Editorial: Lace & Tulle

12.23.2014

Theme: Lace and Tulle Editorial

Fashion Stylist: Myself

Assistant Fashion Stylist: Keyska Diva

Photographer: Zach Adam Photography

Photographer Assistant: Carlos C

Hair | Makeup: Lisa Strathers ( Making Up Las Vegas )

Model: Amierah Cilione

I have known Amierah for a little over two years, from fashion week. Amierah has a walk that I love and goet so excited when she walks the runway. From the way her hips move, and how her legs curve inside, to her structure of her face. Why she hasn’t had more exposure is beyond me. She has asked me to do multiple photo shoots with her, but our schedules hasn’t matched up. By this time, she had already relocated to living in NYC for a few months, and has came home for the holidays. She had sent me a text to plan a shoot. I didn’t expect much, since our history together had never matched up. Luckily, December 23rd was the date for our project. Honestly, thinking it’s day before Christmas Eve, two days before Christmas, family and friends in town for all festivities, but we managed to squeeze I this shoot.

Amierah and I have been talking via text bouncing back ideas. Since she reached out to me to schedule a shoot, she came with a few ideas for the shoot. Wanting some editorial gowns and dresses. I am sure by thumbing through my portfolio, you can see gowns and dresses are not my area of interest. As part of a designer collection, I can appreciate a beautiful gown, sketched and sewn as part of a collection. As a stylist, I find it hard to being able to “style” or add on pieces to complete the look for an editorial look. So I challenged myself to make it stand out. I bounced some ideas back and forth to Amierah, I shared a concept that I have been sitting on for a few months. I haven’t brought this concept to life for a few reasons. Being I wanted the right model, the right photographer, right setting. And let’s not forget I had a busy schedule and try to come up with an idea and concept and making it work is a lot of commitment. I’ve seen some concepts, some photos with masking the face with lace and tulle. The idea looked editorial, made the dresses appear avant garde styling. Amierah loved the idea! It was a go!! Now it was needing to get the idea approved by the hair / makeup Lisa.

Keyska (Wardrobe Assistant) - Lisa (Hair / Makeup) - Myself

Not that I needed her approval per say, but as a wardrobe stylist, it is important for me and my work to stand out and to be seen in each shot. The work and effort, styling from head to toe, want to make sure one good shot is captured. I can only imagine, for a hair / makeup artist they would want the same thing. For the hair and makeup to be seen, wanting and needing headshots of the face, as well as not wanting it to be covered with lace and tulle throughout the shoot in each look. I wanted to consider Lisa and her work. Needless to say, she was okay with the concept as well.

When I went out to pull wardrobe, I wanted to make sure that lace and tulle wasn’t the only concept and common denominator. I specifically pulled black gowns and dresses for this shoot. Being it was adding lace and tulle, I only was aiming for five dresses. I reached out to my friend / assistant Keyska Diva. This shoot was small, and not much of styling needed, however wanting to get her more exposure and make some connections on her own, this was going to be a good idea for her. She suggested her bringing some other pieces she has in her wardrobe for costumes and shows she has performed. I was a little hesitant because, you never know what kind of wardrobe to expect from an entertainer under the glitz and glam. Hoping it wouldn’t be colorful, too standout-ish from the concept of black. Then again, you never know how much you may appreciate the wardrobe, and hoping she and I will be on the same page. I never shared with her photos and concept of the wardrobe. All I shared with Keyska was needing tulle and lace, shared a few concept photos of styling. She didn’t send me photos of her dresses she had from her closet, she just brought what she had to the shoot. Keyska pulled out her box of wardrobe pieces, and I fell in love with the dresses. They fit the looks, and made the concept work and completed the series.

Keyska has a seamstress / designer friend who made multiple looks for her performances, Jeremy Oats. From an all lace dress that was see through, with no lining. The dress reminded me of a body suit with gloves, not as a pants bodysuit but a dress body suit. Another look was a cutout dress that had mixture of textures all over the dress. It was transparent, with a feeling of a grill or tulle look to the dress. A final piece was with a grey scale print dress with layers of tulle on the train of the dress. I had brought six dresses, after seeing the ones Keyska brought, I edited some of the weaker dresses that were brought.

For styling the looks, I would say Keyska taught me some things on this shoot! I am not as familiar with fabric as I would hope to be, being this far in my wardrobe career. Do I understand the book side of fabric, yes, do I have the experience and hands on approach with fabric, no. Each look, Keyska and I talked about the concept for each one. I for sure didn’t want to have any of the looks come off as the same look repeated. The idea and concept was minimal, to have 6-8 looks differ from the next, was the challenge. Meaning, how many times can you do tulle around the face and not have it look the same from one look to the next. Then again, with the dresses Keyska brought, adding lace and tulle wasn’t needed because the dresses already had lace and tulle all in the dress. I will say, having her on the shoot helped. She gave some good tips on cutting the tulle, how to ruffle the fabric, how to wrap it, clip it, and where to have it drape. When it may be too much, or too little. She understood where I was going with the dresses, with the styling, we were definitely on the same page.

One thing I enjoy the most when doing shoots is when you have a model who is open to the concept, and understand what is needed for the shot. As I mentioned, I know Amierah from fashion week, I recruited her to be one of the runway models. This was my first shoot, but she impressed me on the shoot. She understood her body and how she needed to pose. She also understood what she had in her portfolio enough of, and knew what she needed new to add to make her portfolio stand out. I was really happy with this shoot. Was a quick and easy shoot, 6 looks in 4 hours. Each look was done how I planned it. Keyska was a great help, and when you can learn something from your assistant, you know you have someone good on your side.

Be sure to check out the BEHIND THE SECENES video clip via Instagram @RJF.FashionStylist

#lace #tulle #keyskadiva #zachadamphotography #lisastrawthers #makinguplasvegas #amierahcilion #newyorkmodel #studiophotoshoot