone was versatile and adaptable, and her portfolio backs that up.

Simone may not have made the top 3, but she proved she was an exceptional model this cycle. I don’t think she should have gone any further than 4th though. The top 3 just showed strengths that Simone didn’t quite reach, and I think perhaps the lack of one area of clear domination was Simone’s undoing. Alannah was the queen on the runway this cycle; Olivia’s face was built for high fashion; and Jennifer just had that commercial charm needed to dominate. Simone was good, just not good enough to defeat those three.

[deanteat]

Simone Murphy

[topmodelcentral]

Simone Murphy 

~ Britain (11) ~

[antmrankingskd]

5. Simone & Bianca’s Night Club Shot

I just love the cohesiveness of this shot, everything about the clothing, the makeup, and the girls’ poses meshes together so well. Simone’s head tilt and laid back badassery plays brilliantly off of Bianca’s up and down posture and fierce stare, and both contestants are serving bone structure for days. This was such a strong partnership and the resulting shot is amazing!

[antmrankingskd]

Simone

Place: 5th

My call-out average: 2.67

Panel call-out average: 3.86

Favorite Photo: Night Club Shot

Least Favorite Photo: Distorted Dreams Collection Shot

Cycle 11 had a crystal clear Top 4 and it sucked to see Simone lose out on her deserved spot in the top tier. The girl had an incredible face; her bone structure was to die for and she showed a ton of versatility in the photoshoots, proving herself to be quite the chameleon. She ended up having my best call-out average of the season, mostly because she was so consistently strong in the first half of her run. I ranked her in the top 2 of my call-outs five out nine times, four of those being the first four weeks of the season. While her two FCOs came in the least successful photoshoots (Garnier and Underwater), she legitimately impressed me in those weeks when a majority of the others failed.  She rarely disappointed either, only her Distorted Dreams and Natural Beauty shots were somewhat lackluster. I also thought she was good on the runway (though admittedly a step behind the top 3 girls). However, as strong as Simone was I can see why the judges eliminated her when they did. She set the bar high for herself at the start and her performances did start to trend downward after the Night Club photoshoot. All of her weakest shots came toward the end of her run, right when Jennifer and Alannah were dominating the late game. Simone may have declined at a critical time, but I think she deserved to go farther. If she had bounced back in the last two weeks she even could’ve been a worthy winner.

[antmrankingskd]

3. Simone

Simone’s photo looks like a still from a face wash commercial, but in a forced and corny way. The hands are just too much, her eyes are tired and unfocused, and her smile seems somewhat fake. The good thing is that she still looks absolutely stunning, but it’s not quite enough to fully save the shot (though she had other pictures that seemed better from what I saw on the monitor). I know that Simone had been slipping in recent weeks, but I fully disagreed with her elimination (especially over Tallulah). She definitely deserved at least one more chance.