In order to consolidate our Eye Candy coverage, we’ve developed a new feature: Unwrapped! We’ll take all the new photoshoots from the week and grade (or “brand”) each based on the following criteria:
• Poses (are they versatile or just glorified statues?)
• Uniqueness (have we seen this photoshoot a billion times before?)
Grading scale: Sweet (Great)/Bland (Iffy)/Sour (Awful)
Eve Torres‘s Golden Grappler
Appearance: Eve’s wearing her signature ring gear in a stunning shade of gold. The black and gold look fantastic with her complexion. Her hair looks fabulous too. The ruching and frills on the top is a little out of place, though, but I guess you won’t be seeing it up close when she’s wrestling. I just overall like her style of ring gear–it certainly sets her apart. The shorts and boots kind of give me a Lara Croft vibe.
Poses: The poses don’t alternate too much, but she looks gorgeous–she certainly can do the “sexy facE” thing without it looking over-the-top. I really dig the crouching pose.
Uniqueness: It’s a ring gear photoshoot, and Eve’s ring gear is unique in itself, so this shoot’s got that going for it.
Grade: Sweet. I love ring gear shoots and Eve’s gear is pretty interesting, so it’s a winning combination.
• Click to see the rest of the photoshoot.
Layla‘s The Heat of the Moment
Appearance: Layla’s going for the “white hot” Miami Heat movement–it’s almost like she’s in the seats at the American Airline Arena during a big home game. The stark white shorts, sweatband, and Converse boots paired with the jersey would be a bit too much in a conventional outfit, but this is kind of a costume-y look, so I can accept it. The white look especially hot in this high-contrast lighting. It’s nice to see Layla’s got still got some team spirit in her.
Poses: White, white white.. Layla’s white clothes, posed against the white wall make for an interesting look. One wouldn’t think that you could do much posing in a corner, but Layla uses it well. She switches from smoldering and sexy to fun without missing a beat.
Uniqueness: Not many Divas (if at all) have danced for an NBA team, so Layla’s naturally got to show off her team spirit. This is one “sexy jersey” shoot that doesn’t come off as cheesy to me.
Grade: Sweet. This is more than just a “chick in a jersey” shoot–Layla puts her trademark spunky-ness into it to make it interesting.
• Click to see the rest of the photoshoot.
Mickie James‘s Unflappable
Appearance: Mickie’s looking all flapper in her sparkly dress, long pearl necklace, and glizty hair clip. It’s costume-y, yeah, and looked kind of silly when she wore it on SmackDown, but this benefits from being in a photoshoot. The costume vibe is much easier to swallow. She fills out the dress beautifully, and her hair is wonderfully retro in a way we don’t see Mickie very often.
Poses: There’s a few blank stares that derail it a bit, but Mickie manages to inject her fun personality into it regardless. I especially love the over-the-shoulder poses.
Uniqueness: Not many Divas go to he roaring 20s for style inspiration. I like that Mickie’s gone a little outside the lines for this look, even if it looked a bit silly on telvision.
Grade: Sweet. Now let’s just see if she can do the Charleston.
• Click to see the rest of the photoshoot.
Read more to see the rest of this week’s photoshoots and vote for your favorite.
Natalya‘s No Frills
Appearance: Huzzah! Natalya’s not wearing her ring gear!!! What she is wearing is pretty nice: a frilly purple top tucked into a black high-wasted skirt. I like to see Natalya branching off a bit, style-wise, but I’m not completely feeling it. I guess I just don’t expect to see the badass Natalya dressing like a receptionist.
Poses: She’s hanging around the front of the arena, taking advantage of the bright lighting and giant windows to provide some nice scenery. The poses are nice and subdued.. but dare I say they’re a tad bit generic too? I don’t know, don’t get me wrong, Natalya has every right to pose like the rest of the Divas, but when we’ve become accustomed to her sort of “out of the box” style in photoshoots, this shoot seems like she’s holding back on us.
Uniqueness: It’s certainly a unique Natalya look–no hot pink, unless you count her hair–so we’re headed in a decidedly different direction with this one.
Grade: Bland. Natalya looks nice, but not very much like herself. I’m all for changing it up, but it’s almost a regression, I think.
• Click to see the rest of the photoshoot.
Nikki Bella‘s Animal Instincts
Appearance: Nikki’s got the animal kingdom in full representation in her outfit–zebra print sunglasses (that I’m 99% sure I’ve seen in Forever 21–hey, nothing wrong with some thrifty spending!), a cheetah print dress, and a red leather jacket. It’s very 80s in a way, but Nikkie wears it well without looking like a walking cliche. I really love the sweetheart neckline on the dress, and the jacket looks super cool.
Poses: A guess when you’re posing with sunglasses, you kind of automatically go to the MySpace kissy-face poses, which irk me. But that’s only in about 2 pictures, so we’re good. Nikki keeps a cool vibe throughout the shoot, complimenting the cool, sunglasses-and-leather-jacket look. She’s no Brando in The Wild One, but she makes it work.
Uniqueness: Animal print is a common sight in Diva shoots, but Nikki wears it in a way that’s unique–on sunglasses and a black and white dress.
Grade: Sweet. No animals were harmed in the making of this photoshoot… I think.
• Click to see the rest of the photoshoot.
Now that you’ve gotten our perspective, which photoshoot did you like best? Vote in the poll below and sing your song in the comments!
NOTE ON TNA PHOTOSHOOTS – I tend to only cover photoshoots with a decent amount of photos. So if TNA has a new shoot with Tara, but there’s only 3 photos, I’m going to skip it. No hard feelings. But if you see any new, sizable TNA shoots feel free to drop us a tweet and let us know–it’s tough to keep track of their new stuff!
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