As I noted in the main post, this is a smart way to work with a model who may not always know how to give Serious Face to the camera without appearing absent. But I still could not tell you what she was conjuring for herself in her mind's eye. I wish there were a hint more of a delicious gleam to this. It reads as, "Just stand over there and stare into middle distance and we'll point the wind machine at you." It comes across as cold -- a chilly summer breeze rather than a warming one.
We were allowed to run two photos with this (you can see others in the profile itself, and instead of picking the one of her with Cindy, I tried to go with ones where she stands alone and shows a variety of different expressions -- just to see how successfully she can shake it up. I think... the middle one is the best? She looks like High Fashion Amelie. The yellow one on the left is a little better -- she's staring right at the camera but it's not TOTALLY devoid of anything? The right one is a mess though. A for effort, but boy, can you ever SEE the effort.
It's nice to see what her full smile looks like, but it reads as an outtake, like she's laughing with the photographer about how ridiculous the outfit is. It's "How the F do I model in this???" versus ACTUALLY modeling in this.