ANTM Obsessed! The Cycles of High Fashion: 14, 15, 16

Hello, hello Areteens!

Cycle 15 winner the Fabulous & Undeniable Ann Ward!

Okay, I must admit, despite rarely watching reality television, but I have been on a Major America's Next Top Model binge this past week!
As such, it had been a while since the epic heyday of Cycles 6-8 (Danielle Evans, CariDee English, & Jaslene Gonzalez). Cycle 10 (with winner Whitney Thompson) was the last cycle I had seen since returning with Cycle 16. But honey.... it was well worth the wait! Time & humor allowed for my return to the series.

First, it had been a long time since keeping up with Ms. Tyra Banks and the Top Models-to-be, so there was a heightened level of curiosity as to how they managed to continue cranking out cycles and just how memorable those cycles would be. Secondly, I had seen a news posting about Ms. Banks season premiere for the brand new, uber high fashion Cycle 16. After watching the first few minutes of the season I knew I was hooked! The show hadn't seemed this fresh and fun to me since it's aforementioned heyday. Also, it showed that Ms. Banks could still deliver. For real! Absolute hilarity ensued over her embodiment of a few of the shows model casting archetypes and brought me back to why I loved her and the show in the first place. Plus, it was just the right amount of post-modern, self-knowing, meta-ness that encapsulates the current times.

Now keeping up with Cycle 16, I became interested in the previous two seasons by way of their respective winners. I saw Ann Ward's Covergirl picture over and over in this latest season and was so mesmerized that I decided to go back a season and see what the fuss could be... Honey! Ann Ward just may be my favorite model/winner/contestant of the series so far-and that means a lot. Her photos are breathtaking and I watched the episodes of her coming out on top again and again and again. Naturally, I couldn't stop there, not after seeing Krista White appear at the end of Cycle 15-absolutely stunning!
Having watched Cycles 14-16, I not promising to go back and catch up on Cycles 11-13, but here's what I think of where ANTM is now:

One of my favorites of Ann! Her 3rd consecutive #1 on the show. Photo credit: Matthew Ralston.

Making the definite choice of high fashion as the benchmark for the model's performance has given the show a whole new focus. Before, there was a bit more sense of 'luck of the draw' to the winners. Sometimes it was personality that tipped the scales, other times it was bone structure and high fashion potential, and still other times it came down to the truth of who hadn't won in the show yet (full-figured, African-American, Latina, petite, etc.).
This is not completely the case as strong photos and runway walk do too matter, but with high fashion as the new and definite benchmark via spreads in Vogue Italia, everything becomes framed in that context. The models photos, walk, personality, commercialism and professionalism (standards looked at in this past) now must carry the weight of high fashion potential... and it's fabulous!

Congrats to the entire show staff, seen and unseen, for making these past three cycles oh so haute!
Commendations to the models for working their hardest under such pressure!
A special shout-out and gratitude to Andre Leon Talley, Franca Sozzani and the uber-talented guests from the fashion industry for agreeing to be part of a reality television show that is really trying to offer much more than mindless fodder for the primetime evening. Here's to enjoying the rest of Cycle 16 and hopefully future cycles as well!

No dreck dahhling, just Vogue! "Live Excellently" -J:)