I first met Aramide Esubi of The Sassy Peach fashion blog when I hosted the open call street-style shoot with for the Refinery29 Winter slideshow. I was instantly charmed by her warm personality and unique sense of style. I asked if she’d be willing to meet up with me again so I could photograph her for my own blog. Right before I left for New York fashion week, I caught up with Aramide in Millennium Park. What venue in Chicago is more perfect for a produced photoshoot? Yeah, that’s right. NONE. I love it when my subjects are game for an adventure, so we hiked up to the top of the Art Institute bridge to take some photos. It was a win-win situation; I got to practice professional portrait photography and Aramide has lovely photos for her blog. She’s originally from St. Louis on the edge of the Ozarks. We have that heritage in common, especially considering most Northern Arkansans root for the Cardinals (and not the Royals). There’s this weird thing about Northwest Arkansas where it’s exactly 5-6 hours to a real city in any direction; Dallas, Oklahoma City, Kansas City, St. Louis, and Memphis. Most Arkansans “adopt” one of those cities and for my family it was St. Louis.

Why? Because Little Rock still doesn’t have any major league teams or a highly developed luxury retail market, so many Arkansan families will travel to one of those bigger cities to do serious shopping at “fancy” department stores, to visit museums, and to catch pro sports games. Before the explosive growth of Walmart in the past 2 decades, NW Arkansas didn’t have any world-class cultural institutions outside of the University of Arkansas, but that’s changing (oh hai thar, Crystal Bridges…). Most long-time Arkansans preferred Dallas, but for us “transplants” it tended to be St. Louis. I grew up traveling there a lot since St. Louis is the most Northern – culturally and geographically – of those cities. I know it reminded my parents of home back on the East Coast. It doesn’t surprise me that a woman as stylish and cosmopolitan as Aramide came out of St. Louis; along with Madison, Wisconsin these two cities are my favorite satellite Midwestern conglomerations. Sorry, Indianapolis…

Aramide is currently working as a personal stylist and consultant. She’s also looking to collaborate with more established stylists in the Chicago area. Follow Aramide on Twitter, @TheSassyPeach, and make sure to check out her Facebook Page.