Twice a year — fall and spring — we go all out to style and photograph the season’s fashions in an accessible way. This includes working with local photographers, vendors, retailers, and “real people” (as we like to call it) as models.
First, we come up with the vision or theme, and then select an area location that would best bring it to life. We are lucky to have so many beautiful venues in our backyard. For this year’s fall fashion shoot, it was all about a glam/luxurious feel and we felt the artwork, textures and colors at the Grand Bohemian Hotel Downtown would be perfect.
We met our “model” Kristen Ackley through her work with American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women. She is as kind as she is gorgeous, and we always love featuring women who are actively engaged in their communities as models.
Our behind-the-scenes dream team included Victoria Angela Photography and hair and makeup artist Marjorie Robinson. Victoria Angela is as passionate about fashion as she is photography so she and her team always help us realize our vision, but we think this year was our best work! Marjorie has been a local hair and makeup artist since 1994 and has extensive work in television production, so she always has a great eye!
Once the location, photographer and hair and makeup have been set, we get to work on scheduling pulls from local stores and retailers. We have established some great relationships over the years with local boutiques, such as Tuni Winter Park, and stores at The Mall Millenia, who is a wonderful partner. We do tend to pull higher-end fashions but like to style our looks so that the inspiration is accessible to everyone and every budget. We also understand that this is Florida, so we don’t try to showcase wintery, layered looks, but more so “Florida fall style,” and we like to throw in a gala look or too because it is the season.
On shoot day, it’s all about organization – with a dose of fun – as we have hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of clothing, shoes and accessories in our keep. We make sure all items are properly handled so that they are returned with no damage – just a wee bit stressful. Then, after each shot, we make sure we’ve documented each item’s information to include in the captions. We were thankful to have our intern Taryn assisting us with that this year as it is very meticulous and time-consuming.
Coordinating the shoot and fashion pulls takes hours upon hours, and collecting and returning all the items takes days, but we are always proud to showcase the wonderful people, places and things in our community.