Vanessa Jackman

Friday, 2 September 2011

Ciara for Grazia.it

Miss Ciara Flood for Grazia.it

The Assistant Buyer for Net-a-Porter's menswear site, Mr Porter, beautiful Ciara was a dream to photograph. On a day when it had poured with rain the entire morning, arriving at Ciara's converted warehouse apartment just as the sun was reemerging (yes!) to a warm welcome in her gorgeous, soft Irish lilt was a relief. I met Ciara very briefly at Paris men's fashion week in June outside the Lanvin show when she was wearing a sublime white dress from Richard Nicoll. As soon as she said her name was Ciara and she worked for Mr Porter, my brain started whirring. Some time before, my editor at Grazia, Tamu, had suggested that I might like to photograph a girl called Ciara who worked for Net-a-Porter and was really sweet and super beautiful. Hellllllllllllooooo and here she was! How had I not bumped into her before?
So in July I headed on over to Ciara's apartment to take these photos. As you might expect from a buyer (she assists the Senior Buyer on Designer, Shoes and Designer Accessories), Ciara is incredibly well organised. As soon as we were done chatting, Ciara wheeled out a rail from behind a large, white curtained-off space (her boyfriend is a furniture designer so everything in their apartment is design conscious) to reveal her selects for our shoot. Her style? Fresh, simple pieces that focus on colour, shape and proportion. Ciara was telling me that for her sister's wedding her bridesmaid's dress was the Chloé ballerina dress: how perfect and chic! As for accessories, she is never without a fabulous pair of shoes, bag (her most recent purchase was this Coach navy duffel bag) and 8 rose gold bangles which are on permanent loan from her mama!
Since Ciara started at Mr Porter (she was previously with the womenswear team at Net-a-Porter) more boyish pieces have crept into her wardrobe. As she says "looking at menswear every day is bound to have some influence". Dressing for special occasions (it is wedding season in Europe!) is also something Ciara is embracing. The exquisite cream dress Ciara is wearing in the first photographs is from Imitation by Tara Subkoff which she is in the process of dyeing navy "it's pretty hard to wear a long lace cream dress" and she has just acquired this Alexander Wang asymmetric dress.
Read more about Ciara, how her mum influences her style choices and her favourite places to shop for flowers and body products (Australian label Aesop!) in the Grazia.it article here.

Ciara's outfits? White Shirt (Equipment), red shorts (Acne), beige ankle strap sandals (Stella McCartney);
White t-shirt (American Apparel), green trousers (Acne);
Yellow anorak (Aubin and Wills), navy shorts (Maje), wedges (Stella McCartney);
Denim shirt (Stella McCartney), denim jeans (Theyskens Theory), sandals (Clarks Originals).