Friday, November 13, 2009

Photo Shoot Madness!





















I must apologize. I am a bad fashion blogger. I have been MIA for an entire week! But, let me explain.... I have been a very busy bee working on a photo shoot for an amazing up and coming artist name Paige Christensen. She is not only cute, but extremely talented. It made it that much easier to pull fabulous clothing for her!

I was lucky enough to be the producer of this shoot which means I asked all of my talented friends to work on it. The photographer, Alberto Vasari, is an old friend from my Chicago days. He is insanely talented (I am not just saying this because I like him:) and deserves to be a worldwide photography sensation. The make-up artist, Laura Nadeau, is equally as awesome. She mostly does bridal (you should hire her:), so this was a fun project for us to work on together! Add in my great assistant Jessica and Alberto's photo assistant Maxwell, and you had a crazy (and talented) group.

My direction for the styling was simple and straight forward, make it quirky and edgy. With those two words, I just went for it. The great part about my job when I get to do photo shoots, is that I get to pull clothing from showrooms around the city. What are showrooms you ask? Designer's hire showrooms to represent their lines. On any given day, stylists, magazine editors or buyer's will be going to the showrooms to either pull clothing or check out the lines. The showrooms are basically the middle man between the designers and the world.

I had a busy week contacting showrooms that I thought would work for the shoot. Remember, I was going for edgy and quirky so the clothing at each of the showrooms had to represent this. Once I had the right places on board, it was time to pull. This quite literally means that I get to go in and point to as many items as possible and they sign them out for me to take to the shoot. It is like shopping for free! Except I don't get to keep anything, just borrow it. Good enough for me:)

Then there is the shoot itself. I love shooting days, no matter how long they are. It really is important to have a team that works incredibly well together. I was the producer of this shoot, so I really was the only one who knew everyone. Luckily, everyone played very nice. Things can get very silly very fast which is how I like to live so this works out well for me. Imagine putting together several insanely creative people who all want to make the vision work, it can be lots of fun! As you can see, Maxwell was testing out the shot before we actually had Paige come in. I suggested that he model on his own as he is obviously a natural:)

So there you have my excuse for being a bad fashion blogger, I hope it was a good one! As soon as the final shots come out I will be sure to share them with you. They are AMAZING if I do say so myself! You should definitely check out the few tracks by Paige that are already out on her site, www.PaigeChristensen.com. She is awesome and the world is about to find out.....

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Kendra Scott Jewelry: Make Your Own Jewelry!
















I love big, shiny things. They call to me in my sleep, "Come here and buy us Amy... You want to wear us Amy...." Just a normal night's sleep for a fashion stylist.

Kendra Scott jewelry is an awesome line that actually lets you create your own big, shiny things. She basically gives you the map and tools to choose your own fabulous color palette. It is simple and easy, not to mention fun.


When romping around Henri Bendel's a few weeks back, I came across this designer. I was a bit confused at first because there was a long table with tons of different stones in amazing colors. There were also a bunch of empty skeletons for earrings, necklaces and rings. It was quickly explained to me that this was a "do-it-yourself" type of jewelry project. Ooohhh goody!

There are a few, easy steps to this creative, jewelry making process:

Step One: Select your jewelry silhouette
Step Two: Choose your custom stone combination
Step Three: Watch the Kendra Scott representative create your custom style in just minutes!
Step Four: Awesome (I created that one:)

So there you have it, custom creations created by you. Not only is this project great fun for your own personal collection, but what a great gift idea? You can give the same pair of earrings out to all of your friends in different colors! Did I mention how easy this was?????

Danielle Earrings in Plum on Gold-Tone: $60
Danielle Earrings in Cobalt on Gold-Tone: $60
Ignacia Necklace in Smoky on Gold-Tone: $200
Otylia Ring in Python on Gold-Tone: $75

Monday, November 2, 2009

Parisian Chic for a Daytime Stroll? Hell Yea!

When I have meetings all day all over the city, I have to make sure I look cute and professional.... Not to mention comfortable! This outfit literally started with a hat and a hair-do. I had a bra and underwear on and was having a brain fart when it came to my actual outfit. But have no fear, I barreled through it and managed to create one of my more favorite ensembles.

When my head hurts from trying to put together something amazing, I usually grab for my go-to foundation piece, a white button down. It is a no-brainer for almost any gal because it looks clean, crisp and sophisticated. If you have trouble closing it because of a "bust" issue, layer a white tank underneath. I paired it with my flare leg Seven jeans and called it a day. It really was my AWESOME gold 50's style jacket that made the outfit anyway:) Remember ladies, your outfit does not have to be the most complicated part of your look, your outer most layer can say it all! Especially if you are outside all day as I was.....

As for styling, the part that made this look the most interesting was the fact that the sleeves of my jacket were 3/4 length. This allowed the wide cuff of my tuxedo style white button down to peek out. The collar of the shirt also showed just enough to make the look a bit different. A jacket is not always just for warmth, it can be your look!

To finish out my fab Parisian chic ensemble, I put a day's worth of stuff into my Prada saddle bag. Let's not get crazy, I did not pay full price for this. I got it almost 6 years ago at Filene's Basement in Chicago. At the time dropping $400 on a purse was a lot, but I mulled it over and decided it would be well worth the large price tage. I have never regretted the purchase and have used it over and over and over and over.... You get the idea:)

Buy things you love and styling yourself will not be the most difficult task of your day....