Posing for Ethan James Green’s Bombshell

For one day, on an empty stormy beach, I became a bombshell.

Eugenia Melian courtesy of Ethan James Green. Bombshell

Ethan James Green’s new monograph Bombshell is out. Published by Baron Books, it is a beautiful and intimate visual essay on the power of beauty, sexiness and femininity, its effects on the subject as well as on the viewer and each person’s interpretation of being a bombshell. 
Bombshell explores subtle feelings. These feelings are complex and not easy to describe, for each Bombshell subject poses in their own world, a safe space they have welcomed Ethan into, and where, through his delicate pictures, entrust him with their personal vision of themselves, their phantasies.

When Ethan asked me if I wanted to be part of Bombshell, my question to him was: Am I the oldest woman to pose for the book? and then to myself, the inevitable doubts: Am I too old to be a bombshell? to feel like one? to try to look like one? at what age does one stop trying to be a bombshell? Have I ever played with the concept? …but in fact, what is a bombshell?
I have posed nude a few times, and knowing that most of the beautiful women in the book were in their twenties or early thirties, I was emboldened: Hey, I still love my body! I still want to show it off, I can still walk around half naked, I could go topless if I wanted...and so I did.

My idea was to pose as close to nature as I could, nature is where I feel my true self and the idea of shooting this in a studio intimidated me. Thinking of possible locations I thought of the massive boulders in Central Park, or the dense dark woods upstate New York, and if worse came to worse and the shoot was to take place in an urban environment I would look for a narrow street where I could stand barefoot against a crumbly cracked wall. The clothes were not important to me in the beginning, an old white T shirt could do the job…I did not want adornments, I did not want to look festooned because that is not where I feel at ease. I am at ease when I feel like a strong Invisible Woman.
In the end Ethan travelled to Barcelona for a job and I met him there. It was improvised and last minute but the perfect location because of its many beaches and hidden alleys. With the help of a taxi driver we found a secluded beach and pine grove outside the city in a natural reserve closed off to the public because of the storms. I brought along a dramatic vintage YSL blouse with big ruffles, some plain t-shirts and white shirts that I could get wet in, my favorite low-slung slouchy black pants that are graphic, some bold gold necklaces and in a huge suitcase that we hauled across the sand, my zebra and black fox coat made by Christian Dior Couture in 1968.
I asked my friend Chicho Gavela to help me style it and do my hair and make up. But in the end the strong breeze, the sand and the ocean spray took care of that too. Posing in the wind, with the waves crashing on me while Ethan gently guided me through, correcting the angle of my leg, the curl of a toe, the tension in my chin, the clench of my jaw, I knew I was in good hands. When I got stuck, I just looked at him, at how he posed. Ethan was a supermodel, he knows.

After the first ten minutes posing for Ethan on a rock, I was soaked by the crashing waves and my hair was a tangled mess. I changed into dry pants and slung around my neck a big necklace from the Scala opera house in Milan that I had bought at an antique shop decades ago. The necklace made me feel glamorous and a little less naked. The beach was deserted and the endless sandy stretch inviting, so I laid down on the damp sand, Ethan and a stray dog lying near me, his shutter going off.

We still had not used the zebra coat. For the last shot, Ethan and Chicho scouted the maritime pine forest with the trees rooted in the sand and they found the perfect setting for the exuberant coat. It was not an African savannah full of zebras but as close as we could get. For this shot I remained topless because the fur made me feel dressed enough. The coat is a bombshell in itself, it could make any woman feel like a goddess. Ethan found a clearing in the forest through which a lone ray of light shone. I was barefoot, wearing my old black jeans and it was peaceful, eerily quiet, as if time had stopped, the outside noise muffled by the blanket of dry pine needles and sand on the ground. After posing in the clearing we walked some more until Ethan found a tree that had been knocked down by the storm. He made me straddle the trunk and we got the last shot.

The Bombshell exhibition will be at Kapp Kapp Gallery, 86 Walker Street, New York, from September 6 to October 26, 2024.
Bombshell is published by Baron Books UK.

© Eugenia Melian August 2024. Photographs © Ethan James Green