Amy Creyer via Zimbio
Last night I was so honored to attend the grand opening party, hosted by chief creative officer Christopher Bailey, for the brand new Michigan Avenue flagship at 633 North Michigan Avenue and to celebrate the Art of the Trench street-style photos of Chicagoans wearing iconic trenchcoats. It was surreal to see my photographs blown up on interactive video screens displayed on all five levels of the store. Burberry truly brought Chicago to life last night.
See me photographing Jena on State Street at the :25 mark!
Many of the people I photographed came up to me to share how touched they were by my photos of them, which is the most a photographer can ask for. When I’m told “your photo of me captured me as a person… my spirit. It’s like the essence of me was distilled into a photograph,” that is such a moving thing to hear as a photographer (thanks Graham!). With my street-style photos, the entire point is to capture and reveal people for who they are. When other people can see that, it means the world to me.
via Darkroom Demons
All the compliments, love and support from everyone who reads my blog and follows my work moved me to tears last night. I cannot thank you enough, Chicago, for being the city where my dreams have come true.
Last Tuesday I broke my months-long hold out of attending public fashion parties in Chicago to toast the newly redesigned Coach store on Michigan Avenue. I’ve settled into working 40 hours a week and I’m not as tired after getting out. Plus, I’ve built a healthier relationship with my blog. Now I only do things I want to do as opposed to things I have to do, because I don’t have to do anything with blogging! My blog is my hobby, and I couldn’t be happier. A pretty serious hobby but still, it’s something I do on the side for fun as a creative outlet. I can be way more selective with parties, with corporate partners, and with editorial content. When have you ever heard a creative person tell you that having a 40-hour a week job is freeing?! Yes, that’s a chilly breeze you feel from hell freezing over…
My new Coach legacy clutch & Lanvin H&M necklace – Photo by Jena
So yes, I needed a loooooong break after pouring my heart and soul into building this website from scratch two years ago. I also wanted time to refocus my priorities with this blog. The best part about my blog has always been walking around Chicago’s streets alone looking for inspiration in everyday people. That’s the core of my blog, where my heart lies. After a long time spent covering events for sites like Pinkmemo, Racked and Refinery29, it’s immensely freeing to choose not to go out at all! For almost two years I didn’t feel like I had a choice. Of course parties are fun, but they’re time-consuming & exhausting. I can’t think of any other way to put it – I was totally and completely burned out.
Nicole Briese, me, Laila Chen, and Jena Gambaccini – phone pic by Bolaji
When the Coach invitation landed in my inbox I was like “oh! this might be a nice first party after taking a long break.” I picked out one of their new Legacy Collection Colorblock pieces to carry to the party. It was an easy choice for me with its simple, classic design and neutral, goes-with-anything color scheme. I had a blast hanging out with my coworker Laila. Attending the party with someone from my “real world” (a.k.a. not the fashion world) made the evening way more entertaining, because I felt a lot freer to be myself and bring a casual vibe to the event. It’s all part of me approaching my blog from a different perspective, integrating my blog into my everyday life a way that enhances it for myself and the people around me!
I adore this profound oddness of the dress. This is my first Junya Watanabe purchase so I was surprised at how difficult it was to actually put on the dress. Challenging traditional methods of garment construction is at the heart of the Comme Des Garcons spirit. The experience of wearing such a piece out in the real world of Chicago revealed to me just how subversive a piece like this can be, especially to American men. I wore it out to a nightclub (long story and subject of an upcoming post) and let’s just say they call fashion “man-repelling” for a reason. Although the upper half of my body is obscured by draped jersey in this dress, I was stared at as though I was walking around topless with bared breasts. I can imagine all these straight men were looking at me and thinking – “What the f*ck is she wearing?”
“Conceptual Japanese fashion, that’s what,” I thought as I imagined myself answering all these confused dudes staring at me. Granted, I stuck out like a sore thumb next to my gorgeous blonde best friend Maryhelen who donned my sexy Suno minidress for the evening. The idea of obscuring the silhouette of the human body, by adding fabric or lumps (as Watanabe’s mentor Rei Kawakubo is known to do), is perhaps the antithesis of Western fashion. Western designers usually seek to accentuate a woman’s shape even though they may too obscure it, as Prada’s bulky coats recently did in the Fall ’11 and Spring ’12 collections. Yet how is it that the absence of a defined shape, which requires the viewer search for the female form, can actually sexualize clothing?
Either you appreciate weird Japanese fashion or you don’t. And thank God for the existence of eDrop-Off so women around the world (like me) can obtain legendary runway pieces seasons after they were produced. Now, I just have to keep checking back for that Rodarte dress I had my eye on…
