James Broadhurst images of Lola Van Vorst above doesn’t conjure up any of the references that inspired him in my mind. I even turned in to the music.

“In my mind I was striving for a balance between Marylin Monroe and Bettie Page,” says James of his shoot with the model. To that end, stylist Rhiannon Bulley dressed Van Vorst in outfits that nod to Page’s fierce fetishism, while her poses and expressions vary from sultry to soft. Broadhurst’s soundtrack to this shoot was the electro-rollarcoaster of Goldfrapp’s ‘Black Cherry’, an album that itself mirrors the changes in character from Page to Monroe: whip-cracking beats and grinding electric bass on one track replaced by breathy vocals and dreamy soundscapes on the next.

For me the images are beautiful in their perfect, stylistic superficiality, especially the image above with the cigar. I love these James Broadhurst images as a superb visual commentary on how we portray vulnerability and femaleness in 2011, culturally and in the photoshop era.  I don’t see Monroe’s vulnerability or personality in the least — and she hangs in my bedroom in more than one version.

But that cigar photo — love it to death. It’s a really hot, strong, commanding Lola Van Vorst presence — not a vulnerable woman — wanting to express herself. But it’s not her script, which is why Lola ends up acting the vulnerabiilty part unbelievably. More than looking down is required — and she knows it. Anne

James Broadhurst website