To Love Kuvaa Part 2

Having previously shot with; photographer Pip Wass, Stylist Rie Williams and MUA Chloe Hilaire we shot more of the 'To Love Kuvaa' collection this Friday again around the hip hangout that is Brick Lane. 

With a bit of initiative learnt from our last session we worked notably more efficiently, employing the use of another model and alternating between one being shot and the other in hair and makeup. It also meant less warmth was lost for all involved!

Chloe created a fresh feminine look with the makeup utilising rose, pink shades and using fresh flowers in our hair as well as adding frizzed hair to the front of Amy's hair as you can see in the image above. It was lovely chatting with her in the intervals between shooting, she describes herself as having 'The sauciest affair with the fashion industry' at the moment, working extremely hard on up to four shoots a week and being in her prime as an MUA. The results of her toil are clear to see and her enthusiasm is second to none, so if you're looking for an make up artist look no further! 

Rie was also on hand to style the outfits and pick out the looks, pairing floral jumpers with bloomer shorts and dresses with heels. With an ever poised clip in hand and an eye on how the garments fell she made sure the clothing was shown at it's best throughout the shoot. And she was in charge of reflecting which can be trying on the arms after long periods of time! As spring is only beginning to ever so slightly break through this long winter we were working against the natural light so the use of a reflector can be the difference between a beautifully lit image and a dreary grey one which wouldn't be  best for a lookbook influencing the sale of the clothing!

Once again, Pip kept an eye out for the great locations we'd use; pastel walls, doorways, steps and the various bits of street art to be found in the area as well as contributing the odd bit of direction and employing techniques such as requesting we walk as she took pictures. She wound up with well into the thousands of image files, so lots to review and edit! 

The time flew and a working day starting at 10AM finished around 5PM with some great shots of the spring/summer 13 collection. The collection is a great mix of jumpers, shorts, slip dresses with the recurring patterns of both floral and gingham.  My particular favourites are the daisy patterned jumper pictured above with it's boxy fit and ribbed sleeves which I think would work well teamed with skinny jeans or over a collared shirt and a plain skater skirt or even with a shorts-tights combination. Its way too cold to consider shorts and bare legs right now! I also loved the bloomer shorts, lightweight and reminiscent of nostalgic eras gone by they're great to consider if you're planning a holiday this year somewhere hot! And third and last favourite, the nightie come slip style dress that comes in various colours/patterns with a silky satin finish and a definite feminine air to them. 

Photographer: Pip Wass

Stylist: Ana-Marie (Rie) Williams

MUA: Chloe Ellis Hilaire

Models: Abitha Pallett and Amy Spavins

My First Shoot Of 2013: De Sachy Browne

Being a freelance model with no other parties to promote you let alone apply to casting calls for you it's amazing how a little (a lot) of meticulous searching can score you your next modelling gig. This one was via Twitter, thanks to the dozens of photographers and creative sites I follow I saw that a photographer was looking for a model and jumped on the 'reply' function to sell myself. That's what you have to do with these things, market yourself, sound obnoxiously big headed but nonetheless sell yourself. And when you score that job your shameless (or not so) self promotion doesn't seem all that bad because it paid off.  Emails exchanged and details confirmed and then boom. My body decides this would be the perfect time to contract a cold the day before the shoot. I'd been itching to get back on the proverbial clothes horse job ever since the clock turned midnight on New Years Eve. January is a quiet month I had to remind myself as the creative industry get back on their feet post christmas. I was determined not to back out of this job so that I did not and soldiered on.

Once I got out of the cold and into the studio my cold eased off for the duration. I met the most wonderful team (though everyone I get to work with are the most wonderful at said time). The very talented make up artist that is Kate Littlejohn, the two Irish designers come stylists for the day Marie De Sachy and Jennifer Browne, the bubbly photographer Jason Alden and his hard working assistant Tim Bowditch and the beautiful italian model Djada.

Thanks to the MUA and designers, we covered lots of looks and designs much to photographer Jason's surprise each time I came back out to shoot I looked completely different. I also got to add my own art direction and poses, its always nice to get a little bit of creative reign especially if its a fresh idea previously unthought of and beneficial to the client. Another highlight included the cave constructed by Jason and Tim out of polystyrene boards so that we could achieve some tight headshots. Time flies when you're working and having fun and it was soon time to head back out into the dreaded cold. I had so much fun once again and I'm happy to have done my first shoot of 2013!  I'll post the final pics when I have them! Until then...
Abitha xo