Playing With Fire

Dear Readers,

I've been going through all my photos & finding some little gems while tidying things up a bit.  I came across a shoot I did with my uber-talented cellist sister, Kathleen Long, a while back, using a Corinne Monique dress from the Latinada capsule collection, shoes I inherited after a Greta Constantine runway show, & probably half the jewelry I own haha (ok, ok, I own more than that...but I'm just saying it was a lot of layering).  It was a very last-minute, "hey, lets go do this before it gets dark out" kind of shoot we did for a poster for one of Kathleen's performances.  We shot it in the last hours of daylight at the Toronto Music Garden, down by the Harbourfront, another location scouted by my ever-supportive mother, Norah Long.  The shoot featured Kathleen with her cello, much like the Valentina, Valentino photoshoot we did together with the custom couture recycled gown made from curtains.  But this time, the inspiration behind the shoot, & the end result, was much different from that sweet & sombre shoot.

For hair and makeup, as well as the set, I was inspired by Beyoncé's Run the World (Girls) video, directed by Francis Lawrence & shot in the Mojave Desert, California.  I loved the smoky, post-apocalyptic look of things and Beyoncé's gladiator-esque armour-inspired looks, featuring pieces designed by Alexander McQueen, Givenchy, Jean Paul Gaultier, Gareth Pugh, & Emilio Pucci, among others.  I also had Kathleen do a quick study on some of the poses which brought across a sense of power & authority in order to capture a similar aggressive, assertive image.

Valentina, Valentino

Hello Lovelies,

Spring is in the air!  Ahh, Spring...a time for flowers, baby animals, and new fashion ad campaigns!

Has everyone seen the beautiful Spring 2012 ad campaign for Valentino?!  The elegant and feminine Spring collection by Maria Grazia  Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli was photographed by Deborah Turbeville, featuring models Bette Franke, Fei Fei Sun, Maud Welzen, Zuzanna Bijoch, and Clement Chabernaud.  The pretty campaign was shot near Turbeville's home in Mexico, although the setting's textures and colours makes me think of sunwashed stones and romantic ruins in Italy.  The exquisitely delicate and graceful designs against the unrefined backdrop, punctuated by sunlight or shade, made for an ethereal and slightly distant tableau.

I was so struck by the gorgeous Valentino images that I was inspired to create a photoshoot of my own for my sister's upcoming cello concerts this Spring and Summer.  I regularly use my lovely sister, Kathleen, as a model, and you may remember her from a previous cello photoshoot we did a while ago.  For this shoot, it was difficult to create a background that gave the feeling of a sun-drenched Rome here in Toronto, but with some assistance from my location-scout-extraordinare Mother, I think the suggestion is there :)  Kathleen didn't really have a dress she wanted to use for the shoot, so I designed and made a gown for her.  It's actually eco-friendly - I didn't have any material around that quite fit the bill for the colour/texture she was after, so I used some old curtains of hers that were lying around (and were on their way to be given away!) that were just right.  If curtains are good enough for Scarlett O'Hara or Maria von Trapp to sew into something to wear, they're good enough for me!  Anyway, I hope you enjoy the photos!!

Here is a sample of the original Valentino ad campaign:

Beach Bombshells & Bathing Beauties

Hello Lovelies,

I hope you are all enjoying a fabulous Summer!  One of my favourite things to do in the Summertime (or ever, period.) is to spend a day at the beach - I just love it!!  I find it very relaxing and inspirational.  I always have to be dragged out of the water, even though I like to just sit and soak up the sun too with a good magazine.  I even learned how to surf once (little-known fact)!

Anyway, even if it's not your thing, you'll love these beach babe photos:

Givenchy Swimsuit, Vogue, July 1953

Cellissimo

Dear Readers,

It's a rainy night here in Toronto, and I hope it's a sign that Spring is finally on the way because one of the best things about warmer weather, for me anyway, is being able to go on an outdoor photoshoot expedition :)  It's so entertaining to come up with interesting new locations to set my designs against and just have fun with the camera.  Also, it seems much easier for me to find a good spot outdoors rather than indoors, and the pictures almost always turn out better too.

My sister, Kathleen, whom you have met before in this blog, is one of my favourite models and, lets face it, is also the most readily available model who is willing to be coaxed into doing a photoshoot ;)  She is a gorgeous girl and lovely cellist.  Last Spring, for her graduating Master of Music Cello Recital, we went forth into the brisk Spring air to take some photos, which I later used to make her recital posters, invitations, and programs from.  I was inspired by the Chanel and Dior Spring/Summer 2010 ad campaigns and used them as guides for art direction and styling ideas.

Here are the original ads.  I love the absence of bright colours.  Everything, even the black, is pale and muted, almost unnaturally so.  In the Chanel ads, the stark contrast of black and white is strangely unified, blended by the diffused light.  The Dior ads (from back in the John Galliano days, pre-ruined reputation & probable Ricardo Tisci at Dior / Haider Ackermann at Givenchy takeover, which I'm sure I will have something to say about in the near future, after the dust settles) really play up light and dark by using the blinds to create interesting shadows.  I also love the use of hard architectural structures (doorways, stairs, walls) in both ads and how they simultaneously contrast with and complement the garments, suggesting a time, place, and story.