Friday, 15 July 2011

Tala for Grazia.it

Miss Tala Samman for Grazia.it. Beautiful Tala from My Fash Diary who was featured last Friday on Grazia. it. Yes, I am running a week behind, I know! And I am also running late for a dinner so this is a super quick post.

Blog readers who have been following for a little while will recognise London College of Fashion student, Tala, from this post last year. Since then Tala has finished another year of college (she is studying fashion promotion), completed an internship in NYC with Halston in the PR department, travelled back and forth between Dubai and London, and.... attended the Grammy's with her family! Helllloooo the Grammy's! When Tala told me this at LFW in February I think I squealed a bit with excitement: THE GRAMMY'S!!!! Maybe this isn't a big deal to some people but I don't think I have ever met anyone who has had an invite to the grammy's including the rehearsal and afterparty. Oh yeah, and she also had a private dinner with Natasha Bedingfield and recorded a song with producer Harvey Mason Jr (I forgot to grill her about that during our shoot afternoon). Tala clearly has The Connect ;) I can't wait to hear what she gets up to in the next year. So what was wearing Tala wearing for the shoot? Dress (By Malene Birger from My Wardrobe.com );Platform heels: ASOS black; Hat (Eugenia Kim from My Wardrobe.com)Neon yellow necklace from Adia Kibur. Grey sweatshirt from Hush, and yellow floral skirt from Boohoo.
Cream shirt (Topshop), and wide leg pants (AX paris). Turquoise ring (YSL) and Triangle ring (House of Harlow 1960).

Paris Fashion Week AW 2011....Elena

Elena Perminova before Chanel.

Paris Men's Fashion Week Spring 2012....Caroline

Tank Magazine's Caroline Issa before Kenzo.

Paris Men's Fashion Week Spring 2012...Fily

Thursday, 7 July 2011

Jessica for Grazia.it

Miss Jessica Horton for Grazia.it. Lovely Jess who smiled and laughed through everything our afternoon shoot involved: shooting in a sweet shop (complete with a giant Refreshers* sign) while giggling teenage girls looked on, getting on the back of a motorbike belonging to some random guys (the photos have been resigned to the never-to-be-seen folder as both Jess and I agreed that they were never going to be our fav photos), changing in some stinky public toilets (why is the floor of public toilets always so revolting? hellooooo aiming is not that hard;), having our bags eyed off by a very dodgy man in Hampstead Heath, arguing with the mini-cab driver about the exact location of said Hampstead Heath (literally 8 mins drive from where we were photographing). Not once did Jess complain or stop flashing her crazy beautiful smile.Jessica is a Design Assistant at Topshop. You can find the full feature on Grazia.it here. Jess works across the dresses and skirts departments helping the head designers to create the range. And as you can imagine her wardrobe (note the double rack of clothes in the photos below) is full of pieces from Topshop- she is a walking advertisement for them! In fact the first time I met Jess (although I didn't know it was her until last September when I photographed her again) was outside the Topshop Unique show in September 2009 when she was wearing one of the Christopher Kane for Topshop crocodile dresses. The photographs that I took of Jess outside of Topshop Unique show in September 2010 were probably my fav from LFW that season.....Jess does that 70's boho chic look so well. Apart from boho, Jess is loving a bit of 90's grunge at the moment. Jess has a blog which she started at the beginning of this year, My Oh My, which you can find here. Jess's outfits?
Floral Romper: vintage; Tank top (vintage) and navy floral trousers (Topshop) with pink heels from H&M; Orange and Black jumpsuit (H&M) with black floppy hat from Urban Outfitters. Love the cutouts of this daisy chain dress: way to flash a teeny bit of skin without revealing too much. Current season Topshop with Swedish Hasbeens for H&M shoes. Denim top and skirt Topshop. Thank you very much to Sugacane sweets shop in Camden for letting us shoot there. Jess = The New Refreshers Girl!*I have never tried a Refresher lolly but apparently they are a traditional English sweet. All fizzy and fruity and rather yummy according to Jess!
p.s. you can click on the collages to make them slightly bigger.

Paris Men's Fashion Week Spring 2012

Before Paul Smith.


I photographed this girl in September last year in Paris after Sonia Rykiel and she looks so grown up now compared to then!

Paris Men's Fashion Week Spring 2012

Wednesday, 6 July 2011

Sunday, 3 July 2011

Alex for Grazia.it


Aleksandra Boyarskaya-Waitt for Grazia.it.

Alex had me with her E.T. necklace which she wore to London Fashion Week in September 2010. Any girl who wears an E.T. necklace, feather headband and a skirt printed with fairy tale images is a girl I definitely want to get to know. So when the opportunity came up with Grazia.it to take some portraits, I knew I wanted to photograph Alex. You can find the full interview and feature on Grazia here.
Alex is a journalist and personal assistant to brilliant Norwegian photographer,Sølve Sundsbø. She also has a blog where she combines beautiful photographs she has taken of things which inspire her (on one of her many film cameras-helllooooo I ♥ this girl even more!), with modern poetry. You can find her blog, Sashabo.tumblr.com, here. You must read the post (currently) at the top of the page as it is a little bit about our shoot but more importantly, it tells the extraordinary story of how Alex and her husband, Chris, met.
Yes. Alex had me at her E.T. necklace but when she told me the fascinating love story (when we were at Paris Fashion Week in March) between Chris and her, I was hooked. Chris, a film director and writer, was making a documentary called A Complete History of My Sexual Failures (which was selected for Sundance and the Sydney Film Festival) about, well, his sexual failures and disastrous relationships with girls. Basically Alex, who was visiting London from Moscow, randomly bumped into Chris while he was filming in London, becomes part of the movie (you have to watch it to find out more), and eventually they fall in love and get married in real life!I am not sure how much I am allowed to say, but filming is about to start for the Hollywood remake of the film! So excited for Alex and Chris.

Oh yeah, and apart from everything else Alex does, she cooks. Really, really well. The afternoon I was at her house, she whipped up a delicious plum cake for me. Actually the cream dress that Alex is wearing (from H&M) in the photos above is her baking dress! It wasn't one of the outfits she had planned to wear for our little shoot but I loved how pretty it was, and convinced her I needed to photograph her in it. Plus is reminds me of warm plum cake on a sunny London afternoon ;)
Alex's dress in the first photos is vintage Pleats Please Issey Miyake, her heels are Marc Jacobs and her cardi is from a charity shop. A lot of Alex's clothes are gifts from friends and family (even her granny and Chris's mum): pieces they no longer wear, that they have gifted her for modelling their collection for them. Because everyone's style is so different, Alex's style is prettily eclectic. But always she accessorises with a smile :)
Alex's beautiful head scarf is from Russian designer Denis Simachev, her t-shirt is from Hurwundeki and her pants are from Uniqlo.


We walked to the park for these shots (and ice-cream). Alex has just completed a marathon (walking) and man, she walks fast. In heels! I felt like a little hobbit, laden with cameras and bags, trying to keep up! Alex's dress is by Russian label Mrs Pomeranz and her heels are from Nine West.
p.s. You can click on the collages to make them bigger.