Photography: Sayaka ( London)Styling + Fashion Design: me
Hair+Make up: Megumi Kasa ( London/Tokyo)
This was an almost zero budget shoot I have made December 09 for my hairdresser friend Meg.
She is the sweetest thing ever and asked me if I would do the styling for a beauty/hair shoot for her portfolio.
No one can say no to Meg :) - and even in the worst, hectic circumstances possible I managed to pull this one out (super stressing personal month for me with everything happening at once: ex.: left my job, running after lawyers, negotiating settlements, chasing references letters, mom sick and having a middle life crisis, Mike leaving to SA...)
The day of the shoot was pretty hectic too - not unusual. We were set to start at 9.00 am at my place - zero budget shoot meant shooting at my one bed tiny 50 msq flat, were we had during the day 7 people working on set - biitt maddddd! - There was zero ground floor space available :)! - But because that same day I had a settlement meeting I could really not get out off, I was only able to come in at 12.00.
Lastly, on that same morning Mike was leaving for SA, so it was good fun to see him trying to find his stuff to pack, underneath, cables, hairs extensions, fabric and clothes.
But we all survived, the model who was not sure if she could make it MADE it :), Mike did not missed his flight and we started to crack on by 12.00.
I barely only had time for the day of the shoot to get all the musts for the shoot- which meant I had no other choice than do the clothes o set. I would have much rather preferred to work as I usually do which is drape all the ideas and new pieces before the shooting, but in this case it was simply not possible.
I was dangerously blinking red zone, because the previous meeting with the lawyer just had put me blankly in the mood to kill someone (lawyers, bankers and all those other species...), and having to fight for a tiny working space at my place did not help either - lets say I was not my happy self...
But as we started, and after the strange odd first pics, where u have to learn to say to a stranger, listen, I really think this is not working and you should just let me get on and do my thing, believe me it will work:)! - Things started to flow amidst creative chaos, and it was beautiful and enjoyable (note: one must be able although to numb the stress).
I was happy with the end result. A lot of credit must be give to Sayaka the photographer, she is simply bliss talented - you know those kind of people that just need to show up and you know something good will happen. Being Japanese, she was not surprisingly zenish and that really helped on the day, especially with my fiery Hispanic mood that day. Thanks!
I still cannot believe what she managed to capture with only a lam shape and a reflector as props. The photos are full of mood and drama - I love them.
We stopped around 18.00 pm, browsed the pics on my MAC, open a bottle of wine, hate the rest of the cheese Doritos, talked about numerology, fate and Cocorosie- just my kind of thing:)!
This month I looked at these again - the focus to be the lace covered face portrait - and an all Hitchcok mood, beauty sort of thing came to me as a binding history for these.
These are not fashion, editorial shoots, and they were never intended too, which makes me particularly satisfied. I have been at odds for some time now with the all fashion, trendy scene - is just not good enough, and I have always craved more than that. A sense of creativity, individuality, beauty and mainly a sense of positiveness. I think we have successfully touched these by having key inspirational ideas like spirituality, light, ethereal, simplicity, recycling (vintage). On the mood side I really love the ambiguity as there is at the same time both Drama and Serenity, I have decided to work along Sayaka strength signature which is a kind of dramatic/dark romanticism - in the shoot I have linked that with the lace appearance and the all vintage look of styling.
Apologies to the photographer if u ever tumble by the site and see these posted, I know we have agreed to have them retouched first - but I think I have tried to contact since December 09 unsuccessfully, with mails bounced back (I think I got your email wrong). If u ever read this, drop me a line please, I would like to work with you again :) - your work is of breathtaking beauty as so are these (so I see really no wrong is posting them - I hope :)!
Finally a BIG thank you to all involved directly and indirectly on the making of these and to Meg - for being so sweet, so pretty, talented and a peacemaker- Sayaka - for doing this project and for being so talented / professional, the models- for showing up lol! - Megs assis. (Don’t remember her name, sorry): for vacuuming 30.000 pieces of glitter, for the chocolate and the heather, to Mike - for packing quickly and getting out of the way :)!,
