A sizzling photoshoot even Lady Gaga would envy.

Comic talent and model Naomi Watanabe regularly thrills her 8.7 million Instagram followers with fashion and beauty sense, hilarious makeup tutorials, and even showcasing her own plus-size fashion label PUNYUS with items like the Sailor Moon collection last year.

And now a recent post on Naomi’s Instagram page showed a sneak peek of her appearing in the May issue of fashion magazine Soen.

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3／28発売の装苑5月号にて、中学校の同級生でもある渡辺直美ちゃんとコラボレーションしました。直美ちゃんを被写体に、『アンバランス』をテーマに3つのビジュアルをディレクションしました。対談も4ページ載せていただいています。世界で活躍する直美ちゃんだからこそ話せる、とても良い話がたくさん聞けました。ビジュアルも対談も、全部ぜひ見ていただきたい…👐🏻素晴らしいスタッフのみなさま、機会を作ってくださった装苑、直美ちゃん✨どうもありがとうございました！ QUEEN of the UNBALANCE WORLD model:Naomi Watanabe art direction:Ran Tondabayashi photographs:Ryo Hanabusa retouch:Shinji Sato styling&costume design:Miki Aizawa hair:Ryoji Imaizumi make up:Itsuki prop:Kunio Sasaki

A post shared by とんだ林 蘭 (@tondabayashiran) on

The image, which has almost half a million likes on Naomi’s page, features a theme of “unbalanced” elements, with Naomi posing on sky-high gold heels and wearing a red vinyl corset — bold design elements which are presented in front of a soft flower backdrop. Her blond hair is styled in 1940s victory rolls, and her slim curved eyebrows are reminiscent of silent film actress Clara Bow, who was active in the 1920s. Naomi herself seems especially taken with the brows, which are a departure from her usual very modern straight, thick brows.

As Naomi herself explains in the image comment, she collaborated with an artist who goes by the name Tondabayashi for the photoshoot… an artist who is actually one of her old junior high school classmates! The two collaborated for the eight page feature and double interview.

▼ Click the arrow on the side to see the woman we assume in Tondabayashi, as well as a closeup of Naomi’s makeup.

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「装苑」3月28日発売 中学の同級生の @tondabayashiran とコラボ致しました💁‍♀️❤️さきちゃん凄い😭🧡🥺 世界観爆発してるーw 全8ページです🙏 2人で語り合ってるページも あります🤪🤪🤪 大人になって2人でこんな芸術爆発系やるなんて中学の時思ってなかったよw ありがとうさきちゃん🌼 とにかくメイクも凄いのよ🤣 今後この眉毛にしようかなってくらい可愛い😆 “Soen” – On sale March 28th Collaborated with my middle school classmate @tondabayashiran 💁‍♀️❤️ Saki is amazing😭🧡🥺 Her outlook on the world is explosive lol It’s a total of 8 pages🙏🏼 There’s also a page where we discuss things together🤪🤪🤪 I never thought in middle school that we’d be doing this art explosion type thing when we grew up! Thank you Saki🌼 The make up is pretty out there too🤣 I kind of want to keep doing these eyebrow – they’re so cute😆

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Tondabayashi commented on the shot on their own Instagram page:

“I collaborated with my junior high school classmate, Naomi Watanabe, for the May issue of Soen, on sale 3/28. I directed three visual concepts for Naomi, with a theme of the “Unbalanced”. There’s also four pages of discussion. Since Naomi is active globally, I got to hear a lot of stories from her. I hope you will all check out the images and the essay. Thank you to the amazing staff, to Soen for setting up this opportunity, and to Naomi herself!”

Fans’ reactions to the shot lavished praise on their queen:

“I love these kinds of photos. They’re so stylish.”
“This is amazing. So much impact! Great idea.”
“She looks just like Betty Boop!”
“What a fantastic outlook! I’d love to see her like that in person.”

Naomi’s versatility has already been well demonstrated, but we can’t see what she gets up to next. Perhaps she can expand her PUNYUS range into sunglasses for plus-size women as well that she could rock in future photo sessions?

Source, featured Image: Instagram/watanabenaomi703
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